03/09/2013 - Out and about for bits and bobs!

Another early start was called for this morning as we needed to be in Chester for 9am. So unfortunately no gym. I think this is a theme!

I went into my upstairs bathroom to put on my face. I have to walk through the spare room to get to it and noticed that Barney was at the top of a shelving unit, where he so likes to sit. His method of getting down from there isn't to climb down like a normal cat, but to launch himself onto the closest flat surface. At the minute, as there is a tower of wine in there, you can imagine how alarming that is.

Well.

Turns out that the surface he jumped onto wasn't as stable as he liked and he took a tumble. And broke his scratching post.

I'm a little bit sad about that as I bought the post for Maia when we first moved into the house. It was in Barney's room when I first moved him in with us, and he and Maia bonded while playing on it. It's now broked. :(

 I know Barn is a heavy cat but seriously, they should make the poles on these things out of stronger material than a cardboard tube! A loo roll can't hold a Barney bum!

Anyway, we had a hot date with our jewellers in Chester so we couldn't lament the loss of our scratching post for too long!

We got the train to Chester and were at the jewellers not long after 9am. Paul's wedding ring was far too big for him and we left it until the last possible moment to get it re-sized in case he lost any more weight. It had to be taken down a whole 2 sizes! We knew they could do it in a day but it turns out that it would only take an hour! Excellent!

We went and had a brew while we waited for the ring to be done. We also took in the pictures for the table names to be printed. An hour later and his ring was a perfect fit!

I had promised Paul that I would take him for burgers at a bar in Chester so we hung around for a while to wait for it to open. We went for a beverage while we waited.

It was a fairly decent day, warm and overcast so we sat outside overlooking the canal. Which is a bit manky. But still - it's better than being indoors!

Paul was enjoying himself. Until we started making a list of things to do over the next few days. That wasn't the most fun in the world.

We then found out that the place I was going to take Paul for lunch didn't open until 4pm. Hmmm. It was 12:30pm. That's a long time to be waiting around! We sacked it off, with the assurance that we'd go back again some other time. Instead we headed back to Liverpool and went to Byron Burger, which has only been open a few months.

It was ok. Nothing special. I think we're both just gutted that we couldn't have the homemade ones that we'd had our heart set on!

Beers all round!

From there, I had a few bits and bobs to get, and Paul went to have his hair trimmed ready for Saturday. I got home before Paul so I started on finishing the seating plan!

Here it is in bits...

Here it is finished!

What do you think?! I'm really pleased with how it came out!

Which one is your favourite? I think mine is 'Superlambanana' but I quite like 'Lancashire HotPot' as well!

After a little more chilling out, it was time for bed once more! It was a mad busy day! Only a few left to go before the maddest one of the lot!

02/09/2013 - I love your smile!

My last Monday as a 'miss'! Are you going to get sick of that? I only ask because I can't guarantee that I'll stop doing it! :)

We had an appauling night's sleep so while I was ready to get up and go to the gym, one snooze later and I was asleep. Oops.

We had to head out of the house early but before we left I got a delivery.

What is it, I hear you ask? Well, my friends, I shall tell you. It's my wedding bracelet! I had it made by a lovely and talented lady called Jennie who I discovered on a site called MISI (make it sell it). She was wonderful and as it was touch and go whether it would be ready in time for the wedding (and I was slightly panicky) she moved it up her list a little to ensure that I would receive it before we were out and about before the wedding!

 I love it! Pearls and Swarovski crystals, which goes perfectly with my hair piece which I ordered months ago!

I procrastinated for ages about buying this as I really didn't know whether it was an extravagance for my wedding attire. I don't regret it for a second. I loved it on the day and I love it now! I just hope I go somewhere fancy enough to wear it again!

We headed out and over to Manchester. Paul had an appointment with his dentist, and I asked if I could have a clean and polish ahead of the wedding. Figured that I'd regret it if I looked back at our wedding pics and I had yellow teeth! It wasn't cheap, as I wasn't registered there, but I don't regret paying it for a second! I don't think my teeth have ever been this clean!

From the dentist, we had a few bits to pick up at Paul's parents' house and then we headed into town to pick up a few bottles of beer that Paul had ordered from Beermoth - a specialist beer shop. It's a very nice beer indeed so I can't begrudge getting it for the wedding!

Paul's Mum left this picture out for me to coo over! My (future) husband was such a cutie, no?

Sorry honey, but I just had to share!

From town, we headed to one of Paul's favourite places to take a picture for the wedding table.

