Tales From Pixie Wood

The Day Draws Ever Closer......

This is an image of the invite that is going out to female ( & one male, Hey Sam!!!) friends of mine. In England we call this event a Hen Night. I struggle with this concept as I'm not hugely in to male strippers and cakes shaped like a man's willy. So I'm going down a more sedate, if not just as naughty route, with my pre-wedding party.

You may need to click on the invite to read it properly but I am so enthralled by the area that I live in right now that I just don't want to leave it, even for an evening. So I figured that I'd have everyone round to mine.

I'm planning, along with the gorgeous Louise, Jodie & Jackie, a day and evening inspired by all sorts of people, places and things.

Summer in England is one and I'm being nothing but positive about the weather until the day arrives. Eeeek!

The odd tea dress may make an appearance.

The Mitford girls. I read this book last summer and although I can't recommend anybody ever hanging out with Hitler I loved reading about the parties, and Nancy ?!?!?!.....

......well, Nancy was fascinating.

I'm also dipping into a party inspiration from across the pond. Two of may favourite books in the world are The Great Gatsby and Tender is the Night. Yesterday I found a supplier of champagne saucers rather like this one....

But of course it won't be all quaffing champers and lolling about the place with our legs up in the air. There will be some old fashioned lawn games to be played. Some tennis perhaps, boule and of a spot of croquet.

I'm rather dying to swing the stick casually over my shoulder, place a hand on my hip and call out with an air of nonchalance "anybody for another game, then??"

And with that the planning goes full steam ahead. I have a wedding dress fitting in an hour and a half and really should prise my bot-bot away from this desk. Reading back over this post it all seems so awfully refined. I know how these things go and I can almost guarantee that there will be far more giggling and tipsy handstands being executed while our tea dresses reveal our knickers than anything resembling what I've just described. And besides, a game of twister when the clock strikes the hour of midnight will of course be compulsory!

Sam, are you sure you want to come??????

Going To The Chapel

I wailed to a friend recently "Why are these learning curves always so steep, I'm tired, I wanna get off"
But you know, when the lessons are this good and the answers like individual, daily epiphanies I never, ever want those learning curves to get any less steep.

I was in the house on Monday and I was moaning. An ongoing conversation full of questions running through my head.

Why can't I cut this fabric to the right size?

Why is it still raining?

Why are the channel taking so long to come back?

Why do I not feel like going for a run?

Why am I so tired?

Perhaps I need to go for a run?

Why am I still getting huge, massive zits on my chin when I'm almost thirty three?

Maybe a run would sort that out?

Oh. My. God. Why can't I cut a simple piece of fabric to the right size EVER?

Mmmmmm......what a load of bollox. Vacuous bollox. Draining, unrelenting thoughts about yours truly. I only needed to do one thing to lift me out of this miasma of self centeredness and yet it took me until six o'clock in the evening to do it.

I was tidying up at the end of the working day and I decided to take the bottles out to the side of the house to the re-cycle bins. It was as I bent over to drop them in to their new homes that I realised I hadn't said "thank you" for anything that entire day. I also noticed a breeze on my face. A breeze that always signifies a change in the weather to me. A sign that Winter is well and truly over and although it may not warm up for a few more weeks it was over. It was no longer a Winters Tale but the Rite of Spring.

If I had wanted to I could have walked off in to the breeze and in to the evenings sunshine and followed the sounds of the birds until they decided to retire for the night. I was free.
I was free.
I gave thanks for my freedom. What about people who weren't free, both physically and metaphorically?  In that moment of giving thanks it was like my whole being was transported right back to where it needed to be. Here. Now. Alive. Well. Fortunate.

A year ago today LBH and I were still living in an apartment in London. A family of five were living across the hall from us. The mother would fill a paddling pool up with water and put it out on to the balcony we shared  so that her baby daughters could play in it. They didn't have a garden, or grass to fall on when they played a little too rough. They had a small balcony over looking one of the busiest parts of London. Looking back and seeing just how much LBH and I have been given over the last eleven months astounds me. And so to realise that I spent a day NOT giving thanks simply for cleaner air to inhale than those children, who still live in that apartment, will ever breathe makes me feel incredulous towards myself and the time I wasted.

In a single second I felt great again. I once again noticed everything I had been given and everything that was so good about life in all its forms.

So as well as going to the chapel to be married in a little over three months I am spending as much time as I can in another sort of chapel. One of gratitude.

