My best friend is getting married. Wait. What?!

Meeka is getting married. She's getting married! While my joy is indescribable and my anticipation to save enough cash to be in the States for her wedding is reeking havoc in my mind, my nostalgia is even stronger!



Here is a picture I found of her and her sister and my brother and I. We've been BFFs since we were five. She's come to South Africa twice and I am so excited to join up again.

Rare is the friend that puts up with me for 16 years!

The Wedding overview

Ok guyus. this is the last post I'll post about the wedding. Unless of course you HAVE to hear more... But then even that is a gamble. There is just so much going on in my day that I can barely breathe nevermind think about how glorious my wedding was.

So here is the final post about the wedding. Next I promise to bring back the humourous, snarky insightful writer you all fell in love with (please you are too kind)

Here are our centrepieces:


We sunk gladiolas, roses and... get this... chillies... in vases.

This is our guest book. We had a scrapbook for our guests, they signes and decorated the page as they liked and we took their photo to place on the designated square. It was a huge hit. Awesome.



This is the hall we held our reception in:




The arches sasid, Cherish, dream and live. Our wedding theme was: "Cherish yesterday, dream tomorrow, live today".

Here's where I met my groom. My baby sister is behind me. Love it.








Random Photos...













Love it!

Can't stop being excited!

Tomorrow we get all of our professional photos. I stole this one from her website. *sigh*

I am very excited....

The last Two Weeks have been pure bliss...

I am not too sure why I couldn't tear myself away from life to update my blog...

Oh wait. Yes I can. I was busy getting married, going on honeymoon and getting a promotion. Thank you very much. That is why.

I can't yet decide how best to entertain you with my commentary about the week preceding and the week succeeding my wedding. I am not too sure how to fill you with the love and tears that filled my wedding day. I do not know how to explain the joy I hold in my heart.

I may just wait until I have some photos... Then you can maybe feel the joy... and see the love and taste the yummy cake! :)

Hope the last few weeks have been filled with love, joy and peace for you. xxoo

The one when I tell you about Roast Chicken

A few weeks ago I wanted to know how the roast chicken for our wedding meal would be prepared since they don't offer any tastings. I called our caterers. This is how the conversation went:

Me: Hi! It's Elizabeth, the bride from the wedding on the 22nd. I have a quick question for you.

Old Afrikaans lady: ok

Me: How do you prepare your roast chicken?

OAL: ok

Me: maybe she didn't hear Sorry, how do you prepare your roast chicken?

OAL: How do we prepare the roast chicken?

Me: Yes. How do you prepare the roast chicken.

OAL: Well, honey, its a roasted chicken.

Me: yes. How do you prepare it?

OAL: Well we cook it in the oven.

Me: Yes but how do you prepare it?

OAL: Well we take it out of the package and put it in the pan and put it in the oven and roast it.

Me: Well, yes, but what do you do with the chicken?

OAL: We put it in a pan.

Me: What recipe do you follow?

OAL: I just told you.

Oh cluck it. They put it in a pan and roast the damn thing.

Update: My mother was disturbed at my conversation and called herself. Turns out it's put in the pan, roasted and served with a wine sauce. Like duh.

Cool/ Uncool Tuesday

Today we're taking a bit of an exploration into the cool/uncool world of... my life...

I know. You are already riveted.

Cool: Meeka and I are rocking up life
Cool: My university documents all came through without any hang ups. I now work full time and study part time. Woop.
Cool: I got an award from Hillbilly Duhn for saying the big no no word in my blog. Yes. I said fuck. Don't believe me? Go here and discuss your view on profanity and censorship of profanity.
Cool: Now I get to list 10 random facts about myself
Uncool Fact #1: I can't eat tomato sauce (ketchup) because I worked 2 years as a waitress.
Uncool Fact #2: I am constantly freezing cold.
Cool Fact #3: I love to cuddle.
Cool Fact #4: I major in English Lit and Creative Writing
Uncool Fact #5: I have terrible grammar.
Uncool Fact #7: I have an inability to count.
Cool Fact #8: I am getting married in 19 days
Cool Fact #9: I watch grey's anatomy religiously
Cool Fact #10: I enjoy blogging more than I enjoy eating. Which, by the way, is a lot.

Cool: I also get to post a meaningful quote: This quote is the theme of our wedding.

