Michael's surprise birthday party

I organised a surprise birthday meal for Michael last night for his 30th birthday and invited as many of his friends as I could contact via text and Facebook. I told Michael we were going for dinner in a surprise location (if I’d told him where we were going, he would have realised that it wasn’t going to be just the two of us) which kept him guessing right until we were outside the Chinese restaurant. It was a good evening – spending time with good friends and unlimited crispy duck pancakes – what more could anyone want from an evening out?

Reputations

I like to be organised, and reliable – arriving at appointments on time and trying not to run late for things. Unfortunately, I seem to be developing a reputation for tardiness – arriving at church five minutes late on a morning when I was doing the readings (only just arriving in time for them), our minister introduced the readings with a comment about “the bride who arrives half an hour late for the wedding and the reader arriving during the first hymn both have the same effect on my blood pressure…” I suspect the reputation may now be hard to shake off!

Celebration of life

Michael and I have been attending a “Celebration of Life” this evening for one of his parents’ friends. That sounds like we were going to a memorial for someone who has recently died, but it wasn’t – it was a much happier occasion - a party to celebrate the 25th anniversary of this friend being given the all-clear after having leukaemia which is something that was definitely worth celebrating. I got to meet some of Michael’s parents’ friends whom I hadn’t met before – it was a little odd because they all knew who I was, but didn’t always then introduce themselves.

Autumn leaves

It seems like the autumn is beginning early this year – the leaves on the trees have already started to go brown and fall. You’d think Mother Nature would at least have the decency to wait until September before inflicting autumn on us but clearly that is not the case this year. I generally quite like autumn (my inner child particularly enjoys running through piles of leaves and kicking them about) but it should ideally come at the correct time and after a proper summer of sunshine. Given that I live in Britain, perhaps the latter statement is a tad optimistic.

Wedding DVD

Michael arrived home from Spain this evening and we sat down to watch our wedding DVD for the first time. We were both really pleased with the end result, I got a bit emotional a few times relieving all the wonderful memories of our wedding day and it was just so lovely to have the day captured on DVD. We particularly liked the “good luck messages” section which had a few rather amusing messages from our friends and family members and a hint from the in-laws about their hopes for grandchildren at some point in the next couple of years!!

More wedding excitement

One of my close friends is getting married one month from today and has asked me to be a bridesmaid. I’ve been spending some time with her and the other bridesmaids this evening, trying on our dresses, getting them pinned where they need adjusting (as usual, mine is far too long!) and then getting to see her trying on her beautiful dress which has brought back lots of lovely memories from the run-up to my own wedding. Our wedding DVD arrived this morning – I’m really looking forward to Michael coming home tomorrow so we can get to watch it together.

Leading worship

Last Sunday’s service was down on the circuit plan as being “local arrangement” which usually means that we have a local lay preacher take the service. A small group of us from the church took part in a leading worship course last year, and our minister felt this was an ideal opportunity for us to use those skills and organise the service. There were four of us leading different parts of the service – I was leading the final part and was really nervous beforehand. Despite the nerves, I actually enjoyed doing it and would definitely do it again if asked.

Opportunist thieves

It was Michael’s 30th birthday yesterday and he was off to watch the Grand Prix with his dad as a birthday treat. Unfortunately, the tram going to the track was incredibly crowded making it ideal for pickpockets who stole their wallets, the tickets, his dad’s camera and washbag containing his diabetes medication so instead of getting to see the race, they spent it at the police station and cancelling cards. On the positive side, they did at least get to see the qualifying yesterday, they still have their passports, his dad had some medication elsewhere and they are both fine.

Beetle drive

Walking into the room and looking across at all the blue rinses, I wondered why I had agreed to spend my Saturday night at a beetle drive. I was younger than most people in the room by about half a century and resigned myself to a dull evening. How wrong could I have been? I had some fascinating conversations and was quite surprised by how busy everyone’s social lives seemed to be. They were swapping phone numbers and addresses, discussing coach trips and other activities organised by local groups. It turned out to be quite an enjoyable evening after all.

Beading

I’ve been spending the day at a beading workshop at church making another beaded necklace. It’s something that gets organised about twice a year at church and is always very popular. Anne-Marie, who runs the workshop, always brings along a good selection of beads to buy and use, and has quite a few patterns ranging from fairly easy designs that take a couple of hours to make, to more complicated designs which take several hours. It means that the workshop can cater for a range of abilities – from those who have never tried beading before through to quite experienced beadworkers.

