A sapphire stone

I haven't shown you my ring! Here the little beauty is:

In practice for the moment soon 

I want to ask you this 

Will you be my bride this june? 

A ring I have, and then a kiss 

 It's a symbol, a brilliant stone 

Of love I have for you 

I hope we bind, to not be lone 

That you share in this too 

 This first ring I shall thread 

Upon 4th finger fit 

And then in June we two be wed 

A band of gold to join it. -Mindy Makuta

A rushed thursday post

Good-morning lovelies, another stunning morning for Cape Town- in fact this whole week has been glorious (even though Graham complains constantly about the wind)- I'm almost at the end of my second last week before exams, so much work, often I don't even realize that its spring and everything is beautiful.

This week Graham and I had our final marriage counseling session (will post some of what we've covered later) mostly because all Graham wants to do is play Settlers of Catan and has peer pressured everyone into playing it for next weeks marriage counseling session. I cannot explain how awesome marriage counseling has been- and I was one of those people who could not see the point in discussing hypothetical situations on a couch with another couple when I would probably forget all that was said by the next morning- I've been reformed. clearly. On Tuesday before we went out, I chanced to find this article: http://www.danoah.com/2012/10/16-ways-i-blew-my-marriage.html

It's really insightful and makes good points.

In other exciting news today my bridesmaids and I are going for our hair trial for the wedding (which is in 37 days!) and then Graham and I have date night- our name for thursday night, the one night of the week that we will put everything else off so that we can spend time together. We usually go to TriBeCa for their burger deal, or for sushi at Food lovers market or to my most favorite eating place in the whole of cape town and where we are going tonight, Hudsons. Mmmh Yes!

[And now to get back to finishing a sermon for tomorrow- if anyone figures out the reason for the riddle in Judges 14 do tell] x

Save the date

You've missed out on so much! Here are a few of our save the date photos taken by R (assisted by N) none of them made it into the actual save the date invites- there were just so many lovely photos to choose from! Just looking at them makes me smile.

You also missed out on the proposal, so here is the story: She knew that it was coming, he was going home that weekend and every day was passed in agonizing anticipation. Friday came- her best friends birthday, it rained all day and she spent most of the morning and afternoon in doors finishing an assignment. They had lunch together and then he left her to sleep for a while before they went out that evening. She woke up to him banging on the door, she was angry that he had woken her and stormed downstairs, wrenched the door open and told him to make some tea, then she made a fire and sat down next to it. He mumbled that he had forgotten his cellphone in the car and went outside again. He came back with a bag from which he pulled a bunch of red roses, chocolate spread, strawberries, and a bottle of appetizer. It took her a while to realize what was going on and by the time she had realized he was already on his knee in front of her with a permanent marker in his hand. He carefully drew a ring around her finger and then looked into her eyes "will you marry me Lynsay?" so many tears followed, only remedied by a picnic of strawberries and chocolate next to the fire (just like our first picnic).

If you so want to read about what's happened to me in the past few months you can read my best friends blog here: http://whenyoucannotsleep.blogspot.com/2012/09/love-is-in-air.html and here: http://whenyoucannotsleep.blogspot.com/2012/10/italys-romance.html

Here in your arms

Surprise! I'm sure you never thought you'd hear from me again. Well, after taking a sabbatical from blogging to try and deal with life i've realized that I should probably blog about the hectic things that are happening in life- rather than spending time trying to sort said things out (end of apology/explanation). In other news, it has been the longest week of my entire life. This time last week I was still adjusting to South African soil after being torn from lovely Italy, to come back here and do assignments.

[If anyone was wondering- I detest this new blogger layout, I have to figure out how to make my pictures big again... I don't even know how I did it the first time]

Its almost the end of October! This painfully means that it's 2 weeks until my final exams (for the end of my degree!) and one month until I marry G. It's all a bit unbelievable sometimes. The weeks have been so filled with getting things ready for the wedding, booking venues, caterers, photographers, decor coordinators, finding all the information needed to send out invitations, getting a dress (which is amazing!), doing marriage counseling [and then studying and planning next year on top of all of that] that when I sit back for a while I'm shocked at how fast everything has moved.

[fantastic- more tiny little pictures] 
This evening I listened to a song that I haven't heard in 4 or so years and listening to it brought back all the memories from high school, here is the chorus: 

Well you are the one, the one that lies close to me. 

Whispers "Hello, I've missed you quite terribly." 

I fell in love, in love with you suddenly. 

Now there's no place else I could be but here in your arms. 

 Its good to be back x