A day (and year) to remember

Happy Monday, blog readers!

Even if it’s not a happy one for you, at least it’s happy for me, because a year ago today (in approximately half an hour’s time, if you want to get technical), this happened:

That’s right – I got married.

There were a lot of things that weren’t perfect (with weddings, are they ever?) Naming but only a few: the sidepath of my hair was on the wrong side; the flowers weren’t 100% what I expected; it was an incredibly windy day; and I was 20 minutes late! I know the bride is allowed to be late, but I’m a punctual person, and I don’t really do late. I just comfort myself in the fact that I was actually ready to go, and that the other people in the bridal party were still busy doing their hair/make-up and having their pictures taken… 😉

It’s been a great year filled with love, laughter, happiness and all the other things that couples go through (it’s not always sparkly nyancat rainbows and the like, after all). And yes, I’m thankful. It’s wonderful being married to someone I can be silly with, who genuinely wants to know how my day’s been, who won’t let me get out of the car until we’ve shared a kiss, who playfully teases me when I cry during movies or tv shows (believe me, I can cry at the smallest thing!), who “tolerates” my cooking… and who hasn’t murdered the cat yet because he secretely loves her.

We spent the weekend in a guest house just outside Robertson and had a lovely time. We dined at Mo & Rose and had the most amazing food ever!! I might share some photos of our dining experience with you tomorrow. Tonight we’re going to Balducci’s, and I’m really looking forward to trying their cuisine… I’ll probably just have to find something more appealing to wear than my current attire: black jeans & a green jersey.

Although I have yet to complete the gift I bought my Significant Other, I had a little ‘side project’ I was working on, and after he dropped me off at work this morning, he went home to discover this against one of the cupboards in our study:

That’s right: 40 post-it love notes! I started each one with “I love” and took it from there. It’s the thought that counts after all, right? Plus it’s not like I could list everything I love and appreciate about him – the cupboard would have become pretty full, and I might have ended up sounding clichéd. At least I knew that a few of these would ellicit some chuckles – and being able to laugh & reminisce is something wonderful to me.

Thank you for an amazing year, Sweetheart – here’s to many more! I love you ❤

Things that made me happy this week

Happy Fried-day, blog readers!

It’s cold and rainy over here, so I’m obviously over the proverbial moon about it. No need to match my mood to the glum weather – especially now that the weekend is but a few hours away… and my first wedding anniversary just around the corner… *eek*

There have been a lot of developments during the last week: finding out that the books I worked on have been provisionally approved, dealing with (big) changes to said books, working with a difficult person who sort of thinks I’m her slave, doing freelance work, finding out the time of my interview next week… in a word: LIFE.

But besides all that, there were a few things that truly made me happy/smile, and I thought that I’d share them with you via photos. The smallest things can make you happy (a smile, a mug of tea, a fluffy cat) – it’s just how you decide to view life & the situations you find yourself in.

Okay, enough of waxing sentimental. Here are (a few of) the things that made me happy this last week:

A book on origami my mum bought me

Taking this photo of Smudgy at the perfect moment – it looks like she’s laughing!

Buying myself a copy of the new Stephen King novel

Raindrops on the sunroof as we drove to work yesterday

A lot of attention/affection from Smudgy. Here she’s keeping me from my freelance work

The prospect of baking more yummy goodies – glad I bought this magazine 🙂