Celeste

Celeste singing at our wedding

... argh!!!!! ...

hello hello i know i haven't blogged in time but stuff and nonsense and meh! so.. first up, for those of you who've been living in a box on the dark side of the moon under a mahoosive rock.. I'm engaged!! yup me, miss anti commitment herself.. so there.. Andy proposed to me in April and it's been GO GO GO! since then.. I'm so excited..however, since we got engaged i've barely slept a wink.. the first few dys were spent dazzled while gazing at my beautiful ring.. he picked it himself.. ooh ahh it's lurrvly

then i sat up realising just how HUGE a task organising a wedding was.. then i had to plan an party to celebrate the engagement.. then came the budgeting.. eeeeeek
the fantabulous toni and debbie sorted us out witht the funtion room at the brindley for the bash and chrissy and jay sang.. it was fab.. we broke out the chocolate fountain hairybod got me, with hilarious results, and andy's dad (ahem) was found with a straw in it at one point! this was my superb prezzie off of the girlies:since then it's been running smoothly.. we've been so blessed with prsents, help, and people offering to pitch in.. we have seen over the past few months just how loved we are, it's amazing!

I've already decided that I'm not in the persuit of a perfect wedding, cause i don't think it exists and i can't understand why anyone would want to put themselves through that much stress searching for it! So here i am all determined not to be some neurotic bride from hell, and inspite of the new cocktail of hormones i'm being given by the hospital i'm pretty pleased to say that i've done quite well.. that's not to say there haven't been blips.. however, this has come at a price, my subconscious is stepping in when my will power has no control..that's right, during my sleep.. so for your amusement i've decided to document:

NIGHTMARES OF A STRUNG OUT BRIDE

#1 i turn up at this gorgeous venue, loads of friends and people turn up and start milling around.. next thing i know someone is wearing my wedding dress and i'm being ushered to sit down and shush.. i begin to protest to no avail and have to sit and watch someone else have my wedding right put from under me!

#2 the morning of my wedding, i'm sooooo excited, i even felt that mad rollercoaster rush in my stomach ans i say to elly "it's my wedding day!!" to which she smiles and replies "yeah, I've got to admit I'm not as excited as i hoped i'd be.. i thought i'd feel different" way to knock the wind out of me!

#3 we decide to bring the wedding forward 6 months so we can have it on a bank holiday, it's a mad rush, frantically trying to get to the church, drive past al who's going in the wrong direction and has decided he'd prefer to go skating instead of to the wedding.. get to the church and there is an entire bridal party already outside.. i panic, have we got the wrong day.. but phew, no they're queuing for the church next door.. i race into our church and start trying to get ready but it just isn't going right..eventually the minister is yelling for me to come down the aisle, so i wind up skidding down the tiles with no shoes on and my feet all knotted in the netting in my dress! i arrive on the wrong side of the groom but have no time to rectify it.. then we get to the who gives this woman bit.. and my dad refuses to answer!

#4 we decide to have the wedding reception a few weeks before the wedding cause we figure we wont fit it all in one day, but we turn up two hours late and are in a hurry, my dress wont fit and i'm trying not to be spotted by andy cause i don't want him to see me in the dress till the wedding!

#5 turn up to the church not ready, but there is a christening going on which buys us some time, so we go to toni's to get ready, but when we get there the door is locked, she has no key and debbie has gone on holiday for two weeks, and the bridesmaids dresses have turned orange!

#6 having photos done for wedding, take so long realise ceremony has happened without me! so go straight to the reception, which hasn't been booked properly cause no one rsvp'd so we are all just sitting rond pub tables and the meals (fray bentos pie filling looking things) come out in dribs and drabs

#7 the church service takes three hours cause andy won't stop playing on the church x box

.. so there you have it.. no matter how much you try to keep a lid on it, grizzly bride finally rears it's ugly head one way or another..

HOWEVER.. it's catching.. andy has now tarted having nightmares.. his have included, the venue catching fire, the bride no being me and a guest hanging themselves!

this one's for becky and elly!

Thanks to the magic people on the wonder wonder web who post up random gumph (and elly's fab idea of check out youtube) I FOUND THE MALTESERS ADVERT!!!! so below is the link

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nyPrxD21p6g

I watched it last night and went all squishy and mulchy.. it's not quite like i remembered it but hey! i was a kid!! I was so the girl dancing on the ceiling in this ad.. it's nice to know I wasn't loosing my marbles heehee.. no doubt some of you will fail to catch the magic but that's ok.. anyhow ENJOY!

where where where where's elly??

yes yes i know (those of you old enough) that it seem's i've ripped off a book we all knew and loved as kids but you see greg and I seem to have misplaced elly! she was here a minute ago! i know she was!! but we have searched high and low.. all over the flat and we can't find her.. can you help??

So.. this is what she looks like for those of you who have forgotten:

Maybe she's hiding under the computer desk???

.....Nope not under there :(

.......Greg thinks maybe she fell down the toilet.., (she is pretty thin!)

....Nope not down the loo ..

Perhaps she's taking a verrrrrry long shower?????

