They say time flies when you're having fun

Wow, we're more than halfway through February already!

Since I last posted, school has resumed - and so has my teaching. I have 21 students each week at this stage, and I'm quite enjoying teaching after the holidays. My bank account is enjoying it too. :) It's tough going for 7 weeks with no pay. :P

So lessons have been filling up my Mondays and Tuesdays, then work for Dad on Wednesdays and Thursdays. This Friday (in 2 days), will be my last time at FGYO... sad times. Though I'm looking forward to this new phase of my life, I'll miss orchestra and all those kids (and the few adults!) that I've worked with for so long. I'm starting to feel the ache of missing it already. :(

I've been getting bits and pieces of wedding stuff done during the week, and on weekends, too. The weeks are really going quickly though - only 4.5 weeks to go! We've made the placecards, and today Megs and I finished the Order of Service booklets - they are SO lovely! The colour of the bridesmaids dresses is woven into every part of the day, and I'm thrilled with how everything has turned out. :)

It's so lovely... a whole lot of people whom we couldn't manage to invite to the reception, are coming to the ceremony just to watch - because they love us! And some of them are travelling so far... I feel very blessed.

Another blessing, is that a friend of Alastair's (who is also a friend of mine, now) :) bought us an iron on the weekend... and it's PINK!!! :) I can't wait to use it!

Today I had another dress fitting - ohmygoodness!!!! It's just unbelievably lovely, and I can't WAIT to wear it!!! The ladies in the shop are so sweet, and have put sleeve things on it which look just beautiful and match perfectly. :)

On Saturday, my kitchen tea is happening! In order to keep it small enough to fit in our house, I had to only invite local friends - so if anyone from any distance is reading this, that's why you weren't invited! :( I would have loved to invite everyone, but alas! It was not to be. So anyhow, that should be a fun, girly afternoon, and I'm really looking forward to it. Alastair has his bucks afternoon (of cricket at the park, a BBQ dinner, and watching The Blues Brothers at his house) on the same day.

Then the next morning, Donna is going to do all the fittings for the girls' bridesmaids dresses - more excitement! And hopefully Alastair will get to talk to Joel and work out some MC stuff for the wedding too.

It's all happening! 31 sleeps left!

A bunch of stuff...

I have been hugely busy lately, though to actually write about what I've been doing is proving difficult.

There have been lots of little fiddly things... like finding ribbon for the cars for the wedding... finding little cake bags for guests to take a piece of cake home in... the headache-producing job of rearranging my teaching timetable (par for the course at this time of year)... buying gifts for people helping at the wedding... sorting out more of the FGYO music library (it's about 98% done!)... cutting up the card and the paper and the ribbon and the whatever for the placecards... etc. It's all taken a lot of time and energy, but it really doesn't sound all that much OR all that interesting!

Meaghan arrived back from overseas on Saturday morning, and it was lovely to see her again. She's a little different to how I remembered her - now with dyed brown hair and a more confident air (ooh! that rhymes!), but it's good to be back together again. :) She brought me some cool presents from overseas, a lovely scarf and a pair of little slippers, amongst other little things. She brought Alastair a hideously grotesque-looking carved wooden man from Egypt - which they are both delighted with, especially considering that I will have to have it in MY house. :P

Oh, I had my first wedding dress fitting yesterday. It was great (and fits almost perfectly as it is!), although inside that dress it is dreadfully hot, so I'm hoping that God is kind and gives us a cool day for our wedding. :) My shoes are the part of my attire that I'm most excited about, I think - they look like shoes for a princess!

7 weeks on Saturday...

6 weeks flies by!

Wow, I knew it had been a while - but 6 weeks!?!? A little while ago I realised that I needed to get a lot of wedding stuff thought about during the school holidays, because Term 4 is always enormous with students' exams, Christmas/end-of year stuff, etc, then Christmas comes, and since some places shut from Christmas til halfway through January (and then it will be 8 weeks til the wedding) I really needed to get a few things definitely booked. :) So I spent a lot of time doing that sort of stuff. Actually, since so much has been going on, I think I'll update in point-form:

• I helped at Alastair's church fete and made a billion sausage sandwiches.
• I performed as part of the Fisher's Ghost Youth Orchestra at our Bowral concert.
• Alastair, Donna and I went to a Sons of Korah concert - they are AWESOME!
• Mum had an operation on one of her parathyroid glands. And she broke her hearing aid. :P
• We got my engagement ring repaired - a corner chipped off one of the clasps.
• Alastair and I did the Spring Cycle in Sydney with his Uncle Jonathan. 40km - North Sydney to Olympic Park. Woo - go me! (I was sore afterwards!)
• Lachlan came back from the US for two weeks and competed in the Southern Highlands International Piano Competition - he came 6th out of 18 or so people. :)
• I made a billion phone calls to bridal hair and make-up people, had trials, and booked two ladies in!
• I ordered my wedding shoes online - it took two goes, but I have them now, and they're sooo pretty!
• We attended my friend Ann's wedding. She married Mark, my friend Bek's brother. :)
• I helped out at a school holiday fun day run by Alastair's church - I got the pre-schoolers. Wow, I was tired after that. :)
• I met with a florist, booked her in, and paid a deposit. :)
• Alastair and I spent an afternoon making a list of all the stuff in my glory boxes, so we know what we have and what we don't have.
• I bought all the vases and candle holders for the table decorations for the wedding. And spent hours picking/soaking/scraping off all the price stickers. :P
• I made an album with the pictures from our engagment photo shoot by Bethany (she's an amazing photographer).

• Alastair and I took Donna to see U2 3D at the IMAX in Darling Harbour - they are both obsessed with U2. :) I fell asleep in it. :P
• Alastair and I went to Melbourne with a family from Alastair's church (Scott, Kerryn and their gorgeous kids Ben and Emily), so that Scott and Alastair could do the Around the Bay in a Day ride - 210km! It was a fun weekend... I love the Queen Victoria Markets! My dear fiance has spent the rest of the week there, and I'm really looking forward to seeing him tomorrow!
• Meaghan did her A.Mus exam - and passed! We are so proud of her!

This week, Term 4 started with a vengeance - it's Friday night, and I've only got half the things crossed off my to-do list this week! Before I finish though, just a quick note to my almost-sister-in-law Carly: of course I don't mind if you comment on my blog! :) (But that game in Canberra was miserable. :P )

Btw, this is my 99th post. I think that's cool. :)

Oh, and we're under five months til the wedding now. That is also cool. :)

Bits and pieces...

Today held bits of everything... among them, some bad news which I'm still digesting, and a lovely visit in Katoomba with a dear friend I hadn't seen for two years. Isn't it funny how sometimes we go from such "up" times to such "down" times - in the course of a few short hours?