Giving thanks for the great love of my life and how fortunate I am to be marrying him.

Giving thanks for our home and the garden that we now have.

Giving thanks for today and the moments it held.

Giving thanks for now, because thats really all I have.

Madonna Or A Bubble Bath Bubble

I'm sitting here cutting out teeny weeny felt tree trunks for a project and thinking about Madonna, as she's just been inducted in to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. I like Madonna. Not because she burns crosses in her videos or has a penchant for simulating masturbation on stage, or even because she has a much better body than me at nearly fifty years old when I'm only thirty two. I like her because she is still here.

Lets be honest, we all have days when we feel like Madonna - or a Madonna type figure - powerful, brave, ballsy, carefree and then we have others when we feel like a bubble made by the bubble bath we use. Fragile, ready to be popped and never seen again with the most fragile of touches.

We can look around us and it can appear as if everything is perfect - so why do we want to cry?

The room shown in this post is our guest room.

This room has the advantage of almost never being untidy, simply because its used less than the other rooms. I come in to this room and lay on the bed when I'm feeling small. I stare up at the ceiling or look out on to the garden that LBH and I are finally making sense of. I ask myself whether I have too much and perhaps that is why I am feeling like this?   I ask myself if its me, what have I done wrong to have these invasive feelings? Perhaps I get up too early and work until too late and get so tired I sleep standing up? If thats the case then why do I feel as if I am never getting enough done? Perhaps I'm not cut out for this? Blogging, exposing, teaching, publicly crafting, publicising, dreaming, creating, hoping, wanting, writing, searching. Perhaps things need to be quieter, gentler, simpler, less 'big'? There is no time to fit it all in. I can't drink any more coffee and I can't set my alarm any earlier. I just feel small and my bottom lip keeps trembling.

I saw my doctor the other day with regards to my pesky hip, it keeps having spasms, spasms of pain. I like my doctor, she's......hmmmmm, what is she?......level, my doctor is level. I was feeling very discouraged that day because I knew that she was going to suggest physio and my first thought was "I don't have time!!!" We chatted and got on to a conversation about somebody in the press recently. I commented on how if we all were to realise that in fact each one of us were the same we'd be ever such a lot happier. She looked at me and said that she thought that was a truism if ever there was one.

So in effect if I believe what I said then I would be able to take great comfort in knowing that we all have bubble bath bubble days. You may lie on the couch or stare out of the car window. You may lay in the bath or sit at your sewing machine. I lay in our guest room, not for very long mind you, just long enough to .....well, to think.

And then I get up and get on, sometimes feeling a little better and sometimes not at all. I guess that's what I like about Madonna, she gets up and gets on, not always partaking in something I would do personally (although I do love her in a pink leotard) but she gets up and she gets on. Whereas the bubble bath bubble, well thats gone and its not coming back.

Cx

....And All It Took Was Thirty Five Minutes!

 

Summertime finally arrived this past Friday and on Saturday morning LBH and I headed off to pick up our bathroom tiles. This was just before my Dad arrived and both he and LBH cracked on with removing the old bathroom suite. We knew it was going to be a long day, hence the super early start and I'm glad that the sun was out. We ordered our tiles locally, of course, and I kept the car running as LBH popped in to pick them up. I was sitting staring out of the drivers seat across the road and found myself staring into the beautiful wedding dress shop that resides in our town. I had been in once before while out and about running errands and had enquired about certain types of dress. However, as I sat there staring out of one window and into another I realised that they were having a special open day this Sunday. They had a sale that was enabling them to let go of some of the dresses that had been in the store for several weeks and they also had a preview of the new seasons dresses.

I called the shop a little later in the day and briefly explained where it is that we are having the ceremony (really rather rural to be honest) and did she think that she may have something suitable?

"Oh yes, absolutely. But do make your way down as early as you can as we have had many enquiries about the day"

To be honest I wasn't sure if I would find anything that I liked. For the longest time I'd had a certain silhouette in my mind that I thought would be perfect for my dress but it was dawning on me that this shape was decidedly dated. It was also completely inappropriate for the environment that we will be in, so in all honesty I was stumped. I had no idea what I was looking for and didn't even know if  what would be suitable actually existed or not. I also had one of those archetypal anxiety dreams on Saturday night. I was running through the streets of Florence trying to make it to this little shop before ten in the morning. It was pouring with rain and I was dressed in sweatpants and a horrid baggy sweatshirt. I tried to make it down the street by the Uffizi gallery but a horrid lady was standing there charging people for walking through. I asked her if she would take a credit card payment as, of course, I didn't have any loose change in my sweatpants pocket to pay this toll. Nope, she only took coins. So I had to turn and run all the way back, in the rain and still in my soaking wet sweatpants, to get to the little wedding dress shop in time for it's opening.

