Weekend and the final countdown

IT’S THE FINAL COUNTDOWN

To what, you may ask?

My sister’s wedding!

Next week this time she is Mrs. Van Vuren, and happily on her way to honeymoon.

And I will have my life back 😉

Okay, I’m joking

Mostly.

This weekend my granny and uncle arrived from Mosselbay (East Coast, South-Africa). It is so wonderful to have them here. Our family, for various reasons, aren’t very close, and they will basically be representing our blood relations at the wedding. For that I am so grateful. I rarely feel bereft of family, because I have such good relationships with my sisters and parents, and I feel I don’t need much else. I also have so many good friends – they are true family. If I have to be honest, it is a bit strange having them in the house. By nature, I am not a talkative person – I will babble your head off if I know you, but other I am very shy.

I can also with certainty say I am not a case of being switched as a baby in a hospital – the resemblance between my gran and me is staggering – I am grateful, because I won’t grow into an old hag (I was hugely popular when I told my gran I now know I will age gracefully).

Saturday we practiced walking down the aisle. I still maintain I will strut down like a supermodel, but no one believes me. Hah. (I love my life, so I probably will gracefully glide down). Respect for my little sister – she was so sick and she still refused to stay at home and not practice. Well done little one!

Sunday night I received an email from someone I have truly forgotten about. It is one of those friendships that just died after school, and I am not sure it deserves a resurrection. Still, I will feel petty, childish and rude if I don’t reply, but as this friendship was fraught with drama, I can’t see how we can restart it. I wish someone could just tell me what to do, honestly. It is so difficult.

For such a busy weekend, I actually managed to an impressive amount of material. I finished Watermelon by Marian Keyes. I have been wondering about the missing link in the Welsh family series for ages, but never knew there was a book about the eldest sister, Clare. (I can hear you thinking that I should just have used Google). I enjoyed the book, but my favorite Welsh character remains Rachel from Rachel’s holiday. This book falls somewhere between my second and third favourite of the series. I am now really close to have read all Marian Keyes’ books. I think there is two left – I will see and read them. I really like her writing style.

I started on another Nora Roberts book – I know. It is one I read last year quite a bit. It is the first book in her Bridal Quartet series – the Vision in White. I love the entire series, and am now reading it through. It is fun and easy to read, which is just what I need right now.

BRIDE_TRILOGY1

I have taken a hiatus on Wuthering Heights for a few days. I am nearly done with it, but I am struggling. It is heart wrenchingly sad and depressing. I like love stories with happy endings, dammit.

Fitness and weight loss update: Just GUESS who lost 2kg’s last week?! ME! It is just amazing what happens if you don’t eat chocolate all the time and exercise properly. I am working really hard right now to maintain that loss, and even lose some more. I am now in a wonderful gymming phase – I am enjoying it. I think it is the warmer weather. Everyone seems to be in the mood for running if you take a look at the queue by the treadmills.

Unisa: I submitted my last two assignments this morning. The one is chemistry, so I really hope that the questions I think I did right, I did right. it is statistics all over again – I just want to pass. I can literally kick myself for not taking science as a subject in school. I can sense I will love it if it can just stop being so foreign and new – and it is my own damn fault. I have to seriously sit down and focus if I want to attempt passing in November. It is essential to pass, since most of my other subjects require me to do this properly. SIGH.

What did you do this weekend? I hope it was great!

Five Things Friday (What planning a bachelorettes or wedding taught me)

I am on leave today, and I really am so happy I just have a day off. It feels like I’m getting married, while it is actually my sister tying the knot. I am SO happy for her and her fiancé – they are the ultimate cuteness right now. On keeping tradition with my themed Friday post, here are 5 things planning a wedding/bachelorette taught me.

wedding

One: Someone will want to do everything.

Typical overachiever stuff happens around the wedding. If you don’t have a full time wedding planner, either the bride, her mother, her mother-in-law, or her sister will try to simultaneously organize everything at once. TIP: Calm down, everyone. It will be great, and it will work out fine.

Two: You quickly realize who your real friends are, and who is just there to see you fail.

The amount of people I am annoyed with regarding the wedding amounts daily, but I am starting to realise that they are all insignificant, and that they aren’t true friends. The backstabbing involved can be an entire post, so I won’t elaborate this much, but I am consoling myself that I don’t have to have these people at my wedding someday.

true_friends

Three: Have a back-up plan for your back-up plan.

If four things can go wrong, four things will go wrong. Really – the transport I organized for the bachelorettes fell flat about three times before I finally got it to work (for now)

Four: Someone will make it about them.

They will be rude, they will be selfish, they will be demanding. At the end of the day, you should just focus on what you can do to make it easier on the bride and groom, and be the bigger person, even when it is killing you to keep a dignified silence.

Five: If you just have fun with people that love you, you will have the best time ever.

Really self-explanatory.

Those who matter don’t mind, and those who mind don’t matter.

Have a lovely weekend!