Things I Love Thursday!

Firstly, how beautiful is this bike featured on the ModCloth Tumblr?

I think this by mchaib on tumblr is so cute and I have another print as my phone background!

This article from xojane.com about tattoos without meaning! I think Miami Ink filled everyone with a false impression that tattoos always have to mean something, sometimes they can just be fun!

What Else?

This week feels like it's gone by in such a blur - I mean, we're already on Thursday!

♥ On Tuesday, I did First Aid Training! It's such a dorky thing to be excited about but genuinely, I felt like I needed it for a while and now I feel more confident to deal with any ~emerging situations~ 

♥ I won't say too much just yet but Ceri & I have set a date for our wedding, which we'll be announcing to friends & family soon - then the wedding stuff really begins! I'm so excited!

♥ My Mum is back from her holiday and I missed her so!

Weight Loss Wednesday

Loss This Week: 2lbs

Loss Overall: 40lbs

Pounds till Target: 38lbs

That's a bit better, right!? This week felt a lot easier and I was super motivated! I kicked ass in Zumba last week, I've cycled a whole bunch to and from work - I ate so much fruit I'm surprised I didn't turn into a Jabuticaba! (NB: I didn't know what one of those was until I googled weird fruit - true fact right there!)

I think the warm weather did a lot to keep me from feeling hungry, I was out and about a lot - soaking up the rays and I don't know about you but being hot makes me not want to eat! Plus playing out all day reminds me of being a kid, where you'd be in for 20minutes to hurriedly eat dinner before rushing out again before your mum said it was time to come in for bed!

Cath did a wonderful BBQ for us on Saturday, I hadn't eaten all day and I did splurge, but really it wasn't terrible!

On Monday, the weather was still fine with a cool breeze and Ceri decided we'd fly by the seat of our pants and have another BBQ - I know, we're crazy!

Because I feel so motivated, I'm excited to cook again and make new recipes that Ceri & I can both enjoy with minimal faces being pulled!

Source

You tell 'em Knope!

A Reflection on: Blogging with honesty

I was thinking the other day about blogging and the perceptions gained by people who read those blogs, then not wanting to create a false impression of myself for people to think I live an idyllic life, not to say that I'm not happy with my lot - but there are times when it's so far from perfect.

I think it's important to be honest with people and yourself about you, your day to day and what goes into making your life what it is and with that in mind, I'd like to break the following down for you:

♥  I work an extremely emotionally draining job, there are days when I hear stuff that I feel in no way trained to deal with that really tests your resolve as a human being, but really - I wouldn't give my job up.

♥  I was up to my eyeballs in debt from years of silly decisions and an inability to budget. But, this time next year, I will be 100% debt free! You can be too! ASK ME HOW! (Sacrifice and little to no social life).

♥  I'm an anal control freak and love things organised and clean, but I can hardly ever be bothered to clean. I might do a BIG CLEAN once a month or so, but then chaos resumes because I complain I have no storage space for all our crap.

♥  I am petrified of the thought of my Dad dying that, at times, it's become debilitating and I fixate on it. My Dad had his first stroke when I was 15, and his first heart attack when I was 16 - the last 10 years have been scattered with hospital appointments, X-rays and health scares. When he goes, I'll be catatonic.

♥  I have a long dark history of Depression & Anxiety. I spent months in bed, I wouldn't go out and talk to anyone. I went to see a counsellor and a psychiatrist who were about as useful to me as a sponge. I thank my Mum for getting me through and showing me that I have things to be positive about, that being said - things are still a struggle at times!

♥ I have some how managed to inherit my mum's frizzy hair and my dad's varicose veins. I'm winning the DNA lottery right now you guys!

I think that's enough truth for right now but I want whoever reads this to know, no one is perfect. People have the same worries and concerns about you - family, friends, money, health and jobs! We edit the details of our life for Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr etc and present you with what we'd like you to see, but if I told you about how I fill the hours of my day between 9am - 5pm, you'd be extremely bored! Of course I only want to show you about the good bits, the bad bits would include how I get annoyed at finding random bits of fluff on my carpet and I don't know where they come from, or how I can't get the walls of my bathroom to be crystal white despite trying 3 different brands of bathroom cleaner!

Sun, Sea & BBQs

This weekend I think I would've been forgiven for mistaking South Wales with the South of France, temperatures have gotten up to at least 80 degrees and we've taken advantage of every minute of it! I think if it were possible to overdose on Vitamin D, I'd be in hospital right now.