... perhaps not....

no elly in there.... just a naughty andy waiting to jusmp out and cause trouble!

good idea greg! things are forever getting lost down the back of the sofa!...

.. not elly though ....

maybe she's hiding in the airing cupboard?....

nope... not there either...

greg wonders if she went to get some food but carelessly let the freezer lid shut on herself... she'll be cold!

....not in there either!

we just don't know where she could be... can you help???

the most awesome thing...

OK i meant to blog about htis a week ago when it happened but I got to work and was swamped and then i had the whole andy interview panic so i didn't get round to it as soon as i had meant to.. but that's a reason not an excuse!!
so anyhow.. i have a car, as you're all aware and when i was a rich student i used to buy pre-mixed washer fluid..i never had a problem with washer jets freezing in the winter, until the car whisperer topped up my washer fluid with water thinking it was a bit too strong and not realising that i was in fact using ready-mix.. anyhow the tightening of finances over the last 12 months has meant that on discovering concentrated washer fluid (and how cheap it is!) i've started to use that.. winter has rolled round and it has come to my attention that the designers at fiat thought their cars would only be sold to the rich folk who could afford pre-mix washer fluid because, not only have they made the washer jets out of metal (renowned for getting VERY cold) but they've also left them completely exposed on the top of the bonnet so that when it freezes over so do they! So I defreezed my car, cleared the windscreen and tried the jets.. big whirring noise... but nothing ack! after a bit i saw something coming out of the end of the jets. looking closer i noticed it was ice! time was ticking and i needed to get myself going otherwise i was going to be incredibly late.. so i set off thinking they'd thaw out soon enough and i'd be ok.. my mistake.. cause of course when it freezes over the good men from the council salt and grit the roads..so my screen was getting a bit on the salty side.. tried my jets but still nothing.. much frantic praying ensued as i carried on to work as traffic was getting heavy and i didn't have tome to stop and try to de-freeze my windscreen wash.. by the same token i couldn't afford not to see!! frantic praying turned to that kind of paniky praying.. you know the kind of please GOD could you just do this for me somehow please please pleeeeeeeease pretty please?????? my logic is the more i chew HIS ear off the quicker HE'll sort it out haha.. anyhow I came round the bend on the A5 to be met by the most whopping big queue of traffic which is highly abnormal and my windscreen was hit with a huge shaft of sunlight.. now a little bit aggrovated i decided to try and reason with GOD "can you not see now why I need you to sort the washer jets out hmm? that sunlight is all over my windscreen and all i can see is salt! not to mention this traffic is moving so slowly i wont have time to stop and sort it out, I'll be late for work!" (was pretty much how it went..then i looked again.. and the penny dropped.. the whopping shaft of sunlight that i'd been so put out by was in fact lying directly in my washer jets and as i sat in the traffic i watched a patch of ice encircling my jets melt away and sure enough within a couple of minutes the windscreen wash was flowing freely.. GOD must have been shaking HIS head as the realisation began to set in.. and i was like oh right doh now i get it . sorry....
It's amazing how something so small and seemingly insignificant can demonstarate the gargantuan heart of GOD for HIS kids.. I was so touched by it i couldn't help telling people at work all day!

luke 

how warm is luke??

following a conversation with greg, andy and his dad about the difference in temperature between my tap water and the cooper's the question arose.. how warm is luke?? how i hear you ask as you scratch your befuddled bonses.. well bryan stated that his water was luke warm,.. a common pharse we all accept without thinking..however how warm is luke so that we actuially know what we are gaging when we say something is luke warm.. and why not john or greg or cathy even? we need to know how warm luke is so we can be assured we are being accurate when we say it is luke warm, after all we don't want to be saying things are luke warm when actually they are only john warm! people i hope you are all as concerned as me! so what i propose is we measure the temperature of Luke when he is cold, neutral and warm over a period of weeks (scientific this!) until we settle on the average luke warm temperature.. so then we can say when something is luke warm and know we're right! what ya think?

oh yeh and this is all the loot! haha

i was over my weight limit OOPSIE! but shopping was fun!!

 

new york new york!

well thank you greg for your post re my photos..i note you neglected to mention that i left for NY under threat of leg breakage if i didnt fill the moemory stick on the camera with shots of new york for you to see! yes ladies and gents the truth is now out!! i took so so many photos, how many times do you get the opportunity to got to new york for £86 (in my experience once so far!) and to be honest the photos don't do it justice! nor do words..the place is out of this world! it's so awe inspiring..and in all truth until you experience it yourself you just wont know what i'm babbling about..anyhow i've posted a bunch o pictures for you to peruse..i'm presently collecting everyone else's pictures who went with us so i can put together a cd with everyone's perspective..it's interesting coz you can see the highlight of their trip based on the shots..me? i loved it all! anyway less talking more looking! have a look see what you think..if you wanna see more (haha if you dare!) by all means ask and i'll send u some..but these are the best ones i think .. enjoy!

more stuff and nonsense 

typical ny sights 

general messing about 

statute of liberty..smaller than you think hee hee

empire state..it's higher than u think! 

bit o jogging NOT! 

bright lights 

rockerfella centre 

the uniforms 

the view from the plane