1 Day To Go!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Last day as a Miss. Tomorrow, I'll be a Mrs!

I've had the most lovely day. Surrounded by family, who have flown thousands and thousands of miles to be with me on my special day. I'm feeling so blessed.

I woke bright and early this morning, still missing Jonathan but loving the fact I was in a big bed by myself. My first task of the day was to go to the airport to collect Uncle Charles and Carolyn, who were due to arrive from Hong Kong. Of course, I was to continue my trend of testing Sydney Airport's trial with their new car parking system - first 15 minutes of parking for free. I managed to miss them coming out of the gates, and took my record of free parking this weekend to 3 out of 4 trips.

It was so good to see Uncle Charles and Carolyn. The last time I saw them was in 2007 when I last visited Hong Kong, and it is truly an honour that they were willing and able and keen to be part of our wedding. With their arrival, all our families are now safely in Sydney and ready to party.

We arrived back at Dad and Mum's place with plenty of time to spare, to find Uncle Henry and Aunty Karen greeting us heartily as the heads of the welcoming party. It has also been 3 years since I last saw Uncle Henry and Aunty Karen - they looked very good, if somewhat slightly travel weary. The start of the photomania that will be the bulk of this weekend was evident when 4 cameras came out at the same time, and plenty of shots were taken before we headed off to have lunch with the rest of the family at Kam Fook. What a madhouse!!! There were so many of us, we had to sit on 2 tables!

Soon after lunch, the latest arrivals returned to Dad and Mum's for a well earned rest. I took Uncle Henry and Aunty Karen back to their hotel, and snuck in the time to have a chat and catch up with them.

How much do I love my family? THIS much!!!

I had a few more errands to run in the afternoon, which were hindered by an inconsiderate old bag at the hotel who refused to move her car out of the parking space at was clearly reserved for me. 20 minutes of arguing later, I finally snatched the keys off her and offered to move it into a rubbish tip. In the end, because of her piece of crap car refused to start for me, I had to go up and confront her with "Just move your damn car - you've spent more time arguing with me than it would have taken to move it, and you've now made me very late for an appointment" before she begrudgingly did what she was told.

Most of the remainder of the my afternoon was spent catching up with Adrian, who was still tender from the previous night's exploits. It was good to be able to sit down with Adrian and have a nice, relaxing catch up over some tea, with no interruptions as my mobile had run out of battery by this point. As the sun set and afternoon became dusk, we both got ready to head out to our respective dinner engagements.

With 17 people expected to be present for my parents' 40th Wedding Anniversary dinner, we walked into a function room with the largest table I'd ever seen at Kam Fook. Having arrived before all the children, the photomania continued with many photos taken in various poses with various combinations of people. We spent time taking photos of Mum's wedding present from Dad - a gorgeous set of ruby and diamond earrings with a massive ruby and diamond ring. A truly magnificent set of jewellery.

Once the children arrived, more photos were taken - by this stage, there were at least 7 cameras present, which meant the family photos took almost 30 minutes to take with only 1 restaurant staff member to help us take the photos. But it was fun, and we all got the same family photo on each of the cameras, so everyone was happy.

The feast began with fresh oysters and salmon sashimi, followed by lobster sashimi and roast suckling pig. A whole steamed fish, stir fried lobster in black bean sauce and shark's fin soup followed, with roasted squab and vegetables to round out the main courses. Dessert was a specially ordered chestnut cake from a bakery in Chinatown, which everyone enjoyed immensely.

The night ended around 10pm, with everyone full as a goog and starting to tired. With a big day ahead tomorrow, I took Uncle Henry and Aunty Karen back to their hotel, before heading back to Dad and Mum's to pick up Carolyn and my wedding dress. Carolyn and I are now settled in my hotel room, ready for a long overdue catch up before trying to sleep to prepare for the big day.

Weather Watch update. The current forecast as listed on the Bureau of Meteorology for Sunday remains:

Sunday - Fine. Windy.
City: Min: 9, Max: 19
West: Min: 5, Max: 18

I hope the day will dawn clear and fine!

This is it! Tomorrow, I stop being a Miss and for the first time in my life, become a Mrs. I can't wait!!!

2 Days To Go!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2 days to go.

And Houston, we have a small problem. Mina has head lice. Has had them for a few days, and getting worse.

We were informed at 7.30am today, which led to a mini meltdown for me. Thanks to some inconsiderate asshole retard bitch who did not think to tell us when Mina was first diagnosed, the news today sent me into a tailspin that caused upset and nausea.

I cried, I screamed, I almost vomited. I turned Bridezilla for about 30 minutes, saying I hated the inconsiderate asshole retard bitch and telling Jonathan I didn't want a kid with head bugs at my wedding. I told him if he insisted on Mina coming, that she wasn't allowed in my apartment. My apartment. I said it - I pulled rank and said it - my apartment. Hate hate hate hate HATE the inconsiderate asshole retard bitch.

I eventually calmed down, but not before Jonathan offered to pay for an extra night at the hotel for me. So I'm typing this sitting in the comforts of our bridal suite, on the 12th floor of the Vibe Hotel Milsons Point.

I will stress this - I love Mina and it's not her fault some buggy kid at school gave her nits. Mina has been great this week - no fussing about coming to our place - I was so looking forward to seeing her this weekend. According to the inconsiderate asshole retard bitch when she called us this morning, Mina has been treated for head lice for days, and it was getting worse. Days. Yes, folks, you read that right, Mina has had nits for days.

And Mina was still being sent to school instead of being quarantined - sent back to the scene of the crime to infect other children, and to be reinfected herself. Why oh why was she not quarantined and then treated twice a day every day until the lice was gone?

So, with 2 days to go till my wedding, the inconsiderate asshole retard bitch chose to tell us that Mina has had nits for days. Why she didn't call us a few days ago to tell us - to give us a heads up so we could prepare ourselves to treat Mina's lice - was so totally typical of the self centred, selfish inconsiderate asshole retard bitch.

Everyone I've spoken to about this have asked, "Why is she using her child to deliberately sabotage your wedding?" I can't answer that question - all I know is she is an inconsiderate asshole retard bitch and I hate her.

So back to Mina. Poor thing has had to have another stinky medicated shampoo this afternoon. Poor little thing has had to put up with so much this week - I felt bad that I couldn't bring myself to hug her or be near her. I simply do not want nits, with 2 days to go to my wedding.

Anyway, Mina is with Jonathan now in the apartment, asleep after a long day at school and an exciting evening playing with her cousin Alyssa. What a little champion. Mina will need at least another 2 medicated shampoo treatments between now and the wedding. And then, by the time we get back from our honeymoon, hopefully the lice will be gone and I'll be able to hug her again.

Today was otherwise a good day. Jonathan and I woke bright and early to go and collect Adrian from the airport. We spent a couple of hours with Adrian before dashing off to find the proper equipment to deal with Mina's lice. We ended up at my brother-in-law Vinay's pharmacy as he had the special lice comb for Mina's treatments.

We stopped for something quick to eat at a café near Vinay's shop, and enjoyed the most delicious pastries! What a great find! We even found a yummy flourless treat for Robin and Nana!