Packing the suitcases

After six weeks of marriage, I’ve already done it. I’ve packed Michael’s bags and sent them off to his parents. It’s okay though – he’s heading off to Spain tomorrow to work on another event with his dad and the suitcases are travelling with someone else on the truck. Michael’s still in Germany at the moment – he’s due to get back around 7.30pm this evening, will have a few hours at home, and then has to be back at the airport at 4am tomorrow morning. Fingers crossed that the pager stays quiet tonight so I can spend some time with him.

Fabulous friends

One of the nicest things about close friends is being able to be relaxed in each other’s company. There’s no feeling of having to entertain each other, of having to constantly talk – if we have things to talk about, we talk; if we have nothing to say, we’re equally comfortable sitting and being quiet or else just rambling and talking nonsense (which probably happens more than the silence to be completely honest!) Being with Michael, my family and my closest friends is when I truly feel I can be myself and know that I am still loved despite my flaws.

Resilient roses

I’m pretty rubbish at gardening. My few attempts at growing flowers or herbs have generally been unsuccessful – mainly because I end up forgetting to water them, or weed them. I have managed to kill off some fairly resilient plants – my rosemary seemed to be immune to my neglect for a while but now is brown and withered, and most of the other herbs went the same way some time ago. So, it has come as a pleasant surprise to discover a rose on my long-neglected rose bush which clearly has managed to survive the lack of watering, weeding and pruning.

Living with a Messie

I once had a housemate who was so untidy that I bought myself a book entitled “When You Live With A Messie” and left it lying around. I don’t think he actually took the hint. Michael is nowhere near as bad as my former housemate was but still has some definite ‘Messie’ tendencies. Despite the fact that he has been away for three days, the house still looks like there is a Messie around – I’ve spent so little time at home over the last few days that the flat looks pretty much the same as it did when he left.

Quality time with family

My dad spends a few hours at the day centre on Mondays and Thursdays so my mum and I ended up having a girly shopping trip. I can’t remember the last time I had an afternoon out with my mum – it was so nice to have some quality time together. My parents’ flat can feel like Piccadilly Circus with various family members popping in and out so having a quiet afternoon with just my mum was lovely. Plus it’s good to know that my dad is being well looked after and seems to enjoy the activities at the day centre.

Beating the business trip blues

It seems that the best way to ease the 'Michael-going-away-on-business' blues is to have something nice planned for the rest of the day after dropping him off at the airport. Driving back from the airport knowing I was heading off to visit my family meant that instead of focusing on missing Michael, I was focused on looking forward to seeing everyone at home instead. Being on call means that I can’t necessarily arrange a trip home each time Michael goes away but maybe I can arrange my day so I always have something fun planned afterwards.

Shows and sleep deprivation

It’s been a long couple of days. Having just done a 34-hour stint (full day in the office, plus two labours, back to back), the sensible thing to do upon finally finishing work would have been to go home and go straight to bed. Which I normally would have done, except we’d been given theatre tickets to see Jersey Boys this evening as a wedding present, so I went straight from work to the theatre thinking that I’d get there and probably sleep through the show. It was so good, I was wide awake and buzzing the whole way through.

Drama at the lights

On reflection, it really wasn’t a very nice thing to do. I just get so frustrated at traffic lights when some guy jumps out at me with a dirty squeegee and a bottle of soapy water and seems determined to clean my windscreen no matter how much I say no. So I saw red, turned the windscreen washer on and squirted him with washer fluid. I should really have locked the doors before doing it – he looked quite murderous. Thank goodness the lights changed at that point – I just put my foot down and went without waiting for further reaction.

Adjusting to absence

Michael’s off on a couple of business trips at the end of the week and will be away for nearly two weeks. In the nine years we have been together, we have both realised that I don’t always cope very well with the thought of him going away (even if the prospect of the flat staying tidy is an appealing one!) You’d think after all this time, I’d have gotten used to it and learnt to accept it but I still struggle each time. It’s a good thing that he doesn’t have to go away on business all that often!

First month of marriage

I have now been married for exactly one month! The time seemed to pass quite slowly in the month before our wedding whereas the last month seems to have gone by quite quickly. My friends have asked if being married has felt any different and I have to say that it definitely has – I feel part of Michael’s family at last, I feel much more secure, happier and settled. Whilst unfortunately marriage hasn’t provided an instant cure for my mood swings (not that I really thought it would!), just knowing Michael is there to listen and offer support really helps.

