Utinam logica falsa tuam philosophiam totam suffodiant!

I'm getting married today.

mc_shamo and I both woke up at 5am, too excited to sleep I guess! We cuddled and talked for about an hour then got up. He fed the cats and ironed his shirt for today, I made tea for me and coffee for him them went for a walk to the supermarket for juice (and just to clear my head and have some quiet, calm, "Chris time" to start the day). We've both just had shower and the plan is to double check everything is packed for the honeymoon, then drive down to Hot Poppy for breakfast with whoever from the bridal party wishes to join us then really start the day.

And after this I won't look at live journal for another three weeks, so I hope you all keep well and happy and healthy and i will see you when I get back!

Much love,

Chris

Saturday:
9am- Emily (cousin and bridesmaid) comes over
10:30- vivienne_aster and cows_might_fly pick us up and we drive to Williamstown.
11:15- Silly dayspa indulgence!
1pm- Lunch at Brezioz
2:30- back to my place with bridesmaids to watch silly film and relax
6:30pm- Brother's birthday dinner
9pm- go to MUCAAS pub at jpom40's new house because there is a HELEN home from England!

Sunday:
9:30am- Meet Morg on campus for test photos
12noon- Go home and tidy or do whatever needs doing by then
3:30- leave for work, last shift!
12:30 (technically Monday)- Get home, sleep

Monday:
-Clear out and sort "wedding wardrobe" upstairs, aka the wardrobe in our study
-Pick up wedding dress from Andrew, my cousin by marriage who is fortunately a dry cleaner and is wonderful for pressing it professionally for free
-Generally tidy up the house and clear space so it is suitable for others to house sit

Tuesday:
-More general tidying and any last minute stuff
-Make dinner
-Have the great and glorious impostinator and Oscar over for dinner

Wednesday:
-Probably rock on down to the bowles club and confirm everything
-Get Manicure and pedicure
-Wedding rehearsal
-Dinner on Lygon st with any of the bridal party who want to come along

Thursday:
WEDDING

I don't think I've ever been this busy with fun, happy things before :-)

Today I slept in til 1:30pm, good thing I don't start work til 4pm!

I still managed to get things accomplished:

-I learned how to use GarageBand and edited the music for our wedding
-I sent my engagement ring back to Utopian Creations via platinum post to be cleaned, re-sized and so Ben could get the shape right for my wedding ring
-I booked our Penang accomodation
-I booked the flight from KL to Penang
-I booked the airport bus transfer from Penang airport to the hotel
-I booked our Penang tours
-I booked our KL tour
-I paid my mobile bill
-I found out how to get global roaming on my mobile

I have reached two conclusions, these are:
-The internet is very, very useful sometimes, especially when work is quiet
-Our credit card hurts

In three hours and five minutes I can go home and go back to sleep.

Yesterday was amazing and indulgent and exactly what I needed.

I had my feet and jaw seen to by the lovely Dr Anin (otherwise known as dozingquinn's wife Raya), then drove to Abbotsford Convent where despite the heat the shaded paths were cool, calm, fragrant and peaceful. I had lunch at Lentil as Anything then relaxed with a book, a pot of Earl Grey and some astonishingly good jam biscuits in the bakery. I swung by Emily's house and had a good long chat about family and the approaching wedding and our memories of puberty among other things. From there I drove to Williamstown and proceeded to have my first ever dayspa experience. I think I will need to be very careful about becoming hooked. With my wedding as a handy excuse I have booked in a few things over the next two months. I realised it must all be relative when the lady said, "Ok, so that's two facials in the next ten weeks, a "Scrub'n'Glow" session five days before the wedding, and then eyelash tinting, manicure and pedicure the day before?" I was feeling like maybe it was all a bit much and I was being silly, and then she continued, "Wow, you're really down to earth aren't you? Definitely not a bridezilla, and trust me, we've had a few through here!" I liked that she didn't try to upsell either. She suggested I might like the "Never Never Land" package but when I politely turned it down she left it alone straight away.