"Cherish yesterday, dream tomorrow and live today"

Cool: My bloggy friends. Technically I need to tag 5 people who say the big no no word in their blog... So if you are reading this, have said the no no word, consider yourself tagged. *ching*



Over and out. xxoo

If you are actually attending the wedding don't you dare read this!

I just LOVE our new design for the table centrepieces and I have got to share them with my design concious amigos. Check these out....



and flowers like these inside....



I am getting super excited now. The Fi and I are getting married next month. Whoa!

Gotta get back to doing the stuff...

Things that make me blush...

The Fi and I are currently undergoing pre-wedding counselling with our pastor. It has been a very enriching experience as we look at the biblical view of marriage. The Fi and I have chosen to align our marriage as closely as we can with the biblical standard. Not that I will be pregnant and barefoot in the kitchen though! I have chosen to allow him to be the responsible party for our family and household, and I will take the position of assistant and helper role in the management of our home.

We are old fashioned about marriage and have also decided to keep various other special things only for marriage.

Our pastor has given us an assignment whereby we have to purchase items that the other person would normally purchase. merrr.

Just thinking of buying these are making me blush. I don't blush easily but when the impending post-nuptials are concerned I light up like a freakin' stoplight.

Hello, my name is Elizabeth and I am scared of the impending humiliation.

I'd rather share my personal life with 10,00 strangers than walk into the store right now.

She's BAAAACK!

I know you loyal readers definitely missed me. I know, I know. It's good to be back.

I had a wonderful Christmas with my family and the Fi. The entire day was spent lounging around, braaiing and eating said braaied food. Yum. Over and over I looked around and thought, 'Man, I am so blessed'. Because I am.

After the whole debacle about Christmas presents, everyone thought up gorgeous presents for the Fi and me.

I must have been a very very good girl this year.

My parents bought us one of these:
Since we didn't have a television. It is glorious! I can't remember the make or size or anything of it, but its ours and that makes it special. In addition we got one of these too:
Same unknowledge of make and size and things. That's what the man is for! You know what I know? I know that ours is black and ours. and shiny. and plays DVDs. Hooray!


The Fi spoiled me with a puzzle with a beautiful picture that I have been lusting after and one of these:

It's possibly the nicest wallet I've ever owned. I mean Mr Price R30 wallets PALE in comparison! Thank you! :)

So that's my bragging! Especially because my sisters, brother and aunts all spoiled us with magazines, kitchen goods and photo frames. *sigh* I must have been very very good.

The Fi and I have been busy moving his junk...err... things around into the place we will be living in after we are married. It is a beautiful flat complete with balcony and an extra room deemed 'the study'. This makes us sound educated and intelligent and well, that's the vibe I am going for. Inside The Study we have his books (soon to be joined by my books) and his desk (soon to be joined by my desk) and all the smart things we can possibly cram in there to be- you know- studied.

I do suppose that is the best synopsis that I can give you, dear reader, this evening. I am tired. I have 70 more Thank You for Attending the Wedding cards to produce. I probably should go do that.

Or maybe I'll just go to bed and sleep off the cramp in my tired-of-moving shoulder.

First Dance Stumbles.

In case you haven't noticed, I am getting freakishly excited about the wedding. I am pathetic... Pathetically excited.

Like that puppy that wees on the floor when you get home. That is me. Without the weeing.

I am absolutely stoked for every moment of the rest of everything that is coming. Except one.

The One.

That's it.

You're right.

The first dance.

I can't dance.

Oh I can break it down. I can make the room hot and happening with my moooves but a nice little dance with the new Hubs is... put lightly, scaring the crap out of me.

The Fi can't dance either. He doesn't really want to learn either. So. There's us, in my minds eye, stepping on each others toes and looking absolutely ridiculous. ehm. Lame.

In any case.

