Puppy Love

These last few weeks have been like having a baby.

Despite getting engaged, Luke and I have had no time whatsoever to ourselves, but the puppy makes up for that and the time we do spend 'as a family' is wonderful

So far this week he has:

- nibbled my toes, slippers, socks, tights

- made friends with Luke's parents' dogs

- fallen in the pond. Twice. [this was through no fault of us as owners, he just got very excited and forgot to look ahead]

I won't write too much more, the photos will tell the rest

Christmas is coming

from here

Maybe it’s the fact that Saturday night TV treated us to not just one but TWO Christmassy adverts courtesy of John Lewis and Coca Cola.

Maybe it’s that I have done all my Christmas shopping  already and it’s all just waiting to be wrapped

Maybe it’s that I have bought all of our Christmas decorations for our first Christmas in our home together

Or maybe it’s that on Thursday the German Christmas market is coming back to Birmingham

It comes every year, around this time, til just before Christmas. The stalls stretch further than your eyes can see and it is packed with people eating German sausages and drinking hot mulled wine. As I work in Birmingham, with stalls directly outside the office door, it gets quite annoying. The ‘quick pop over the road to grab a sandwich’ becomes a half hour session of hustle and bustling and queuing.

Beau had his injections last week which means we can take him for walks soon, so although my days will be filled crowds and noise, it means that Luke can bring him in to meet me after work and we can treat ourselves to some hot toddies and a pulled pork roll (or two), making the hustle and bustle not all that bad.What do you have planned for the run up to Christmas?

A Tuesday surprise

I haven't posted for over a week as I have been otherwise occupied with work, housework, shopping for and sending first aid kits to Uganda, christmas shopping, pumpkin carving and generic house work and cooking. 

But I thought my Tuesday surprise deserved a post of its own. 

Here's some background to the surprise:

I have been begging Luke to let us get a puppy for ages. He has said no. I tried to work on his parents too but they weren't convinced. I gave up asking. 

I've also been dropping subtle marriage hints at Luke but to no avail. 

On Tuesday Luke asked if I could walk home from the station after work as he had to work late. Slightly annoyed (it was dark and the weather had suddenly turned cold) I wandered home, did some housework, still no sign of Luke. 

You've perhaps all guessed from the above what happened but I'll share it with you anyway :)

A while later I hear a knock at the door and I go and see a Luke shaped outline through the glass. 

I opened the door and what did he thrust in my face? Nothing other than a tiny working Labrador puppy called Beau. Naturally I cried. Then he tells me to look under his collar and nestled under the puppy's fat rolls was a beautiful sparkly ring. I cried some more. 

Turns out Luke had planned this for some time. And all my hints had just been a barrel of laughs for him. He bought the ring when we were in Toronto in April. I never noticed. I hid it in the loft for months. Him and my soon to be mom in law drove all the way to North Wales on Tuesday to collect Beau. 

I had little time to believe what was happening, phoned family and friends, cleaned up dog wee, trod in dog wee, and cleaned the house for everyone to come round to celebrate. We ate Chinese and drank champagne. 

29 October 2013 is a date I will remember for the rest of my life. And for perfect reasons. 

Here's to planning the perfect wedding, and embarking on my future with my lovely man and his dog x