Long Weekend ahead...

It's a long weekend here in the UK something which I am hugely looking forward to. J and I are off to Oxford to go on a narrow boat for a few days with two other couples. I'm sure I shall come back with photos and tales but until then I shall leave you with a couple more photos from the wedding. They are a stunning couple and these were two of my favourites which I captured.


Hope you all have fabulous weekends! x

New Shoes

Last week I finally managed to get shoes sorted out for the wedding. After having bought a fabulous Miu Miu pair which were amazing, but far too high, and were returned, I was at a loss of where to look next. So I left it and decided that I could sort it out closer to the time. And how time flew.

So last week I went for a hunt for comfortable black flat shoes that I could wear with my dress and weren't too expensive, not much to ask for then! And I found them....

Here are almost my shoes, mine have red heels instead of the brown heels below.

Shoes are from Kat Maconie

I found them in Poste Mistress and they are also sold in Harvey Nichols and Peter Jones (for you Londoners interested). They have been specially designed to be more comfortable, you can see the padding on the bottom of the shoe above and when I put them on I was really pleased. They fit my big feet, were smart without being over the top and were flat!

So I wore them all Saturday, danced the night away, loved them. And then today I walk into work in them (about a 35 minute walk I do every day) and now my feet hurt and have been rubbed. What to do?! All the same though, I would recommend looking at Kat Maconie's collection, the shoes are lovely and if you're looking for slightly different pumps they are comfy with lovely padded soles. One day though I will find shoes which don't rub...

Pun intended?

My husband just sent me this screen grab on the BBC website. Do you think the pun was intended or not? If yes, very bad taste don't you think...

Wow, what a weekend!

It started with two fabulous days at the cricket, lovely sunshine company and of course the score was keeping us pretty happy too. Then on Friday evening we dashed off down to Dorset to go to J's sister's wedding. And what a wedding it was! The weather was fabulous, warm sunshine, the bride was stunning and everything went well. Here's some pictures for you all...

Her flowers were all roses, a mixture of colours. These were just the bridesmaid flowers, hers was a larger version of these. However in the reception each table was decorated differently with a multitude of flowers, vases and other such delights.

And below, here she is with her bridesmaids and mum and dad. Can you see the size of the dress? It was huge but just stunning. Again I'll try and get some more photos up for you all because the dress was a post in itself. Ian Stewart bride in case you were wondering...

And finally me and J. I do looked rather overexcited here, guess I must just have been enjoying myself!

The wedding also coincided with the Bournemouth airshow so we had a display from the red arrows in the middle of the day. Finally at the end of the night there was a huge fireworks display out in the sea which we all went out to watch, a perfect end to a great day.

Busy bee

I have managed to book in quite the long weekend so here goes on what's going on:

Thursday

• Collect dry cleaning
• Clean some of house
• General chores
  
• Day 1 of Ashes at the Oval (woohoo!!) provided it doesn't rain too much of course
  

Friday

• Day 2 of Ashes at the Oval
• Pack for sister-in-law's wedding
  
• Travel to Dorset with J in advance of wedding
  

Saturday

• Sister-in-law's wedding!
  

Sunday

• Recover...
  
• Family BBQ (weather permitting)
  
• Travel back to London

Monday

• Final day of the Ashes!
  
• Celebrate/commiserate
  

Should be fun, but not exactly relaxing. Hopefully though I will have pictures for you all as J and I are planning on buying our first Digital SLR. Another thing to sort out in the next few days!

News/Stories/Photos to come. In the mean time, wishing you all fabulous weekends and leaving you with this very cute dog to make you smile...

Photo from Cute Overload

Book Review: McMafia - Misha Glenny

This is a bit of a first for me so let me know what you think and whether it's something you'd like to see more of. I've always loved reading, it's something my sisters and my mama and I have always done and enjoyed, however since beginning to work my reading speed has dropped off and I've found myself not making the time to read. I've been trying to change this of late and got through a few books on holiday and am trying to go to bed earlier so I can read before bed. Anyhow less of my reading habits and more on the book I am going to try and review!

This might seem a strange choice, so I'll explain, J bought it when we were heading off to Sicily. I wasn't that interested at first, until he kept telling me things that he had read and I kept reading over his shoulder... So I decided to read it for myself. And boy am I glad I did.

It's an incredibly well written and fascinating book. Although non-fiction (which I don't normally go for) there are a lot of real life examples and interviews with people who you can't quite believe exist. I also found it completely eye-opening. I like to think of myself as not too naive but having read this I feel very green around the ears about all things worldly.

Misha Glenny makes great arguments for simple changes in policy which could have huge impacts and I came away from the book feeling that every politician and world leader should read this, if only to see the error of their ways in some situations.

It has also made me think a lot more about how we deal with policing drugs and the dugs trade. And having recently read a great FT magazine article about this and watched a documentary about Crystal Meth in Fresno, CA, by Louis Theroux my thinking around drug policy has changed.

To sum up, I would wholeheartedly recommend this book if you haven't already read it. It is a great read, gripping, informative and even in some places funny.

Nice in Pictures Part 2

The next day it was less humid but somehow hotter. About 30C (about 86f), and so today we decided to venture a little further. Into the car we hopped off on our way to another country, Monaco! A strange place, beautiful in many ways, but so crowded and so very wealthy. Below is Monaco harbour with some of the many yachts there.

Then lunch overlooking the harbour but in the shade. The restaurant was one our friends know and it certainly lived up to their and our expectations. I had some yummy salmon, J a huge burger and our friends chicken curry :)

We mostly drank Rose, which in France is more of a grey pink, and is dry and just so yummy and refreshing on a hot summer day. I would recommend it, most of the ones we drank were I think Vin du pays du Var.