We have a lovely song. *if you click there you can watch their youtube video of the song* It's so beautiful and the lyrics are very special to both of us:

Dance With You

sittin' on the beach
the island king of love
deep in Fijian seas
deep in some blissful dream
where the goddess finally sleeps
in the lap of her lover
subdued in all her rage
and I am aglow with the taste
of the demons driven out
and happily replaced
with the presence of real love
the only one who saves

I wanna dance with you
I see a world where people live and die with grace
the karmic ocean dried up and leave no trace
I wanna dance with you
I see a sky full of the stars that change our minds
and lead us back to a world we would not face

the stillness in your eyes
convinces me that I
I don't know a thing
and I been around the world and I've
tasted all the wines
a half a billion times
came sickened to your shores
you show me what this life is for

I wanna dance with you
I see a world where people live and die with grace
the karmic ocean dried up and leave no trace
I wanna dance with you
I see a sky full of the stars that change our minds
and lead us back to a world we would not face

in this altered state
full of so much pain and rage
you know we got to find a way to let it go

sittin' on the beach
the island king of love
deep in Fijian seas
deep in the heart of it all
where the goddess finally sleeps
after eons of war and lifetimes
she smilin' and free, nothin' left
but a cracking voice and a song,

I wanna dance with you
I see a world where people live and die with grace
the karmic ocean dried up and leave no trace
I wanna dance with you
I see a sky full of the stars that change our minds
and lead us back to a world we would not face
we would not face.

---Live---

I do suppose that the beauty of the song will over ride our pitiful performance. *right* And if not there is still hope in a magical dancing fairy *right*

There goes the puppy again. *sigh*

I won!

I came back today from my extreme camping trip to see that I won Hillbilly's giveaway! Needless to say I am so very excited! Thanks again to her and her fabulous Husband for choosing me! I suppose I should begin thinking of my own giveaway! Would ya'll be keen on something South African? Or something more fabulously chic? Weigh in and I'll keep my eyes open!

The camping trip was amazing! Thanks for hanging in there with the scheduled posts. Although it looks like only a few actually posted. Ehm. Lame. I would care more but last night I was caught in a ferocious thunderstorm and yeah, nearly died. Ok not really but it kinda felt like it.

It looks like I did promise a sneak peek at the invites. I have to be honest A good little blogger would blur out all the names and yadda yadda. So if you are planning on stalking me, please don't. Thanks.

Here was our inspiration: The Fi and I saw this on theknot and LOVED it.



We made a bit less stark and more elegant using, of course, chocolate brown and red! I tried really hard to get a good picture of it but this was the best I got:


It was very exciting giving them to our friends and family. Sorry Grandma, yours will be posted soon! Just waiting to hear from Ann about her or Grandpa's postal address :)(Shameless I know! :) )

Sorry to the men out there...I like weddings.

** this post is totally scheduled. I am actually getting dirty and chillin' with the wildlife... err... my family right now!***

I enjoy wedding planning. A lot. I have moments of thinking, "heck I could so do this for a living." I watch Whose Wedding and I can't help but think "I could do that!!"

Th problem is of course that finicky women drive me insane. There that goes off the radar. merr.

Anyway,

My bridesmaid Pookie is getting her dress made for her. LUCKY! It's gonna look like this:



The colours are blood red and chocolate brown. The main portion of her dress is brown with a red sash. She even found a brooch to wear like this:


*Sigh* She's going to look exquisite!


Tomorrow I'll continue the weddingness and post the invitation design since we got those done and out! Hooray!

Plans to hijack Airports Consume my Life

The wedding day Itinerary. Who thought of this? Really. I would like to punch their baby. How the heck am I going to know how long it is going to take to do things like speeches -How long I want to spend dancing- What the optimal time is to cut the cake?

Its too bad I can't make the celebration last forever. There are people like the BFF who are flying in. The Fi's best man is flying in from the UK. I want to spend the entire celebration with them. And of course the new Husby.

So I choose to not have an end. Nope. Maybe I should hijack the airport to keep those I want here... Anyone wanna help with this?

Less than 80 days... holy crap.

Patty Cake

I know what I want. I like lime green, orange, red, grey, brown and black. I do not like yellow. I do not approve of rainbows, flowers, bows or heart motifs. They make me vomit in my mouth.

In fact, to the great dismay of the amazing women trying to help me plan the decor of the reception, I don't ever accept (EVER) something at face value. Something will need to be changed, tweeked or just plain thrown out. I think these are good qualities for a bride to have as long as she can stick to her decision. Which I do. Mostly.

I am getting more and more excited for our four tiered chocolate sponge cake with buttercream icing and fondant. Finally got the picture of what I discussed with the cake artist to show the Fi and I think he is as excited as I am. (Although I think it has more to do with the cake being all chocolate than the design)
This is the design I want. Sort of. It will look like this, except the foundant will have a silver shimmer. The ribbons will be blood red and satin. And instead of weird, random leaves, I would love to have some exotic white flowers cascading down the edge. *sigh*

Our colours are apparently "difficult". It has been a mission to find anything in Blood red and chocolate brown. This cake though, it just worked. This, my blog-friends, makes me a very happy woman.

