from the back of a honda...

its hard to believe i am actually here. two feet on the ground, one husband in hand, in the middle of vietnam. wow. what a country. after an amazing wedding that just went perfectly, ben and i jumped a plane to this other world. we have been riding in a cyclo through chaotic hanoi, sailed the murky waters of halong bay aboard the most luxurious junk and motorbiked through the back markets of hoi an. all of it - amazing.

i am currently sitting in reception at our beautiful resort. Hoi An beach resort not only has two pools and sits on the edge of a busy river, but its also across the road from a stunning beach with water so warm you can walk into it without shuddering (just like in the movies!) Ben has taken our motorbike into town this morning to do another muesum tour. i feared my head my just pop right off if i had to look at another temple. there's only so much 'ooing' and 'ahhing' one can do in a third world country before you start to deem yourself down right idiotic.

thing is, i love this place. in abundance! but i am struggling with the stunning beauty of this place verus the one room corrigated iron rooftops of the local abodes. its seems so strange to label everything beautiful when in reality this country and its people struggle most days to make money. call it my tourist guilt if you like. i just dont want to come off as some wanker aussie looking for a cheap holiday at the expensive of the people of this miraculous land.

*sigh* so glad i got that out! now onto more positive things. the food here absolutely rocks. we found Mr Kim last night. a flamboyant local who has a set menu every night and welcomes tourists like they were his family. 'meat, seafood or vegetarian' he asks. i yell 'vegetarian!!!!!'. within minutes our table was full of five traditional dishes each with a different accompanying dipping sauce. sheer delight was felt. cold beer, hot chili and my husband benny - it would make any girl happy! sitting beside the river, watching young vietnamese lovers share fruit shakes or ride tandem on their bikes is the loveliest way to pass a hoi an night. there is so much to see here. so much to learn and appreciate. i want to come back. i want to come time and time again. before people, tourists just like me, turn it into just another place on earth that looks the same, smells the same and feels the same. now, isnt that ironic...

two more sleeps.

i feel like in the last few weeks i have been completely absent from this blog. i guess that's what happens when you are planning a wedding and hopefully the best holiday of your life. this crazy journey of arranging our biggest celebration to date has really touched me. perhaps in ways i never thought it would. i always thought weddings would stress me out. it hasnt. i always thought i would fuss over details and have a dress that was bigger than ben hur. i dont. i also always thought that i would be more worried about the reception than the ceremony. i can comfortably say i couldnt care less if they served up shoelaces dipped in batter and seasoned with arsenic. as a beautiful young woman once said, 'as long as i am there, and he is there, and the rings are there and the celebrant is there, that's all that really matters'.

on that note, i leave now, to go and get myself married to my best friend, my lover, my confidant and hero, ben.

part four: the wedding.

i'm going to make this one short. i know i havent been around for awhile, but with the wedding plans and work being to god-damn hectic, i havent found a moment for my thoughts. until now, that is.

in little under a week i will be marrying ben. *sigh* this makes me so happy. i can hardly believe that such a great amount of time and planning has gone by and now we are in the final stages of the week before our wedding. i had a dress trial with my sisters and mum on saturday and all fit in the spots that it was meant to. i was pleased with this. my dress is vintage and altering it would have been a nightmare.

we have finalised details for the day. all the things i forgot...like where presents go, or jackets hang or who's going to stand outside the toilet and make sure no one hogs it. you know, the important stuff. my dad has decided, that whilst he likes the sound of a winery, he cant be sure its going to please his irish blood. so he's also going to stash a few slabs of guinness in the back of his car just in case.

ben and i both celebrated our ending single life with a hens and bucks party. they were both, equally wonderful nights. we woke the next day and shared the whole evening with each other, marveling at how well our two families and friends came together and celebrated our love. there is no better love that the one that is supported by all the other people in your life you love. ben and i are so lucky in this respect.

*ahhh* ok, thats where i end it. i have a running sheet and music to burn and visas to aquire last minute (dont even ask) i will post some photos from saturday night as soon as they arrive in my inbox. nite!

are you a bride?

since i am completely immersed in finalising things for the wedding, i thought i would post about my progress. it's been a pretty easy road i have to say. on all accounts finding the things that are just right has proven a rather easy feat. my dress, my veil, my bridesmaid dress and now my shoes.

i trawled the internet for the perfect wedding shoes. they needed to have a very small heel and be a rich cream colour and have some kind of detail that would suit my dress. i thought i was dreaming - and that finding the perfect pair would be impossible. on my search i came across panache shoes in sydney and this week was lucky enough to land a conference 10 doors down from said shoe shops door. am i the luckiest person alive?

after looking through the entire store i finally found them. low heeled, lightly laced, perfectly coloured pointy shoes. my heart jumped. i had found the final item that would complete my look for the day. without hesitation i bought the shoes!



for those of you not able to make the journey to sydney, you'll be pleased to know that panache will ship your size to you for $10 (aus only) and if they are not right, will have them returned and the right sized reshipped! service with a painless smile.

funny smell.

this morning at about 6:30am....

me: babe your breath smells.
ben: *grunts*
me: it smells like a fish.
ben: really?
me: yup.
ben: do fish have bad breath?
me: *sighs*

random photos.

'that's not a zucchini...THIS is a zucchini'



ben's friend Dale has gone the green thumb and has managed to grow himself some rather large vegetables. we chopped this one up and threw on the bbq 'aussie-style'. it was disgusting.

'maggie? may i take your photograph?'



here is miss maggie doing what she does best. completely ignoring everything i say. at this precise moment, she figured out her tail was picking a fight and decided to defend herself. the green thing in the corner is 'croc' - a much loved maggie toy that has sadly gone to another place. one can't be expected to survive on only half a body. may he rest in peace.

counselling and we're not even married yet!

tonight ben and i are going to a marriage education course. funny huh? we're not even married yet and already we need counselling :) in actual fact the priest who will marry us has suggested that we do this course, and in all honesty, i am pretty open to it.

basically we sit in a semi-circle, with 15 equally pained couples, and talk about what we want out of our married life together. getting all 'out there and personal' is not a strong point for ben, or me for that matter, and as a result we have turned to humor to get us through. not that we're taking the piss or anything, it's just that we find 'funny' in even the most odd scenarios.

we have three more nights of this stuff. the tools that will make our marriage better. i suppose i should be grateful i am getting the heads up on how to make our life together more successful. how to avoid confrontation, anger and resentment. thing is, i always thought i knew that stuff. don't you just buy a dishwasher? oh what a wonderful wifey i will be...

i will, if i may, now showcase the delightful work of Emma Taylor, my florist. she has put together a sample bouquet for our wedding. hap, hap, happy days! the brief was to make it look vintage, a little 60s inspired and perhaps add a touch of australian flora and forna. I think she did remarkably well!

here is the bouquet with faux dress: