New Blog

I have updated an old blog that I had.
I actually had 3 blogs, the main one being this one 'Life Today' where I ramble on about what we as a family are doing and how life is today.
I then had blog #2 which I kept when we were selling our house in Auckland and moving to Hamilton. I have stopped updating this now, well I stopped 2 years ago.
Then blog #3 was somewhere for me to vent when things got tough, which going by the amount of posts on it, was not often, but it gave me somewhere to yell when Steve got lax with his diabetes and this caused hassle or when I just got annoyed.

Anyway, I have decided to recreate blog #3 and turn it into a blog where I can record my journey to Teaching.
As you may have read here, I am trying to get my Bachelors of Nursing so I can use it in turn to get onto the 1 yr Primary School Teacher Diploma Course at the local University.
So I have decided to keep a blog about the ups and downs as this process emerges.
You can go and find out about my 'Bac to Skool' activities here.
If you want to follow this blog, please remember to add it to your list of blogs to follow.

As this blog was already in use, there were one or two posts already on it.
Some I was happy to delete as they were rubbish and did not need keeping, but one of them was quite significant.

When I was planning our wedding in 2008 my parents were stationed in Dubai and all my wedding dress plans etc were missed by my mum, someone who I would have loved to have had in the country with me at the time to go through it all. Believe me there was many a tear shed, from her and me, at the fact I planned my wedding without my mum in the country.
Whilst I was having my dress made we managed to get some pictures and I had to find a way of letting her see them but at the same time be able to add my comments about it so she could understand.
I couldn't just post them to my main blog as Steve was an avid follower of the blog at the time and checked it daily!
I also couldn't just file them in Word and then email it over and then spend hours on the telephone with her, but I worked out I could write a post about it and then get her to view it, that way she didn't have to download files etc and could easily view it at her leisure.
Mum had found all the material used in my dress in Dubai, I had a cream raw silk dress. The material was about 1/4 of the price there than here, so I got a very expensive material dress for next to nothing!

It actually worked too, she viewed the post and then we discussed it at length on the phone with us both having the post up on the computer. We were able to immediately view the picture that the other one was talking about.

So for memories sake, because I am big on keeping memories, here is the post I displayed on the other blog. Steve has actually since seen this and laughed at the sneeking activities that went on at that time!

Monday 25th August 2008
Wedding Dress

Ok, so this was the easiest way I could show you the dress and give you my comments at the same time.

I was a little unimpressed with the dress when I tried it on last week. Not actually sure what I was expecting.

Anyway, as you can see it is quite plan and boring, although it has not been totally finished off either so that may have something to do with it, it is a work in progress!
I not sure if I like the top and I don't like the seam that runs under the bust.

I do like the shape of the skirt, has turned out just how I wanted it.
The length is also a good length and sits well.

The whole idea of the meeting was to ascertain that she was working with the right size and to also decide on the material for the sleeves. Whether it was the silk or one of the laces you sent over.

The back of the dress is nice, although this is not the greatest picture of it. I am a little worried that it is too tight across the back, but Jodie still has to let the seams out which she was expecting. She is not happy with the hang of the skirt at the back so is going to redo it, even though she did say it needs a good press all over.

This picture shows one of the laces draped over the bodice. Jodie had this wonderful idea that we could use the lace over the bodice, have a cocktail dress with the same effect and think it is lovely. Anyway she likes the lace in the picture and after seeing it, feel that it complements the dress perfectly. Giving it an elegant, ancient old fashion look, so me and so just perfect. I also think that by doing that it takes away from the top the part that I don't like as I felt the top was a little lifeless.

Picture below shows sort of where the lace will come up to. Was interested in having it just hang, but a slight shortage of lace to be able to do that.

Was decided eventaully that we would do the sleeves in the lace as well, blend with the fitted bodice and it all looks so good together. There is a scallopped edge on the lace and Jodie is going to be able to get the edge of the sleeve made out of the scallopped part, so this gives you an idea on that.

Pictures below give you an idea of what the overal picture will look like with the shawl as well.
The colours all match so well I am impressed that we managed to do all this matching across the world.

