Today was one of our occasional visits to the midlands to visit my Aunt and Grandparents. This means a lovely 3 hour drive (sometimes its 4 when there is holiday traffic) and I hate long drives.
We went in ‘our’ new Volvo, which is actually a large estate car my Dad has on lease due to the maintainence costs of his previous car. It’s pretty nifty, it tells you if the seatbelts are on or if the doors aren’t shut properly etc. I had fun un-clicking my seatbelt during the trip to make a mini alarm sound on the dashboard. Of course, they still haven’t perfected giving an ample amount of leg room, thus I have had creaky knees today. My sister has no right to complain that she can’t stretch out, she’s half a foot shorter than I am…but she will anyway.

My Aunt Jenny is my dad’s sister, and her husband is called Francis, and he’s a marathon runner by April, Geography teacher by…past… he’s now retired. They spend most of their time on holiday somewhere, mostly Antigua. They have 5 daughters, all of them are blonde and look alike. The eldest is 30, while the youngest is 2 days younger than my sister. I am still the ‘baby’ of the family
My Grandparents are my Dad’s parents, and my Grandma is very traditional and …kinda old fashioned in her views. My Granddad is deaf and was in the Navy during the war…a ‘Leftenant Commander’ according to my birthday cheques
I don’t get to see them much.

Not really quite sure why we went there today, considering we’ll be back there on May 31st for my cousin’s wedding. My Aunt has been making the dresses for it, and so far the wedding dress is stunning. It’s seriously beautiful, and my cousin has been decorating it herself. Can’t wait to see it when it’s finished
She’s having it at a local church, and the reception in the back garden of my Aunt & Uncle’s home. They had a huge garden as it was, but a few years ago they purchased the plot next to the house, so now the garden is even bigger and there is a large pond at the end of it too. It’s probably about an acre? I have no idea. It’s large and my Mum is clearly jealous, so that is that. Got lots of fun memories with us playing hide and seek in the field behind their house, where corn grew during the summer. The views behind the house is fantastic. Today was a really gorgeous day so it looked lovely, and it was toasty in the conservatory.
So it’s not a stretch to see a marquee be put up and having 70 or so people that are apparently coming all milling around. Her older sister had her second wedding there too recently, but there was a smaller amount of guests. I can’t remember what she did for her first wedding, it was a looong time ago. I much prefer her current husband to her previous. These days it’s partly because they’d have to add a terrorist to their extended family tree

So…today they talked about nothing but the wedding… and my Grandma spent her time implying my eldest cousin shunned men and kept saying “5 more to go!”… yayy for grandparents pressuring the idea of marriage. Thankfully since I am the youngest, it’s not as ‘bad’ for me to still be unwed at the grand age of 20. It was kinda funny when she turned to my cousin and said “You want all this don’t you Isobel?” and she looked startled and said “…Yes…” and my Aunt walks in and says “Oh Isobel doesn’t like all this wedding stuff do you Isobel?”

Then of course they were picking my eldest cousin Emma’s new boyfriend to pieces. He’s apparently loaded, and they’re going skiing with his parents soon. He was married once before, and she was apparently a gold digger. They met on an internet dating site.

I was kinda glad I didn’t get the uncomfortable questioning thing. It might be because I was curled up grumbling from cramps *coughs*. Perhaps they felt sorry for me

Either way, I need to ..find something for this wedding. Last wedding I wore a trouser suit, and I hated it. I felt like an idiot. I’d really love to wear a pretty dress. But to avoid looking like a dangerous cupcake, I’m going to try really hard over the next 8 weeks to shift some of my excess squidge so I can buy a nice dress and feel feminine for once. I’m also thinking I’ll probably get my hard cut and coloured. I miss being blonde… and having dyed my hair brown I got “Oh don’t they look alike?” from my Aunt and Grandma. I look nothing like my sister. At all. I’m blonde, she’s brunette. I’m tall she’s short. I think we scowl the same way but that’s about it.

Joke of the day: My cousin Rachael asked me if I wanted wine, and I declined, and my Grandma said “As long as it’s because you don’t like it rather than beliefs. I had a friend who refused to touch alcohol because she said it was against her religion. I had said to her ‘Jesus turned water into wine’ and she replied ‘it was non-alcoholic’”.
Yes, because in those days, they had the ability to remove alcohol from drinks

*smiles at the thought of wearing a pretty dress *
No more chocolate, bacon or crisps for moi. I didn’t eat much of it anyways, but still. I’m thinking daily walks with the dog and some running, in addition to my usual stomach crunches and stuff. But not tonight, I feel achey and generally rather crummy.

Entry Edit:
I just realised I never explained the title. Apparently we were guinea pigs today for some things that might be served at the wedding reception. Salmon mousse in smoked salmon = delicious but very rich. Only had one ‘cake’ of it.
Hor’dourves sound posh for what they are. But they were yummy too.

Don’t like beetroot, though.