On Fridays I finish work at 6pm and so with the sun shining outside and Bruce Springsteen on the radio, I was itching to get out of down and throw myself in to the weekend. That, and the Olympic Torch was coming through Cardiff that evening and I wanted to get the hell out of dodge! 

Our next door neighbours had a BBQ and invited some of our other neighbours, it was nice to get to meet some of them as our road is full of young couples and families! Plus our neighbours are primary school teachers so showed us one of the projects they're doing in physics involving a bottle rocket. If that's not cool, I don't know what is!

On Saturday, we were up early, sun blazing into our room and the temperatures swiftly rising! We lathered up in Factor 50 and hopped on Ceri's motorbike, headed down to the beach. We're extremely fortunate that we have a number of beaches within a 40 minute drive of us - but I think most people had the same idea as we did and the queues were miles long, apparently. So we opted for a quieter beach -Nash Point. I went last year and was in absolute awe of the beach - it's Pre-Historic so there's no sand, just miles of costal line made up of rocks! Which means fossils galore!

There was a brilliant gale force wind blowing, but it wasn't remotely cool - it was blowing hot air. But as soon as it dropped, the heat would become unbearable so I was grateful for it! I don't do well in extremes of weather, my celtic colouring means that too much sun & heat means I end up looking like a tomato in a frizzy wig. And as for cold weather, don't get me started!

After a few hours of frolicking in the sun we headed to a Eurovision BBQ held by our friends, Cath & Dan. Eurovision is a European institution and every year, millions of people gather around TVs to watch bad pop songs performed for the honour of the Eurovision title. It's stuff of legend and never, ever fails to entertain!

Sunday has been a much slower pace, thank God - the sun has taken it out of me and all I've wanted to do was nap!

Finally getting out of bed at around 11, leisurely tucking into egg & soldiers in the garden and reading in the sun. Then watching Ospreys narrowly defeat Leinster in the rugby.

It's weekends like this that make me wish I lived on a tropical island where it never rained and I never had to work again.

But honestly, I wouldn't trade Cardiff for the world.

Wedding Planning: Religious vs Civil Ceremony

One of the debates that Ceri & I often have, is about religion. Ceri is an absolute atheist and I believe in God. As you can imagine, planning how to navigate such an important issue for ourselves and the family we want to make is often a bit of a pickle and isn't without the odd clash of opinion.

When it's come to Wedding Planning, the religion topic has reared its head a few times so, often, we've had to consider if we wanted a civil ceremony or if we would go down the religious route.

Despite the fact we're both pretty sold on St Fagan's, we have yet to set a date so things are still up in the air before we make any concrete plans. 

I come from a, somewhat, old fashioned Irish Catholic family and my mother has pointed out that if we didn't get married in a Church, our future children wouldn't be able to be baptised. I'm not sure if that is such a big deal for me? I feel that, for us and our family, we can chose to show our children "faith" on our own terms and doesn't have to be down the "organised religion" route. Lets not forget, the Catholic Church isn't exactly without sin, amirite?!

The older generation in my family will certainly have something to say when the invitations come out and there isn't a church on there. But, it's our day right? And we have to make sure that it's the day we want and is right for us.

I would like to stand up in front of friends and family, exchange vows with Ceri that are on our terms and suit what we want and what we're planning for our future. I'm sure that when my 91 year old grandmother finds out that the G word isn't being uttered in our ceremony she'll keel over or berate my mother to the point where I'll be frogmarched in front of the Pope and made to apologise. 

But at the end of the day, we have to be married on our terms and do what's best for us, surely?

Things I Love Thursday

I haven't done a TiLT in forever! Life seems to have been pretty whirlwind lately? Here's what I'm loving

Ok, so I don't love that, for the first time ever, Her Majesty has decided to smack with me with tax for an incoming goodie. But! It means that my second Modcloth purchase is here! So excited to go and pick it 

up!

This weather! We had a few nice days in March, then April was a complete wash out with flood warnings , May has been a bit ridiculous but finally it seems that summer has landed! 

Which means that this fair weather cyclist is back on the Taff Trail! Ceri & I have are extremely lucky to live along the river which means that cycling to work and home again offers some stunning views! 

We've had dinner in the garden each night this week, accompanied by Ice Lollies!

The best of the rest!

***NSFW***! 3 Nana's watch Kim K's sex tape. I wish my Nana was this cool!

♥ I have been so super productive at work lately, this makes me feel good because I go home and don't feel the urge to log on and check emails! Therefore not dreading the next day!