After almost emptying the café's display counter of treats into our takeaway box, we headed off to the airport to collect Jonathan's family. Malcolm, Robin, Gran and Nana were due to arrive first out of the 3 groups, and we insisted on meeting them at the airport. It was so good to see them - great big warm hugs all round - oh, how we've missed them!

We headed back to the apartment on Level 28 and enjoyed our afternoon snacks - it really was an afternoon snack for the folks from NZ - they had been travelling for hours and it was mid-afternoon NZ time. Before too long, we had to head off again for our next round of pick ups.

While Jonathan went to collect Mina, I went to the airport for the third and final time to meet Dave, Jolie, Alyssa and TAmmi. They were easy to spot - I looked for the cutest little girl in the terminal and found her dancing and skipping around! Alyssa is so much bigger now - it had been a year since I saw her last, and Tammi is now a 7 month old baby and not a small bump in Jolie's belly as I last remembered her! It was great to see them all, and we caught up as we headed towards their rental car.

The plan was for Dave to follow me back to St Leonards, but alas, I managed to lose them in a flurry of activity. Alyssa, who had not been to the bathroom since she and her family left NZ hours and hours beforehand (she's recently toilet trained, but is still afraid of going to the toilet without the child seat), finally found the courage to relieve herself. In her car seat. This halted the family's travels, and I lost them in the process.

Dave was great at finding his way to St Leonards, and before long, they were all safe and sound in the building and settling into their apartment, on the same floor as ours.

According to the wedding schedule, I was to prepare dinner from 3.30pm to 4.15pm, but alas, those collecting Mina found themselves stuck in traffic, holding the only key to enter the Level 28 apartment without waking the resting grandmothers. By the time they arrived back at St Leonards, it was time to head off to the wedding rehearsal.

Everyone was there by the time we finally arrived at the church. Aunt Magdalen was with the crew, and it was great to see her - the last time I saw her was when my parents and I visited San Francisco in 2007. Father Coleman had been speaking to my family for the 10 minutes prior to our arrival, and was pleased we could finally start the rehearsal.

The whole thing went very smoothly - although judging by the rehearsal, I am going to bawl my eyes out on Sunday!

When it was all over, we raced back to St Leonards so I could get dinner started. Even going as quickly as I could, we weren't going to be able to eat until 7.30pm - which was 9.30pm for the NZ crew. I made sure the kids got their meals straight away - poor little things were starving! When dinner was finally ready, everyone dug in heartily, and my Roast Chicken in a bag was very well received by one and all. Mike and Heather joined us just as we were about to start eating, and they proved to be great company - Uncle Mike is so funny!

When Mina piped up and asked "Can I please go to bed?", it really was time for her to head downstairs. Jonathan and Mina took off, while I finished tidying up in the kitchen. By the time I made my way down to the apartment, story time was over, and Mina could barely keep her eyes open.

As I was to stay at the hotel - the room was already booked and paid for - I needed to finish packing our "overnight" bag - which turned into a massive duffel bag!

Saying goodbye to Jonathan tonight was harder than I thought it would be. With him spending all day tomorrow with his family, and me with mine, I will now not be seeing him until Sunday, when I will be walking down the aisle towards him.

After such a horrible start to the day, it all ended with a wonderful surprise. I found my personalised reserved car space in the hotel car park, and I was checked into the bridal suite where I will be spending tonight and the next 2 nights as well. Bless!

I really should be asleep by now, but I'm so excited about the rest of my family arriving tomorrow that I'm unable to close my eyes. But I know I will soon need to try and sleep - try being the operative word. I'm in a king sized bed all to myself, and all I want is to cuddle up next to my husband to be.

Weather Watch update. With today being such a gorgeous day - warm in the sun, clear skies, just a small sprinkling of shower late in the afternoon, we are hoping for more of the same. The current forecast as listed on the Bureau of Meteorology for Sunday remains:

Sunday - Fine. Windy.
City: Min: 9, Max: 19
West: Min: 5, Max: 18

Tomorrow's forecast reads:

Forecast for Saturday
Patchy rain clearing early to a fine and mostly sunny day. Light northerly winds early tending west to northwesterly and becoming fresh and gusty in the afternoon.

Precis: Patchy rain clearing early.

City: Min: 14, Max: 20
West: Min: 11, Max: 22

Uncle Charles, Uncle Henry, Aunty Karen and Carolyn arrive in a matter of hours. I can't wait to see them all!!!

2 days to go. Woo hoo!

3 Days To Go!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Today's entry is brought by to you by the number 3. And the sound SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

Today ended up being my last day at work. After I finished the work I brought home last night, I remembered I still had outstanding tasks at work to complete, so I took myself off to work bright and early this morning to finish things off. And yes, I got in a bit of trouble from everyone - who all thought I was crazy to worry about finishing off work when I should be enjoying my first hectic day of the wedding weekend.

It took the better part of 90 minutes to finish the tasks, but I got there in the end. And paid $44 for parking. Wow. I hate parking in the city.

Father Coleman called me just as we were about to head to Sew Special, to check to make sure that we were all still all set for the wedding rehearsal tomorrow. Bless him - how good of him to call us. So we are all set - we just need to get everyone who needs to be at the wedding rehearsal to turn up on time.

My wedding dress ended up being ready after all. Celia made some comment at the end of our appointment about how she would have charged me much more than Joanna quoted me, because she did so much more work than Joanna thought the alterations would involve. Thanks Celia for ending our working relationship on that note. I'll be sure to provide my feedback to Joanna when she's back at work.

My beauty treatments ended up costing a fortune, but as it is a once in a life time thing for me, I will forget how much it's all cost. I certainly will not be able to afford to go back to Judit for a while!

Today, I had an eyelash extension, spray tan, eyebrow tinting and waxing, face waxing, manicure (which is totally horrible and will need to be completely redone), and both Jonathan and I ended up getting our teeth whitened. 3.5 hours later, I walked out of the salon a few hundred dollars lighter!

We picked up the keys to the apartments for Jonathan's family, and we have now also done the grocery shopping as well. We grabbed a few essential items for each of the apartments - milk, soap, tissues - and we put the bulk of the groceries in the biggest apartment - bread, butter, fruit, gluten free cereal and bread, and the food for dinner tomorrow night. The apartments all looked gorgeous, and we hope Jonathan's family will all be very comfortable during their stay.

Still need to press the flower girls' dresses. Still need to wash Stella. But on the bright side, we have now burned on to a CD the music we need for the ceremony, and as I type this, Jonathan is putting together the background music to be played in the church before the ceremony.

Weather Watch update. Considering it has been raining pretty much all day today and all day yesterday as well, I'm starting to become a little worried that we are going to have a very soggy day on Sunday. The current forecast as listed on the Bureau of Meteorology for Sunday remains:

Sunday - Fine. Windy.
City: Min: 8, Max: 19
West: Min: 4, Max: 19

The week in the lead up now reads:

Forecast for Friday
Morning fog and mist then fine with increasing high cloud until showers develop later in the day or overnight. Light to moderate north to northwest winds, fresh at times in the afternoon.

Precis: Fine day. Late/overnight showers.

