When I went to buy my sunglasses I decided it was probably also time for some new glasses. I spent ages choosing  a pair of glasses, i find it really difficult to choose when i’m on my own as when i put on the sample pair, i cant see myself in the mirror…i’m just a blurry image!

Anyway, I chose Red or Dead in the end.

In the future I plan on adding a new photo per month, but as this is my first post on this topic I thought I would do an overview of the first 6 months of 2010.

January 2010:

This was taken moments after Ian got down on one knee and proposed to me on the 11th January 2010.  We were in Birmingham City Centre on the Birmingham Wheel and as we got to the top he got down on one knee and proposed to me with a Platinum Diamond Solitaire ring. I barely heard the proposal as I was squealing in my head. I had no idea he was going to propose (or I would have dressed up!) He had even asked my Dad’s permission beforehand, and my parents had managed to keep it a secret!

February 2010:

My Fiance, my parents and myself went out for a meal to celebrate my 23rd Birthday, it was also a sad occasion as just a couple of days prior to my birthday my Grandmother passed away from Lung Cancer. She was so involved in the Wedding plans and was really looking forward to our big day, so we had moved the wedding forward to April 2010 in the hope that she would still be with us.

March 2010:

In March 2010, we took our wedding photographer to our wedding venue for a pre-wedding photo shoot. I was in my element spending the day posing, and we managed to get some great shots which we were able to recreate on the day of the wedding.

April 2010:

April was a very busy month, we had moved the wedding forward in the hope my Gran would still be alive to make the big day, unfortunately she wasn’t with us in person, but definitely in spirit. We lost my Dad’s cousin in April and had to make a trip down to Norfolk for his funeral. Making that trip turned out to be a positive because at 2 weeks to go before the wedding…I still didn’t have a wedding dress! April was also difficult because close family members (my dad’s sisters) decided to go on holiday to Lanzarote for 2 weeks rather than come to their nieces wedding. It was very upsetting for me, but even more so for my dad since they had lost their mother a couple of months before and she was so excited about my wedding. The weekend before the wedding, I had my hen night with a group of 12 friends and we danced the night away at a Greek Restaurant.

However, in the end April turned out to be a fantastic month. Ian and I got married in a fabulous venue, the sunshine was beaming down on us and it was very warm. All our guests had an amazing time…and people told us that it’s the best wedding they’ve ever been to! Ian and I also did an alternative first dance!

Finally got my Wedding Dress:

My Hen Night:

The Wedding:

May 2010:

May 2010 was all about our Honeymoon in the Dominican Republic. We stayed 2 weeks All Inclusive in Dreams La Romana Resort and Spa in Bayahibe. We travelled First Class and had an amazing Honeymoon.

I thought it was about time to get a new prescription for some sunglasses and decided to buy some by Osiris, from Specsavers…

I know my Mom has been having hassle from work recently, she’s in the middle of writing school reports, she is looking after my Gran with Alzheimer’s disease, she wanted tickets to a Ball – but they had completely sold out, and she’s at the receiving end of a bullying work colleague – although she can give as good as she gets when it comes to him. I just thought it was time that she was appreciated for everything that she does for me and my husband and everyone else around her.

I ordered the flowers on the 16th June, and they will arrive today. I simply wrote on the card, “just because…”

Where better to relax on a beach than in the Dominican Republic?

White sands, Caribbean sea and plenty of Rum Cocktails…that’s the life!

Relaxing on a Palm Tree:

Enjoying a Mojito:

Beach at Dusk:

Since we were heading out on a long haul flight for our Honeymoon, we decided to travel in style and booked to travel on Premium seats with Thomson’s.

Apart from the added comfort, it was worth the money just for the leg room and the whole stress free process. We didn’t have to queue for hours at airport check in like usual. We sat in the first class lounge at the airport and enjoyed complimentary drinks and snacks. We got on the plane first and enjoyed a glass of Champagne prior to take off.

On the plane we found a pillow, blanket, toiletry pack, bottle of water and the day’s newspaper. Once in the air we had complimentary drinks and snacks and made good use of the numerous Movies, TV shows and Games available on the seat back TV.

We had 4 course meal and another hot meal before landing, and also snacks such as ice cream. As it was our honeymoon, husband had pre-ordered a bottle of champagne and we enjoyed it as we flew over the Atlantic Ocean!

There isn’t much to add that hasn’t been covered under Numbers 15, 25, 71 and 79.

We booked a private romantic meal towards the end of our Honeymoon, we had the Pier to ourselves and our own Waiter, and dined on a 5 course dinner of Lobster and Fillet Steak – it was wonderful!

Overall we had an amazing time, and here are a few photos!