In the evening a very prettily made up vivienne_aster (who had had her bridal hair and make-up trial) picked mc_shamo, cows_might_fly, fnoo and myself and we headed out to Northcote for dinner and the Guild League gig. Dinner was at a pizza restaurant on High st I've forgotten the name of, it was fantastic though! The pizza bases were spelt or gluten free, and it's the first time I can remember eating that much pizza and not feeling slightly queasy after (which is not to say I didn't feel full, because I did- my God I can eat a lot of pizza) and the Guild League after a shaky start (If Not Now so out of tune it produced many a wince in the audience) were brilliant. It was great to catch up with insomnius who was there too.

By the time we came home I was so tired that I had to force myself to stay awake reading until I found out who the murderer was, then was out like a light and only got to read the deneumount this morning.

Well, what a huge weekend that was!

Saturday morning started when I was gently woken by mc_shamo and told I'd got an sms on my mobile, it was vox_diabolica- his plane had landed and he was on his way to Melbourne. I jumped in the shower then in the car- via my bedroom so I'd have clothes on- and with Seamus in tow and collected Mark from Spencer st station.

vox_diabolica decided following me round a farmers market in the humidity offered less charms than an air-conditioned cinema (crazy lad) so left after a nice cup of tea and catch up. I dragged mc_shamo down to Flemington Racecourse only to find that the market I wanted to visit was infact a Sunday market. Bollocks. So instead we walked down Racecourse rd to Verb for breakdfast, stopping in at the pet supply place along the way and discovering they had a very good cat tower there, which we went back for with the car yesterday, pictures of cats enjoying it under the cut ( Cat tower cuteness ).

Once we got home I got dressed up and mc_shamo put his suit in the car, then we headed out again, me to cows_might_fly's mum's place to do Eva's make-up and Seamus to see clappamungus and help him out before the wedding.

Make-up done, I headed in to uni with Eva and her mother and went up to the U-bar, along with Penny I put Eva in her dress, which was stunning and made all the more stunning by the person in it :-) We brought her down the stairs of Union House with Shayne waiting at the bottom of them, then the two of them went off for photos and Penny and I did the sensible thing in the heat and went to the pub until it was time for the wedding.

The wedding itself was beautiful, and the weather held off. vivienne_aster sang the song she and fnoo had written for the event and it sounded spectacular. I had Shayne's camera and had a lot of fun taking happy snaps, which stopped me from bawling like a baby which was good.

Once we all got back to the U-bar the weather broke and it poured with rain, and as anyone who was in Melbourne last Saturday night knows, it did not stop for about 15 hours. I was very grateful for the sails over North Court as I stood out on the balcony in the freah air.

The reception was great, lots of friends to catch up with and dancing and fun. Plus the jolt I got when people were talking about the next wedding they would attend and I realised for me it would be my own... Oh! And mc_shamo requested Sunlight in a Jar and danced with me to it, which was pretty special as I'm going to walk down the aisle to it in about 5 months.

Getting home in the rain was hilarious and fun and special, then Seamus and vox_diabolica went on a Hungry Jacks run, so I finished the night with fries, good conversation and a fuzzy warm feeling.

The wedding was amazing, I am so, so, so happy for Eva and Shayne, they are two of the most fantastic, generous, loving people in the world and them being married makes so much sense.

The next day, just when you'd think they'd want to rest and be alone, Eva and Shayne came round to pick us up and take us to Eva's sister Katie's place for a BBQ and "Wedding Wind-down" I helped them open presents and played with Jasper, Eva's 5 month old nephew, and chatted to Katie and her husband Joel about permaculture and carpentry. It was a lot of fun, and I felt very priveleged to be hanging out with Eva and Shayne the day after their wedding.