Old Trafford. Home of Manchester United.

We then went home to survey our wares and relax a little! I made an appointment to get my nails done for the wedding and then got on with a few other bits and bobs to get them out of the way!

Bathroom basket! Also known as the 'Oh Sh*t Kit!' Apparently it got absolutely raided on the day so I know that it was worth it! I have no idea what's left as I haven't had chance to look but I'm so pleased that people got use from it! I didn't even see it!

We then relaxed for the evening after a job well done and had a fairly early night again as we have a long day tomorrow as well!

01/09/2013 - HOLY CRAP! IT'S SEPTEMBER! WE GET MARRIED THIS MONTH!

IT'S THE FINAL COUNTDOWN! ARGH!

Aherm!

It's Sunday and there is still a lot to do today! Although now I look back on it, I can't honestly really remember what I did today!

I remember lying in bed not really wanting to move. Which is perfectly acceptable. I remember Paul got up to go for a run. I got up and took a picture of our haul from yesterday...

Yup, there's a party in our spare room and you're all invited! Maia has the guest list so you best make sure you're name is on there!

 Maia's also guarding the red wine. Isn't she a Princess?!

I also seem to have been stalking the weather forecast for our wedding day! I think every bride is guilty of doing this, and don't try to pretend that you didn't!

Nothing like a broad spectrum of temperature to go on there!

I would happily take this any day of the week! Not too warm and no rain! GET IN!

I don't like this one so much...

Rain all day. Not impressed about that one...

Partly cloudy with 20% chance of rain? I'll take that one too!

Yep - happy with this one as well!

One of the above was accurate. If you follow my twitter or instagram, you'll know which one. If you don't...I'm going to leave it as a bit of a cliffhanger!

Maia and Barney were tired of my weather woes and slept pretty much all day. Also, does anyone else's cat prefer the bed the wrong way up?! Maia won't sleep on it unless the underside is the upperside!

I was doing some final wedding bits out in the yard, which I will miss when I have finished with the wedding. I like my office! I'd sent Paul out to get some shopping, and when he came back, he brought me lunch. Also known as the best fish finger sandwich in the world.

I was sat out organising and cutting out the menu for the food and also our wedding i-spy! Yes, I was never going to pass up the opportunity to get people out taking pictures for us! I wrote 3 different i-spy rhymes and placed them on various tables. Last year I bought Poundland out of double sided picture frames in which to display them all and so had to cut everything down to size. I think they looked good at the end! I now also have about 20 picture frames if anyone wants them?!

I didn't get a picture of those. Sorry. They'll appear during wedding pic posts, I'm sure.

We sat watching football for the rest of the day (as that's all that was on tv) and Paul made us a roast dinner. I asked for a smaller portion, as we normally have epic roasts which make you feel really fat afterwards...

 Yeah. Not quite the size I had in mind...

I think I need a bit more than that to keep my strength up! Luckily for me, Paul was joking and there was plenty more to make me a larger small portion!

We then watched X Factor and went to bed. Early start tomorrow as well!

31/08/2013 - Chickity China the Chinese Chicken!

ONE WEEK TO GO! ONE WEEK TO GO! ONE WEEK TO GO!

If any of you are curious by the title of today's entry then a) where were you in 1998 and b) check out the below video!

Yes. I was singing this aaaaaallllll day! :)

I decided to have a small lie in this morning. We were getting a visit from my parents later on, but I thought I'd stay and do a bit of wedding crafting in bed!

I counted the amount of paper cranes I had made with the idea to use them as wedding decor. I didn't have enough for what I was going to use them for, so set about making more. Maia decided that I wasn't paying her enough attention and so came to join me...

Gorgeous girl.

She was not impressed that I was paying the cranes more attention than her. So the cranes had to go.

I managed to rescue them from her with minimal damage and drool marks. Thank goodness!

When I eventually got my lazy backside out of bed, I had a few bits to move round to make space for the delivery from my Mum and Dad later on. There were some empty boxes, which as you can imagine, were a  big hit with certain residents of our house!

Happy silly kitties!

I was busy lugging things here and there when my parents arrived. They then had a lot of stuff to lug into the house as well! They brought all the booze for the wedding NEXT WEEKEND! EEK! Plus a few other decorative items which I will show you at some stage. Not sure when.

Barney was being his usual nosey social self, but Maia was nowhere to be found, until I wandered upstairs to find this:

I consider that box well and truly claimed. I think it's now full of stuff, sadly, but I will empty it for you again, Moo!