End of post

Just so you can see what it eventually looked like, here is a picture of the finished dress on the day.
The light in the pictures from above made the dress look quite white and pale in colour when in fact it was cream, as you can see below.

Dress Update

A friend sent me a text during the week informing me that she had forgotten to let me know she had left a dress she thought I might like in our garden.

I was touched by the kind thought.
She has always said she liked that colour on me, so I should have guessed it was her.

So mystery solved. Thank you Wendy

Pink Dress Update

The pink dress is still with me.

I have tried it on, just in case someone thought it was for me, but alas, it is a tad way too small. Wish I was a size 8 on the top! It is a Laura Ashley silky material (thus the creases) dress, would suit being a very nice party dress or even a bridesmaid dress.

No one has knocked on the door to ask if we have found a dress because it got left in our garden by mistake.
I still think it might belong to someone in the street, and they are waiting for a friend etc to drop it off. Maybe they will wait a little longer and then contact the person involved and ask them about the dress. Hopefully that person will then be able to remember where they dropped it off!

If it hasn't been collected or claimed in about 4 weeks time, then I will give it a nice send off to the local op shop round the corner, because it is in wonderful condition and they may as well benefit from it.

Pink Dress

Last night I took the washing off the line in a hurry as a light shower was passing and I had just managed to dry all the clothes.
As we have the gazebo still up in the garden from the BBQ last weekend, I quickly wheeled the laundry trolley under there and promptly forgot about it until this morning.
I actually only noticed it as I was racing out the door to work, but seeing as it was going to be another glorious day and it was under the gazebo, I decided to leave it where it was till I got home.

This is where the mystery comes in......

When we got home, there was a salmon pink dress laid across the laundry trolley.

No note, no explaination, no nothing, just the dress.
It is a size 8, so way too big too small for me.
Definetely my style, little sleeves and scooped in at the waist, although it won't fit!

But no explaination as to where it came from.
I have searched the garden as it has been a little windy today, so thought maybe the note (if one was left) had got blustered away into the hedge, but no.

So I have this dress that I don't know where it came from or what I am meant to do with it?
Is it for me? It is 2nd hand but in very good condition.

So I will take it into the house today and wait to see if anyone texts me to ask how I liked it, or something like that?

Wedding Dress

Remember to check back over the weekend when I will try to get a few pictures of the dress in progress up just for the weekend

for you all to see........

Wedding Update

I went to Rotorua today to have a fitting of my dress.
I was sensible and took all the appropriate underwear with me, so it was a proper fitting and probably the last before I pick up the dress before the wedding.

I had made all these plans for today.
The boys had a museum visit today with daycare and I was going to be one of the parents going with them.
I was then going to drop the boys back at daycare and go on to Rotorua.
Steve was then going to collect the boys from daycare and take them home on the bus.
I had already made the dinner so that when I got in from Rotorua about 5.30 to 6pm then it wouldn't be a mad frantic rush to get everyone fed and watered.

The best laid plans always go to pot!

The boys have been unwell, well Alex has been and Ben is now going that way! This morning I decided that in fact neither of them really needed to spend a long day at daycare, so that meant they were going to be home all day.
I had already decided that they could still attend the museum trip as they were not sick enough to have to stay home just didn't need the extra tiredness of daycare. So a quick call to reassure daycare that I could still transport some of the children to the museum and we were all set.
Only problem being that I was going to Rotorua this afternoon and that now meant that they had to come with me!!

I DON'T WANT TO TAKE THEM WITH ME....I PLANNED THIS SO I COULD GO ON MY OWN

So unfortunately before we left I got everything organised so I had everything I needed for a whole day with the boys going to Rotorua.
We went to Daycare and collected the other children and had an enjoyable morning there.
I will post another post about this mornings visit to the museum later.

Whilst at the museum my girlfriend called and said that yes she could still accompany me to Rotorua, so I informed that we had 2 extra people and she said her husband had offered to have the boys at their house with their 3 yr old daughter, who was also sick by the way!
So when we had finished, I raced home and grabbed the cooked dinner, raced to the shop and brought extras and then dropped the boys at Wendy's house to play all afternoon.
So the best laid plans suddenly changed for the better.

So Wendy and I actually got to go to Rotorua on our own and the boys were well looked after by Richard. Thank you so much, you don't realise how important this was to me and I am very grateful.