 

Needless to say my mother and I were standing outside the shop on Sunday morning with PLENTY of time to spare before it opened. Having prepared to arrive early we were still only second in the line to get in but luckily the lovely bride - to - be in front of us had her eye on a very specific dress and could even see it through the shop window. Hanging there in all it's glory waiting for her to pick it off the rail and step into it.
This was very fortunate for me because it meant that I was lucky enough to have the services of the dress shop owner all to myself. I told her where we are getting married, I told her when we are getting married, I told her what I wanted to show off and what I wanted to accentuate. She looked me up and down once and told me she had something that she thought would be wonderful.

And it was.

Oh my goodness me!!!!! I have never had an experience like it. Christmas never felt like this, not even as a child. And this feeling explains why I have been awake since LBH got out of bed to get a glass of water at 03.03am.
It's now 05.35 and I haven't had a wink of sleep since.

For somebody who had no concrete idea of what she wanted, the moment I stepped into that dress and knew in every part of my being that this was the one came as a great relief to me. My mum just loved it, the ladies in the shop said that it could not have fitted any better and I felt certain that I could walk down the aisle to meet LBH knowing that even if my search had taken me a year I would not have found a better dress.

In the end it took 35 minutes, and that includes finding the shoes as well.

Done, dusted, box ticked.........NEXT!

 

I can't for obvious reasons show you my dress. But I shall be thinking about it hanging in the beautiful little wedding dress shop that sits about ten minutes away from my house. Take care dearest dress. I'll need you in approximately a year and you must make sure you're ready.

Ahhhhhh, only sweet dreams from now on.

Have a wonderful start to your week.

If you have a few moments, take a look to the right of this blog and you'll see that I have added links to two websites under the heading 'I Also Write For....'

One is a button for the beautiful website SheerLuxe that I now write a weekly article for. My first introductory piece is now up for all to read and I'll continue to contribute weekly from now on. I adore the feeling over at SheerLuxe and can't compliment it's editor Georgie enough. As any regular readers to my blog will know I am a huge fan of luxury. Not particularly in a 'must have eight cars, three houses and five carat diamonds in each ear' kind of way. But as I get older I do understand that it is vital for you to look after yourself, especially if you're responsible for looking after anybody else. In order to feel together, strong, calm and confident a little bit of pampering goes a surprisingly long way. And if you're anything like me you forget to buy for yourself and spend all of your money on your home. Please check in weekly for my article.

Another thing I'd like to draw your attention to is the new competition being run by the chaps over at the home working website Enterprise Nation. They are launching the UK's first home business award and there are a whole host of super dooper prizes to be won. Click on the button to find out more and good luck.

Lots of love

Cherry xx

EEEEEK UPDATE!

Maddy makes a good point in her comment. I have inadvertently posted pictures of women who have unfortunately all passed away! In order to make amends I will now post a picture of a bride who is still very much with us.

Dear Jordan....................

And So It Begins........

August 1st, 2008 

........the search has begun in earnest......

Choosing My Direction

I have been reading a number of blogs since the start of the year in which the authors have chosen a word for the coming year. This word is the word that they shall try to live by. A few people have chosen peace, some more have chosen kindness and I have seen some that have chosen happy. I have been thinking about this over the past few days and I have decided to choose a word for myself.

For me the most sought after state of being is peaceful. A better way of saying that is that I like to be at peace. Even if busyness causes my hours of sleep to drop to around four or I have a to-do list that is as long as the wall of China, I can cope with that if it is not coupled with a feeling of being anxious. I have the ability to worry like it's an Olympic sport and this can sometimes be debilitating. Granted it's usually only about one thing but this year I am going to get a handle on it.

Why this year?

Two reasons. The first being that my worried expression is causing wrinkles and the second is that I have so much to organise in the next eighteen months that I shall be walking down the aisle like a quivering, haggard prune if I'm not careful.

