Wedding Update

So as a post is long overdue, I might as well update you with my wedding plans (which is only just under 3 weeks away!).

First up, hen do (obviously). A hen do is one of those events in life that makes your ego get a little bit bigger as you realise how important and special you are to people. Embrace it and let everyone deal with cleaning up!

My super duper amazing bridesmaids rented a cottage in Dorney Windsor. It was in a very pretty, secluded area. We got drunk in our pyjamas, played games, ate tons of food and watched TV. Loved it and much preferred it to going out. It went far too quickly and I want to relive it over again.

#2: Suits. At first this was kind of hard, as the material Jim originally wanted was only available on the High Street and it would have been too expensive to buy for 6 people. Someone he works with recommended Village Grooms in Spencers Wood. The shop didn't have the tweed wool in the colour Jim wanted but he agreed that it would be too hot in June to wear it and eventually settled on a different suit. Jim looked good in it and his converse looked cool. Another thing done.

#3: Think I am just about their with the venue. It's all paid off, the photographers meal choice selected, vegan options sorted, table plan done, margarita welcome drinks confirmed, BBQ confirmed, rooms all sorted. Vows and music also sorted.

#4: Hair/make-up/accessories etc. My underwear is sorted (no bra needed - YES!). The final fitting was on Thursday, it was perfect. I bought some glittery blue pumps to wear in the evening and I want to treat myself to some nice make-up. Saw a really cool playsuit in Ted Baker but I am in between sizes, gah! Might try again in a couple of weeks. I won't slim down especially for it though, clothes need to fit me, not the other way around!
I've booked an appointment to get my nails painted the day before with my mum and Jim's mum. Ladies, any ideas?

#5: Bouquets! i ordered some silk flowers for them and they look good. I'm glad as I spent £100! Then the 5 of us will have a night in and make our own. The floristry workshop I went on was really fun! I learnt how to make button holes, corsages, cake toppers, bouquets and table centre pieces. Wouldn't mind practicing some more- watch this space!

Wow I think I may have actually pulled off a wedding! Bring on the honeymoon!

Run up to the wedding

Argh I can't believe it's nearly here! There's now only 10.5 weeks to go and they are flying by, the countdown seems to go way too fast. On the one hand I can't wait until the wedding day, I've been engaged for over 2 years and we have been together for nearly 10. On the other hand I don't want it to be over! My friend at work asked me what will I do with myself afterwards? "Sit on the sofa in my tiara and veil, crying and eating chocolate." Obviously I won't be that bad, but inside that's how I'll feel! There's not much left to do. Jim has got an appointment to look at suits this month and the rest is just sorting out the decorations. The bridesmaids dresses are all here, a couple need taking up. Bouquets will be made in May after I have attending that Wedding Floristry workshop I booked. Oh, the hair trial is soon too. Bee & Liz had a make-up lesson with Bobbi Brown which went really well. I brought them some eyeshadow to share as they are wearing the same, and Liz some foundation. Flawless! The other two have there's booked on the 18th April. Then we'll practise together and I'll work out what look I will go for!

Papel Picado

Where the flippin' hell can I find any of these for a decent price?!!!

The Used @ Camden KOKO

I am cream crackered today as I was up in London last night to see The Used play at KOKO in Camden. Jim got me the gig tickets for Christmas - I listened to their album 'In Love and Death' loads when it came out (11 years ago!). I didn't know much of their stuff after that album as I didn't listen to them a lot after that, so I wasn't sure how the gig was going to be. Let me tell you, it was brilliant! They are such a fab live band, bringing loads of energy to the stage and interacting with the crowd well. They even brought some girl on the stage from the crowd to film everyone on her phone from up there. They did a little acoustic song too which was lovely. They played a good mix of old and new songs and there were a lot I didn't expect. Brought back so many memories! Will definitely go and see them again.

Get in my ears

Frustrating Day

Argh had such a frustrating day today! I'm going to make these cookies and read about The Cribs new album.

5 Day Slim Down Prep

So it's only the 2nd week of the 2015 Love Your Body Challenge and I have been slacking the last couple of days. I can feel some extra weight around my stomach that wasn't there before Christmas, so I have decided to give the 5 Day Slim Down another go to try and shift it fast.