City: Min: 12, Max: 21
West: Min: 10, Max: 22

Saturday - Showers clearing early.
City: Min: 14, Max: 20
West: Min: 12, Max: 20

Aunt Magdalen and Adrian arrive tomorrow - they're on planes as I type. Jonathan's family will be boarding flights tomorrow morning, to arrive at various times tomorrow. The wedding weekend has well and truly started!

3 days to go. SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

4 Days To Go!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Today's entry is brought by to you by the number 4. And the letters O, M and G!

Apologies for this entry being very late. You'll see why in a minute.

4 days to go. And today was my last day at work.

Hectic day, not helped by the fact that I was losing time doing stuff that I would have happily not dealt with, and then, the team sprung a surprise afternoon tea for me. So kind, so thoughtful, and such a lovely generous gift, but alas, that was more time out of my day to finish my work. And I hate that I sound ungrateful for such a lovely lovely gesture!

Organising to have dinner with my parents, in hindsight, was a bad judgement call. I made Jonathan and I late, as I was still at work at 7pm, when we should have been at my parents having dinner. But, in the end, it was well worth the sighing and the tsk tsking from my folks. We left them with 3 copies of the almighty wedding itinerary, which I took them through step by step, and they are without a doubt feeling a lot better about what the plans are now that they are in black and white, in triplicate.

As it stands, I have had to bring home some work to complete. I have only just finished the work, and have realised that I have still got outstanding tasks at work to finish. I'm going to have to duck in quickly tomorrow morning to finish off the final things I didn't get around to finishing before I left the building tonight.

The Thank You notes are all printed. Woot to that! Yes, amidst all the crazy, I managed to get the Thank You notes printed. I know where my priorities are!

The most stressful wedding related thing happened at 4.50pm, when Sew Special called me to ask if I could please reschedule my wedding dress pick up to late tomorrow afternoon. Anyone who's seen my wedding itinerary knows I don't have time tomorrow afternoon, so I told them I could be there as late as 11am, but no later than that. Turns out Celia has been ill and has not quite finished my dress. I'm sorry, but she's not the only seamstress working at Sew Special, so I'm hoping she's burning the midnight oil just like I am. I will be ropeable if the dress isn't ready when I arrive at the shop tomorrow.

Still need to press the flower girls' dresses. Still need to wash Stella. Still need to breathe.

Weather Watch update. The current forecast as listed on the Bureau of Meteorology for Sunday now reads:

Sunday - Fine. Windy.
City: Min: 9, Max: 18
West: Min: 4, Max: 18

The week in the lead up now reads:

Forecast for Thursday
Early morning showers and morning fog patches, then fine until some
rain develops in the afternoon. Light to moderate northwest winds.

Precis: Morning fog. Some rain later.
City: Min: 13, Max: 19
West: Min: 11, Max: 18

Friday - Chance late shower.
City: Min: 12, Max: 21
West: Min: 8, Max: 22

Saturday - Showers clearing early.
City: Min: 15, Max: 20
West: Min: 15, Max: 21

4 days to go. 4 days!!! OMG!!!!!!!

5 Days To Go!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Today's entry is brought by to you by the number 5. And the letters J, E, E, B, U and S!

5 days to go. I truly am amazed how quickly it has all come around.

The wedding itinerary is now completed. I have sent it to all and sundry, and a few more for a giggle. The whole thing is 6 pages long, and it includes important telephone numbers and a list of "to bring" items to the hotel and to the church. Not one person who's received the itinerary can doubt my project management skills!

I again forgot to bring to work my special paper to print the Thank You cards today, so I must remember to do that tomorrow. I also forgot to bring the bundle of papers I needed to photocopy for our mortgage broker, which was left on the dining table this morning when I was distracted by my rumbling tummy and never quite made its way into my handbag. Yes, I can spell "baby brain".

Weather Watch update. The current forecast as listed on the Bureau of Meteorology for Sunday remains:

Sunday - Fine
City: Min: 9, Max: 18
West: Min: 4, Max: 19

The week in the lead up now reads:

Forecast for Wednesday
A shower or two, chiefly in the afternoon, increasing to a little rain in the evening. Light northwesterly winds early tending northeasterly and freshening in the afternoon.

Precis: Shower or two, increasing.
City: Min: 10, Max: 17
West: Min: 6, Max: 17

Thursday - Shower or two, increasing.
City: Min: 10, Max: 20
West: Min: 6, Max: 20

Friday - Mostly fine.
City: Min: 10, Max: 21
West: Min: 5, Max: 22

Saturday - Mostly fine.
City: Min: 13, Max: 20
West: Min: 10, Max: 20

5 days to go! JEEBUS!

6 Days To Go!!!!!!!!!!

6 days to go. It really truly is the final countdown.

Final payments for everything are being made early this week. My credit card is ready for a spanking!

I forgot to bring to work my special paper to print the Thank You cards today, so I must remember to do that tomorrow. It won't be the end of the world if I don't get the Thank You cards printed before I leave work on Wednesday afternoon - it just means that we won't be able to send out our Thank You notes until after we're back at work, and as we have a couple of days at home before we recommence work, I thought it would be best utilised to thank our guests for being part of our special day.

Jonathan said to me this morning, "Honey, this time next week, I'll be waking up next to my gorgeous wife, my lovely Mrs Hill." That sent tingles down my spine!

I'm now on Weather Watch. The current forecast as listed on the Bureau of Meteorology for Sunday is:

Sunday - Fine
City: Min: 9, Max: 18
West: Min: 4, Max: 19

There may be a little bit of rain heading for us on Wednesday or Thursday, and there is a chance of a shower on Saturday, but the week is mostly fine.

6 days to go! Must. Remember. To. Breathe!!!

7 Days To Go!!!!!!!!!!

7 days. That's ONE WEEK TO GO!!!

Jonathan has now dropped off the package with Janine @ Vibe Hotel. Hopefully, she'll email us tomorrow to acknowledge receipt of the package.

I really should get a move on blinging up the little girls' dresses. On second thought, the dresses really don't need the bling, so if I don't get around to it, it won't be too big a deal. I just need to press the dresses and the little cardigans between now and Thursday.

We've had a lovely lovely weekend with Mina, despite the inauspicious start. Mina is now so excited about the impending visit of Jonathan's family in a week. Only 5 sleeps to go before Mina gets to see her grandparents, great-grandmothers, uncle, aunt and cousins.

Little things left to do. And the list is getting smaller.

One week to go!

Much Ado About Nothing

The last few weeks have been hell on a stick for me and Jonathan. We have been forced to ride an emotional roller coaster, all because of the incompetent parenting (or just plain lack of parenting) by Mina's mother.

You see, for the last month or so, we have been constantly told by Mina's mother that Mina does not want to sleep over with us any more. Unlike any other parent, who would step up and either find out what the problem is, and / or simply tell the child to stop making a fuss, the mother tells Mina she doesn't have to sleep over, then calls us to let us know what she's done.

The complete lack of consideration is totally typical of the idiot mother, who lately has been more interested in looking after other people's children (in exchange for make up and other useless products) than disciplining her own. The idiot mother is completely self absorbed and only cares about instant gratification, without considering the consequences, immediate or long term.