More pictures to come! Once we finish the invites and do a few mock ups of the table arrangements. (You see anal retentive bride means she and her team of magical women are compiling the music, centrepieces, invites and stationary, decor and set up of the venue. These fairies are the best for putting up with me!)

xoxo

Quick little barf of words

Wedding plans are going fantatically. yay!


The invitations are almost ready to be shown to the world! It has been so much fun to handmake them. My amazing mother helped us sooooo much. She pretty much designed them herself and they are GORGEOUS!

Even my dad got in on the action of Weddin' cooordinatin'. He actually knows a someone who makes fabulous cakes and flower arrangements. BONUS! We met with her and I can't wait to get started! yay!

Wedding planning is fun. But its CONSUMING MY LIFE!! But then its only 14 weeks until the big day!
Maybe I can hold out going crazy until then...

The Phone Call of Destiny

I just got the phone call. Every BFF drools over the moment when their BFF from overseas wakes them up with a phone call to tell them something very exciting. Today I got that phone call.

Meeka called to tell me that her boyfriend got down on his knee and popped the ‘will you marry me question’. The subsequent sounds of joy that radiated from my mouth were not really words so much as squeals of joy and excitement. This is so exciting! Not only are we both getting married but we are getting married within the same year! We are so blessed to go from grade2 cuteness into grade 3-6 awkwardness together. We were blessed to go from grade6 into middle school awkwardness together. We were blessed to go from middle school into high school. Although I left before graduation and prom we ‘went through it’ together in spirit. We got our first tattoos together, fought with our dads together, found our faiths together and pretty soon we will both be going from single-dom to man- and-wife-dom pretty close to together.

So here's a huge shout out to my newly engaged BFF. Congrats Meeka! May your lives together always be full of joy and love.

Making the Fi do the hard work.

Making invitations is hard work. The Fi is measuring and cutting squares of papers, my mother and her friend are stamping on the squares and me? I man the printer adn look pretty. Or maybe woman the printer. (Sh, they don't know I am actually blogging and not arranging the RSVP wording.)

I think I have found my favourite part of wedding planning. The arranging of details and the preparing of fun stuff just tickles me! The wordings the colours the smells and tastes. Perhaps I have missed my own vocation. But then something goes wrong and ugh. I am so glad I am doing this once. SOrry Fi you are stuck with me! I am never doing this again!! :)

ahk! Ok so I have been caught...

The gig is up.

Princess is SO last winter

What is it about wedding dresses that are so dang appealing? I must admit to the THOUSAND times that I paraded around my house with a sheet draped over my head pretending to be a bride. Or princess. Or the Bride princess. Or even the Princess Bride. (man I loved that movie... 'No more rhyming I mean it... Anybody want a peanut? *Sigh*)

Yesterday my mom and I paraded around Joburg in search of a less expensive wedding gown (the very last thing on my to-do for this week) than the previous dresses I had liked. Let me just set the scene here:

We drive by the place once. Why because it is dirty, mangy and not at all bridal-esque. Both of us were... apprehensive at best. We walk in to a few brides trying on a few dresses and are led into the back with the racks of dresses. Two assistants tried to help us, jabbering away in Afrikaans. After trying on the first few ugly dresses we decided to ditch the help. So they went and ate potato chips on the bench. The main seamstress lady decides she knows what I want. So she wants me to try on the meringue dress. (Gosh, if there could be an dress that is the antithesis of me and my personal style it would be this dress) Sure, it's pretty and a lot of girls would kill for a dress like it... But me? No thanks. I can't help but giggle to think of me in such a... thing. I would look like a cupcake dropped upside-down and made into a meringue tart.

We tried on all sorts of dresses. And this was frustrating. I knew what I wanted and I wasn't getting anything CLOSE! I didn't want to be picky, I just wanted to look great and feel great.

I tried on a dress with the train longer than I am tall. And I am a tall girl, 5'10 and a bit. It was massive. When it was bustled, Which was quite a mission in itself, the fabric tugged on my bum pulling it towards the ground with its weight. UGH!