On the way back to the car ready to get to the airport we spotted this black yacht. Perfect for a James Bond baddie mais oui?

So all in all a lovely lovely weekend, spent with great company, in fabulous sunshine and with lots of good food and wine. Poifect!

Nice in Photos Part 1

The weekend didn't start too well, with a two hour delay at Gatwick, thankfully our friends had a good idea so we spent the majority of the two hours drinking champagne to celebrate holiday, birthdays and late planes! We started on Saturday with breakfast on our friends' terrace, it has gorgeous views out over Nice. Then it was decided to take a stroll round Nice. I love the colour of this house and the style of it and if you look closely enough you might even see the Dalmation disappearing into the window.

The sea was amazingly clear, somehow we ended up not going in but just to gaze at it was enough...

After a lovely lunch, huge salad on my behalf, mound of steak tartare for J we drove up into the hills behind Nice. On the way we passed this rather crazy house... And you can't even see the giant horse statue in this photo.

Up in the hills, we wondered around a beautiful little village, so picturesque in the way only French villages can be. As we drove further into the hills we noticed the clouds getting darker and darker... And so we sat and watched the lightning bounce off the hills and listened to the thunder rolling around. It was amazing, a truly beautiful sight and so peaceful to be sat in the warm watching a storm build and break only a little distance away.

Back to the house for one of my favourite things, an afternoon nap. Then off to Cannes for dinner with some friends of the friends we were staying with. A lovely Italian followed by post dinner drinks at their flat and back to sleep off the excitement of the day!

A Nice weekend...

I had a wonderful weekend away. However I foolishly saved my photos at home and am writing this on a different PC. So for now a taster of the glorious sunshine, the beautiful med and the happy people enjoying it all.

Full stories and more photos to come shortly!

Realisation

I have been steadily gaining weight since summer last year, not huge amounts, just my clothes are getting tighter month by month. I have also been paying for a gym membership since October which I have used about 6 times. Not good.

So here it is, I need to do something about getting fitter and trimmer. Not hugely but enough to feel better about myself. It is amazing how much difference 1 or 2 lbs can make.

J and I keep talking about running, which I would like to do. And I think I could enjoy it and it's a good thing to do as you really feel the difference. I also think I will give up my gym membership, I know this sounds odd, given I have been moaning about not being fit, but I don't enjoy going to the gym so it seems silly to pay for it. I was thinking about Pilates, but have no idea where to go for this. Anyone any thoughts on Pilates?

Or on trimming and getting fit in general? All advice/suggestions/help much appreciated.

And soon a perkier post about my weekend!

Happy Birthday to me!

Thanks to those of you who answered the poll, the results were as follows:

23 - 2
25 - 2
27 - 2
29 - 1
31 - 2

And I am... 25! A full quarter of a century old.

Had a lovely party last night, a close group of friends, new and old. Perhaps had too little sleep last night, 3am on a work night is not good.

So a half day at work and then off to Nice for the weekend. For some thundery showers, well hopefully not but that's the current forecast. Have nice Fridays!

On friendship

I've had a very secure friendship group of 5 girls since I was 16. Some I've known for longer, one of the girls since I was 5 or 6. I feel very blessed to have such a close knit group of girls who know me so well and are there for me when I need.

Since being married it has led me to think about this and how relationships grow and change. Both that with my friends and with my husband. I am the only one of my friends to be married, and whilst that doesn't change how they treat me it has changed my behaviour. The things I like doing, my priorities etc are different now. As we've grown up together we've always gone through things together, mostly at the same time so I remember it being very strange for them to not be going through marriage at the same time as me and remember seeking other people to talk to who I felt would be more able to understand what it was I was worrying about or excited about.

We've recently had a few occasions where it's been very difficult to all get together and I've missed all the girls birthday's this year, which I never normally do. It's the one thing we always make an effort for. And it's made me think, think about how things have changed. They are still my go to girls, the people I would call if something was ever wrong or I had news to announce but I now spend more time with other friends who are perhaps at a more similar stage of their lives to me.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that it's made me realise again how important it is to really work at all relationships you have and that although things may change in our lives the shared history we have will always hold us together.

So here's a picture of all of us at my wedding,


And I guess this is as much a post to thank them for being so amazing over the last however many years and also to share some thoughts I've been having recently about friendship and how it moves and changes.

Any thoughts you'd care to share? Let me know, I love hearing from you! x

Booked

Last night we paid our deposit for our trip to Argentina! Woo hoo! We're off on the 29th December this year for about three weeks and I am so excited.

More details to follow but for now I just wanted to share this with you for now. Anyone who's been to Bariloche, El Calafate, Buenos Aires and has any suggestions I'd love to hear from you.

Until then I'd better get saving...

This weekend I...

• Didn't get much sleep
• Spent Friday night with three good friends, and had a great girly evening
  
• Got up far too early for the train
• Arrived at my sister-in-law's hen do
  
• Forgot my bikini for a spa day (in my defence I've never been to a spa day before)
  
• Had a lovely massage at the spa day
• Enjoyed the steam room, jacuzzi, relaxation room and the general chilled out ness of the afternoon
• Went out in Bournemouth for the hen do
• Saw two rather ugly fights in bars
  
• Danced the night away
• Stayed up far too late but loved the chatting and laughing
• Almost missed breakfast
• Went fascinator shopping, no luck yet
  
• Enjoyed seeing my husband upon my return to London
  

Did you all have fun weekends?