We have been forced to work through the issues with Mina, because the mother has been totally incapable of handling the problems. Every weekend, for the past few weekends, we've talked to Mina about the problem, and we've since discovered that the only real quibble she has about sleeping over lies with her not having a "real bed" nor a "real bedroom".

Over and over again, we have explained that we are in the process of looking for a new home, with a bedroom for Mina which we can furnish with a bed and possibly a desk of her very own. For now, though, as we are in a one-bedroom apartment, her bedroom when she sleeps over consists of the alcove, the dining room, the lounge room, the kitchen, and the bathroom. And her bed is a double bed that is much much bigger than the one she has at her mother's, in which she can sleep sideways and not have to worry about falling out of it.

Every weekend, we send her home more assured that we are doing everything in our power to give her what she wants. Also, every weekend, even though she kicks up a fuss at home, and in the process upsets everyone, Mina has a great time with us. In fact, the minute she's in the car with Jonathan, all hints of any fuss is immediately replaced by excitement related to spending time with Jonathan and me.

But every week, we get at least one phone call from the idiot mother to let us know that Mina has again made a fuss about sleeping over. She knows our living arrangements, yet she does nothing to help us, nor herself for that fact.

There are so many wrongs with this situation. Jonathan only gets to see Mina on weekends, so when we're told Mina doesn't want to spend time with us, it really tears him up. And that is the situation - we get told - not asked, not consulted with, just told. The idiot mother makes assertions and promises to Mina without talking to us, then calls us and tells us how it is. And then, she has the hide to turn around and play martyr.

You see, we've had to tell the mother that if Mina doesn't sleep over with us, we will just see Mina on Sundays only. We are not prepared to collect Mina on a Saturday, spend all day with her, drop her home, then go back on a Sunday and do the same. 4 hours of driving per weekend is completely unreasonable, as the idiot mother will never share in the transport duties nor the costs associated with us having to drive everywhere, all the time. If we were to change to Sundays only, this also means the mother has to rearrange her weekends to ensure someone is around to take care of Mina on the Saturdays, and if she is unable to find someone, then she has to give up her activities on the Saturdays, or take Mina with her to her outings, which may not always be suitable to bring a child along to.

The idiot mother has made comments about how the change of weekend arrangements will adversely affect her weekend activities. I must admit I had to laugh when I heard these comments. I fail to see why Jonathan or I should feel sorry for her at all, nor why she would think we would care. She has brought these consequences on herself by making decisions without speaking to us, through her failure to be a parent and stand up to her child who is fast becoming a brat.

Having said all of this, so far, the weekends have not altered - we are still seeing Mina on the pattern that has been set and followed so far (one weekend sleepover, next weekend Sunday visit, rinse and repeat). But the phone calls and the idiot's inability to be a parent is wearing our patience thin and causing a lot of grief.

After talking to Mina about sleeping over last weekend, and hearing her promise us that she would not make a fuss, we got a phone call on Friday afternoon to let us know Mina was causing a fuss again. As it was 5pm, the time when Jonathan would leave work to head over to collect Mina, he was at a loss as to what to do. I told him that he should head over and collect Mina anyway, because it was unreasonable for us to have to change our weekend plans now with no notice at all. So he did. And Mina came without a fuss.

The phone call and hearing Jonathan's voice dripping with frustration proved too much for me after a long, busy and at times stressful week. I bawled my eyes out at work - and yes, I was still at work, at 5.30pm, on a Friday afternoon, when everyone else had gone home. I was so over the idiot mother and Mina's brattish behaviour, and after I told Jonathan to go and collect Mina, I called him back to say I didn't want Mina in the wedding party any more. In fact, I didn't want Mina to come to the wedding at all.

Further, I told Jonathan that if we were to receive any phone calls next week, I will, in no uncertain terms, disinvite Mina from the wedding. I am so adamant and serious about this that I've told Jonathan it's either her or me - if Mina makes a fuss, she's out of the wedding, and if he insists she comes, I won't be there. This is how sick of the situation I am.

When the two of them arrived home, it was like nothing had happened. Mina was happy to be at our place, happy to be sleeping over, no fuss, no bother. Meanwhile, my insides were still twisted in knots and I was still feeling so awful, I could have thrown up there and then.

While Jonathan was fixing some spaghetti on toast for him and Mina to have for dinner, I decided to have to chat with Mina about how upsetting her fussing was making everyone. While I was asking Mina what this weekend's issue was, I started crying. I am glad I cried - I usually try very hard not to cry in front of Mina, but I really was so upset that the tears just fell. It was the 2nd time I've ever cried in front of Mina. Mina was quite shocked to see me cry, and gave me hugs to try and comfort me. I just told her the truth - that when she causes fuss, it hurts my heart and my body - because when I hear the disappointment and frustration in Jonathan's voice after yet another upsetting phone call to say Mina didn't want to come to us, my heart drops through my stomach and it almost splits me in two. Plus my blood pressure shoots through the roof, and Speedy starts doing somersaults as well. I explained my pain quite graphically to Mina, crying the whole time.

I had to tell Mina, in no uncertain terms, that if she continues to cause fusses, then we really couldn't have her in our wedding party because the fusses are seen by us as her breaking her promise to us and lying to us as well, and if we can't trust her, then we can't have her doing an important job like being our flower girl. And if she doesn't want to sleep over, that's fine, but that also means she will never have her own bedroom. And she will never have her own bed. I know it sounds harsh, that I was threatening to remove her from the wedding party, but the way I am right now - tired, emotional, pregnant, a little bit stressed, etc, I really truly do not need any more pressure or stress, not even from a much loved child. I just hope my crying really showed Mina exactly how upset I really was.

After a most inauspicious start, we ended up having a fabulous weekend with Mina, doing many fun things. We went house hunting, and she did a great job as our "power point auditor" and "bath spotter". We went shopping for presents for her cousin Alyssa and Grandma, whose birthdays are in August. We even fitted in a movie today - Toy Story 3 which was amazing.

We had such a lovely weekend that today, Mina asked us if she had to go home. We were so surprised that we asked her what she meant, and she said she wanted to stay with us and didn't want to go home. Ironic, isn't it? I made sure Jonathan told the idiot mother tonight at drop off, just to give her a taste of her own medicine.

We also all but told Mina straight out that she would be expecting a little brother or sister come Christmas time. Hopefully, once we do confirm there is a baby - and we will next week when Jonathan's family is in Sydney, and we tell her how important she is in our lives and in the baby's life, Mina will feel less inclined to cause problems.

One week to go to the wedding. If we receive any phone calls next week, I will disinvite Mina to the wedding. No ifs, no buts, Jonathan has agreed to this, and we'll make sure her idiot mother is left to explain why Mina is missing out on Jonathan and my big day. Here's hoping there won't be any problems, next week and beyond.

Oh, and in case you were wondering what the fuss was about this weekend, there wasn't any. Mina said she didn't want to come because her mother was too busy looking after someone else's children and wasn't home to see Mina before Jonathan picked her up. Mina was home alone with her grandfather all afternoon, and wanted to see her mother before leaving for our place, but the idiot mother was too busy to take care of her own child. That was all.

Project New Home: Homes Viewed = 5

The homes inspected total stands at 5 today.