Calling the God hotline

Where would we be without good friends to look after us? My best friend has the most amazing ability to make me feel better about myself no matter how low I am, plus has a mum whose prayer network seems so effective, we call it “the God hotline”. I’ve been making an indirect call to the God hotline and have come out of it feeling that this current low patch isn’t so bad after all and that somehow I do have the strength to look the world in the eye, smile and know that, no matter what, I am loved.

What defines a Christian upbringing?

I’ve been up and down with the mood swings again lately and Michael asked me this afternoon how I managed before I had God (i.e. before I “became” a Christian). The more I thought about it, the more I realised that I never had to. I didn’t grow up in a church-going, Bible-reading household but my mum would occasionally sing songs from her Sunday school days (“Jesus bids us shine” is one I particularly remember) and I’d pray before falling asleep at night. Maybe it wasn’t a Christian upbringing in a stereotypical sense, but God was always part of it.

Games night

Having friends over for an evening is something we haven’t had much opportunity to do recently with all the wedding planning and then settling into married life after coming back from the honeymoon, so it was nice to be able to have an evening in and invite friends over for a games evening. Tonight we had enough people round to play a couple of team-based games – Chain Reaction and Lyric. Why is it though that when you get an easy challenge (for instance, sing a song lyric with the word “and” in it) does your brain always go completely blank?

A surprise start to the day

It is lovely to receive something nice in the post, and all the more so when the something nice is something that is completely unexpected. We were woken up this morning by the postman delivering a parcel containing a surprise wedding present from a couple of Michael’s clients – a lovely hamper containing wine glasses, champagne, bottles of wine, savoury biscuits and other yummy goodies – what a nice surprise to start the day with! Consuming the wine will have to wait until I’m on a day off but I’m looking forward to sampling the rest of the contents over the weekend.

Character part challenge

The cast list is out and with it the confirmation that I am just too old for either of the parts I was hoping for (the feeling of suddenly being too old for something is not a nice one). Instead I have been cast as a ghostly old hag with the director trying to soften the blow by saying that it “requires a good singer”. What tosh. It requires someone to wail like a banshee – I wasn’t aware that banshees were noted for their musical ability. It might be a fun part, but at present, my overriding emotion is disappointment.

Name change nightmare

Trying to find information about changing names after getting married is a nightmare. Most of the information I have found says that there is no legal obligation to change your name; but websites such as the DVLA say I have to inform them of a change of name. So far, I’ve changed my name at the bank, but I want to keep my maiden name at work and use my married name elsewhere, and I can’t work out what constitutes legally changing my name – is it changing my bank details, my passport, my driving licence or none of these things?

Sat-nav woes

I really should have learnt by now to stop trusting the sat-nav, particularly with regard to the traffic updates which don’t seem to be particularly accurate. Today, the sat-nav diverted me off the main road (which seemed perfectly clear as far as I could see) straight into a huge traffic jam thus making my journey considerably slower than I suspect it would have been had I ignored it and continued with the original route. Fortunately I was running ahead of schedule and so still managed to get to my appointment on time, despite the traffic, but it was very frustrating.

Goggle-box grumbles

I’m not the biggest fan of sitting and watching television. I can go for days without ever switching the TV on, although when Michael is home, the TV is almost constantly turned on providing background noise. We’re complete opposites in that respect – if Michael is working from home, he finds it easier to work with the TV on whereas I struggle to concentrate unless it is quiet. If both of us are trying to work from home, this can be a bit of a challenge – thank goodness for laptops which mean we can work in separate rooms and stay sane!

Catching up with family

I’ve been spending the afternoon back home visiting my family for the first time since the wedding. We now have the official wedding photos so most of the afternoon has been spent showing them and reliving the memories of a wonderful day. Most of my family live within a mile of my parents’ flat, which seems to be the official drop-in centre for everyone. This makes it easier to see people on my visits home as spending a few hours there generally means that I can catch up with several members of my family without having to go anywhere else.

Am-dram barbecue

Today was the annual barbecue for the am-dram company I’m involved with. It has poured with rain for most of the day, but in true British fashion, we have been sitting outside under gazebos continuing with the barbecue anyway. Usually there have been various games going on, but the rain stopped play so Michael set up SingStar on the Playstation to ensure we were treated to tuneful renderings of various songs by members of the company to make up for the lack of games. The rain hasn’t stopped the barbecue being a success – we’re only just packing it up now!