♥ I only have 17 working days left before I have 2 weeks off! I don't know what to do with all this time!

♥ We're going to the beach this weekend! One of the ace things of living in Cardiff that I get the best of ALL worlds! If I want mountains, they're not far away! The beach? Sure! City living - Of course!

Weight Loss Wednesday

Loss this week: Actuallym gained 2lbs!

Loss overall: 40lbs

Pounds till target: 40.5lb

I'm bored of these shenanigans and I'm bored about talking about how hard it is to lose weight. I'm bored of doing really well then blowing it at the weekend. 

So I've made a new resolution to myself, to follow the plan 100%. To put more into zumba and to say NO!

Clearly eating a lot pizza, brownies and waffles at the weekend wasn't in the plan. I felt bad for it afterwards and then I felt guilty - like I'd cheated myself, and worst of all - cheated you. Because if you read this regularly, I'm simply assuming that you might want to lose weight yourself and I'm being a right old fraud.

I asked my Slimming World Consultant for help with a certain topic, how I can get Ceri to be more involved and helpful. And she palmed me off. How rude! I mainly wanted Ceri more involved because we have the same conversation everyday of planning for dinner, I can find a healthy SW recipe and then it all going to hell in a muffin basket later on because we have the same old thing and get bored with it.

I've decided since my SW consultant isn't the most helpful of people, I'm going to be my own consultant! I'm going to search out my own answers, remain positive, do more, move more and eat more of the right things.

Today was the first time back to our Zumba group in a few weeks and I'd missed it! I missed our group of odd bods, like the pregnant girl who barely moves and the really over enthusiastic guy who gives it his all! I missed the songs we dance to! I compared our group to the group of people of who went to the Zumbathon we did the other week and realised I loved it so much because no one there really cares or thinks that this is some miracle cure to life. 

I'd shaved my legs before going and 2 things struck me when I was doing all the moves. 1) My legs felt like the softest velvet, I should shave them more. 2) Zumba Music really makes me want tapas.

On the bright side, I had my first strawberries of the year today, and they were delicious! It seems that Summer has finally decided to descend upon the UK and I was basking in it's sunny glory!

On Monday, Ceri & I ate dinner in the garden. We had Cajun Chicken, home made chips and salad! Although I wasn't allowed to leave the table until I'd finished all my vegetables. Hi, I'm Jen, and I'm 26 going on 7.

So, with all this in mind and my new found positivity! I've decided to:

♥ Plan ahead

♥ Write things down

♥ Try new things

Weekends and Wedding Fayres

I have been so productive this weekend that it's finally nice to curl up under a blanket and just put my feet up.

Saturday was spent running errands and giving the house the deepest of cleans! I really do love cleaning, I find it very relaxing plus it was nice to finally clean things that needed cleaning since we moved in! Also, it gave me a chance to realise what we really need in terms of items for the house, like bedside tables, a dressing table, a bigger chest of draws!

We were up and out the door early to go the post office, butchers and have a lovely brunch. Off to ASDA, which I loathe, to get some bits for our guests then we had a poker night!

It was so much fun! Mainly because I didn't have to cook for anyone, we just ordered pizza - cleaning up this morning was so easy and done in 5 minutes! Also, because there was a lot to drink and no one really knew how to play! So there was no pressure.

Today, Ceri's mum joined us to go to our first - and hopefully last! Wedding fayre in Cardiff Bay.

As soon as you walked in, vendors were trying to shove things in your hands and started throwing prices at you. I found it extremely oppressive, intimidating and pressurised! As well as super corny. Of the vendors we spoke to, a handful were interested in us and what we wanted, regardless of what they could provide us and they were the ones that took the time to stop, talk to us and investigate our tastes and come up with good suggestions.

We found a lady who, I hope, will be our photographer and got a few good ideas for centre pieces and where to find items for the day!

After the fayre, we went out for lunch and tried somewhere a bit different - Giovanni's, the pizza was delicious! Plus it was nice to eat something out that wasn't a burger.

When we got home, Ceri picked me Lily of the Valley from our Garden, which smelled amazing! I was tempted to get rid of the whole batch of them at the bottom by the shed but now I have to keep them because once they bloom, they look amazing!

I think we found our venue!

Ceri & I have been throwing ideas around of who where we think we would like to get married. We'd perused the local hotels and registered sites online and all of them, to us, seemed really samey and had little to no individuality.