We made reservations in town for some lunch, and headed to Bistro Franc for a nice three course lunch!

I was drinking water with my wine. I am a good girl really!

I had leek and potato soup to start. It was nice, but I couldn't really taste anything much. I had to add loads of pepper for it to have a taste impact. Stupid disability!

I then had a stuffed pepper for main. It was DELICIOUS! It was stuffed with risotto and a light sprinkling of cheese. I wolfed it down!

Doesn't look like a lot but it was yum! I could have licked the slate clean!

For pudding I had a creme brulee. It was fantastic. Not as good as the one we had at our wedding meal tasting, but still pretty good. My Dad had the same and enjoyed it too!

After a short wander through town, we headed back to the house, and then Mum and Dad left. Would be seeing them next on our wedding day. ONE WEEK TODAY. ARGH!

Knowing how close we are to the wedding and how much time is left (have I mentioned that it's only one week?!) we set about making the Order of the Day programme for the guests. This was completely unnecessary as we were having no hymns etc, but I have always said I would do one, so do one I did!

And when I say one...there were 6 different ones! 3 different inserts in two different covers.

This is one of the two covers, with a quote from my favourite book - Captain Correlli's Mandolin on the cover!

The other cover had a Dr Seuss quote on it, all about mutual weirdness. You know the one!

Anyway, we had to fold all of these, and all of the different inserts. Then we had to decorate the covers, with my old friend - the corner stamp!

This stamp wasn't cheap but it hasn't half had some use this wedding! I'm sure I may well use it again before I can close the lid on our wedding!

Letting the ink dry was the painful part. A few may have got slightly smudged and if you got one of those I apologise. We have a bunch left over so if you want a fresh one just let me know!

Then it was time to come inside because, more importantly than the wedding programmes, it was time for the first ep of X Factor! Yes, it's back! That means that the countdown to Christmas is ON!

Whilst watching the show, and chatting about it with my regular X Factor confidantes (whom I won't name here as they might shout at me...) I carried on with the stationery!

First up, the middles needed securing into the covers, and to keep with our rustic theme, we used twine to do so! But before then, we needed to punch the holes through which we would be threading the twine. After much trial and error I got it right!

A much smaller hole punch than I'm used to! Even though I'm not in work for a while now I can't escape these things, can I?!

From there we threaded the twine through, and we also needed to thread a pencil into the bow before securing it, as our guests would be needing to use one (if they were going to be perfect wedding guests, that is)!

And we were done!

I'm really really pleased with them! I think they look great all in that basket! 

They didn't stay in that basket as they were placed on each chair for the guests, rather than distributed by ushers. 

The reason that I put a pencil with them is that inside I had put a puzzle! There were two different sudoku and a word search! I know that sounds a bit random but ever since I went to a wedding where the bride was VERY late, I said "she could at least have put something in the Order of Service so we don't get bored!" and from there I swore that I would. So I did! I have received word that people did do them as the few I found on the day hadn't been completed! My new father in law did his, and also Paul's cousin did as well!

We went to bed happy and glad that another job could be ticked off the list! PHEW!

30/08/2013 - My last day in work as a 'miss'!!!

Weird weird weird day! As the title says, I finish work today for the madness of the pre-wedding build up...and the post wedding jubilation!

I had to be in work early so no gym this morning. Aherm. Bad Caroline.

I posted on Facebook first thing that "It's Caroline Hartley's last day in work today. Ever. EEKS! — feeling happy."

Yeah. People didn't get it. I had so many people comment derivatives of "You becoming a lady of leisure?" or "You giving up work?". Um. Some of these people were coming to the wedding! HOW DO YOU NOT GET IT?! Silly sausages! Of course, there's the small chance that people aren't as fully wrapped up in this wedding as I am (surely not) and therefore didn't manage to put the very obvious 2 and 2 together!

I had to train T to do some of my work today, so I needed to get a great deal of it done before getting that done. That included sorting the mountain of post that was accumulating. Within the post I found these:

Yup. Wedding cards. Our first ones! This is getting very real now! Totally wasn't expecting any so I may or may not have gotten a little teary. Oops.

After my training with T, we had a pretty relaxed afternoon. Because we could! Also, because our fridge looked like this:

Fruit. Yogurt. Water. Milk. Prosecco.

I like it. It's exactly what should be in our fridge! So with the end of the day nearly upon us, we cracked that bad boy open!

