Image by Toast of Leeds

Hello there you lovely lot ☺ Is it just me or does anyone else see a glimmer of spring on the horizon? I'm so ready to put my heavy coat away in favour of much lighter attire, so i'm loving how we seem to be moving out of the constant darkness of winter.

I'm afraid this post is going to be rather dull, only in as much as I've been super lazy with my picture taking. I'm so rubbish when it comes to capturing those great memories in photos, I always forget to bust out my camera whenever we go anywhere that's out of our usual routine.

It's been a pretty good month to be honest, not a great deal of wedding planning has been done (oops) but Ash and I have had loads of quality time together. It's only from sitting down and thinking about what we've gotten up to in the last few weeks, that I've realised just how much.

I suppose I have to mention Valentine's Day, we don't normally "celebrate" this ultra-consumer driven holiday (sorry to those die hard Feb 14th lovers), we generally think it's a waste of money. Why can't you show your partner how much you love them every day, why does it have to be restricted to that one day? Anyway, this year Ash decided to break the rules and booked us on a lovely spa day at Oulton Hall. And it really was lovely, if only every Thursday could start with a neck, back and shoulder massage! If that wasn't fabulous enough, we went straight from the spa to pick up my new car a.k.a. the new love of my life, I'm still in the phase where I just want to drive it everywhere, if anyone needs to go out I'm all 'I'll take you! I'll take you!'

We finished the day on a very manly note..... Ashley loves watching the darts, he got tickets to go see the premier league in Leeds, and I was somehow roped into going with him. If you've never been before, just imagine being at a football match, a football match where half the audience is dressed as the Super Mario brothers, and the other half in drag. Even though I'm not particularly interested in the sport (can it really be classed as a sport though?) I find myself chanting along and celebrating, because at the end of the day it's all good fun! Ashley managed to leave with a souvenir, no matter how much I told him it would be a waste of money. Just look at that monstrosity, it burns my eyes!

I'm very pleased to say that our invitations are all done and dusted, and are another item that can be checked off of the list ☺ Vanessa at Beautiful Ink is an absolute superstar, not only is she a crazy talented graphic designer, but she also has the patience of a saint! I lost count of the amount of times I changed my mind on the colours or the layout, not to mention the saga over to gold foil or not to gold foil. I think I'm going to keep our main invite under wraps until we send them out, but here is the lovely save the date Vanessa designed for us.

Last weekend my lovely bridesmaids came to stay with us. As two of my bridesmaids live all the way up in Edinburgh, and the other in Sheffield, I felt it would be a good idea to get all of us together at least once before the big day. Full of wedding chat, Take Me Out, giggles, and ALL the wine, much fun was had. I also took the opportunity to show the girls the bridesmaid dress I had in mind for them, I'd ordered it online so I was a bit nervous it wouldn't look as fabulous as on the picture. I needn't have worried though, when I opened the parcel I pulled out the most stunning dress, my Nan even gasped saying 'it's far too nice to be a bridesmaid dress!' Yes Nan you're right, let's dress them in bin bags instead. The smiles on my ladies' faces sealed the deal. Bridesmaids' dresses, check.
You know when I said I haven't done a great deal of wedding planning? I was just being modest!

Looking back, it has been a lovely few weeks. Filled with lots of everyday things you take for granted, like quality time with the people you love. I look forward to another month of loveliness, starting this weekend with Ashley's 30th birthday celebrations (I promise to take lots of pictures!)