Today, we headed over to St Fagan's with Ceri's Mum, to have a look around and discuss what we were looking for. We'd been a few weeks ago when the weather was nice and I absolutely fell in love with the place.

St Fagan's is a big open air museum where buildings from across Wales have been moved to the site so they can be conserved, so there's a cute mix of old and new!

We had a look in the castle and this building, which used to be an old working men's institute, it has a beautiful upstairs and a big stain glass window.

We haven't set a date yet, as we're stuck in between two! And there is some to-ing and fro-ing about date suits us better.

Now, all that walking and cake means I need a helluva nap!

Weight Loss Wednesday

Loss this week: 1lb

Loss overall: 42lbs

Pounds till target: 38.5lbs

We had a BBQ on Sunday - it gale force winds. I had chips on Saturday and Burgers on Friday. Probably not the best way to round off a week.

However, I did do 3 hours of Zumba on Saturday afternoon. I don't know about anyone else but people getting too enthusiastic about things drives me nuts, there was whooping and hollering - I had bad camps and I was ready to walk out. However, I stuck with it and on Sunday I woke up with such a stiff neck and sore arms that I knew I'd done something to feel a burn!

Getting married and my aversion to having serious bingo wings in pictures from the day is enough to spur me on and reignite my fire. I even thought about going for jogs in the morning - but who am I kidding? That won't happen unless someone dangles a Krispy Kreme from a stick in front of me.

Being Organised

When we first moved into the house in January, it was a case of chucking everything in and sorting it out later.

Well later appears to have finally rolled around because I've been on such a cleaning kick the last few days, re-arranging furniture and trying to make the best use of the space we have available to us. And we have tonnes of space! Just little to no storage! For instance, our spare bedroom has turned into a washing room, with clean laundry just thrown everywhere. And the back bedroom, which Ceri has claimed and kind of turned into a music room - has become a dumping ground for all objects that he won't put in the garage or I can't bear to look at in the rest of the house.

A few weeks ago, we headed to one of the Car Boot Sales in Cardiff and picked up some vinyl records along the lines of Vera Lynn, Andy Williams, Elvis and now Ceri has ransacked his parents attic and claimed a whole load of other records. The sound of 12" fills the dining room while we cook or dance around the house, as I type he's listening to The Beatles and pottering around, clearing up and looking rather eerily like my Dad!

When we moved into this house, from the flat, we made a deal that he could have whatever kind of technology he wanted in the house, as long as I didn't see a single wire. Now that we're using to living in the house and having it kind of work for us - I'm starting to see wires sneaking out from corners, as you can see under the record player above. I didn't realise that I would turn into my Mother so soon, but it's happened. Wires and general mess leave me in a state of rage, and my constant need for things to be in their home has left it impossible for Ceri to leave anything on the side after he's done using it, even for a millisecond. Poor guy!

I'm genuinely a little bit excited for pay day to roll around, because I can't wait to get my hands on THIS from Martha Stewart. When I was in New Zealand, Deva had a copy and I was probably inspired by it a little bit too much! But there are so many hints and tips in there for keeping your home organised! 

Overwhelmed.

Yesterday was a day where I felt super overwhelmed. I'm a massive control freak and when I want something, it has to be done this very second and I can't handle waiting around for other people to come back to me so having to wait to do anything yesterday - combined with massive PMS and had me bawling on the sofa and Ceri looking at me, truly worried. Lesson here? Learn to let go.

I was looking through the practical elements of getting married, paperwork etc. Who knew you had to have a Certificate of Non-Impediment?! Not me. See, no one tells you how much paperwork is involved and actual legal stuff that needs to be done when it comes to getting into a marriage - they just tell you about the cutesy stuff and how much that will cost you!

I phoned my dad to ask about this Certificate stuff and he was none the wiser but whilst he was on the phone, thought he would "helpfully" suggest that we should have our Reception at a local Pub with a buffet available for guests. I can't say that a Prawn Ring was ever really my dream?

A while later my Mum called me back and spent 40minutes on the phone discussing starting points, and she suggested looking at different venues in Cardiff and South Wales, looking into their wedding packages and seeing what was on offer. Something Ceri & I had already kind of started but I was floored by the price of some of them!

There's a lot of hotels and nice places that do weddings, but the prices are absolutely extortionate. Apparently, the average price of a wedding in the UK is £11,000 - that's more than a deposit for a house. And to me, that is an obscene amount of money. So as you can imagine - the prices of venues in Cardiff are super expensive and they're all a bit "samey" not really what Ceri and I are looking for.