It was on our Honeymoon and we had the chance to do a trip of a lifetime…swimming with dolphins. Here is how the day went:

It took just under 2 hours to get there from our hotel and when we arrived we went first for a photo with a Tiger.
Then we went and had a kiss from a sealion called Lenny, it was so cool! Big sloppy fishy kiss!

We then got kitted out with life jackets and had a briefing about the dolphins, how to touch them and what the signs are for various tricks.

Then we walked down the pier and could see the dolphins swimming around we were quite deep out and the area of swimming was probably about the size of a football pitch.

There was a group of 7 of us so we walked the steps onto a platform in the water and were introduced to the trainer and the dolphin. We were told then to clap and as we clapped our hands, Dori the 8 year old dolphin did a series of jumps…they jump so high!! We then stepped to the edge of the platform with our palms flat in the water and she swum under our hands so we could feel her skin. She felt like a firm but slightly velvety rubber, they shed their skin every 2 hours.

Just after that another dolphin came along that was trying to be trained but wanted to have more fun with us so we had to move…it would have meant going back up the stairs and along the pier but she asked us if we were confident to swim and we said we were so we swam the length of the pool…difficult to do in a life jacket but so cool as i was close to Dori and could see her swimming underneath me….we really did get to swim with the dolphin!!

So we got to the other side and we each had a kiss from the dolphin, by crossing our hands in the water  and then lifting her head to our cheek and then had to return the favour by kissing her back on the chin. My husband made a new friend as she just stared at him for ages haha it was so sweet, even the trainer was laughing.

We also had a dorsal fin ride, we had to face out to see with our right arm out in the water and she swum out and came close to us and then we grabbed onto her fin with 2 hands and she pulled us really fast back to the platform.

We also got her to jump, we swam out then crossed our right arm over our body and then tapped the water twice, to call her over. when she touched our hand we moved our arm in an arc above our head and she jumped following our arm….she jumped so incredibly high and we have a great pic of her flying over Ian’s head!

We then swam with her belly to belly, so we put our right arm out whilst we faced the shore and she came up behind us and then onto her back so she was belly up and we grabbed onto her 2 fins and she pulled us to the platform again very fast and so cool!

We then got onto a surfboard and she came behind us and pushed our feet with her nose…that was amazing because you could really feel the force they have but she was also gentle at the same time.

We then stood on the platform and put both hands just above the water and she came and we grabbed hold of her 2 fins and danced with her.

At the end the other group had finished so we had another dolphin called Ariel come and join us…in the end we were in the water for 45 mins.

To finish off the dolphin talked to us to say bye bye

It was such an amazing experience made even better by the fact we were in their natural habitat, not a swimming pool. They are just awesome creatures and so highly intelligent. I dont think that we could ever recreate that experience again.

After we got out the water we went and watched the sealion show, that was very good and they did some clever tricks.

It was an amazing experience, think i’ll be talking about it forever!!!

Dori jumping over Ian’s head:

Swimming belly to belly with Dori:

Dancing with Dori:

Having a kiss of Lenny the Sealion:

Ian having a kiss from Dori:

On the 7th May 2010, my new husband and I flew out to the Dominican Republic to celebrate our honeymoon.

We had an amazing 2 weeks. The weather was hot and humid but changeable and we had a few hours of rain on a couple of occasions. The rain didn’t make any difference to us and it soon dried out. One time there was a potential down pour and thunder, we stayed in the pool and headed to the pool bar.The beach was amazing, it was gorgeous soft white sand and the sea was shallow for miles. It was a gorgeous turquoise colour, and it was warm and calm.

We travelled with Thomson’s and stayed at the Dreams La Romana Resort and Spa in Bayahibe. We chose to travel Premium, and it really was worth the extra cost. We had a wonderful stress-free flight and arrived after a 9 hour journey feeling relatively alive!

I couldn’t recommend the hotel enough, the facilities were great and the staff were always pleasant and friendly. Our room was gorgeous and had a view out towards the pool and beach.

We did an excursion to the Capital in order to get a sample of life outside the resort. It was an interesting trip and we learnt all the history concerning Christopher Columbus. We also went swimming with dolphins on another trip…but that is another blog entry.

We came home armed with bottles of Rum and Mama Juana, a particularly potent rum mixture!

Would we go back to the Caribbean…without a doubt!

Our Hotel:

The Beach:

The Santa Domingo Cathedral in the Capital. Built in the 1500’s:

It was Sunday 18th April 2010, it was a lovely day, the morning after a 30th Birthday Party and 1 week and 1 day after our wedding so me and husband decided to head into town and have a coffee in the sun and watch the world go by…we also ended up having lunch out aswell.

here is the evidence…