Being a Saturday, Jonathan, Mina and I went off to inspect 2 homes - one in Eastwood and one in Marsfield.

Both properties were being shown at the same time, within the same 40 minute period, so we had a choice as to which to see first. Thankfully, the properties were within a 5 minute driving distance, so we would not need to break land speed records to get from one to the other.

The first home we visited was almost brand spanking new. The building was 3 years old, on top of shops in Eastwood, across the road from Eastwood Police Station, and within a stone's throw to Eastwood Station. The building is also a secure building with only 17 apartments over 4 floors.

We absolutely loved the interior - you could tell it was almost brand new. The layout was great, with a huge open plan living / dining space, wiht a gorgeous covered balcony and a massive kitchen (with a gas stove). The bedrooms were all generously sized, with plenty of storage space. The walk in wardrobe in the master bedroom was huge! Along with an internal laundry and 2 bathrooms (one with a bath), there is also a small balcony off the master bedroom.

This place ticked a lot of the boxes. But there was a draw back - the apartment doesn't have any real kind of outlook at all. By this, I mean it is pretty much surrounded by other buildings, and the only kind of light is coming in from an angle above the windows. Although the interior was gorgeous, there is no view to speak of, and after talking to Jonathan, we are both afraid that we would start to feel totally boxed in after living there for a while.

The second place was in Marsfield, in a huge complex with over 130 townhouses. When we arrived, we went towards the back of the complex, and soon found the townhouse we were inspecting to be right next to the Epping Road side of the complex. The townhouse was split over 3 floors - the ground floor was the entrance and the double lock up garage. The next floor was an awkward split level living and dining area, with a small kitchen and a small courtyard leading off the kitchen. The 3 bedrooms were on the top floor, with a bathroom and an ensuite in the master bedroom. All bedrooms had built in wardrobes.

The apartment was totally unfurnished, and the carpets were quite stained. Besides that, when we were upstairs looking at the bedrooms, pretty much all the windows faced on to or were seriously affected by the noise coming from Epping Road. Mina liked the fact that the townhouse was right next to a small play area, and that the complex had a pool, but after we showed her how busy Epping Road was, and how noisy her bedroom was going to be, she wasn't so keen on the townhouse after all.

We are now going to be taking a break for at least 2 weeks to get married and go on our honeymoon. Hopefully, by the time we get back from our honeymoon, we will be that much closer to our mortgage pre-approval.

The search continues!

8 Days To Go!!!!!!!

8 days. That's just over a week away!!!

The place cards are all finished, thanks largely to Jonathan keeping Mina busy with our newly purchased Lego. Earlier today, we braved the Target Toy Sale and bought a bunch of toys, amongst which were 2 new sets of Spongebob Squarepants Lego sets. Jonathan and Mina had great fun building the models and left me very much alone to finish off a very fiddly task.

I've now put together the package for Janine @ Vibe Hotel, which we'll drop off tomorrow.

Just after the place cards were finished, we tried to fix my shoes. I think we may have botched the job a little, but oh well, at least all the sequins are back on the shoes and hopefully, no more will fall off.

The beading on the flower girls' and the little girls' dresses will not be done tonight. I'll have to get that done tomorrow.

The "wedding weekend itinerary" did not get finished, so I'll have to finish it off on Monday at work.

Only a few more things to do - very little things. I'd like to have all the Thank You cards made and ready for us to write in and send out on the Friday and the Saturday after we come back from our honeymoon, and before we have to go back to work. This means I'll have to remember to bring the special paper with me to work on Monday and get the pages printed and brought home. And aside from the little things above, all we have left to do is wait excitedly for the arrival of our families!

8 days to go. Yay!

9 Days To Go!!!!!!!

9 days! 9 DAYS!

I finally emailed Janine our seating charts and some final questions about the reception. I'm putting together a package for her and am aiming to drop this off at the Hotel by Sunday.

This means we (read: "I") have to finish the place cards by tomorrow afternoon. This will not be an easy task, as we have Mina this weekend for a sleepover and she'll no doubt want to help, which could (read: "will") become more a hinderance than help.

At least I remembered to get the table scatters last night. I'll make sure they're in the package for Janine.

If I'm not too tired tonight, I'm going to have to make a move on sewing the beads on to the little girls' dresses. I'm fast running out of time to do this. Once the beading is finished, I still have to press / iron the dresses. I'm not looking forward to that job.

Jonathan is going to have to fix my shoes this weekend. Let's see if I can get him to superglue the sequins on tomorrow.

The "wedding weekend itinerary" is not writing itself, so I am going to have to finalise that today, as I'll need to print a copy for my folks and sisters, to be handed to my mother on Sunday for distribution to the girls next week.

Jonathan still needs to ask his family who will be speaking on behalf of his family. We managed to lock in Vinay last night, as we really don't think Dad will be up for the job.

I'm going to have to try and get Stella cleaned this weekend, and then not wear her at all next week. It will be very strange to not have her on my ring finger for a week!

9 days to go! Not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing!

10 Days To Go!!!!!!!

10 days! We are on the final countdown!

Update from yesterday:

- Emailed the London Cab Company yesterday. Got the itinerary sorted, and final payment made. All booked.

- Jonathan and I did the seating charts last night. We hope our guests will enjoy the company we have placed them with on the night! Must email the charts through to Janine @ Vibe today.

- Jonathan and I also put together all the Order of Service booklets last night. Jonathan did all the folding, while I did my magic stapling work - not an easy job as we have standard sized staplers. Glad they are now finished and out of the way. I love my gorgeous man - he helped with this boring task willingly and in good humour, and had us both in stitches of laughter throughout the entire task.

- We had dinner with our gorgeous friend Emily last night, who will be playing the important role of MC at our wedding. I'll be sure to send her a list of names she should have handy to mention through her duties.

There are still more things to do:

- Need to start "blinging up" the flower girls' dresses with the beads I bought 2 weeks ago.

- Need to print out the place cards for the tables.

- Need to buy some table scatters for the tables, which I'll do tonight before dinner with my parents.

- Need to fix my wedding shoes - 3 of the little tiny sequins had fallen off when I first brought them home from the shops, a few months ago, and the super glue is just waiting to be used right now.

- Need to finish the "wedding weekend itinerary" so that I know where I am suppose to be at what time on which day. I am hoping that once I finish that, I will be a lot less anxious.

- Need to clean my engagement ring Stella so she would be bright and shiny on the big day.

- Need to send out an email to our guests to let them know about the special parking rate at the Luna Park car park.

- Need to see if Jonathan has asked his dad to make a speech at the wedding. If Malcolm isn't too keen on public speaking, we may have to ask Jonathan's brother Dave to speak on behalf of the family.

- Need to confirm that Dad doesn't want to do a speech, and that Vinay is comfortable speaking on behalf of my family.

- Need to talk to our lovely ushers Penny and Ian and just give them an idea of what they need to do on the day.

Only 10 days to go! It's the final countdown (do do do doo, do do do do do)!!!

(PS - That's my pathetic interpretation of the hard rock song with the same name by Europe.)

11 Days To Go!!!!!!!

11 days! That's 10 sleeps to go!

What more can I say, but WOO HOO!

I really can't believe how quickly time has flown. Even though I am completely prepared, and all my plans are in place, I'm now starting to panic a little.

There seems to be so much to do, so little time! I should take a deep breath and count how many little tiny jobs (that will take next to no time to complete) before I go into an all out anxiety attack.

- Need to talk to the London Cab Company about the finer details of the day relating to the hire car. I should have called them a week ago!

- Need to start "blinging up" the flower girls' dresses with the beads I bought 2 weeks ago.

- Need to do seating charts! Needed to do these last week, and we keep forgetting! Must get them done tonight and get them back to Janine @ Vibe.

- Need to print out the Order of Service booklets, so Jonathan and I can start putting them together.

- Need to print out the place cards for the tables.

- Need to buy some table scatters for the tables. We should do that tomorrow night - which means I need to finish work early enough to go to the shops before dinner with the family to celebrate my folks' 40 wedding anniversary.

- Need to fix my wedding shoes - 3 of the little tiny sequins had fallen off when I first brought them home from the shops, a few months ago, and the super glue is just waiting to be used right now.

- Need to finish the "wedding weekend itinerary" so that I know where I am suppose to be at what time on which day. I am hoping that once I finish that, I will be a lot less anxious.

- Need to clean my engagement ring Stella so she would be bright and shiny on the big day.

- Need to send out an email to our guests to let them know about the special parking rate at the Luna Park car park.

- Need to see if Jonathan has asked his dad to make a speech at the wedding. If Malcolm isn't too keen on public speaking, we may have to ask Jonathan's brother Dave to speak on behalf of the family.

- Need to confirm that Dad doesn't want to do a speech, and that Vinay is comfortable speaking on behalf of my family.

- Need to talk to our lovely ushers Penny and Ian and just give them an idea of what they need to do on the day.

There are a few things I can't do until next week, like picking up my wedding dress and Jonathan's suit, so there's no point worrying about those. We collect the keys to the apartments to house Jonathan's family next Thursday afternoon, before we head out to do a spot of grocery shopping that evening, so that Jonathan's family will have the bare basics in their apartments to make tea and coffee, and some other essentials like bread and cereal for breakfast.

We're catching up with our gorgeous MC Emily tonight to talk proceedings. I should write down a list of names for her to mention at the wedding - including all of Jonathan's family, my family (especially the visiting family members), and notable guests who have travelled great distances.

I'm sure there will be more things to do - little things that will inevitably crop up when I least expect them. Or I can stop being a project manager (read: "control freak") and trust that the people we have assigned tasks to will deliver.

11 days to go! Must. Remember. To. Breathe!!!

Project New Home: Homes Viewed = 3

With Project New Home going full steam ahead, Saturdays will become another "date" day for Jonathan and I as we embark on our exciting journey of going to open house inspections.

As at today, we have attended 4 open house inspections on 3 different properties. The Epping property we viewed last weekend was worth another look - that was how keen we were about this place - and we took my parents to see it too. Both Jonathan and I are really glad my folks came along - through their eyes, we saw a whole bunch of flaws, such as a huge lack of power points (only 1 per room - very typical of the era in which the building was constructed), and there were a whole bunch of other "defects" that would need to be fixed up as well. So really, it wouldn't have been a straight forward "move in and live" situation. Rather, it would have been "buy it, fix her up - and there's a lot to fix up, then move in".

All thanks to this second viewing, we are now not completely hooked on this property.

Last week, we also looked at a terrace on the border of Epping and Carlingford. Jonathan has always wanted to live in a terrace house, and the pictures on Domain looked fabulous. There were a few warning bells for me, the first of which was that the property was situated on Carlingford Road - which is busy 24/7.

Nevertheless, we went and had a look, and sure enough, the busy main road detracted from an otherwise quite gorgeous terrace house. The interior was all quite new and the property was quite well presented, but we couldn't get past the fact that the property was on a main road.

Today, we went to view a property in Marsfield which is very close to Epping Boys High School. The property is a townhouse in a complex of about 30 townhouses, in a nice leafy area that unfortunately wasn't well serviced by public transport. We liked a lot of things about this property - it was a double bricked townhouse with good sized courtyards (in the front and in the back), the layout in the downstairs living area is lovely and open, and the bedrooms upstairs were all decently sized, with a walk in wardrobe in the master bedroom and built ins in the other rooms. There was an internal laundry, and 2 bathrooms (both upstairs). The property came with a double lock up garage as well.

Our first impressions of the property was that it was really really really over-furnished. We walked into a tiny living area, filled with a massive lounge, a bulky entertainment unit and a bulky wooden wall unit. As we moved towards the back of the property, it became apparent that the much larger living area was being used for other purposes - like housing a massive shrine complete with a statue of Buddha. It was actually quite creepy looking - I thought it looked more like a crypt, but Jonathan insists it's a Buddhist altar table.

The exterior of the property looked well maintained enough. The interior, however, will require some work before we can move in, if we were to buy this place. At the very least, the whole place would need to be painted - the current yellow and blue colour scheme downstairs is very dated, and all the walls upstairs looked like they could do with a fresh coat or 2 as well. The carpeted stairs will need to be replaced, preferably with floor boards, and the landing on the first floor could do with some work too. The bathrooms took us all the way back to the late 70s when this property was built - those tiles were, so, um, vintage. A few doors could be eliminated, like the kitchen door and the walk in wardrobe door. But we did like the front door very much - quite possibly the best thing in the entire property!

The agent said the vendors are very keen to sell, so we've asked for a contract to be sent to us.

In the meantime, as we're now not emotionally attached to any property, we will continue to sort out our finances and hopefully, we'll get approval for a home loan before we find the perfect place.

So the count is up to 3 properties. No doubt we will see plenty more on our new and exciting journey. Let's see what next week will bring.

15 Days To Go!!!

15 days!

I'm happy to report that last night, Jonathan won every "Of The Year" category with his wedding present to me - Boyfriend of the Year, Fiancé of the Year, Husband of the Year, Father of the Year, and Man of the Year.

Wicked was one of the most fantastic musicals I've been to in a long time. And the Capitol Theatre was a perfect venue - this old dame provided a spectacular space for the amazing sets and the very creative costumes.

When Jonathan got the tickets a month ago, he chose the "best available seats" option and hoped for the best. When the tickets arrived, we saw that we were in Row BB, and both of us thought we would be way up the back of the theatre.

Imagine our delight when we were told to head towards the stage, and look for the second row from the stage! Not only were we two rows back from the stage, we were also smack bang in the middle of the row, dead centre of the stage.

We were so close to the stage, we were able to see the entire performance up close and personal. We were able to see all of the performers' facial expressions, all the elaborate costume designs, even the fabulously creative make up. Seriously, these were the best seats we've ever had in all the shows we've ever been to.

The show itself was great, although vastly different from the book. The book is quite dark, with no happy ending, but the show is aimed more for the fans of The Wizard of Oz. The performances were good too:

- Jemma Rix was a stunning Elphaba, with an incredible voice and a solid performance.
- Lucy Durack did a fabulous job as the vain but loyal friend Galinda/Glinda - such fantastic comedic timing and well delivered lines - and she had some of the best lines.
- James Smith was simply awesome as Boq. What a voice!
- The rest of the principal cast were great too. Bert Newton's Wizard was fun. Elisa Colla's Nessarose deserved more stage time. Maggie Fitzpatrick's Madam Morrible and Rodney Dobson's Professor Dillamond were substantial. The weakest link was Tim Campbell - his take on Fiyero was not convincing, and his was quite easily the weakest of all the performances.
- The flying monkeys were fantastic.

