Le bonheur porte les Louboutin's !

You guessed it ! I bought myself the shoes! The shoes that I'm meant to walk down the aisle in !! They are platinum & gold, 10cm high Louboutin with his signature red sole and were 40% off! That and the fact that DF (who was with me) loved them and the saleswoman gave us her blessing sold them.

Its weekend, I got shoes, I had a lovely day, ate at Laduree, so I'm happy. Last week wasn't easy.I was sleep deprived from travelling and the work had piled up while I was in Budapest plus surprise of surprises we got plumbing issues. In our Paris apartment , how original! Well not plumbing , but one of the pipes is leaking so the water has seeped down to our neighbours ceiling and the parket is coming up in our bedroom, fu**ing great!Our building is responsible for fixing it but this being France it takes them weeks to figure out a master plan. Meanwhile we are meant to close the main water whenever we aren't using it or not use water . period. The joy's of living in Paris!
So much on that, but managed to rise above it and enjoy our weekend, love waking up with DF on Saturdays and have a long lie in,had sushi for lunch then went for a cider at the bar formerly known as the lollipop.Liked it before now not so much new owners and it's become a bit too stark. Bought shoes and after DF went to work took myself ou for a tea & cake to Laduree. Because I'm worth it :-).And its the beginning of the month so I ain't broke yet.

Loved that DF came with me for choosing the shoe its already weird that I do the dress stuff without him. I'm usually dressing for myself but my wedding outfit is really and truly meant for him and he has no input in it.I guess at the end of the day even if he hasn't seen it, I'm sure he'll like my wedding dress. Or at least I hope so!I'm really happy I stuck to my guns on that one, my designer did a first sketch of a dress that was a mix of two designs I showed her. With a bit of roushing around the waist and lace around the bust. But now I'm happy I told her to make a second sketch of a simpler lace version without the roushing And I have my first fitting in August , can't wait.

I wanted to write a post about all the things that inspired me in the Croatian wedding, I just attended but I guess that one will have to wait till next time...

I'm back!

So I am back to Paris and had all in all a lovely week in Budapest/Croatia. And if I'm not exactly reposedit was worth it! I got a lot done in Budapest , and the wedding in Opatia, Croatia was unbeliavably beautiful and fun. Don't even know what to start with...

Well I have a dressmaker paid 50 % of my wedding dress ( the rest upon delivery)and have my first fitting scheduled for August! I met and booked our photographer and found a wedding planner I think I can trust. So far so good.

Then last Friday two girlfriends and me set out on a 6 hour drive to Opatia in Croatia. I was pleasantly surprised. Having been part of Hungary at the turn of the century the town has really kept its architecture and charm and so far has been my best experience in Croatia. The water was great the food too and the bride and groom have booked us into a fabulous design hotel at a ridiculously discounted rate(where a sweet note and Escada sleepmasks greeted us).I shared a room with two of my friends as I didn't feel like being alone in a room, and it was like we were all back in high-school on the most luxuroious class excursion! So much fun. We arrived on Friday afternoon, had some seafood then wen't down to the beach for the rest of the day then to the rehearsal dinner at night.Saturday was spent lounging at the beach and at 6pm the wedding was held in a small Catholic church just by the water and the bride stunning and sooo happy. Then people had champagne while a Croatian band played and then everybody walked by the beach to the restaurant. I must say it was all fantastic the restaurant was just by the water and the 9! course seafood inspired dinner one of the best foods I've had.Scampi and truffle risotto and my heart still aches when I think of the Monkish filet and tenderloin I couldn't eat cause I was so full,not to mention the white chocolate/ coconut wedding cake, grrr. It was magical a red moon and fireworks over the water and lots of dancing.

A few bits I was missing,there weren't any speeches and no bouquet throwing , but the understated elegance of it all,the scenery, and the beaming groom and bride made it very special.

Thats long enough for today but I'm sure it will keep inspiring me in the next few days. If you're a 'friend' then head over to my facebook account for more pics, all by me of course :-)

Home sweet Home...

Budapest here I come :-)

This week wasn't easy with a a major deadline at work and many frazzled nerves and lots of overtime.But then when I finally left it was all behind me "apres moi la deluge" as the french say. And now I'm packed (10 shoes and 10 dresses for a week no less)and scrubbed and ready to go. We'll almost, I'm kind of sad that DF can't come with though with 3 wedding salon appointments 2 wedding planners and a photograper meeting not to mention all the facial etc I have to do back home It's probably better I go alone, will give me ample suff to write about here though.

Just watching Charade while waiting for DF to get home , forgot how much I love this one. The Givenchy costumes, the illarious dialogue the Henry Mancini, music. Its great last time I saw it I was in the University Library during final week , and used it to reward myself for two hours of non-stop studying . Or maybe it was a half an hour my memory is a lil foggy on that. And yesterday we went to buy dvd's with DF , searched in vain for Its a wonderful Life or World or whatever its called but finally ended up with Charade and Enchanted and well Legends of the Fall. What can I say DF hasn't seen the latter so he has to be initiated :-)
Then we picked up McDoalds as entree, Indian take-away curry as main and a tub of cheese-cake brownie Ben & Jerry's as dessert.What can I say it was a verrrry guilty junk pleasure night n the diet went down the drain , but hey.