The dress:

The dress is coming together really nicely. Unfortuantely due to Steve reading the blog everyday I can't post a picture of the dress, as much as I want to, although I might be able to put one up this weekend, just for the weekend mind you whilst Steve is not at work and then I will take it down on Sunday night / Monday morning. I see what I can do!

The shape of the dress is perfect, although I am not too sure on the top.
My mother had sent over some lace with the material as we are not sure whether to do the sleeves in lace or the raw silk like the rest of the dress.
She had sent several pieces of lace and it turns out that one of them is a perfect match with the material and so now we are going to place the lace over the bodice and continue it on to the sleeves.
It makes it look very elegant and old fashioned but in a great way.
The skirt is not a fufu thing with lots of layers it is actually very straight and simple.

The shoes I have to wear are perfect with the material and the shawl I already had curtesy of my father when he travelled in China a few years ago is also a perfect match.

So it actually turned out to be a good day in the end. Caught up with my brother and his wife for a couple of minutes and then drove the long road home to an already cooked dinner.

Thank you Wendy for coming with me, it was lovely to have someone with me, even though my SIL was going to come the times clashed with her family, it is nice to share these things with people who care about you.
Only 22 sleeps until Grandma gets here for the wedding and so she will be there for the very last fitting of the dress when I collect it.

Bridesmaid Dress

I found a pattern yesterday for the bridesmaid dress to be made from.

I wanted to keep it as simple as possible, although I think the dress maker will find she can make it in one evening.

It is plain and simple and I think will suit my bridesmaid just right.

Now I have to find the material to make it from and get it all over to Rotorua.

This is the actually pattern, I just have to decide whether I want the little bolero jacket made to go with the dress? Was thinking of maybe getting it made in a contrasting colour, maybe gold. This would then go with the colours of the wedding. The main colour of the wedding is a burgundy maroon wine colour. This colour square gives you an idea but the actually colour is a little pinker. although I think most of the stuff used in the wedding will not actually match exactly but will be all very close in the colour range of the spectrum.

Wedding Expo

Yesterday I went to a local wedding expo at the Hamilton Gardens.
It was a lovely little event and I managed to gain a few ideas for those last little things that I need to do.
Unfortunately I had already chosen a venue, photographer and a dress because that is what 90% of this expo was about.
But....I did manage to get a pair of shoes at 1/2 price and they are so cute, just what I was looking for.
I also managed to find out about companies within Hamilton that hire out decorations for parties, and as I so far have nothing to decorate the venue with then this was very helpful.
I will be going to check out their showroom very soon to get an idea of things to place on the table, like candle holders and vases etc

We don't actually have a theme as such that is running through, we have a colour and other than that we are just going with stuff that has meaning to us and just keeping it elegant.
The venue for the reception has coloured walls so I really don't want to load the tables with too much colour otherwise we will have a colour overload when you walk in the door. So the tables will have white linen and a very small amount of colour brought in on the table by candles and flowers. Still trying to decide if I want to have the chairs covered or not, will see what the company can do and also how much it will be.

I also met with my bridesmaid this last weekend to see if we could find a dress in a shop, as it is ball season here. We really didn't find anything in the right colour although we did find a really elegant dress that looked great on her, but it was in a grape colour, and although this is in the right spectrum of the colour we have chosen, it wasn't quite the right colour, so I think we will be getting a paper pattern from the shop and getting her dress made, although we will keep it quite simple.

I also have all my wedding lingerie ready for when I have my first dress fitting with Jodie. It is getting quite exciting now and I wish the wedding was very soon rather than 12 weeks away. Although we almost found a dress for Kerry that was a expensive as my underwear I just brought from the bridal shop, Kerry and my mum are going to have to squeeze me into this thing on the day, but it is comfortable and will make the dress and me look wonderful, just as it should for the bride.

Wedding Update

The dress material is now back in the country and has been delivered to the dress maker.

I haven't actually seen it so apart from the small square I have on my desk I have no idea what it all actually looks like.

Not too bothered, not much I can do about it now, just have to let Jodie work her magic and create the lovely dress for me.