Best. Wedding Present. EVER.

How the hell am I going to top that?

Today, I had my make up trial with Judit. And I was very very pleased with the results. Dad, Mum and Jonathan all saw the results, and they were all pretty pleased as well.

15 days to go!

Project New Home

Now that Project Wedding is pretty much all finalised, and Project Baby is ticking along nicely, Jonathan and I have tentatively started looking for a new home to house our growing family.

My one-bedroom apartment in St Leonards has been home to me since 2001, and has served me, and since May 2009, served us very well. I loved the space when I was there on my own, and when Jonathan moved in, it felt like there was just enough space for us (although at times it has felt a little bit cramped). Add Mina visiting every weekend and sleeping over every second weekend to the mix, and my growing belly containing Speedy, space (or lack thereof) has recently become quite an issue.

Whilst I am reluctant to move, because I've been at St Leonards for so long, and oh, how I hate moving house, we will soon have no choice but to find more space. The apartment really isn't built to house 2 adults, an active 5 year old, and a brand spanking new baby.

Last week, I started looking at properties for sale on Domain. My location preference for our new home is in the Northern Suburbs where I grew up - anywhere in the Epping / Eastwood / Marsfield / North Ryde area would be perfect, as I've always loved that area, and there are some very good schools too. The public transport system has improved by leaps and bounds since I last lived in the area, with train stations added to the North Ryde area, and a massive upgrade of Epping Station and the Epping Bus Depot. And there are plenty of shops around too - Macquarie Shopping Centre is huge, and there are some big supermarkets close by as well. Jonathan has no real preference for location - he knows where he doesn't want to live, but that's about it.

Ideally, our new home would have 3 bedrooms, a study (that can be turned into another bedroom), 2 bathrooms, a newish kitchen, an internal laundry, some outdoor-ish entertainment area (balcony or courtyard), and 2 garage spaces. But certainly, no less than 3 bedrooms, 1 bathroom and 1 garage space. We worked out that we need 3 bedrooms at a minimum - Mina has recently been complaining that we aren't providing her with a proper bed and a proper bedroom and a proper bath in a proper bathroom, and now has permission from her mother to not sleep over again until we do provide her with her demands. (As an aside, how many 5 year olds can you name that has a double futon bed which is all hers to use for the 2 nights a fortnight that she sleeps over??? Can anyone spell "demanding brat"???) So, in the spirit of being good parents, we need to provide a proper bedroom space for the brat who uses it 2 days per fortnight. We also need a room for Speedy, who will actually be using his room full time. And of course, we need a room for us.

In my search on Domain last week, I came across a lovely looking place in Epping. The photos made the place look very nice, as did the advertising, and it ticked a large number of boxes for me - 5 minute walk to the station, 4 bedrooms, fully renovated throughout. I liked it so much I asked Jonathan if we could go to the open house last Saturday.

Of course, I should point out that neither of us had to this point spoken with our finance guru friend to see if we could afford this place. But that's just the way we are - unconventional.

Along with Mina, we went to inspect the property. We were the last family to arrive for the inspection, and we stayed as long as we could. We chatted with the real estate agent, and asked a few questions here and there. We also agreed to her sending us a copy of the contract.

Oh yes, we love this place. We want this place.

The property is scheduled to go to auction while Jonathan and I are away on our honeymoon. By the look of things, the open house we went to was the 2nd of 6 open houses scheduled for this property's 6 week advertising campaign. It certainly feels like the vendors are stuck on the idea to go all the way to auction.

Jonathan and I are trying our best not to put all our eggs in the one basket with this property, but it's proving a little harder for me than him. He has been quite upset since Mina's mother told Mina she didn't have to sleep over any more (without consulting us first), so I want us to have the space for Mina and meet her brattish demands as quickly as possible so that she would sleep over again. Plus I'm also getting into a small state of panic about the current lack of space, and in the very near future, the possibility of having to deal with a visiting brat and our brand new baby in a one-bedroom apartment.

With all things in mind, we talked firstly to my folks about the property. My dad has been in the real estate game for as long as I can remember - he purchased properties in Sydney as investments way back in the early 1960s when he was in Sydney as a mature age university student and has always been a shrewd property owner and investor. Since he has so much experience and still know so many people in the real estate game, it would have been remiss to not seek his advice. The owner of the listing agent turned out to be a very familiar business associate of Dad's, so phone calls were made to discuss the property. Bless. I love my father!

Next task was to line up a meeting with our finance guru friend Andrew, who came to our place to talk finances with us on Wednesday night. By his calculations, we can more than afford the new place, with a bit extra for some new furniture and a new car in the future, which made us all very happy.

The property has another open house tomorrow, and we've asked my folks to come along to inspect it with us. I hope they see as much beauty as we do, and at the same time, see all the faults that we don't - Jonathan and I are now pretty emotionally wrapped up in this property that we will need my parents' objective eyes to point out every little fault.

We have yet to engage a solicitor, which we will need to do if my folks think the property is a goer. Dad knows plenty of people, so that won't be a problem finding someone who will look after us. We'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

In any case, this is the first of 2 properties we have inspected, so for now, let's just say the search continues. It may be a long journey, or it may end with us making an offer on this property and the offer being accepted. Who knows what will happen in this current competitive real estate market?

Wish us luck, and stay tuned for updates!

PS - and yes, that is a picture of Smurfette's house.

16 Days To Go!!!

16 days!

Tonight, Jonathan is vying for "Fiancé of the Year" and will be taking me to see Wicked at the Capitol Theatre as his wedding present to me. I have always wanted to see Wicked - we've both read the book and loved it, so tonight is going to be simply amazing.

I now have the unenviable task of finding a perfect wedding present for Jonathan!

I had my final dress fitting today. This is it. The next time I see my dress, it will be all put back together just as it should be, and it will be the dress I wear on the big day. And it will be the first time Mum and Grace will have seen me in the dress too. I am very much looking forward to showing it off.

My make up trial is tomorrow, so here goes nothing!

Janine from the Vibe Hotel Milsons Point has been very busy dealing with my questions, which are flying thick and fast to her now. So many questions, so little time, and Janine has been an absolute trouper dealing with all my queries. We hope to have everything (and I mean everything to do with the wedding reception) finalised by no later than mid next week.

I finally got around to asking my darling friend Lloyd to do a reading for us at the church on the wedding day. Lloyd readily agreed, so we are all set for the wedding day, and the Order of Service can be finalised and printed. Here's hoping Miss Fiona will have time to finish designing it soon, as I need to get it all printed at work and taken home to be put together.

The special candle for our Candle Ceremony has been ready for pick up for a couple of days, so on my way back from the dress fitting, I dropped in to the Church Store and collected it. So pretty!

