Since we moved the small into the back room she has been waking up at the crack of dawn.

We had a blackout blind fitted yesterday and she didn't wake up until 7.40 so I had a lie in.  YAY.

I do vaguely remember the days when a 7.40 wake-up call was most definitely not a lie in.

1. That bonsai is not a breed of tree but simply japanese meaning tree in a tray
2. That my tree is an "informal upright"
3. That my tree is doomed.

Wedding went well - I felt relatively calm on the day.

Funny thing is that I paid little attention to the words of the ceremony until the registrar was reading them out for the groom to repeat.  At which I point I suddenly realised that there were words I would normally have problems with saying (ie more than three syllables) for example impediment and matrimony.  Apparently you could tell that I was concentrating really hard and didn't stutter (hurrah)

Now in New York on honeymoon - have done lots of walking.  Have been shopping, building spotting, been to the theatre and eaten in some seriously good food and its only our second full day here.

OK - I decided that I didn't want my Dad giving me away for various reasons but one of the main reasons (and the one I gave my Dad) was that I'm 34 years old and have been with the man I am marrying for 16 years, living together for almost 10 years and have a 15 month old daughter.  The idea of being given away is frankly ludicrous.

However I overlooked one critical function of this particular tradition - getting the bride down the bloody aisle without her bottling it.

I've decided that my bridesmaid is going to follow me but I feel that I may need a dose of dutch courage first , the wedding is not until 3pm so hard spirits may not be out of place.

Any suggestions?

I had a fantastic time at the weekend freeform; I had my customary Saturday afternoon slump but then perked up again. I was a bit stymied by the events of the early evening and felt my character was dead in the water until I had a true in character moment of inspiration which OK pretty much devastated my character's life (not to mention her family too) but led to a very interesting and enjoyable Sunday morning.

I did the angst thing for the first time in years and enjoyed it immensely; I have to admit my character followed a very different path to one I imagined from reading the character sheet.

Had fun brooding on the Sunday morning until I was kidnapped by heathens which is one of my favourite moments – indomitable in the face of impending sacrifice Mary balked when she was displayed to all as most definitely a woman (and hence not a warrior) and sent off to be the wife of one of the savages who made his intentions clear (thanks Nickey). Fortunately Mary  was rescued from a fate worse than death by Captain Jack (amply aided by jam, a cooking pot and a sash)

Overall I interacted with less people than normal but was busier than previous games.

Oh yes I finished one dress in the morning before leaving for Retford and finished the second on the Saturday night five minutes before time in.

Nearly finished one - just need to attach the sleeve and hem the bottom, however if  I don't want to be somewhat fragrant by Sunday I really need to get the second dress completed.

Sometime in October I actually bought material to make a third dress and was reasonably optimistic that I would have time to make it.  Since then much has happened to scupper my plans and I am quite frankly feeling somewhat doomed.

The second dress is probably about a third complete (the skirt only needs the waistband sewing on) I'm hoping that the robe part will go quicker now that I've made one and worked out what to do.

On the plus side the frock stress has meant that I've had no time to worry about the wedding which is good - I expect that to hit round about 3pm on Saturday at Pyrates - maybe I should have a large glass of red on standby (or maybe white depending on which colour frock I'm wearing at the time.)

Wish me luck

OK there was more than a bit of swashbuckling when we went to see Pirates 2 last night but Keith made me sit down when the trailers started.

I really enjoyed the film; a bit difficult to say whether it was as good as the first.  We watched the first film the night before and I think the first film has a wittier script but I enjoyed the action sequences more in the second film.  Plus there were moments in the second film when I was definitely squeeing in delight.

Can't believe that it's now over a week since I got back from my little shopping trip in London.  I am now the proud owner of a rather spiffy tiara which met my criteria of not being all sparkly and glittery like all the other wedding tiaras I have seen so far.  Also came away with some nice jewelry to complete the look but which were such a bargain that it won't be a waste if I see something else that I like.

Successfully navigated the tube, but it's so well signposted it wasn't really that hard.

Thanks to queenortart and fractalgeek for providing bed, wine and food (I really appreciated getting up early to put the oven on for croissants).  I did get all excited about the possibilty of more than six hours sleep but blew it by sitting up chatting with queenortart till gone 2am both mornings.

I had a lot of fun shopping even when it got stressful buying teawith's frock material and met up with ibarhis too!  

A very enjoyable weekend!