Wedding Dress

Today I had a dress fitting.
Dress maker had made up a calico version so we could get a feel for the shape and size.
It went well. Size and shape was good. Few alterations on the shape and style.
Calico unfortunately does not have the best hang or shape, but I got the general gist of it.
The whole thing looks very Conservative Jane Austin with a touch of sexy.
It will look better when made up in the silk as it will have some shape and hang, so not worried.

Now my next mission is to buy underware and shoes so I have them for July when I will have a fitting in the dress

Dress Update

My mother has kindly sent over some samples of material from Dubai.

Things like Raw Silk, which, even though I am a quilter, I never realised how special it is to have silk as a wedding dress.

I like one of the ones she sent over and so I went to the Wedding Shop and checked out dress's in silk and liked what I saw.

I have sent the sample to the dressmaker and as long as she is happy then I have a feeling I will be wearing a silk dress in September.

Yes I am now aware that it creases very very easily but I think it will all go with the style/feel of the day.

Dress Update

On Tuesday I drove to Rotorua with the boys so I could go to a wedding dress meeting and then we could go to my cousin Lucy's 21st Birthday.

It rained all the way to Rotorua and the visibility coming over the Mamaku Ranges was really bad, like drop down to 50k, windscreen wipers going full blast and hope you can remember the road type of bad!

Rotorua itself was wet, wet and more wet for the whole day we were there.

The dress meeting went very well. I meet with the lady who is going to make my dress and showed her the patterns I had and also the pictures od dresses I ahd tried on and also liked the shape of. She was great, feels she knows exactly what I want and feels she can make it from the 2 patterns I gave her.

Now I have to find some material I like for her to make it with. Have decided on Satin and will be either cream or ivory, depends on what I find.

On the drive back to my brother's house in the afternoon the rain was still falling really fast and all the roads were flooding. Fairy Springs Road, the main road into Rotorua was so flooded we were driving on the centre median as our lane was a wash with water and mud running off of the banks.

I very quickly made the decision that we were staying the night in Rotorua and driving back to Hamilton the next morning.

Now Hamilton is only an hour away but the Mamaku Ranges road is dark and spooky, add to this the boys would have been asleep and I was driving on my own and with such poor visibility from the continuous rain and threat of mud slides from all the water I made a sensible decision to stay put.

The next day driving home I am glad I did stay the night, the residue of mud on the roads from water and mud running over the road was very clear to see and I am glad I drove it during the day and not in the dark.

Wedding Dresses

So I am stood there in this gorgeous wedding dress (not the one in the picture), Westlife is playing on the shop stereo quietly, the ladies from the shop are saying something, Wendy my best friend is saying something and I just stood there and cried.

So up came Wendy to give me a hug and cry with me and the ladies grabbed their conveniently placed box of tissues, commenting on how Sherly always manages to make her brides to be cry!

I know why I was crying...I had waited so long for this and I would have loved my mum to be there for my first ever dress search.

What started it off I have no idea I don't remember know, but wow what a morning.

I felt like a maniquin by the end of it, one dress on, strut round, comment and then change to another.

I must have tried on about 8 dresses in total.

The result was that I found the top of one dress I really liked and the skirt of another!

So now I have to try to explain all this to the dress maker next week and see if she can reproduce the whole effect!

The shop I went to have a gallery on-line, but of course the 2 I like are either not on there or such a crap picture of the dress you really can't tell anything from it. So will have to see what I can do about getting a picture of both dresses.

Dress

Today I sadly had my first encounter with panic over something to do with the wedding.

Only one of the most major areas - the dress!

The lady in the shop told me what I wanted was out of style and I would never find it anywhere. She suggested I find a picture (nie impossible) and take it to a designer to make!

If I could actually find a picture that would help. If I could find a paper pattern from the fabric store that would help to, it seems that if you want to get married these days you have to want to wear strapless and that is it!

I got told I was an older lady, with children and was out of touch with styles today!

Not sure what all this had to do with finding a dress for my first and last wedding but hey there you go.

After sobbing with my Aunty and Sister-in-Law in Rotorua, we finally got things sorted and would you believe the style I want is perfect for me and can be made very simply and effortlessly.

I also got a makeup and hair person at the same time so things are falling back into place again.