Diverse Ramblings

Mrs. MaltaGirl in the house

I'm back, with husband in tow, adjusting to married life. Thanks to the guestbloggers who kept Diverse Ramblings going while we were on our honeymoon!

Our wedding was fantastic - the ceremony went very well, and the reception was a blast!

Mike and I were very nervous when we got up to sing The Servant Song to each other just before our vows - it wasn't because we were singing in front of people (we do, after all, do this on a regular basis), it was just I'm-in-the-middle-of-getting-married nerves! Our mouths were dry and our hands were shaking and we went flat in places, but we made it! Mike even nailed the tricky harmony in the second verse.

Don't ask me how, but I didn't cry during the ceremony, even though I could see my sisters bawling, heheh. Usually even just seeing a random person crying on TV will move me to sympathetic tears, but in this case I managed not to. Possibly because I had already ruined my makeup once already, when I had a little panic attack at home and hyperventilated, thank goodness I had had the foresight to invest in waterproof mascara... *grin*

I'm getting married in the evening

The big day is here, Michael and I are getting married this evening!

I woke up this morning and the first thing I felt was butterflies, but I've been remarkably calm today.

This week has been rather hectic, and Michael and I have been taking it in turns to be irritable, but yesterday we were both all right *grin*.

I had my hair done this morning, and of course I turned some heads in Valletta, walking around with an upstyle complete with tiara... now I'm home, and the make-up artist should arrive soon. Then the afternoon will disappear into a blur...

I can't believe I'm really getting married!

While I'm off on my honeymoon (wow!) I've asked some people to guestblog, so that my poor blog doesn't feel too neglected, so there may be some... different... posts on here in the next couple of weeks.

Hope you all have a nice weekend, I'm all set to have an unforgettable one!

If only books were as light as clothes are.

Getting married next week, so about time I moved some stuff over to the flat.

Mike's been taking his stuff bit by bit over the last few months, but I didn't even want to THINK about the hassle... well, time to bite the bullet, so I've been spending my public holiday packing up books and clothes and musical instruments. Mike, the poor dear, is going to come and help me actually shift it.

He's a brave man to do so, because he chose a wife who has a LOT of books (and our flat is two storeys up and no, there's no lift).

The last time I moved house, I was nine, and Mum took care of all the packing. I'm having enough trouble moving one person, let alone a family of five. She and Dad were super-organised - Mum inventoried every box as she packed it, and numbered each box, and Dad put everything in a database. So when there was a cold snap just after we moved, and she needed our winter jackets, it was easy to track them down.

Me, I'm just going to wing it this time, but that's a useful system to bear in mind in case I ever have to move again.

Off to fill some more boxes...

But where has all the dip gone?

Today I'm celebrating National Talk Like A Pirate Day, arrrrrrrr!

Today is also one of our "receiving visitors at home" days (another Maltese tradition I'm starting to get the hang of) so I may have to be a bit surreptitious about my pirate-ness.

It feels a bit funny to be sitting on the sofa, waiting for the doorbell to ring and not knowing who's going to walk in, but it's awfully nice to be snacking on the nibbly things.

Time to go make myself pretty for my visitors.

Shiver me timbers but I enjoy getting presents!

Panic Stations (but it's all OK now, thanks ladies!)

One of the drawbacks to not having been married before is that I keep getting unpleasant surprises regarding things that need to be done, e.g. thinking I only need something ready in time for the wedding, and being informed fourteen days before that I actually need it eleven days before...

In such times, it is a REALLY GOOD THING to have sisters on hand who are ready to help with the fiddly and often tedious task of making up wedding souvenirs.

Helpful Hint #1: It helps to have a nice romantic comedy to watch while doing such things.

Helpful Hint #2: To help prevent yourselves from snacking on the souvenirs, stock up on junkfood of a similar persuasion.

Requesting the pleasure of the company of...

The last week I've used nearly a whole ink cartridge on invitations... and we're talking Parker here, not those poxy little ones.

Is it sad that I matched the fountain pen ink to the colour of the printed ink on the invitations? Luckily for me, I found the almost the exact shade *grin* and it even comes in ink cartridges. Just as well, because when I bought a bottle (how cool, a bottle of ink) for some reason I didn't buy a pump, which is like a normal ink cartridge except that you refill it from the bottle...

The pump neatly eliminates the dangers of dipping a pen's nib directly into ink, which are (1) blots when you write after each dip, and (2) the fading trail as your nib runs out of ink.

Neither of which look very attractive on posh wedding invitations.

(ok, we're not talking posh as in gilded, but between the texture of the paper, the colour of the ink, the style of the font and the layout of the text, they really do look nice!)

When I realised the extent of my pump-less stupidity, a mere hour before my first mammoth invitation-writing session with my mother-in-law-to-be, it was almost too late because my local stationery doesn't stock ink pumps and I didn't have time to head back to ABC in Valletta. But the local guys did manage, after some rummaging around, to locate a packet of the cartridges I asked for, so all's well.