We've arranged to go and see St Fagan's with Ceri's Mum, because my mum isn't going to be around too much to help with wedding planning. St Fagan's is beautiful and we could have a lovely day and do the whole thing on a budget.

Cath also suggested having a look at Money Saving Expert for advice on how to cut costs and cut out the things that are not important to us.

Also, Wedding Dress shops are horrific! I cried at the possibility of being a fat bride and those shops do NOTHING to make you feel better about yourself.

Weight Loss Wednesday

Loss this week: 4lbs

Loss overall: 41lbs

Pounds till target: 39.5lbs

So here's the thing, since my birthday I kind of fell off the wagon - I've been enjoying pizza, garlic bread, chips and all manner of things that aren't on the menu.

And this week I've been better! But still getting hungry in between meals and all sorts, so snacking has been high on the agenda.

And cheesecake is very much becoming an item on my must-have! It's all so good!

Cath and I are taking part in a 3 hour Zumba session on Saturday, if I have to put my arms over my head a whole bunch I'll be annoyed/in pain but I have to give it a go right?

And so it begins!

We're planning! And by we, I mean I'm coming up with grand ideas and Ceri is pulling me back down to earth and putting me into check - Thank God! 

There is so much fantastic inspiration out there that I'd have 10 weddings if I could, but I just need to narrow it down and find ideas that we both love.

Ceri & I are off to City Hall tomorrow to have a peek in and see if it's the place for us. Looking around venues in Cardiff has been hard because everywhere has been so samey - hotels, or castles and whilst they are beautiful - they're really out of our price range and I don't think they really suit us? 

Right now I'm tucking into my newly arrived Mollie Makes Wedding magazine - talk about amazing timing, right?! Again, so much fantastic inspiration!

I had so many tabs open on my browser yesterday, that I've had to organise my books marks - and there is so much stuff to organise - not just the whimsical fun stuff but actual practical stuff too! My parents live 2 hours away and whilst I'd love to have my mum involved in so much of the wedding planning, I'm not sure how realistic it is because she only gets week days off from her job!

I'm so geared towards organising this wedding with military precision and I'm a big control freak anyway, I've already had a tizz or two thinking about the traditional things that people "expect" that I don't see the point of? So whilst I'm cutting the things that I don't think will benefit us, I'm working towards keeping the bits that mean the most to us.

I just literally don't know where to start.

We're Engaged!

We'll, we're engaged! And the last few days have been a bit of a blur telling family & friends, receiving phone calls and getting hugged - a lot!

Ceri decided that because we didn't really do much to celebrate our anniversary, we should go out for a meal on Saturday. He kept on coming up with suggestions - no where I knew and was getting confused! Then he was putting on a shirt. If I'd have had my way, I'd have worn the hoodie I'd had on all day and was super comfy and sleepy in but I thought if he's making an effort - I should do too so we can have a nice, cute date night!

We went to Greenwood & Browns in Cardiff which did a lovely steak with "home" made chips. 

We had a lovely time in there, the food was delicious - I haven't had steak in years! Maybe about 12 or so? And this was beautiful, with garlic & herb butter. For dessert, I had a beautiful cheesecake and Ceri had a brownie - I don't know which was better!

After dinner, we caught a train down to Cardiff Bay and had a drink in Bar Cwtch. Then decided to take a walk down to the Norwegian Church which is a cute little coffee shop in the Bay on the waterfront. We were taking in the view.

This is an older photo of the Bay but you get the idea!

All of a sudden, Ceri got down on one knee and out came the question - and so did my tears! There was a lot of "Are you serious?! /snort /cry /Are you serious?! /snort /cry" and of course I said yes! 

Then he called his parents, I called mine - who already knew! Ceri had been very gentlemanly and had asked my Dad, when we were down a few weeks ago, for permission to ask me to marry him. My mum exclaimed that she'd known all along!

In a bit of a tizz I announced it on Twitter! I'm not sure if that's an accepted way to announce your engagement these days? But I did it. 

Yesterday, we made the rounds to Ceri's relatives to let them know the news. Both Grandmothers were happy and grinning like cheshire cats! Then we joined Ceri's Parents for dinner enjoyed some Champagne that my mum had generously given me for my birthday - now I know why!

So there you have it! Now the fun starts with planning and planning which of my extensive family to invite! There's too many to get them all in one place and I'm getting a headache just thinking about it!