Soon to be Mrs....

On Saturday 6th January 2007, Tom and I got engaged.

The week started out by his hyping me up about my gift, but constantly keeping me guessing. Due to the tiniest signs, I had a small incline, but I didn't actually let myself think it at the time in case I was completely off the mark. He did very well in making me wonder, but not giving away enough to make me realise. The morning was spent tidying up the flat, ensuring all the decorations were down and the entire flat (esp. the living room) was spotless. Tom was especially ensuring everything was shiny, but I just took this as his wanting the flat to be tidy for my birthday so we could enjoy it without the complete state.I had kept making comments on the fact that he seemed happier than usual and he simply replied with 'I'm on holiday with my baby and we're spending time together, of course I'm happy...' and left it at that.Finally, the evening came and we went out to Richmond for a meal (I was driven by Tom as he wanted to take me out properly), and we went to eat. I picked the restaurant specifically because I knew it was a quiet one, the decor is subtly European (chequered cafe table cloths etc) and we know the food is good. I didn't want anything too chaotic. So it was a fantastic little meal. We finished the meal and went out for a walk. I tried determinedly to find Richmond Hill so we could sit for a while and look at the city lights over the river as it would have been a beautiful view on the clear day. However, for some reason it seemed to evade us and we couldn't find it ANYWHERE! For some reason I didn’t think to ask…but it was a lovely walk, and we felt both full from the good food and relaxed from the walk.We got home and I, being me, resorted to little girl mode and started asking about my gift. I was then ushered into go into the bedroom whilst he prepared the living room. I then had to stand in the hall as he retrieved the gift from the bedroom. Keeping my eyes closed, I was ushered into the living room, where I already felt by the change in atmosphere that the lights were off but candles were lit and that’s when my heart began to race. With my eyes still closed, Tom tells me he loves me, asks if I love him and will do for a while yet. A brief but affectionate cuddle later and (still with my eyes closed) he goes to turn on the stereo....Never a Word...the song which he played so often in the first few weeks of us dating thus making it our song, which made me tearful, was played. My lip begins to tremble. I'm told to open my eyes and as soon as I do, he goes down on one knee and I start sobbing like a little girl. He asks me to marry him and it actually took me a couple of minutes to respond because 1) I couldn't physically see him through the tears and was trying to wipe them from my face so I could take this moment in visually and 2) I was thinking 'ohmygodohmygodohmygodohmygod' (another reason I was in such a state was because I knew if he ever proposed, he would do so the way he did, so it took me by shock, when he re-enacted what had been going through my mind recently, movement for movement).I then realised after about a minute I had to say something as he was still waiting, so I mumbled a nearly incoherent yes making sure he knew what’d I’d said by nodding, the ring was put on (both of us praying it would fit and it does….as though it were in fact made for me…good guess!) and we spent the next half an hour to an hour, hugging, dancing to the music and talking about what was going to happen and what was going through our minds.
We spent the rest of the evening, before sleeping, sitting on the sofa discussing pretty much everything and listening to the rest of the disc.

*Sigh* So yes…We’re officially engaged! we’re looking to have a longish engagement to give us time to arrange things and mainly to help it sink in (it really hasn’t yet).
So far we’ve received a vast amount of congratulations (inc. work colleagues, family, friends etc) which is wonderful.
Is all for now…I could have written the above a lot better but, head still feeling fairly over whelmed at the moment but wanted to write something, so will sign off here.
For photos of the ring (and the happy couple) they can be found on www.tomhbrand.blogspot.com
Unfortunately, for some reason we couldn’t quite get a good one of the ring (about 20 photos were taken), so the photo and the lighting in the photo doesn’t do the ring justice. I keep looking at it and feeling fuzzy inside!

Anyway, thank you for the congratulations! ...More update to come as things progress!

Bring on 2007!

I haven't posted in a while...for that I admit guilty.
It is scary how quickly 2006 shot passed. So much happened in so little time. I think Xmas was the first time I actually shut off in the entire year. I ended up asking my Sister-in-law Emma when she, Pablo and Saskia were around if it was really Xmas eve about 5 times on the day because I simply couldn't believe it. I completely lost track of the days at my parents house, which my mum commented was a very good thing because it meant I was allowing myself to chill out for once.

It has been a great year. So much has happened and I finally feel like I've settled into a little comfortable rut that I can stay in for a little while longer until I feel the need to change things. But hey, we'll see what the future brings.

Xmas was lovely. Very VERY relaxing. I couldn't believe how quickly the week passed as I did nothing the entire time. I kept being accused of being boring by certain siblings when I was particularly quiet, but I was just enjoying the quiet (which I now find curious considering we had a three year old in the house. She was truly wonderful, so playful and a delight to be around).
Sharing Christmas with the family was a lovely as it was so nice being with them for a time. Of course I missed Tom, but the 5 days really did fly by.
I got a great little batch of gifts which I'm currently enjoying so thank you to everyone for those!

New Years was cool too. I ended up dozing off on the sofa at 2ish after we celebrated at Midnight (we went up to Coventry to see a group of friends and crash) because I was so relaxed. Woke up a couple of minutes later in complete shock when people started moving around and the host had to spend a couple of minutes telling me to relax as I looked so taken aback at the sudden movement. We were served extremely well by both hosts who had to be ordered to sit down and take it easy as they'd done everything and started apologising when there was no more food left for us after they plied us with who knows how much!

So a new year and a new start...well I say a new start, but not much has changed really, though I'm feeling nicely comfortable at the moment. I've got a few habits I'd like to change, but I say that every year
Starting work again was a huge shock. I'd had 1 week off to relax but the shock of waking at 7 rather than my usual 10 was too much and by 3 on Tuesday I had a headache for the books! I couldn't face going home on my own so I waited until 5.30, pre-warned Tom before I met him and was looked after as soon as we got home. I felt so bad. Fortunately with his looking after, I soon picked up (after spending an hour with ice against my head, a few pills and Family Guy as a distraction from the pain).
But yes....Birthday this Sunday. Tom's taking me out to Richmond on Saturday and he's already been hyping me up about going out so I've been having to keep myself under control because if I get too excited, the day won't come soon enough and I'll get impatient. So really looking forward to that.

Apart from that, there's really nothing much to mention on here. I'm currently working on a story, which is progressing fairly well. When I've developed enough, I'll be posting it on here. I also have a picture I'm working on which will go on here.

Ah yes, I understand that some people can't comment on my Blog. I've had a look at the settings and everything looks ok so it's worth trying again to see what happens.

Anyway, a very happy 2007 for those I haven't told yet and I wish you all the very best for the year!