I'd moved my shifts around to accomodate the wedding, so my weekend finished with me doing the night shift at work on the Sunday, which was good as it was very quiet and I was forced to sit in front of a computer until I finished my bloody essay. My essay was on Samson and Delilah which I'd seen earlier this year, and very luckily when we got home we discovered that it would be on tellie in 15 minutes for the first time, so I got a refresher before work. It was a really interesting topic, but quite depressing (substance abuse in remote indigenous communities, hooray!) so I was glad at 5am to put it aside, finally done, and go to sleep for an hour and a half.

I got home about 9am Monday morning and found poor mc_shamo up, but with an awful head cold. The reason he was up? A courier had just arrived with my bridal veil. I got it out and stuck it anyhow in my hair and looked in the mirror... and a bride looked back. It's amazing what a huge difference it made for me. One of my friends (I think it might have been thewoozel once mentioned to me that it was her bouquet that made her feel like a "bride" but it could be different things for different people, and I think I just found mine. It was a nice feeling.

I slept until midday, then Seamus drove me to uni to hand in the essay (which I looked over before handing it in, since the final draft had been completed at 4am and it's entirely possible I wasn't completely with it- actually it was pretty good!) and we went to Fitzroy so he could duck in to work and I could play in the Friends of the Earth shop. I bought misshapen beeswax dining candles for $3 each, a bottle of natural insect reppellant and made friends with a small child who wanted me to read the labels on every single bottle to her.

The rest of the day past very pleasantly, we went to the pet supply place and picked up the cat tower, then spent an hour or so putting it together. Once again I was reminded of why I love Seamus, he makes doing that sort of thing fun. As I'd just completed the semster with my essay being handed in I got to pick dinner. Out of a choice of White Lotus restaurant, Limeflower Thai or fish'n'chips I... picked fish'n'chips. My excuse is it's the least diet friendly and therefore at the moment it's the most indulgent.

Today life has returned to normal. I pottered around the house and online before heading in to work.

I really did have a fantastic time last weekend, and I'm so very very lucky to be me and have firends like mine.

1. I have a weird rash thing under my bottom lip and it's ITCHY! *sulk* Have administered Savlon

2. I have Saturday off work AGAIN, yaaay! I'm thinking at this stage I'll do another early morning trip to Ceres for fruit and veg and eggs (sorry Eva, but I'm working dayshift Sunday so can't come to the Errol st Primary School Farmer's Market!) and maybe even have breakfast there too. Molly if you'd still like to come you're welcome to either meet me there or stay over the night before so you only have to get up at 8am, instead of earlier. Anyone esle who wants to meet up there, that'd be awesome, but I know Seamus and I are comparatively early risers, so I understand if getting there around 9am is difficult!

3. Does anyone have any of the following on audio book mp3? Minette Walters, Val McDermid, Lindsey Davis, Agatha Christie or anything of that ilk? I'm planning on doing some serious gardening this spring, and it helps to have something in the ipod to listen to and get properly into. If you do and you'd be willing to share please let me know.

4. I'm going to 12:00 Pump today, just putting it out there in case anyone is free.

5. My wedding jewellery (that I'm not borrowing from Mum) arrived today!!

6. There is no thing number six

Last night I was too tired to go dancing which was a bit sad, but meant I got some quality time with mc_shamo while we took the piss out of a crappy movie on tv. I also cooked something that made Seamus go "wow" which makes me happy (a pasta bake with red onion, bacon, swiss mushrooms, whole grain mustard, parsley and a very small amount of evaporated milk to bind).

Last week Seamus cracked it with our crappy matteress and bought a new one, it arrived today. I know that Seamus is the man for me because together we moved a crappy, bulky queen-sized matteress down stairs, through the house and into the garage and then did the reverse with the new matteress (harder as new matteress not-crappy which means not-bendy and we were going up stairs) and it was fun. At one point I nearly collapsed laughing (I think that was when we were trying to convince the cats they wanted to go in the study so we could open the doors downstairs- they were too excited to be picked up so we were literally trying to herd cats, it took a while!) and now we have a decent matteress that does not sag in the middle and still has fabric all over it, yay!