So, like I said, a few days ago I began to think of a word that I could meditate on in the coming year that would help me on my way to extraditing a large portion of worry from my simple little life and in the course of that extend the warm hand of peace.

The word I have chosen is organisation.

In the next eighteen months there is an extraordinary amount of work that has to be done and if I am not organised then I'm screwed. My peace will fly out of the window like a candy wrapper on the freeway. Admittedly there are only three things that will be holding my attention, the wedding, the house move and my business, but they all need quite a bit of attention. And thats before having a life, keeping my relationship alive and making room for some fun.

Fun? Now what exactly is that? ;-)

So I'm starting on the little things. I have done the wardrobes and LBH and I did under the beds last weekend. As you can tell, a weekend with us is about as rock 'n' roll as you get. ;-)

The kitchen cupboards have been organised. When you open the doors nowadays you are no longer met with a tin of chickpeas flying in the direction of your left eyeball. Everything is easily accessible in a 'Sleeping With The Enemy' kinda way.

I have begun the laborious task of cutting and keeping the articles I need from the very large number of magazines that reside in my home. I have a filing system already in place, I just don't use it. Approximately 0.1% of my collection is shown in this picture.

I have started my wedding ideas scrapbook. Everything I see that might be a good idea for the big day shall go into my little book. This is one of the nicer parts of getting organised.

Forgive the dodgy light in the pictures today. It seems to be so dark ALL THE TIME! This is the list of estate agents that we have registered with in one of the areas that we are looking in. It shows the name and phone number, any viewings that have taken place and the last time I called them. I'm on these chaps like a rash at the moment and had to take a rather firm tone with one of them last week. I'm sure he'll get over it though. I'm also sure that he will now CALL ME when a potential house comes on to the market.

I haven't yet started on my desk. It looks slightly worse than it is......no it doesn't, it actually is this bad. But I'm getting there and it feels really, really good. I like it. I can see where I am going, what needs to be done and how I am going to do it. My camera battery ran out of juice before I could shoot the lovely neat piles fabric that have been stashed away for future use but believe me when I say how pretty they look.

So how am I winding down after a long day of getting organised and finding my peace? I'll give you a clue.

Sandra Oh, Isaiah Washington, Patrick Dempsey I worship at the temple of your talent and marvel at how the Americans have once again given me television that takes all my worries away in the form of a DVD containing the entire first season of a drama set in Seattle Grace Hospital.

Grey's Anatomy, I salute you.

Put It On The Ritz: A Show & Tell

Its accidentally appropriate that we should have headed back to The Ritz for afternoon tea to celebrate my engagement. The table was booked way back in the Summer, but timing has a delicious way of working itself out. Saturday was therefore delicious.

This picture was taken in January of 2005. We had gone to The Ritz to celebrate my dads birthday. It was here that Garry shocked us all by getting down on one knee and proposing to my sister. Making the entire family blub and Jodie the happiest girl in the world.

 

And so it seemed rather fitting that we were back here again, only the girls this time though, to celebrate the news of my betrothal to LBH. He had been left behind to finish off some bits and bobbles and would meet us at Jodie's house anon.

 

Tea at the Ritz is one of those activities that should be taken by both tourists and natives alike. If you are a visitor to England you get great enjoyment from taking in the beautiful surroundings, marvelling at the formality of it all and revelling in the sheer luxury of dinky little sandwiches presented on solid silver with the crusts cut off.

If you are British you get to own the beautiful surroundings as they are situated in your nations capital, you can giggle at the formality of it all because you know that this is just the way they do it here and the dinky little sandwiches with their crusts cut off taste better than any other sandwich you have ever had before. I'm certain that cutting the crusts off releases fairy dust that turn bread and its filling in to a morsel fit for a Queen. Mmmmm.....having pondered this I have ascertained that of course it is fit for the Queen. Shes only just down the road after all!

I love these doors. And I adore the fact that the tree is giving us a sneak peek of its glory through the glass.  Swathes of sumptuous fabric behave in a curtain like manner and frame the sides. But the real treat is on the other side of the doors.......

 

Bless him! Thank you Mr Bellboy. Can I put you in my pocket?

 

To be led 'damsel like' up this staircase. Ahhhh!  Now who would say no to that I ask you?