One for A, T and me! I have to say, I think I quite like this bubbles in the office thing! Obviously it can't be a regular occurrence and it was a special occasion and we won't be making a habit of it every Friday...maybe just the last Friday of the month...which this is as well, so therefore fully justified! :)

I robbed a load of boxes which I needed for the wedding, packed them up in the car and headed off to my life of luxury! Hahahahha!

We also might have got another bottle of prosecco to celebrate me finishing work for two weeks. It may have been enjoyed very much...

So we chilled and watched some tv for the rest of the evening, and generally did not a lot! The mental days were about to begin, so why not so naff all?!

29/08/2013 - More Wedding Work!

We got up and went to the gym this morning because we're good people and that's what good people do! I needed to get myself wedding ready!

I then went to work. Paul took another table name picture.

 Bury Black Pudding. I can't stand the stuff. Paul loves it. Paul went to school in Bury. So we allowed it! He said that this black pudding was amazing and will now only buy it in sausage form. That's nice.

I had a very busy day in work, which was fine. Penultimate day so it's all exciting! I then came home to finish up the decor for the table plan WHICH I CAN NOW SHOW YOU! :D :D :D

Monday night, Tuesday night and this evening I was making these frames out of card (Amazon packaging to be precise!) and covering them in decorative paper. I'm really proud of them! Ok, they're a little wonky, but who likes perfect...

My assistants were...assisting, as you can imagine.

He stole my seat and proceeded to ignore me while chomping on his paw. And then the next paw. He had a good wash.

Moo stole the other seat and then went to sleep, ignoring me completely. Diva.

So I took all the bits and bobs inside, added them to the seating plan parts I had already made on Monday, and arranged them as I saw fit. Here is the 'nearly' finished article!

 Like it?!

We have two layers of hessian over the A1 board that we had bought. I then put pale pink material (which matches the colour of the bridesmaid dresses) round the corners to neaten those up a bit (I was watching The Notebook at the time of doing that bit, if you recall Monday's post). I then added the buttons in the four corners. I had bought those buttons ages ago but they were too big for what I bought them, but perfect for this task!

I then glued the button at the top centre (measured to the exact millimetre) and made the bunting by hand (whilst watching Crazy Stupid Love) and stamped our names onto them. Typical that my name is twice as long as Paul's so it looks a little daft, but it's not so bad, right?

I had made a border similar to the ones above but realised that with the 3D bunting, the frames would need to be 3D as well, hence all the extra work I gave myself!

I think people liked it, though. I hope so. Wedding guests, please tell me you liked it!

I decided that was enough for the evening. Paul handed me a little treat and we watched something quite dull on the TV while I wound down a little.

A well earned glass of red. Please don't judge my DVD collection on the few you can see - I have better ones too, promise!

28/08/2013 - Pre-Wedding Whedonsday

Again - today was aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaages ago so I'll try to remember what I did! :)

I went to work as I generally do on a Wednesday. No gym due to the fact it's closed on a Wednesday early morning. Can't say I'm sad about that!

While I was at work, I sent Paul out to take some photographs for our tables for the wedding. We decided to name our tables, rather than having numbers or letters. Speaking as someone who's usually on the last table, sometimes it's nice to not feel like you're being picked last for a spot at the wedding! We also decided to mix everything up when it came to where the tables are on the seating chart so as it turns out, the table that was last on the plan was actually one of the best in the room!

Anyway, here are some of the pictures that Paul came back with!

Penny Lane. Obviously a Beatles song and not too far from where we live!

This is a Superlambanana. Why? Well...why not?! It's pretty cool though, so we named a table after him!

Paul bought a copy of the above album specifically to take a picture of it for one of our tables! It's a good album, so why not?!

Yeah. These are made in Wigan. They're minty sweets which can cure a cold with a single suck! That's not strictly true, but they're part of my youth (and the name's quite funny) so we named a table after them!

After work we came home for what was potentially the last Whedonsday before the wedding. Turns out it was as next week was a bit...mental...

Anyway, Paul decided that this week to make it a bit special, we'd have a beer tasting to help Paul choose his beers for the wedding! We were allowed to buy some in as Paul loves his beer (big shock, right?) so we had to make some choices. As Paul is a beer snob, and I have very little in the way of ability to taste, we used Chris as our guinea pig!

We tried all of the above. I can only remember the second one from the left actually being at the wedding though. I would have to ask Paul about the others and he's not here!

Suffice to say, we enjoyed all of the above, and Whedonsday as a whole! It was a merry affair!

It was weird saying to Chris as he left "if we don't see you next week, see you at the wedding!" Just odd!