Sleeping on the new matteress really brought home to me how much we neded it- I slept the night through! And woke up comfy! Fantastic!

This morning we had an earlyish breakfast then headed off for a gym session before I met up with my cousin Emily, vivienne_aster, cows_might_fly (my bridesmaids!) and clappamungus (not my bridesmaid) at fraus for crepes and chatting, then bade Shayne farewell as the rest of us tottled into "Call me Madam" to appraise the dresses for bridesmaids-worthiness. I think the verdict was that we'd keep the dress in question in mind and definitelly keep an eye on the shop (such preeeeety things!) Then Kate, Emily and I went on an adventure to Brunswick st so I could buy a new swimsuit (a gym one, not a beach one) I got a very plain black swimsuit, one-piece with legs coming down into shorts, which is actually what I was after last time I bought a swimsuit too! I also got a perfume spray because it smelled divine and like summer-inna-bottle.

I managed to do all this and get back home for lunch by 1:30pm, then get showered and changed and presentable for work, where I am now.

And I'm cheerful, I'm peppy, I'm perky- I'd go as far as to say I'm chipper.

Wish me a quiet shift!

Back on St Patrick's day, or the day of the Left of Crazy gig at the Old Bar (however you best remember it) I woke up feeling breathless and called in sick to work. I then went in the study and checked my emails. mc_shamo came inot the study, chatted with me for a bit, then said something about not likeing keeping secrets from me and slipped a ring sizer on my finger. I was somewhat speechless, which as many people know if a very uncommon occurence for me. He then told me that he was getting a ring made for me with a diamond and rubies and rose gold, but it would take some time. We decided to keep it quiet until I had the ring. I'm not very good at keeping happy secrets :-/ That day became one of the happiest I've ever experienced.

Last Friday we went out with my parents to celebrate their 30th wedding anniversary. Before we left I mentioned that I thought it would be nice to tell my parents we were engaged that night. I then found out that Seamus had thought I'd like to do that and though the real engagement ring was (and is) still a few months away the lovely boy had ordered an "interem ring" but unfortunately it had not yet arrived! I thought this was incredibly sweet, and told Seamus the story of my mother's engagement ring (she can't wear it- she's allergic!) and we decided ring or no ring to tell Mum and Dad that night.


My parents were ecstatic, Seamus' Mum was pleased, his sister is excited (and will be doing the photos on the day as a wedding present!) my brother texted half of Werribee before I could stop him by saying that I hadn't told MY friends yet and my cousin cried on the phone. I was reminded of Jane Bennet actually, in the way I felt. The exact line escapes me at the moment, something like "To know what I have to impart will bring such happiness! How can I bear it?" And my parents are pretty much happy for us to do things our way, though as I had predicted to seamus they instantly veto-ed my idea of wearing my docs on my wedding day. :-)

So, later this week you shall probably see me sporting a very pretty diamond ring, and some time later in the year I shall probably very excitedly post about the real ring arriving ;-) I did try to upload the design, but it's not working on the work computer, I may put it up some time tomorrow. It is absolutley gorgeus, it is being hand made, and the jewels were all hand cut over a century ago. It's also being made in the most environmentally friendly way possible. :-D

Whee!

Very happy.

I bought shoes for your wedding!

Think I'll break them in tomorrow night.



They came from VeganWares, and were not too expensive considering that. I like the shop cat there, she looks like Loki but older.

In other news, I still feel bleugh, but well enough to work, so back to work I go!

I did it, I woke at 5am. And I only hit snooze once.

And that was after attending one of the most beautiful, meaningful weddings ever yesterday. Congratulations _audhumla_ and ragedc!

Now, to make it to Flemington rd by 6am...