The Neenis Big Day Abroad!!

Wow what an awesome wknd we had! i wanted to blog as it went along but i just got too caught up in it!

Friday night was busy - getting everthing organised for our day in Kendal and i got my session 1 week 3 run in - man that was HARD WORK!

Saturday we got up at 4.15am on saturday morning, got sorted and headed off at 5am - it was a great drive down, no traffic on the road at all - and it was lovely actually to get that uninterupted time with Ben, i've been so busy lately with work/college etc that we've not seen each other much lately, so was nice to get away for the day! we arrived in Kendal at 8.40am (oopsy we didnt need to be there till 10am but as whenever we'd been before we'd done other stuff on route we didnt know how long it would take) so we went to Holland and Barrat and stocked up on dried fruit and nuts and nut butter (yas i finally got me some cashew butter and almond butter that everyone keeps talking about!) and some other bits n pieces (although i have to say our little local health food shop is slightly better stocked for things like the fruit and nuts!), then we spotted a market over the road so went and stocked up on fruit and veg from there, we got 2 big bags of grapes, 8 apples, 10 huge oranges, 2 turnips, 10 bananas, cherry tomatoes, and 4 pears, all for £6 i could believe it! you could just about buy 2 bags of grapes at home in the co-op for £6!! we're so depreived here like that! i wish we had a market!

by then it was 9.30am - we found a little cafe place and went to get tea and toast, we ordered and then sat down and the waitress kept shimmying by with breakfast muffins filled with mushrooms and tomatoes and eggs etc, we were both drooling feeling very ripped off with our "toast!" well we neednt have felt like that - the toast came and it was HUGE wedges from big bloomer loaves, we were both totally satisfied with out orders and agreed our lives would be so much better if we had toast like that in our lives haha! anyways then we went to the registrars and had our run through with them - which was excellent - i got a bit emotional at one point when she was reciting our vows and going over the ceremony - made everything seem so very real and exciting! so we're all sorted with that!

we got out the registrars at 10.40am and were meeting Kat and Matt (aka the pacmans) - OMG i was sooo nervous i had been nervous for days - silly me - and as we approached kendal on saturday morning it got worse! i guess i was nervous that we wouldnt have much in common or much to say to each other in the face to face or that there would be mega long awkward silences (i've never met an online friend before)! i neednt have worried, we had a lovely time, Kat is TINY - so much tinier than i'd imagined - she's definately petite! she looks very young and pretty, and is very softly spoken - not at all like i'd imagined her accent to be hehe! and what a lovely couple they make, Mr Pacman was very friendly and really made us feel at ease, him and Ben hit it off right away - ben had said to me a couple of times last week, what am i going to talk to this guy about - i told him just take it like your meeting my friends husband for the first time - well they were just chat chat chatting straight away about work and xbox's etc, it was all very relaxed and comfortable, Mr Neen invited the pacmans to come visit us in scotland - he doesnt usually dish out invitations very readily so that speaks volumes. then we went for lunch to a great little veggie place on the riversedge, and had a really tasty lunch ( and no i didnt have cake!), i was sorry to part company so soon - i felt we were jsut getting settled and we had to go - but hey maybe next time!

then it was on to the florist - she was lovely - i got everything organised with her, got jsut the flowers and bouquet i want and all the button holes and corsages etc all sorted, they all came in more expensive than we could afford but the florist was so lovely she took pity on me and skimmed back prices where she could and i've ended up with exactly what i want for just £10 over budget! yay for lovely florists!

then it was onto penrith - we were both really sorry to leave kendal so soon wished we had another day or two there - we met the photographer and got everything organised with him - he was also very nice, had a really calming personality and made us feel comfortable with him - which was a huge relief as lots of people had said it was a must to meet your photographer before you book him to ensure your happy with him, but that hadnt been possible with us, so i was a bit nervous about that - but he was great.

and that was it that was our little trip to the lakes - we did a quick reiki of morrisons and headed up the road - we were home for 8pm and completely exhausted - we had a pizza (ahhh i know i know but nackeredness and a V long day no one could be bothered to even consider food - so pizza it was hey ho!)

so we're totally in love with kendal, we thinks its such a great little town, it has everything we need from a town - we have been on the hunt for a long time for somewhere central from Doncaster - to Tarbert to live that really grabs us, we both feel we want to live central but we always felt we didnt want to settle on somewhere just coz its halfway coz that would feel like 2nd best. we've never been anywhere yet that fits the location criteria and that we both totally love - we love york, and sheffield but their to far down, we love bath but obviously thats way far down and we love inverness but thats way too far up! well kendal we think fits into the same sort of category as these towns it has that same vibe to it, and its half way - also we're getting married there so it has a special place with us anyway - i couldnt help thinking the whole way home i could sooo live there but i didnt say anything, then Ben brought it up when were nearly home he said he couldnt stop thinking about it and what a wonderful place it is, and how it ticks all our boxes perfectly - well once he started talking about it, it burst into a full blown very excitable conversation! once we got home i was unpacking the shopping and Ben was on the internet, i didnt know what he was up to, then he started showing me possible jobs and properties!! OH MY! so who knows - its something thats definately on our radar anyway - we'll see how that progresses once we're married! - its somewhere we're going to be spending quite a bit more time though to scope it out, we cant really afford many more trips before the wedding but its my birthday in january so we're going to spend a long wknd there for that and have a really good mooch around!

right so a quick run down of sunday - was a really lovely relaxing day with great food and great headway with college work, breakfast was podge with cranberries, pumpkin seeds, stewed rhubarb (hmmmmm) and a chopped pear. lunch was left over spag bol from last week served on cabbage instead of spaghetti, and dinner was a-maz-ing! roast chicken and baby carrots, turnip, shallots, butternut squash all roasted with thyme and paprika and baby jersey royals, followed by watermelon hmmmmm!

i had a brilliant run, did session 2 of week 3 and found my running pace finally, i really enjoyed it, was the best run i've had yet.

all in all a totally awesome wknd! has set me up in the best of moods for a good wk!