Sorry you are still feeling under the weather.  Don't forget to drink lots of fluids and get plenty of rest!

Congratulations Galadriel!

A wedding - whoo hoo!  I wish you many, many years of bliss together!

Congrad!  Hey, I got married in December too! And it was just Colin and I as well!  

Wedding: Yesterday was an exciting day- I shopped my wedding dress. One good thing about having a tight schedule is, that there is no time to start obsessing about trivial matters or touring all wedding gown shops of Southern Finland.... My strategy was very simple: after an internet search I went to the shop that seemed most promising. I found a very simple yet very flattering wedding gown that will fit wonderfully with a lace veil. Since I learned the specific color of my gown, I was also able to order the veil from weddingveils.com later in the evening. Now I'll just have to try not to bounce out of my skin before 19th day when I'll get to try my dress on!
     Of course, there is one little complication left. Since the gown I chose has long, flowing chiffon sleeves, I don't have any hope of fitting into a winter coat while wearing it. So, I decided to just wrap myself into a gorgeous mohair shawl. After discovering that such shawls cost well over €100 in the bridal store, I decided to knit my own shawl. I found gorgeous deep wine red mohair yarn and it cost less than €20, so it was quite a save... but yeah, now I will have to knit it. And there isn't too much time.
     It seems that we have a theme in our wedding: roses. We certainly haven't talked about themes, so it has just emerged from somewhere. I think it started with T telling me that his favorite color is deep red, the same you can find in dark roses or wine. Then came the invitation cards: deep red and roses. Then I found pretty paper rose petals that I thought would make nice decorations... and at that point I decided just to surrender and quietly bury my original idea of having "Lórien colors like white, sage green and gold" for the wedding. Now it will be roses...but what the heck, I love roses and at least there is a theme and not just a cocktail of random ideas.

Hair: I discovered that 5th or 6th day hair is not the best hair for French twists. So, on the wedding week I will have to wash twice. All in all, my French twist skills are not all that good at the moment. I manage to make them lumpy, insecure or just plain weird. Oh well, there is still time to practice.
   Today I gave up wearing a French twist well before we went to do the weekend's shopping. Instead, I made a scrunchie bun I secured with a big, rose red velvet scrunchie. The result was surprisingly pretty- I thought I didn't like the look of scrunchie buns, but buns made with these velvet scrunchies actually look great. Not to mention that it feels quite nice to wear a bun without any pins. This is definitely another style to keep in mind.
     The flu is still lingering, so no playing with showers and deep treatments for me yet. A quick sauna it will be. At least I'll get to wash my hair.

Garden: Today we bought lots of flower bulbs. We decided that as our first "reconstructive act" in the garden will be restoring the front yard and its flower beds. Now there are only a few remains of flowers, and the front yard is the least attractive area in the garden. Preparing the soil and planting spring flowers are a good start, and during the winter we'll have time to plan what perennials and shrubs to plant.

I am feeling quite positive about the wedding at the moment. It helps a lot that the ceremony is on one day and the party over a month later. We try to focus on the main things and most of the details seem to arrange themselves- like the theme thing. Not worrying about every detail also helps to keep things fun and light-hearted. I think that is important since there's just the two of us preparing the event- even our parents don't have an idea of what we are up to. I think everyone believes that we are so tired of moving and reap time that marrying is the last thing in our minds. Hee hee!  
   I am in a hurry with the shawl -it's going to be so big that it will be almost as good as a coat, and the yarn is quite thin. But I am enjoying the knitting. My knitting history consists mostly of colorful socks and everyday sweaters and I don't think I have knitted a shawl or a scarf since I was a kid just learning to knit. So it is fun to play with luxurious mohair yarn instead of familiar wool and to create something different. Especially on a rainy day like today.

Hair: It's been raining all day, and I've been healing my flu, knitting and doing random chores. Hair is clean, and even my scrunchie bun is a bit unstable. I am wearing a bigger scrunchie today though, maybe it has something to do with it.
  I think CV bars are starting to work a bit better for me again- maybe the reason for the weird period was in WO experiment and not in change of water quality. In any case, I'm happy. I checked the CV website again, and it seems that during her so called vacation Ida has in fact been busy mixing new wonderful soaps. The Babassu & Marshmallow shampoo and Pomander Spice soap sound particularly interesting.

Hair: Yesterday was the perfect French twist day: my first attempt succeeded well and lasted for several hours. Today, however, is a very different day. Hair is clearly dirty at the roots, which makes a rather annoying contrast with slippery clean length. The only thing to do was to bun it and forget it. I did seize the opportunity to try Ribbon Blossoms pair though, and just like LL hairsticks always do, they make even my weird bun look gorgeous and special.
    In order to make tomorrow a better hair day, I think I'll wash my hair later this evening.

Life: It's been raining heavily both yesterday and today, and weather forecast promises no change. I'm almost well- only a stuffy nose advices still caution with some activities. Not that I even want to be very active: I've got plenty to do right where I am: work, knitting, cooking, baking, and I should also try to find time to do some sewing and for planning how to plant all the flower bulbs we have purchased. Wedding-wise there's not much for me to do right now (except to knit, knit, knit)- next things on the list are ones that T has promised to arrange. I'm content.

Health: This morning I decided that I was finally healthy enough to resume my exercise. I had a good session with my weights, and was also relieved to notice that over three weeks of rest hadn't affected too badly. I'm a bit less flexible than I was before the flu, but that's all. In spite of the "sick leave", I am still planning to review my exercise plan at the end of this month. As the worst weather of the year draws close, my plan is to concentrate more on lifting weights for a while and less to aerobic exercise. Right now I'm thinking of  three times weights and one aerobic exercise per week. I'm also thinking of modifying my diet. With wedding preparations on the way and everything, I don't think I can manage a strict diet, but I'm sure I can start once again paying some attention to my eating habits.

Hair: I rinsed my hair after the exercise, and it's still a bit damp. The sun is shining, and since I'm planning to head to the garden, the style of the day is a scarf cap.

Wedding: It turned out that T knows exactly what kind of cake he wants. I was a bit surprised of his idea- I would have bet that he'd want to have something with chocolate, but it turns out that in this matter, he's very traditional and set to have a strawberry cake with lots of cream for the wedding. So, finding and ordering the cake is now his responsibility- I'm totally content as long as there is a cake.
While I was shopping flowers at our village's florist, I asked about when we should order the flowers. Good thing I did it too: the florist said that the order should be made a month in advance. If I hadn't asked I might have assumed it's more like a week in advance... Yet another nice thing about having a small wedding is, that we can afford beautiful flowers for the party- just four bouquets are enough for decorating the house, and on wedding day we'll just need the bridal bouquet and T's flower. What's even better, in December - Januare my favorite flowers, cymbid orchids, are readily available and their price is lowest. So the flower situation looks great. In addition to the flowers, we have decided to use candles for decoration and that's it. If there will be snow, (thanks to the greenhouse effect, it's not all that certain that we have snow in January  ) we'll also light parts of the garden. Our decorating plan doesn't sound too complicated. Now I'm just hoping it will go as smoothly as it looks on paper.