I got to look Medieval. Which was funny. Too bad the web page doesn't offer a photo of that dress. What is the difficulty of clean, modern lines?!?

I tried this dress on. It looks way better on the model. But not by much... In the end, Just as we were about to leave the store thinking everything was hopeless... We tried it. The one that sat there in the corner. The dress with the... details that cried out for attention...

And it was it. And after negotiation R1300 off the initial price, she is mine (for the day anyway!)

What? You think I am going to put picture up of it? No ways! You get to wait until the wedding. What if the Fi saw? Exactly. *Disaster*

Caution! Gush Alert!

Today was super-productive-wedding-planning-day! We designed the invitations, the programs and the thank you notes. We finalised the ceremony music, even found one of the Fi's friends to do a guitar instrumental for the symbolic unity candle lighting (which apparently is not a South African tradition. Weird! Instead they watch you sign the marriage contract. Strange.) We finalised the vows, the wording on the invitations and even the venue itself. I am feeling so stoked!

We had an eventful evening of 'Air on G-string' composed by Bach and the motif which, when turned upside-down held a strong resemblance to the female reproductive system, and when turned to the side held slight resemblance to the male reproductive system.

My mother and I argued about the use of RSVP cards and whether or not they need a self addressed stamped envelope in South Africa. We spent hours searching for the 'proper' typeface and spacing.

Throughout all these...details I thought I may have lost the Fi for good. He had told me he wants to be super involved in all the planning. He wanted to help in every way. But I worried.

Fact is, he is a man's man. The guy who takes apart things in order to fix them. He 4x4ed in Mozambique. He repairs huge robotic machines and drives only the manliest cars. He is a freaking Electronic Engineer- and here he is helping my mother and I decide whether or not the brown paper should be used as a focal point. I really did think that he would decide to go watch some Rugby or Cricket or even WWF- something manly and strong. But no. Even if he was cringing-He sat there with me and helped us as much as he could without a complaint *sigh*

I can't begin to say how thankful I am for him. I can't begin to express the blessing he has been to me this last year and few months.

The official countdown of man-and-wife-dom is around 119 days. Or maybe even less because my math is TERRIBLE!

And this is my gushy post. The End. :)

As I watch 60s romance films...

Happy Friday everyone! OK so its actually 23h25 here but in a mere 35 minutes it will indeed be a very happy Friday! Honestly, it might even be by the time I finish this post. I found some 1960s movie on TV called The Angel Wore Red. It's actually very interesting!

So anyhow, I think it is time for a wedding update. I am no longer aiming for Bridezilla. Even though some may say I have already reached such monstrous status purely due to the external stress of exams.

The Fiance and I have *finally* found a venue. We are scheduling a tasting and life will be fantastic! We have decided on our floral arrangements and even our invitations. All we have to do is actually construct them. I found a dress AGES ago, then decided to continue shopping. I received such poor customer service there that I refuse to give them my hard earned money (OK so my PARENT'S hard earned money, but never-the-less, it is the principle) thank you very much. We have most our music for both the ceremony and the reception sorted and we found an awesome DJ (OK so its actually my brother, but he's actually FANTASTIC) I only have to find my progression song. How hard is it to find a song with only guitar with the right mood for a progression song? ugh. Wonderful readers, do you have any suggestions?

Like I said, exams are upon me. I have finished 2 so far, I have submitted my portfolio for my writing class and so that leaves 5 more. The 17th of November is my last exam. Yay! There is an old wives tale that if the flower of a Jacaranda tree falls upon the shoulder of a student it means they will pass their exams. Yesterday, my flatmates and I ran under every single Jacaranda tree in all of Hatfield hoping one beautiful bloom would fall on our shoulder. the closest thing I got was a rock stuck in my bare shoeless foot and a stick that fell into my cleavage. I am thinking I better study hard! :)

I have a question. I know some of my readers are also aspiring writers. I wrote a short story for my writing class and when I got my feedback I was really unimpressed with the comments my prof had. He pretty much told me he liked it. AGKK! That, to me, is the biggest insult. My hope is that people FEEL SOMETHING when they read it. Never would I ever desire that someone would just read something and 'like' it. So I am posting it on my other blog. This is the link to the short story. If you feel something...negative or positive... please post and let me have it! :)

I love it when I am right. It is 23h59 as I type this. So an official happy Friday to you all!!