I spent a happy, messy five minutes by the bathroom sink switching my fountain pen over from my customary black ink to this one, a procedure that was happily reminiscent of my childhood. Many times in secondary school, my long-suffering best friend would give me one of her ink cartridges when mine ran out, but she used Reynolds and I used Parker, so they weren't compatible with my pen. But I can say, with the wisdom that comes from experience, that an empty Strepsils capsule makes an excellent temporary inkwell.

Now I have another four cartridges of the new ink (plus a whole bottleful) with which to work on my new signature.

I'm working on variations of writing only the consonants, but it still looks rather fjakk...

Bridal shower (no soap required)

On Friday, the ladies at my church threw me a bridal shower.

They all brought food, but of course my favourite remains the pastor's wife's chocolate cake iced with Nutella, and sprinkled with hundreds-and-thousands!

One of the ladies had prepared a game for us to play, where she had wrapped ten different herbs in cloth, and we passed them around and tried to match them to their names. I only got two right, you can tell I'm a 'Mixed Herbs' kind of girl, lol.

Then they took turns in offering me a piece of advice, based on their experiences in marriage. (the teenagers present weren't allowed to comment, lol)

I took notes, and here's what they said:

• Have patience
• Don't go to sleep angry
• Don't act in anger
• Work together to resolve conficts
• Cuddle and spoil your husband, because men like that too!
• Don't expect something (like cuddles) if you're not willing to give it
• Always stick together
• Put God at the centre of your marriage
• Keep your priorities right - first God, then your husband, then your kids
• Don't let someone else come between you and your husband
• Pray by yourself, pray with your husband, pray with your kids
• Be flexible and ready for change
• Run! Run! (hahaha)
• Trust each other
• Don't insult each other, even in anger
• Remember the proper roles for husband and wife in marriage
• Don't just say you love him, show him
• Don't suppress your negative emotions, talk to him
• Enjoy your free time together
• No matter how busy you get, make time together!
• Dates are good :-)

That part was very interesting, because in most cases I was getting many years of wisdom distilled into that particular piece of advice.

There was a lot of discussion/debate about the "roles of a husband and wife" thing. Lots of people (especially men, hah) like to quote Ephesians for "wives submit to your husbands", but then they don't go on to quote the bit that tells husbands to love their wives as much as they love themselves! For, as one of the ladies pointed out, what wife wouldn't gladly submit to a husband who always treated her with that kind of love?

In case you're thinking, how archaic and supressive, I can't believe people still use the word "submit" these days, what happened to women's rights, etc etc... a practical application of this teaching is that if a husband wants something but sees that his wife is worried/upset/distracted by something else, first he is going to do whatever he can to help her, and he's not going to ask her for what he wants until it's a good time to do so. And if a woman has such a kind/attentive/giving husband, she's going to be happy to give back to him too. Everyone's a winner :-)

Then after the words of wisdom, everyone gave me presents, which of course I enjoyed very much! Dishcloths, kitchen utensils, salt-and-vinegar sets, candlesticks (for those romantic dinners!), wineglasses and photoframes, all kinds of fun stuff. Welcome additions to my dota (dowry)! *grin*

My mother-in-law-to-be and her mother, who both have seen our kitchen (lol), gave us especially useful presents - a cute little pot perfect for hot chocolate or boiling an egg, and some soup plates and dinner plates. No more eating off those blue plastic plates from Eurochoice, lol.

It was a nice evening, and as I was thinking about it afterwards, I realised it was a like a rite of passage, something that we tend to lack these days. I feel loved and supported, always a good thing!

Signatory

Last night I booked one of the places where Michael and I will be staying on our honeymoon.

When they asked me under what name, I was about to use mine, and then, with a grin, I gave my soon-to-be married name *grin*.

I've never been very keen on it, I mean, for a start it's almost twice as long as my current surname, no wonder Michael just uses a scrawl as a signature, heh. But it's starting to grow on me, I must admit.

I've had the same signature since I got my first passport when I was 11, so I suppose I'll have to make up a new one.

How does one design a signature?

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Now playing: Jesus Christ Superstar - Everything`s Alright
via FoxyTunes

Slightly Less Than Six Weeks

In slightly less than six weeks' time, Michael and I will tie the knot.

Eek!

Sometimes I think to myself "Wheee!" and sometimes I think "Aaaaggrrrrh!", but overall I'm very much looking forward to it. It's going to be quite an adventure, what with The Big Day, followed by Romantic Honeymoon, followed by Learning To Live With Each Other (Without Committing Murder).

Heheh.

Taffeta, satin, velour, SEQUINS!

For Catlin, I wore satin
Which I looked really fat in
Then again, you should have seen her man Ken
All those calories he logged up
Till his arteries clogged up
He died on the couch, watching ESPN
Too many weddings, too many dresses
That all make my hips look so wide
Not a gown I'd re-use
Ditto, the matching shoes
Always a bridesmaid, never a bride

From the song "Always A Bridesmaid, Never A Bride" by Jimmy Roberts and Joe DiPietro, in the musical I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change

Today Middle Sis and I went to see the dressmaker about bridesmaids dresses... muahahahahaha...