Jetlag

As I mentioned in this post – HONEYMOON!

We’re back now and we had the most amazing time. Honestly it was fabulous and we did and saw so much (which made it seem like we were away for a lot longer than we were (which was pretty long anyway at almost three weeks)).

However, currently I am busy recovering from the jetlag – Oh my holy hell, the jetlag – I think I’ve broken my body clock forever. I haven’t slept properly since we got back on Friday morning (and barely slept on the plane). Today was my first day back at work – I have REALLY suffered, as I spent almost the entirety of last night lying awake, for the third night in a row.

I have had bouts of insomnia / sleeplessness throughout my life, but never have I been so goddamn tired and yet completely incapable of sleeping. I think it’s fair to say I am a bit of a drama llama about not sleeping (understatement, I am an utter nightmare if I don't get my eight hours), but I honestly don’t know how people who travel frequently between the UK and US do it – I think it would actually ruin me. I am clearly not suited to the jet set lifestyle, that's for sure (finally a plus in favour of not being crazy-wealthy - hurrah!), and I am now likely live in fear of being sent to the US with work.

If I don’t sleep tonight I’m going to cry. There may be a fully blown tantrum. But eventually – when I’m no longer having an out-of-body experience due to tiredness – I will get my act together and do a proper post, with photos of things we saw/did and EVERYTHING. Right now though I don’t have the energy to sift through the 1500+ photos (yes, we took that many) to find those worthy of sharing.

If anyone has any jetlag related advice in the meantime, I am ALL ears.

1st Wedding Anniversary

So on the 5th of October this year, was my husband’s and my first wedding anniversary. It truly is unbelievable that it has been a whole year since our wedding day, time has simply flown by. It honestly feels like our wedding, on a beautiful mid-autumn day, was only a couple of months ago.

We spent our anniversary in the US, where we were on our (very belated) honeymoon. On our actual anniversary we were in Louisville in Kentucky, staying at the wonderful and historic Brown Hotel and we dined that evening at the very grand hotel bar (it was a Sunday when, unbeknownst to us, most of Louisville seems to close on a for the day) with lots of Manhattan cocktails for good measure. Given that we were on Honeymoon, our anniversary couldn’t help but be special, but the Brown hotel really was a magical setting (and the truffle oil on my lobster mac n'cheese didn't hurt either). I will be writing a separate post (or more likely posts as there is a lot to tell) about the Honeymoon trip itself soon.

The first anniversary is PAPER – which proved an interesting challenge from me to find a suitable gift for a gift for him. In the end I opted for a pair of paperclip cufflinks from Notonthehighstreet, and a personalised ordnance survey map, centered on our post-code. I used a photo of our (Pea & Badger) cake topper for the front of the map and I think it turned out beautifully.

I felt this was a good gift for him as he loves maps and we like going for walks around our home, I admit the cufflinks were cheating a bit, but my getting him cufflinks is somewhat of a tradition for us, which I wanted to continue.

I also made him a card, because I do feel that a hand-made card is more personal than a bought one (and also I enjoy making them). I got the idea for the card from one I saw on Notonethehighstreet, but changed it to suit us. I was pretty happy with how it turned out and he loved it.

Luckily all the presents went down well and he seemed very happy. I’m really not the best present buyer and tend to worry endlessly about what I’ve opted for, convincing myself that the gift won’t be well received.

It seems kind of odd to me, to be celebrating a year as a married couple, when in May next year we will have been together for nine years. I somehow thought it would feel like less of a milestone, one year in the face if almost-a-decade together, but on the day that wasn’t how it felt at all, and we had a really lovely anniversary. Here's to cotton (oooh clothes!) next year!

7 days and counting...

...until our holiday! Well, technically, it's actually our Honeymoon, but a very, very belated one (we will be away over our 1 year wedding anniversary too). Yes, we're off to America, for just over two weeks, and I am so excited I think I might pop.

Here's our travel itinerary:

• Boston
• Mystic
• New York
• Washington DC
• Warm Springs
• Charleston
• Lexington
• Louisville
• Chicago
• Boston

I have reached the ripe old age of thirty and, so far, never made it across the pond, so that is adding an extra layer of excitement for me right now. I am not sure that I am really convinced that, yes, it is real, we are going; a feeling that is probably, at least partly, due the fact my lovely husband has organised 99.9% of the trip for us (Yeah, he had to take over when I proved incapable of making a single decision, due to being TOO EXCITED!!!! (and also wanting to see ALL THE THINGS!!!!).

Anyway, to celebrate that fact it's only a week away now, here's a jolly map! Thanks to the limitations of Google Maps this isn't 100% accurate - Boston - Washington we are taking the train, following which we hire a car up until Louisville, and then we're flying from Louisville to Chicago, and then again from Chicago back to Boston - but hopefully you get the idea.

Watch out America - Pea & Badger (that's the husband by the way, I'm not taking an actual badger with me) are coming!

:-)

Pea