The adventurous spirit never dies

We cannot move abroad, nor can we stay put. The only way we can keep our adventurous spirit happy is to move towns. The thrill of risk, not knowing where we will live, who we will meet, what jobs we will get, or even if we will get jobs, is something so necessary in our life’s.

Terry and I certainly are not your average couple. I think sometimes this is quite unfortunate. Sometimes I wish we could be happy with what we have in front of us, grateful for jobs and a roof over our heads, but we are always, constantly wanting more. The need for a fresh start drives our path. However this is not necessarily a good thing.

So the next adventure on the Jen and Terry Show is Bristol. We are moving to a new town, close to Wales, Cornwall and Devon, it’s a large town, deemed the new, less hectic London. We are staying put for 3 years so that Terry can re-train as an electrician. Once we are qualified in a trade we can apply for our New Zealand Visas and move our life’s back to paradise.

Wedding plans are moving along slowly now. We have found a great video-grapher who is happy to shoot our wedding and edit the film for £150, a shy amount from the usual £1000 some jokers get away with.  I also had a major bridesmaid dress crisis. I spontaneously brought 2 dresses, the same dress but different colours. They were a bargain from a lovely shop called Coast. Reduced from £95 to £45 and with a beautiful flow and elegance about them. However, once my gorgeous bridesmaids tried them on, I didn’t like them. Well, actually that’s wrong, I loved them but maybe for a nightout or a dinner date, not the vintage, elegant, English rose look I was looking for.

I’ve found a new style I love, a very vintage mint green with a bow on the back. Maybe if my sewing skills improve I can attempt to make them myself…watch this space!

I have been searching the internet, whilst ‘working’, and have found some amazing creative ‘vintage’ ideas.

Ive decided to go DIY with the garden of my reception..making all sorts from floral bunting to pompoms, to making a kissing tree sign (for all those romantic lovers out there) and a washing line of photographs! I even found out the best ways to make your own bouquets...

 I was thinking we could use a few of our travelling photographs to go along with the photos I have asked all of our guests to bring. A very personalised, visual aspect to the day.

 

These pompoms just made out of fabric will look fab around the chairs of the reception..

I was even thinking of having a table with numerous jars of penny sweets and having 'mix ups'..I grew up getting excited about penny chews and feel this is a typical English past time. More ideas to come!

The Perfect Quotation

Nothing more than a quotation, it says it all...


"So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservatism, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind, but in reality nothing is more dangerous to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future. The very basic core of a man's living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun."
— Chris McCandless

Post Eleven: Santa's eating the lollipops

I hadn’t realised the summer had gone so quickly. We turned our calendars to September and bam the Christmas decorations are ready for you to buy in Tescos. Its still 23 degrees outside for goodness sake! I don’t understand why people would want to start planning for a day in December, a day that is 3 months away and that is only full of stress and self indulgence. Scrooge you may say, or bar humbug, but that’s just my opinion. Many people love Christmas, the tree, the music, the festive feeling, late night shopping and an overdraft that size of Santa’s belly.

For Terry and I, Christmas can be a stressful mess, lol. Being torn emotionally between families, driving miles, buying presents and partaking in the typical thirst for consumption. Consumption of modern day symbols of progress or things contributing to material wealth; those factors which result in the throw away society as a consequence. I mean, how many things do you need. Its a question often posed on a daily basis to our conscious selves. Its a combination of comparison and the green eyed monster. Perhaps the upgraded USB, TFT or HDD really is better? Its interpretive.

And then there's the inconvenience of dietary matters. Always a treat to have the supreme 'quorn roast' once a year. Still no idea why its not eaten more as it does rock.

Maybe our opinions will soften or even alter fundamentally once we have a shared surname. 

I keep a little picture by my desk of my wedding dress to remind myself that it is actually real and happening within the next year. I am still looking out for Bridesmaid dresses, might pop into the sales soon as the summer is ‘over’ they will probably be selling off their summer clothes. I have been getting a few RSVP’s on my wedding website, but they are coming in much slower then I imagined! 28 replies in total, so nearly a third of the way there for ceremony guests.

I’ve come up with a cute, creative idea of having love heart shaped lollipops for my table place names. They are adorable and add a fun decoration to the table as well as something my guests can eat when they arrive at their tables! They come in clear packaging and I thought I would place a sticky label around the stick of the lolly with the guest name printed on them. I also thought I could place the lolly balancing on the saucer of my favour.

At only 14p a lolly and £12.60 for the lot, it’s a great innovative idea, rather than the usual card place name. Colourful, creative and romantic.

It’s Friday and a beautiful weekend is ahead of us.