I suddenly realised while admiring the china that the Ritz used to serve afternoon tea on that we would have to start thinking about a wedding list. Unfortunately this pattern, the most beautiful I have seen in a very long while, has been designed exclusively for this hotel and not available anywhere else. I took solace in the fact that the ring looked rather nice sitting on the plate though. If LBH sees this he'll have a tiny fit and I'll tell you why.

An hour after we had bought the ring and arrived at Vienna airport I needed to find a bathroom. Now this was the first time that I had washed my hands since the purchase was made. I walked up to the sink and squeezed soap from the dispenser until it sat like a little ice cream in the palm of my hand. "Crap!" I said. I really didn't want to get soap in all the nooks and crannies of the setting this soon. It will happen eventually but not yet! So I had the bright (!?)  idea of putting the ring in my mouth. Reaching to pull the ring off my left hand with my right hand I hadn't counted on the ring already being slippery.

Plop!

Off it tumbles into the sink. My heart stopped. My body stopped. My mind stopped. Time stopped. Everything went into very, very slow motion and my hand reached into the sink full of bubbles grasping desperately for the piece of jewellery before it hit the metal surrounding of the plughole.

I caught it, and recoiled in horror as the bubbles cleared and I realised that the plughole was just that. A hole. Nothing there to catch items that had foolishly been heading for a persons MOUTH thinking that this was the sensible thing to do. I put this sheer stupidity down to the romance of the whole situation. It can play tricks with your sensibilities.

And here it is on my hand.

Chanel, rouge noir nail polish (chipped).
Marks & Spencer long sleeved thermal vest (covered in Boo fluff)
Jeans and big socks (out of sight).
Diamond engagement ring.

My winter attire. Very boring, very basic, very comfortable. Oh dear, since when did comfort become a prerequisite for my clothing?? I promised myself that this would never happen!! Agggghhhhhh! ;-)

Have a wonderful day and enjoy this week, I love this week before Christmas so much. I'm heading off to the Kings Road to do some last minute shopping and to have a spot of lunch with the lovely Nonnie.

See you soon angels.
Cherry x

Try And Go Easy On Me Today

OK, I have a confession to make.
This is hard for me to tell you this and I am a little embarrassed by what it is I am about to tell you. But I feel that it's best just to get these things out in the open quickly or they build up and up and turn in to bigger deals than they were in the first place.

* deep breath*

IhaveaplasticChristmastree!!

   

Now I realise that some of you out there also have plastic trees. "Whats wrong with plastic trees?" I hear you cry with a slight tone of offence in your voice.

Nothing is wrong with plastic trees if they are substantial, tall, full. But mine is awful. It stands only a foot tall and has sparse sticky outy branches that go every which way but one. The picture above is about as good as this tree is ever going to look.  If you look closely you can even see its plastic leg.

Oh Goodness, the shame of it.

It all stems from being so awfully busy with fairs, orders, new products, weekends away and long days. We just haven't gotten our act together enough to go out and get a fresh one. Suddenly we are sitting in the middle of December and realise that the stupid, tiny tree is yet to go up.  But yesterday I had a change of heart and dragged the poor, whimpering excuse of a tree out from its hiding place of shame and stuck it on a table. I put the presents round the bottom and stuck some tinsel in a basket. The decorations I have are old and in desperate need of an update but I had the most wonderful time doing this yesterday.

 

I threw some Candy Cane into a milk glass vase and put candles EVERYWHERE! It looks nice and I'm glad I did it.

Another reason to go easy on me is that I have  a pink champagne induced headache today. One of my closest friends and I spent the evening in the Moet Bar in Selfridges last night. We were celebrating my engagement and then the fact that she has agreed to be my head bridesmaid. Neither of us drink very often so this amount of the pink bubbly stuff has left me feeling a bit wobbly this morning. So wobbly in fact that I even had to pour myself a glass of Red Ambulance, otherwise known as Coca Cola. It was worth it though. How often do you get to ask your friend to be a bridesmaid at your wedding? It was also hilarious trying to go back out into the store and actually do some shopping when feeling rather....how shall I put it.....giggly!!

I knew that it wasn't the best time to be trying to fill LBH's stocking when I actually though that he might look rather fetching in a lilac scarf!!! Needless to say we headed straight back to the bar for another glass. The shopping was doomed but the champers was free flowing. Hic!

