A Way to Brighten Up My Day

If you ever want an instant pick-me-up, have your kidlets write a description. And if you're feeling particularly interested, let them vote on their own topic of choice for said description. And if you've got yourself in that deep, you go along with it when the decided upon topic is their teacher.

Oh, yes. Here's one delightful excerpt for you:

My teacher is Mrs D. She is beautiful. She has long hair that is blonde. She's a teacher. She teaches year 1/2. She is an angel. She is a good teacher of year 1/2. She has nice earrings. She has blue green eyes. I like her hair.

She is married. She used to be Miss S. She is a nice girl. She has nice clothes. She went overseas. She is a pretty girl. She has white skin. She has nice eyes. I like her so much that I dream of her. She is funny and cool. She has really cool clothes. She wears nice shoes. She has long nails. She always has nice hair. She smells nice. Her name is different. She is always beautiful. She looks nice. She has a nice chair. She has a nice ring.

She is so cool, like a rock star. I like her so, so much. Her nails are a bit white. When she was away, I missed her. 

Okay, kiddo. You win. Gold star for you. :)

All This Spare Time

Married life is lovely. 

In some ways it's exactly the same. There have been no drastic changes, no big moves or life changing events - things are going along ever the same as before. But then, in some ways things are entirely different. It's a feeling, you know? It's just.. awesome. And suddenly, I'm a Mrs. And I have a husband. How this all happened so quickly, I have no idea.

But now that it's all over, I'm having major wedding withdrawals. Planning something for eighteen months and then having it over in the blink of an eye.. well, I guess it takes some time to get used to. I spent this past weekend making and writing out our thank you cards, because I was just so happy to do another wedding project. It's crazy, I know. I could never have picked that I'd miss the planning as much as I am - even the stressful parts.

I've watched our wedding video over and over again. I've been checking out guest pictures as they come in. I'm itching to see our professional pictures and gearing up to blog the whole experience, ready to put up on Weddingbee. But... what do I do now?

Did anyone else have any post-wedding sadness once it was all over? 

And now... one more wedding picture for good measure. It's blurry, it's rushed.. just like the day was!

Mr & Mrs - Our Wedding Video!

AAAAH!

So it's been a mere 10 days since our wedding, and our super amazing videographer Amy Nelson-Blaine {Wedding Cinematography} has already created a snapshot of our wedding day on film.

Highlights? Oh yeah, there are plenty:

• Me. Pulling every stupid face known under the sun. Really - I'm not kidding. I didn't count but there are so many tragic expressions in there. Apparently my friends weren't joking when they told me that I put everything I'm thinking into my face. Hilarious!
• Jason whispering his wedding vows - thankfully you can hear him in the video!
• The best Maid of Honour speech in the history of Maid of Honour speeches. Watch it. You'll cry. I know I did (on the night AND today while watching it.)
• Some pretty freaking amazing dance moves (& one slightly tipsy uncle) on the floor
• My super awesomely hot husband. Swoon.

So here it is... watch. Enjoy. Leave some comment love, if you're so inclined. And if you're in Sydney and looking for a wedding videographer, Amy was absolutely wonderful. Her her up.

Aly & Jason - Wedding Film from Amy Nelson-Blain on Vimeo.

I'm a Mrs!

…That still sounds so weird to say!

Well, it’s official. We’re hitched! You know how everyone says to take time to slow down and enjoy your wedding day, because it will be over before you know it? They are not lying. I think someone hit the fast forward button, because our day flew by. Like, seriously flew.

It was awesome. It was hilarious. It was full of moments that you can’t possibly prepare for. (Bride falling off her chair a the beginning of the reception, anyone?) <– Oh yes, that happened! But wow. The feelings we have had over the past few days are unlike any I’ve ever had before.

We are married. Huzzah!

Here’s one of my favourite pictures to tide you over while the wait for professional ones begins, taken on Hipstamatic by my beautiful maid of honour, Miss K.

See you in a week or so, after our time in Vanuatu comes to an end.

Marry Me

I'm writing this post a mere day before my wedding. Can you even believe it?

Today is going to be pretty busy. There are nails to be done, airport pick-ups to be arranged, missing sparkler packages to be hunted down, and hotels to be checked in to. I've got everything packed for my trip to the hotel tonight, and I'm really, really freaking excited. I'm planning on journaling tomorrow morning too, just so I can remember how I felt on the morning of our wedding.

This past week I've had three 'problems' weighing me down about our wedding. One: the weather, which is forecast to rain. Two: Our venue being sneaky with us. Three: Having a certain monthly visitor arrive on the big day. I'll admit, my first instinct was to panic about it.. but I'm okay. I've learned that whatever happens, it's still going to be okay. (I'm going to go ahead and assume that alternating from fits of extreme giddiness to bouts of gut-churning nervousness is a normal part of the whole process.)

It feels like this post is bringing closure. It's bringing closure to our entire engagement. All of the months of wishing, planning, budgeting.. that would eventually lead up to me being lucky enough to marry my best friend. While I could have dome some things differently, I have no regrets. Tomorrow is going to be amazing.

To my almost-husband,

I can't even begin to describe how much I am counting down the moments to be your wife. We've had ups, downs, in betweens, lows and incredible highs. We moved overseas together, we travelled our butts off, and we adopted our beautiful Oscar-kitty. We're building our dream home, and we're doing it all together. Thank you for being my rock, for being the logic to my emotion, the McDreamy to my Meredith. You're awesome.

This was us, in our first moments as boyfriend and girlfriend.

This was us, in our first moments as fiancé and fiancée.

I'm so excited to be back soon to show you us again, in our first moments as husband and wife.

Identity Oddity

Today was my last day at work before the wedding.

My colleagues spoiled me with two beautiful bath towels from our gift registry. I was treated to a lovely speech from my principal and lots of well wishes. There were cards from parents, messages from kids (in my class, and from around the school) and there was just a generally nice vibe floating around all day.

This afternoon I was finishing up the day with my Year 1/2 class and they were asking a whole lot of questions about the wedding - and I was explaining to them that this would be my last day teaching as 'Miss S'. They were a bit thrown by that, but a few caught on & asked what I would be coming back as. So, I told them. I'll be coming back as 'Mrs D'. 

That's when it hit me. All the dress fittings and the last minute tasks and the deadlines - they've just become part of our everyday lives. But saying it out loud, saying my new name and my new identity out loud (& having 25 kids trying it on for size, too) - that was it. We're getting married. We're going to be sharing a surname. We're going to be starting a family, our own family. 

For now, work is over. I'm off for two weeks, until we're back from our stint in Vanuatu for the honeymoon. It's going to be strange getting used to my new identity, but I think hearing my kidlets calling me by it every single day when I return will help make the transition a little easier.