By tomorrw nite I'll be home in my proper room , n with Jackie my mom's Jack Russel and Baby , my cat. Missed them so much can't wait to have them around.Its always good to get away from Paris once in a while gets things into perspective, where I stand whats next ...how things feel.

Work work work...and Food !

Ah not much writing at the moment , this week is going to be crazy , lots of deadlines at work and I'm trying to stay a bit overtime to make up for the time I'll be gone.The weekend was mostly fun though. Lots of eating though, which isn't the best thing seeing that I have wedding dress shopping to do in a week aka changing in front of a bunch of strangers (horror!!!)DF n me went for a Farewell Dinner in honour of our friend S. on Friday , it was a fun experience . The concept is that an American couple prepare a 10 course dinner in their own home for upt to 12 people. One has to book quite a bit in advance and it isn't cheap but the fun atmosphere and pretty well prepared food made it worth it and its in the privacy of a beautiful home, with a lovely host couple.My personal favourites were the red snapper, the vanilla infused mashed potatoes and as to be expected the desert! Pictures above a few of the dishes served to us.
Would love to do it again sometime.

I've been wondering about the wedding present for Croatia bride. Its so difficult when people don't have a wedding list. Especially since this is a girl I know from high-school and have not been to her home with her groom or don't know many of their habits. Its so helpful to know whether a couple likes entertaining or decorating or games or art or whatever. A wedding present being something that is meant for both is kinda hard to buy blind, but I hope I will figure something out . Not that I have much time, I'm leaving on Friday ...yeay!

Dreams

Today I heard from one of my girls that my Croatia-bride friend E. and her soon to be husband are trying for a baby,it always startles me when I meet people my age especially if its friends who are making that life changing decision.I think its great and beautiful to be a young parent if one's ready, but I am certainly not.After the wedding madness is over, I would like to enjoy just being with DF , being young and hedonistic travel and just live for ourselves for while. Though of course my views on the issue tend to change (when I was home looking for a job it seemed like a good idea) but being surrounded with collegues who have children helps bring home the realityof having a child.Financially, but also just as a couple and on the spontaniousness of things. So on my way home from work I thought up a rather incomplete list of things I'd like to do before having a child.

Doing the 10 day trip on the Transsiberian railway from St. Petersburg to Beijing

Going to finally visit my friends in the Phillippines

Going to the States ( unbelievable I know but I haven't been yet)

Having the perfect island holliday complete with palm trees, white sand and a lil bungalow on the water

Doing a sailing trip with friends

Go to P.E. Island in Canada

Live in London,and Asia for a while

Getting married ( :-)well I had to include it after all)

Ok so most of it is travelling and of course there's otherr stuff, like finding a job that I actually like, finding and decorating an apartment I love, etc. who knows if it will all happen, but hey one can dream...

Matters Of Faith

This is a hard topic to blog about as faith to me as well as religion are quite intimate topics , but as with anything else apparently a wedding brings up things that one has to deal with. We'd like to get married in the Chapel (pic above) that is in the lil castle where we are planning to wed. Now of course this Chapel as most historic churches in Hungary is Catholic, as am I, DF is Anglican . So I have called up the priest who is in chage of the church yesterday..and the difficulties started. First of all as I expected to get married in a catholic church one has to take marriage lessons over quite a priod of time, (weekly over several months).Now I don't think there is anything wrong with 'preparing your soul for the holy commuion of marriage'(as the priest said) I actually think its a good thing and gives a good foundation to a marriage, if it is taken seriously. The problem is; DF does not speak Hungarian,(and the priest not English) nor will we be for any significant amount of time in Hungary before our wedding.And since the priest of the Chapel told us that the priest who does the lessons with us has to marry us , that leaves us either with having to find a priest in Hungary, who speaks english AND is willing to do a course in a week-(unlikely),or to find a catholic priest in Paris who will prepare us and is willing to come wed us in Hungary.We shall see what works.Though the priest wasn't the most helpfull fella i've spoken to, especially seeing that my friends who are getting married in a church in very Catholic Croatia were allowed to do their coures with one priest in Germany (where they live) and just had to show a certificate to their the other one in Croatia.

Last resort is getting married in the beautiful parc of the Chateaux.Except I do actually love the church, and to DF it is quite important, so we will try our best to jump this hurdle too.Seriously who needs wedding preparatory course just planning a wedding is like one long course in negotiating and compromise.

There's many fun bits though , like the fact I've finally booked appointments at 3 wedding salons for when I'm in Budapest.Choosing between three or four dressmakers to make your own dreamdress, now that should be pretty fun.