Funniest thing about my excited wedding countdown is the reaction (i.e. mild panic) that is being felt at work by my managers. "You can't have 2 and a half weeks off" and "Can't you just get married, have a day off and come straight back to work" have been mentioned a number of times, mostly in jest, but I suspect there is an underlying tinge of panic behind the sentiment. I always counter with "just wait till I take baby leave", which always make them panic more, which in turn makes me giggle.

16 days to go. Yippee!

18 Days To Go!!!

18 days! 18 days till I become Mrs Hill! Woot!

More items to tick off the list:

* I now have the perfect hairstyle for the wedding day, thanks to the gorgeous Eva at Xquizit Hair. After 2 trials and 4 hairdos, Eva's last creation last night was the winner. I'm so happy with it, and Jonathan thoroughly approves as well.

* I have finally locked in a time to do my make up trial, with Judy the new beautician engaged through Xquizit Hair. I'll be seeing Judy on Saturday to get pretty.

* Janine from the Vibe Hotel Milsons Point has been in contact with us and is busy helping us to finalise all the wedding reception details.

* Our gorgeous glowing (and growing) florist Jennie from Merci Bouquet has now confirmed our flowers for the big day. Jennie is so lovely - not only is a talented florist, she is also a first time mum-to-be, so we have been busy swapping stories of our growing bubs. I can't wait to see the amazing arrangements!

18 days to go!

20 Days To Go!!!

OMG! 20 days to go!

With the time ticking away, I am starting to get a little bit panicky over the little things that are still left to do.

We picked up Jonathan's ring last Thursday night, and it's gorgeous. Jonathan tried it on while we were at the shop and it looked really good, and he's very happy with the result. While we were there, we asked about cleaning Stella (my engagement ring) before the wedding. Disappointingly, if we were to send the ring away for cleaning, Craig wasn't able to guarantee that we would get the ring back by the wedding date. So instead, we bought a jar of jewellery cleaner and a new cleaning cloth, and we'll do the cleaning ourselves.

After we collected Jonathan's ring, we ran into my sister Grace and her family. Grace had taken Kiran to get him fitted for his rental suit, and within half an hour, Grace had stumbled upon a suit in David Jones that was also perfect for the occasion. What's more, the David Jones suit was cheaper to buy than the rental suit was, so Grace made an executive decision to buy the suit and cancel the rental. Grace showed me the suit and it's so cute! We can't wait to see Kiran in his smashing suit.

Our lovely lovely functions coordinator Kate has now left for her overseas trip, so we are back to liaising with her boss Janine. We met Janine when we first got engaged, and it's been a few months since we've spoken with her. We hope Kate has a great time overseas, and that Janine is on top of everything to do with our wedding reception.

Our darling friend Miss Fiona has now moved back to Melbourne for good, but she has been working hard to continue designing our Order of Service, place cards as well as our Thank You cards. We hope to finalise the Order of Service in the next few days. Once these get finalised, we still need to print and put them together. Tonight, Jonathan has kindly volunteered his services to help put the booklets together. Here's hoping he won't regret it!

We went and saw our wonderful travel agent Mel yesterday and arranged our travel insurance. Mel has helped us so much, and we are so grateful to have found him. We are now all set for Vanuatu!

We have now confirmed most of our readers for the Church ceremony. We have asked Jonathan's brother David to do a reading, as well as my very good friends David and Chuck to share the Prayers of the Faithful. I have one more person to ask, and hope to get a hold of our final reader by tomorrow.

Today, I wrote to Janine to finalise the reception details. We have finally decided on using a DJ, after weeks of going back and forth on the idea. In the end, we just couldn't be bothered looking after the music on the night, so we'll pay for someone to look after it for us.

I also wrote to our lovely florist Jennie to get a revised quote on our flowers. We've decided not to go with floral arrangements in the church, so the price should reduce a little. We can't wait to see the gorgeous floral creations that Jennie has in mind for us.

I confirmed numbers with our gorgeous cake lady Diane. Mmmm ... I can't wait to dig into our wedding cake in 20 days time!

My next dress fitting is this Friday. The dress is coming along very nicely and it's so beautiful in every way. I can't wait to wear the beautiful dress in 3 weeks!

All the plans are falling into place. I will have an itinerary soon, detailing where and when everyone is suppose to be for the days leading up to the wedding. As soon as I draw it up, I hope to feel a lot better about having a "proper" project plan.

I can't believe it's only 20 days to go! Woo hoo!

Speedy @ 15 Weeks

We had our 15 week scan on Thursday, and got to see our little surprise again.

It always amazes me when we are shown the ultra sound images of our baby. At 15 weeks, you can clearly see his heart beating, his face, his spine and his rib cage, his body, his arms and his legs. Speedy is clearly a baby, and growing well.

Dr Baber was really pleased with our progress, and was able to answer a few questions for me. Such as things I can and can't eat - I have been craving ham for a few weeks, and wanted to know if I would be allowed to eat ham. Dr Baber assured us that as long as the ham is either fresh off the bone and/or has been cooked, I should be fine. So this weekend, I'm looking forward to some ham!

I think I'm now starting to show a little. Hopefully, I won't show too much too soon - I'd love to not show too much by the wedding date!

We have an appointment on the day we leave for our honeymoon to have our 19 week scan, at which time, if we choose, we can find out whether Speedy is a boy or a girl. So far, we are still undecided about finding out the sex of the baby. We may decide to on the day, but really, all we want is a healthy baby.

We will be seeing Dr Baber again a few days after we get back from our honeymoon. He really is such a lovely man. We're glad we went with him.

All set, and Speedy is growing well. Stay well, Speedy! Daddy and Mummy can't wait to meet you.

27 Days To Go!!!

CRACKERS!!! 27 days to go. We're well and truly on the countdown!

So close to the finish line, yet so far away. Thankfully though, we really are almost done.

I've now got a quote from the make up artist for me and the ladies on the day. So much more reasonable than the original quotes I got from others. We are locked in. No make up trial yet, so I'll be sure to organise something soon. My hair trial is tomorrow night, so here goes nothing!

The flowers are all but confirmed. Jennie at Merci Bouquet is coming back to us with a revised quote, so as soon as we see it, we should be able to confirm it right away.

Father Coleman has given us the Gospel reading, so the Order of Service is all ready for Fiona to pretty up before being printed.

Jonathan's wedding ring is finally ready to be picked up, over a week after we had expected it to be ready. The delay has meant that we won't be able to get the engraving done in time, so we'll just go and collect the ring and see about getting my engagement ring nice and clean for the day.

Joanna at Sew Special continues to work her magic on my dress. I have another fitting this week, and let me tell you how much more stunning the dress is starting to look!

Our technical glitch has been rectified, at a massive cost. Jonathan found some people who recovered all my data from the now broken portable hard drive, and I'll be sure to back everything up more regularly in future. The good news is all the music and photos have been recovered. That's the main thing.

All our guests have RSVPed, so we can now get on with finalising the place cards, and the seating arrangements at the wedding. The fun begins!

One last thing is to check that we have taken out some travel insurance for our honeymoon. I'm pretty sure we didn't purchase the insurance when we paid for our honeymoon, so we'll need to make sure that we get that paid soon.

Only little things to do, and then we are all set! 27 days to go!