Tonight I will be food shopping and prepping some breakfast and lunches:

Banana Protein Pancakes

Recipe by Runs and Roses
LYB Cupid Oats
Tuna and bean salads
Avocade salad dressing
Peanut butter smoothies

Got to stop the slacking - my wedding is coming up in June! Speaking of my wedding, the invitations have now been sent out and the tin cans have started to be painted for the table decorations. We brought the cacti a couple of weeks ago, ready to repot into the tin cans.



This Sunday we have our menu tasting at the venue. I can't wait! We have chosen beef quesadillas as a starter, and chicken mole as a main. I will let you know how that goes!
I am also going to enroll on a Saturday workshop at my local college to learn how to make wedding bouquets, buttons holes and corsages, as we will be making all our floral stuff ourselves. Then I have to remember how to do it and teach my bridesmaids....!

Jumping on the bandwagon

Four names that people call me other than my real name:
Tone
That's it I think! It's a short name.

Four jobs I’ve had:
Sainsburys checkout assistant
Customer service/data entry job
Make-up artist jobs on the side
Project Support Coordinator at my current job

Four movies I’ve watched more than once:
Superbad
Bridesmaids
Garden State
Back to the Future trilogy

Four books I'd recommend:
The Secret of Crickley Hall - James Herbert
The Disaster Artist - Greg Sostero
The Otherside of the Story - Marian Keyes
Bridget Jones (of course!)

Four places I’ve lived:
Lived in Bracknell my whole life

Four places I’ve visited:
Riga, Latvia
Cortijo Grande, Spain
Brighton, England
San Antonio Bay, Ibiza

Four places I’d rather be right now:
In my bed
In Spain
In Brighton
In my car driving home

Four things I prefer not to eat:
Cauliflower
Oysters
Lettuce
Snails

Four of my favorite foods:
Mango
Peanut butter
Cheese
Chocolate

Four TV shows I watch:
True Blood (not finished yet!)
The Walking Dead (also not up to date!)
Modern Family
In The Flesh

Four things I’m looking forward to this year:
Christmas work do
Christmas eve
Christmas day
New Years Eve

Four things I’m always saying:
Eeeee (to anything cute)
What the fuck are you doing/was that? (when I am driving)
You're mad (to Jim)
What shall we have for dinner?

Etsy: Boygirlparty

Their stuff is pretty cute. Have a browse here

Writers block

My blogging mood didn't last for long! I always think of things at work but they include pictures so that takes too long.

Made sure I got out for walks every lunchtime this week while the weather is sunny. Was a bit blinded by the sun today though! Don't know where this so called 'storm bomb' has got to.

Oh, I've also had such an eBay obsession lately! I've brought 2 things that are too small though, so I will be selling those. If I remember later, I'll upload pictures! One is a jacket, the colour was different to what I thought would be and looks a bit too small when I zip it up, although the arms fit fine.

I upped some more weights at Body Pump last night - triceps, shoulders and biceps. I couldn't make it all the way through with shoulders and biceps, but I'm doing a hell of a lot better than when I first went back! Now I just need the traffic to be light on the way home on Thursday so I can actually make it to my class on time....That reminds me, people seem to have forgotten how to turn their headlights on this week, as well as indicate correctly. They either don't indicate at all, or indicate the wrong way. Thick or what?

Chocolate Hamper

Oh hello.



People struggle to buy me Christmas presents how?

Do you ever make those dinners where you just throw everything you have left in and hope it turns out for the best? Bee calls this "if'its" and Liz calls this "throw-togethers". I didn't give it a name. Anyway, I made one last night and it was so nice! I cubed and boiled some potatoes, then fried them with paprika and mixed them with grated carrot and kidney beans. Also fried some veg before this and mixed it altogether. Topped with some cheddar, it was yummy. Didn't take a pic like everyone else does as I just wanted to eat it.


All afternoon I was having an argument with myself (in my head) about whether to go to Body Pump or not. It was either go to Body Pump, do a strength routine in the gym or not go at all. In the end I just bit the bullet and went to Body Pump. So glad I did! It was an instructor I really like, and Thursday's are always quiet so there's no rush to get all the equipment out the cupboard and then back in again at the end. By the way, I really think that de-assembling your bar before going to the cupboard would make everything much quicker, why doesn't anyone do this?

Also, this is the best post I've read in a long time.

I think that's it for today. Have a good weekend!

