Not dead yet

I know, I know, I've been a very bad blogger. It's not from a lack of things to talk about ... on the contrary, I don't know where to begin! It's been a very busy few months. Some updates are in order.

Vroom, vroom

First of all, as a follow up to my last post, I have not yet bought a car, although the decision has definitely been made to make the purchase. See above about how busy it's been ... I've been trying to find an evening or Saturday afternoon to go test drive some vehicles, but the days are slipping away from me faster than I can keep track! It's on my "to do" list for June, though.

Wedding plans

Wedding planning continues fast and furious. The dress is here (and it's GORGEOUS) (no, you can't see photos). The invitations are printed, and now need to be assembled and readied to go in the mail. We are starting to come up with a cohesive vision of what the decorations and flowers and colours will look like, although I know I am driving Aunt C crazy with my inability to articulate clearly what I want (i.e. I am being difficult by being TOO agreeable!). But I think we're on the right track now and everything's going to be beautiful.

Perhaps most exciting of all, we booked the main section of our honeymoon last week ... a 7 day Mediterranean cruise. It departs a week following the wedding from Barcelona, so at the moment the plan is to fly out the Monday after the wedding, spend three nights in Paris, then a couple of nights in Barcelona and on to the cruise, returning to Ottawa the following Monday. So we'll be gone two weeks. It's going to be awesome.

Music in the air

I was particularly busy in April and May with concerts and assorted choir stuff. I made a big step towards relieving that stress by getting myself voted off the board of directors of one of my choirs, and refusing to commit to anything for the fall (it's so easy when you have a wedding as an excuse ... all you have to do is say "well, it's going to be a busy fall" and everyone immediately says "oh, of course, you've got the wedding, don't worry about a thing, of course we couldn't expect you to commit to anything" -- give it a try some time!). I do very much enjoy my choirs and the friendships I have made there, but I'm looking forward to the summer break all the same.

Savour the moment

I read a very interesting editoral in the paper recently about the need to stop and savour the moment you are in more often, and I'm really trying to put that into practice in my own life these days. It's so easy to get bogged down in the minutiae of day to day life, and the little stresses and frustrations that crop up every time you turn around. And so often we are in a perfect moment, and we let it pass unnoticed because we're thinking/worrying/stressing about something else. So I am really trying these days to stop, take a breath, and acknowledge the little perfect moments. It's especially true with the wedding planning -- these are supposed to be such happy days, and the anticipation and excitement of planning should be part of the fun. Someday I will look back on these days and remember, for example, the day I put on my dress for the first time, or the way my hand shook a little bit when Serdic put the engagement ring on my finger. And while having those memories is important, I also want to acknowledge those moments as they happen, to fix them in my mind and savour them, and not let them pass too quickly.

And finally ...

Could someone please let Mother Nature know to check her calendar? These little glimpses of spring/summer weather, followed by multiple days of cold and wet and grey are not cutting it. Thanks.

My only hope is that if spring and summer are later getting here this year, the nice weather might hang on a bit longer into the fall? Like, say, maybe until the end of October? Wouldn't that be nice?