Which leads me on to the engagement ring. I am not being evasive by failing to post a picture of the ring. Nor am I living in a fantasy, dreaming up a story about a proposal in Vienna. But the reason for not posting a picture of it is because my mum and LBH's mum are yet to see it. I cant really blog about it until they have seen it.

We are having a girly Saturday this weekend with both the mums and my sister. Tea at the Ritz has been booked and I will be able to show them there. Then if it's OK with LBH I'll post a picture. I really have no idea if you're meant to keep things like that sacred and private or not. Hence the delay.

Have a wonderful weekend cupcakes. Stay warm or stay cool depending on where you are. But have fun. And drink pink champagne with those that you love while trying to Christmas shop. I can highly recommend it.

Cherry x

LAST DAY FOR ORDERS WITHIN THE UK IS THIS COMING MONDAY. THE SHOP WILL CLOSE FOR THE HOLIDAYS ON TUESDAY AND GET ITSELF READY TO BURST FORTH WITH NEW GOODIES IN 2007! THE SHIPPING DATE HAS PAST FOR ORDERS ANYWHERE ELSE ON THE PLANET.

Oh Vienna, You Drama Inducing City You!

Thank you so very much for your wonderful comments. I have never read such generous comments. It is an amazing feeling to know that other people are happy for you. We live with such jealousy and pettiness that sometimes folk are unable to be happy for others. This is not so for the readers of this blog. I'd also like to say "hello" to all you naughty lurkers. It was great to see you pop out the woodwork and leave your first comment. I found some wonderful new blogs through this. Don't go back to lurking now will you!!!

I can honestly say that there is no other city, I have visited, that I would have preferred to have become engaged in than Vienna. It is stunning. It is clean. It is friendly. It is reasonably priced. It feels safe. It is steeped in history.
We stayed in a lovely little boutique hotel hotel right in the middle of Vienna. Mozart had stayed there when he was alive and it was from here that we began the exploration of a city that was to become very special to us indeed.

We were there primarily (I thought)  to visit the Christmas markets and on the Saturday we did just that. We had spoken to the concierge and he had very kindly pointed us in the direction of two lesser known markets. I think we ended up liking these ones the best. Well I did. LBH was having trouble concentrating at this time.

I shall leave you here for a bit with some of the many photos I took while wandering around the markets and the city itself. Blissfully unaware of the surprise to follow later that day.

Warning: confection features heavily in the photos you are about to see.....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then we took a quick break and had some Gluhwein. So much better than a coffee break. I could get used to drinking hot wine whilst out shopping!!

 

 

 

 

As you can see it truly is a feast for the eyes at Christmas time. I thought that New York was pretty, and indeed, they present this time of year wonderfully. But Vienna has a small town feel about it. You wander the streets all day and your eyes never tire of the sights, sounds or smells. We did a great deal of walking on Sunday I can tell you. After the proposal on Saturday we decided to check out all the jewellery shops on the Sunday. We knew that they would all be shut due to the country being staunchly Catholic but at least we would know where to visit on Monday when they were all open.

Monday rolled around and we walked out of the hotel with no idea that we would have any luck at all. We visited many jewellery stores. I had my heart set on an emerald and immediately began trying emerald rings on. I also thought I wanted something either Art Deco or Victorian in style perhaps with a sapphire if an emerald didn't suit. How wrong I was. I have quite small hands so as soon as these elaborate rings with all their detail hit my hand they immediately looked like costume jewellery. It wasn't until a very wise older lady in one of the oldest shops in Vienna pulled out a diamond solitaire that I knew what it was I would be going for. To be frank I wasn't even that bothered about trying a solitaire on. Then it hit my finger and I saw the light. At last, we knew what we wanted and could head off in the right direction, the search for a solitaire was on.

There was one shop that we went back to THREE TIMES. Each time the wonderful shop assistant got the ring out once more while I stood and looked at it, asking LBH for his opinion. Our problem with it was that it was in a setting that I just didn't like. I much prefer an older setting where the stone sits high above the finger. This one looked rather flat. No matter, the shop said, they can remount it and ship it to us in time for Christmas. OK, that is what we shall do. All we needed was another 15 mins to think on it a little more and we would be back.

 

By this time it was dark outside and we had two hours until we needed to leave to catch our plane. LBH confessed that he  was desperate to find a bathroom but at that very moment I felt myself being dragged towards a jewellery store  window that we hadn't seen in the whole time that we had been walking up and down this street.