Wed Nes Day

My good mood didn't last for long. I'm having one of those days where everything is just bullshit to me. Can't be bothered! Applied for a job last night, now I realise I want a similar job to the one I had at National School of Government (now closed I think), a few years ago.

It took me 1 hour and 45 minutes to get home last night. Next time I am just going to drive down to Brighton instead. I'll get there quicker.

On a brighter note, I made mash potato for the first time in ages last night. I am still the master of mash. That reminds me - I was following a blog through RSS but the latest post has just annoyed me. They were talking about how to be good at thanksgiving, saying things like "Don't roast your veggies in butter" and "Instead of gravy, try homemade pesto."

WHAT.

Just stop right there please. I hate all these things, they make people feel guilty for finally relaxing with friends and family, enjoying that moment and not worrying about tiny, insignificant things. Fair enough if you need to lose weight for health reasons, but loads of things I've been reading recently are going way off track with having a healthy mindset. Everyone forgets that life is short, and one fatty but oh so tasty meal a couple of times a year is not going to kill you. Relax, people. You might end up eating less overall anyway.

MEATliquor

Next time I'm down in Brighton I want to go to MEATliquor

Big, fat, juicy burgers. What not to like?

Today is a better day

I wasn't feeling myself yesterday. I came into the office in such a grump; it was grey, miserable, I was freezing all day because of the air conditioning, and I just didn't want to come in and pretend to want to talk to people when I really did not. And I just wanted to bury my head in my work and get on with it, but it didn't help that I had hardly anything to do. Body Pump got some of my aggression out (I was also pleased that I upped my weights on the chest and shoulder track. Getting stronger!).

Today has been better already; the sun is shining, I can see orange and yellow leaves against blue sky and I had a bloody tasty breakfast (cocoa porridge oats if you're wondering). I think music has made me feel better too. I decided to listen to 'Sum 41 - Does This Look Infected' on the way to work. Oh old friend, it's been years! I still remembered all the words and sang (read 'shouted') my little head off- it was awesome. Sat in the car and finished listening to Hooch before I went into the office to have a boring day. Now all I want to do is play on my guitar (it's been years from this too).

I'm starting to feel like myself again.

Frisky Fall Challenge Week 1

Hello! It's been a while. I am 1 week in to this challenge by the Tone It Up girls, Karena & Katrina. I must admit I haven't been perfect as I had a break away in London for a few days but I am feeling much better already. I have at least stuck to the 1st weekly schedule and completed my 5k today, so I am happy. I am now up to 18 miles for my 100 By Halloween challenge!


I have been eating Protein Pancakes for breakfast, having smoothies for snacks in the afternoons and choosing TIU recipes for dinner. My favourite so far is the Cashew Crusted Salmon & Quinoa Cakes. Yummy. Anyway, my goals are as follows:
1) Complete the weekly schedules
2) Get out on my bike more
3) Drink less alcohol
4) Improve my 5k runs
5) Eat TIU approved dinners

I decided to get instagram so I can connect with other TIU girls. My username is fiddlestickstoni :)

Mooosic

Dogs are better than cats

Friday Fun

Wow I am so not in work mode now, so I may as well blog instead. It's not often that I am in the mood to blog these days.

I've just been talking to someone about their wedding plans, and it sounds really cool! Some of our ideas our similar but I think we have put our own twist on things so the weddings will still be very different from each other. Informal and fun is the best way to describe them both I think.

I'm practising making some DIY decorations with 2 of my bridesmaids on Sunday, so will let you know how that goes.


Paper lanterns, paper pom poms and tissue paper banners

Life Lately

Catching up with old friends is always nice.

Beach time! Gotta have an ice-cream.


I'm addicted to sugar again. Gotta kick this habit before my trousers rip or something.
So after my success with the 5 Day Slim Down, I continued eating "clean, lean and green" as K&K say but I feel like I have gained slightly. I was trying to not admit it, but I was probably just eating too much. I now keep putting too much pressure on myself by trying to lose the weight in a certain time frame and then I just end up bingeing. I know I need to meal plan and write down what I eat, so I'll treat myself to a pretty notepad at the weekend, enjoy an ice-cream on the beach on Saturday, purchase some healthy snacks for the week ahead and get back fully to it on Monday. No more time scales either! It'll come off when it comes off. I can do this.

Last Week of July

This describes me perfectly


How I feel lately.


So apparently this model is a plus size model. Yeah right!! She looks amazing