Future Plans

Mark and I have been thinking about what we’ll do next for quite a while now. The wedding is now taking place in September and I’m delighted to say it’s all sorted with minimal fuss and effort! And hopefully cost! We are going to get married at the registry office in Gateshead, as we aren’t religious. This will be followed by a small afternoon reception at a local pub, the nicest one in Gateshead and just down the road from the civic centre. We’ve got the rooftop terrace so hopefully the weather will be nice so we can get some good photos. The evening do will be at the arts centre in Newcastle. It has a large underground room which is often used for plays and music. My brother, a professional musician, has asked to play, and an old friend of mine has offered his band as his wedding present. Likewise, the invites and the cake are gifts and a cousin and one of my best friends are doing the photos. We have found a caterer and I have organised the flowers. The only headache was my dress – I didn’t want anything too fancy and my one trip to a bridal shop was not the most fun! I have spent a couple of months looking at department stores with bridal sections and on the high street but nothing stood out. Finally, I decided to get one made, and have met a lovely lady who will make me exactly what I want for about the same price as a dress in a shop – although I know people will pay thousands for them! After the wedding we are not planning on having a honeymoon but are going to do some travelling. We have come across a website where people worldwide advertise for help on their farm, in their home or their hotel in exchange for board and lodgings. I’m really taken by a hotel in Jaipur which is looking for help to run the reception and the bar, both of which I’ve done before. Really, though, we'll be happy to go anywhere and have an adventure, so not ruling anywhere or anything out! Although I have never especially considered hospitality, I do think that some months travelling about and being open to whatever opportunity is presented to us could really help us find something we’re keen to do long-term. We don’t want to stay in England, so who knows?

HOW Long has it been?!

I can't believe that I've not blogged for an entire year! My feeble excuse is that the year really got away from me! So a quick recap of 2011 before focusing on the new year:

We are still in Gateshead, which is not great, as the house has been overcrowded and we don't have a living room - we watched DVDs on the laptop for about 10 months and I've seen very little TV! That's not necessarily a bad thing, but I do miss CSI - and Neighbours!

What else? Well, my friend's wedding came and went, and I worked really hard to look reasonable in my 'sausage' (red satin - eek!) dress. However, about three weeks afterwards I ended up in hospital for a week with what turned out to be ulcerative colitis, which was pretty tough and I'm still getting over it.

I'm still into the running, although I've cancelled my gym membership, as once I started working and then got sick I didn't manage to get there much. I've invested in some resistance bands and I'm looking forward to trying them out. I'm also trying to get a cheap exercise bike, but Tesco have sold out of their half-price-for-new-year ones!

For the rest, my 'resolutions' are much as they were last year - more reading, more cooking and more exercise. I'm also getting married in October, so I'll be planning for that! It was a total surprise (I actually thought it was a joke at first - oops!) but it'll be fun to plan and I'm hoping the weather won't be too bad.