Oh they had beautiful pieces. All antique and all in a style that I had never seen before. There was a whole tray full of solitaires in the window and so, feeling slightly bad that LBH was bursting at the seams but not bad enough to go find a toilet, I rang the bell.

And that was that. The ring was pulled from the black velvet tray and placed on my finger. This was the one. Oh my goodness was this the one. Yes, yes, yes. This was the one, there was no doubt in my mind, I wanted it. I loved it. I had to have it.

LBH knew that this was the ring from my rather petulant protestations that quickly turned to 'puppy dog eyes' pleading. So he gallantly set about discussing the price and the way in which he was going to pay. While the transaction was going through LBH had a call from Barclay Card in the UK to tell them that they had put a block on his card as there was an unusual transaction going through. LBH assured them that he was aware of the transaction and all was well but thank you for calling and please unblock the card or else we will not be able to purchase the ring. It was at this very moment that Barclay's computer system in the UK went down. Leaving LBH's credit card still blocked and unable to be used. We had an hour left and they assured us that this glitch would not take more than fifteen minutes to resolve. The jewellers very kindly told us that they would still take the ring to the workshop to be re-sized and that we could come and pick it up just before we left for the airport. So we went for a quick bite to eat, back to the hotel to pick up the cases and onwards to the shop where the ring would be ready and waiting.

Lesson learnt from this experience: NEVER TRUST BARCLAY CARD WHEN THEY SAY THAT THE SYSTEM WILL BE BACK UP IN FIFTEEN MINUTES!!!!

The following conversation took place outside the jewellers with approx 15 mins to go before we would have to leave the city or miss our flight.

LBH : This is the fifth time I have called you and the system is still not up. I am in Vienna trying to buy an engagement ring, we have to leave the country in 15 minutes. You blocked the card, PLEASE NOW UNBLOCK IT!!!

Barclay card: I'm sorry sir, there is nothing we can do.

LBH: Have you been listening to what I have just told you? You need to manually unblock the card. It is very important that I am able to buy this ring. We must leave the city in 13 minutes.

Barclay card: Yeh, I'm sorry but I can't see any of your details because my screen is not working.

Me: Give me the phone!

LBH: OK, if you cant unblock the card you will have to explain this to the person who will not be receiving this ring (passing the phone to me)

Me: It is vital that you manually unblock this card. We are about to buy my engagement ring, we have a flight to catch and it will be an unmitigated disaster if you do not help us to sort this out!

Barclay card: Sorry, madame there is nothing I can do.

Me: You are not being helpful AT ALL! PLEASE PUT YOUR MANAGER ON NOW!!!!

Barclay card: My manager will only talk to the card holder.

ME:  GET. YOUR . MANAGER. ON. THE. LINE. NOW!!!

We went back into the shop having confirmed that Barclay card would speak to the shop manager and see if there was any assurance they could offer. It was understandable that they really needed the card to go through before letting us leave the country with the ring.

I then heard LBH say to Barclay card.. "If you do not allow my credit card to go through then we are staying another night in Vienna and Barclay card are picking up the entire bill. Flights, hotel, the lot!!"

Ding!

Barclay card: Thank you sir, our system appears to be back up and running now. You may use your card.

Oh. My. Good. Lord.

The look on our faces and the faces of the shop owners when we heard this was unforgettable. It was going to be OK. We could buy the ring and take it home safely on my left hand. We all hugged each other, well I hugged everybody and LBH shook hands, and we ran off into the night to catch our flight.

To be honest the drama makes it all the more special. We had to fight for it. And you very often have to fight for those things worth having. I'll leave you with a little picture of our ring shop, bit blurry but the adrenaline was still coursing through my veins. I love it. I love it so.

"Sleigh Bells Ring....Will You Marry Me?"

WE'RE GETTING MARRIED!!!!!

There we were, wandering around the Christmas markets in Vienna on Saturday afternoon. It was getting dark and heading towards four in the afternoon. We had already had a wonderful day of street markets, Gluhwein, Viennese cafes and lots of gooey food that you only ever eat on holiday. I have to admit that LBH had seemed a little distracted that day but I put it down to him winding down after a busy week. Until we parked ourselves on a little bench just out the way of all the main shoppers.

LBH got down on one knee and asked me to marry him.

In that single moment I became the happiest person in the world and without any hesitation whatsoever I said "YES!"

It really is the most wonderful time of the year!