Life | In Love

*For those who suffer adverse reactions to cringe, look away now!*

I am massively, head over heels, totally, completely in love with my awesome fiance (known as 'Chris' to everyone else!) I think the world of him and I love, admire and respect him so much. I am so lucky to have met him and to have him in my life still, after six and a half wonderful years together. Recently it was our six and a half years anniversary, meaning our wedding is only six months away!!! Aaaaargh so much to organise still! But before I dive head-first back into wedding planning, Chris had a little something up his sleeve to celebrate...

Early last week Chris told me to keep the weekend free as he was planning a 'surprise'. Now, when Chris says he's got a surprise for me, I have an incredible knack for finding out exactly what it is just by reading his facial expressions. Which means he can't ever mention birthday or Christmas presents as I'll immediately decipher what he's bought me! Hehe. I decided to abandon my trusty detective skills this time, however, and go along with the surprise element of being surprised, as you're supposed to do! I'd been having a rubbish week full of anxiety and tears about various things, so the thought of being treated to a special weekend instantly lifted my mood. It turns out he had been planning it for a long time, meaning it was all organised months ago without me knowing a thing. Well, I never!

Chris has always been quite romantic (oh God, I can imagine him reading this and dying from cringe right about now. Sorry! But it's good to be romantic!) We got together when we were in Sixth Form, after meeting in Classics class when we were sixteen. On the day he asked me out he gave me a single red rose, and that's been our flower ever since. He never forgets our anniversary and he's always surprising me with little treats and things. He's very good at planning weekends away and surprises, and, most importantly, he's a brilliant listener and extremely supportive (it's not all about material things, guys!) I love him so much and I can't wait for us to become husband and wife early next year.

I was told on Thursday to make sure I packed both a pair of heels AND a pair of flats. Hmm. Visions of hiking sprung to mind, but luckily I didn't have to scale any mountain tops or canyons! 'Oh, and bring your make-up bag' he said. He knows I can't stay anywhere without my make-up, so that was a big clue! 'And buy a dress'. Well, any excuse for a bit of shopping! I found the perfect smart/smart casual tea dress in a gorgeous forest green colour and picked up some heels and pumps in good old Primark. Where could we be going?

I was ever so pleasantly surprised and excited to discover that Chris had booked a hotel for the night on Friday in London, by the river, and that we were going out for dinner and drinks. We had a wonderful dinner before taking a walk through central London and heading back to the hotel. I don't know about you, but I LOVE hotels! There's something about sleeping in a huge king sized bed and making cups of tea with the hotel kettle that makes me feel so happy! Oh, and hotel toiletries, of course!

The next morning we had a huge hotel breakfast and were amused to hear from one of the waiters that in his eight months of working there we were the first people from London he'd served! We then went for a lovely walk along the river, taking pics beneath the London Eye and taking in the other sights on offer, before heading over to Westminster Abbey and having a wander. We then walked through Victoria Tower Gardens and discovered a monument dedicated to Emmeline Pankhurst as well as a monument commemorating the 1834 emancipation of slaves in the British Empire (which you can see in the pics above - the tower type monument is the emancipation one, and the one I'm standing in front of is the Emmeline Pankhurst memorial). It was wonderful to discover an area of London we haven't really visited much in the past and to get out and about in our home town. 

Chris had told me over the past week or so that he had a present for me, but that I wasn't allowed to know what it was 'because it's not ready yet'. This drove me slightly nuts... What could it be?! But I was very good and didn't hassle him as I didn't want him to accidentally give the game away! I thought it might be beauty related as he knows how obsessed I am with products but, alas, it was something else entirely. Once we had arrived at the hotel and got settled in our room he told me to close my eyes and put out my hand, so he could hand me my gift *drum roll please*... 

Snoop Lion! I was ridiculously happy about this pressie, dear readers, as Snoop Dogg's Doggystyle is one of my all time favourite albums EVER and his new album as 'Snoop Lion' is pretty darn good too. So, was that my much anticipated present? The thing that wasn't ready yet? Had there been a delay in delivery that meant it took longer to arrive than expected? 

Hmm...

;)

Needless to say I had such a lovely weekend with my boo and felt totally spoiled and pampered. It felt like we had a mini holiday and it was perfectly timed as this week I'm throwing myself back into full on wedding planning, which although fun is also sort of incredibly heart poundingly (is that even a word? It is now!) stressful. At this moment in time I'm not even sure we have a registrar attending our wedding, which would pose an ever so slightly HUGE  problem. But NO. I refuse to panic. What will be will be. Besides, I had the best weekend with the best person. I'm going to hang on to that holiday feeling for as long as I can!

Baci e abbracci,

                                                        

Bloglovin' | Twitter | Instagram