Inside, I'm crying

There is literally so much going on in my head that I want to get out that I just don't know where to start. And if I do, I don't know that I'd be able to stop. And I'm not sure that this is the right place, either. But I'm going for it. In brief, at least

ooOOoo

My brother is doing much better. We've talked (in so much as I said "How're you doing?" and he said "Fine, but I don't want to talk about it anymore"). I'm incredibly proud of him and the way he's getting his shit together. He's a nicer person to speak to and spend time with, and he's dealing with stuff really well.
It's weird how other people's opinions differ to your own though, isn't it? I was telling my friend about what's been going on with him lately, and mentioned that he couldn't afford to come and spend a weekend with Mr B and I and get away from home. She replied with "What, he can't afford to come and see you, but he can afford to go and get tattooed? Seems a bit shit". Actually, no. He gets a MASSIVE discount at the tattooist due to the amount of money he's spent there in the last few years, and the business he's put their way. AND I think getting tattooed, for my brother, is a way of making himself feel better. Whatever. I get it, and I don't care what any body else thinks. I love him, I'm proud of him, and I think he's awesome.

ooOOoo

We went back to the consultants last week. It was as vile as last time, except I spoke up for myself this time. I told her that I thought that she was rude and dismissive, and no matter what she thought, or whether I'd lost the weight or not, I was a human being with feelings and she had no right to speak to me like I was a piece of sh*t.
I was angry.
She was shocked.
I cried.
She apologised.
I win.

Ultimately, we're no further along, though. They still won't do anything to help until I've dropped at least three stone. The consultant suggested that I see my personal trainer more than once a week - she didn't want to pay for it, though, so that won't be happening.
I went to the drs afterwards, and they've given me a prescription for Orlistat to help with my weight loss mission. It's not the first time I've been offered it, but it's the first time I've said yes. I feel like a failure for saying yes, and haven't yet "got round" to getting the prescription filled. But, if I want a baby, I need to lose the weight. And if diet and exercise alone isn't helping, I need to bite the bullet and try everything that they're offering. Except a gastric band. Which is offered far too easily, in my opinion.
I was also prescribed a tablet to bring on a period, because I haven't had one since Feb. Although I have been spotting since. Great. Except it means I don't remember the last time we did the deed, which isn't helpful when you're trying for a baby!

ooOOoo

It was my brother in law's girlfriend's 30th birthday yesterday and he organised a surprise meal for her. Not long after they got there, they announced that he'd proposed yesterday afternoon. NOBODY was surprised. They've been together for 18 months, she moved in after 6, and actually we're surprised it took this long. 

What we were surprised about (and a little bit confused by, if I'm totally honest) is that they booked the wedding venue TWO WEEKS AGO. BEFORE HE HAD PROPOSED. So she knew he was going to propose, but not when. 

Oh, and the wedding's in June. This year. So that's 6 months time. 

It all screams shotgun to me. Nothing has been mentioned about a baby, but when he told us it was this June, it was my first assumption. And the fact that they haven't said she isn't is a bit odd, too. I nearly asked but knew that if she was I wouldn't be able to stay there, in a room full of strangers and pretend to be thrilled for them. So I didn't ask. But I want to know. 

My mother in law has said that it's "a question that needs to be asked", so I don't think it'll be long before she's asked them. 

I'm predicting an August baby. 

And a lot of heartache heading my way. 

ooOOoo

So that's me, and my tales of woe. 

For now.

Peace out. 

xx

Rough few weeks

I'm not going to apologise (again) for my lack of posts of late - it doesn't seem to make much difference, does it?!

I can't believe it's the 8th December already - where has 2013 disappeared to!?

The past few weeks have been tough - I still haven't really spoken to my dad, so I'm not sure what's going on with that; one of my oldest friend's marriage has broken up - just over a year since the wedding; and my little brother finally admitted last week that he's depressed.

This past week, in particular, has been an emotional one, and I've cried more tears than is healthy for anyone to cry.

I'm so sad for him, and can't help feeling like I've let him down. I thought we were close enough that he would speak to me about how he was feeling, and I'm hurt that he's been sad for so long (he's said since school, and he's 24 now) and didn't feel he could talk to me.

The sensible side of my brain knows that, when I was feeling like that, I didn't want to tell anyone, either. But the big sister side feels that I should've known that he wasn't happy and helped him.

I feel like I've failed him, which also isn't helped by his reluctance to speak to me this week. I'm consoling myself with the fact that he's talking to my mum, and she's talking to me, but it would be nice to speak directly to him and see how he's getting on.

I'm leaving the ball in his court, though - he needs to feel comfortable talking to me, and I've sent him a couple of messages re: giving me a call. When he's ready, he will.

I hope.

All I want for Christmas...

I started thinking about what I'd like for Christmas a few weeks ago... I know that my inlaws will want to know before long and if I don't give them some ideas, then I will end up with something really crap (a candle in the shape of a slice of cheesecake, anyone?!).

I always struggle with what to ask my dad and his wife to get me - they don't really know me all that well, and I just struggle. But, when I was thinking about it this year, I decided that actually, I didn't want a present, but I'd like a day with my dad and my brother. Just the three of us, going out, doing something.

I know 4 people who have lost brother's, sister's, mum's and dad's this year - they're not lucky enough to get to spend a day with them again, and I'm lucky enough to have all of my family and I should stop taking them for granted.

I spoke to my brother about it to see what he thought. "I'm up for it," he said, "but he won't do it. Not without her."

Her. Yeah. So that's my dad's wife. They've been married 4 years, together for maybe 15. The two of us have never got on. She's an evil, manipulative little dwarf, and I have no time for her. To be honest, she didn't endear herself to me when she called me a user and a bitch because I called my dad for a lift one night. I was 17. 

But the day out isn't about her, or Mr B, or them feeling left out. This is about me, my brother and my dad having a day out - to enjoy each other, to have fun and, actually, to get to know each other a bit. 

My mum and dad divorced when I was 6. My brother doesn't remember him ever being at home. We've always seen him and spent time with him at the weekends, but to be honest, he's never been one of those weekend dads that made an effort. Usually, a weekend consisted of me and my brother watching TV on a Saturday morning while he slept; a trip to town; shopping at Tesco; a really late night and "Sunday dinner" at KFC before taking us home. He never went above and beyond - never picked us up from school, or took us out in the week... He had us for 2 days a week, and that was it. 

As we got older, we spent less time with him. I got a Saturday job (like most teenagers) and the money and independence that gave me became more important. 

Still, no effort from him. I'd suggest that we could go for dinner together - he couldn't be bothered. To the snooker club? Nah, not this week. 

So, I can totally see why my brother didn't think he'd be up for it. 

I decided that my best course of attack was to her Her onside first. By appealing to her "better nature", I might be able to convince him.

So I spoke to her. Surprisingly, she thought it was a good idea, and could see where I was coming from. She told me that every Christmas she wondered if that was the last card that she'd get from her dad until 1 year, it was.

Just Dad to convince, then. 

I told him what I thought, asked what he thought and yeah, he thought it was a good idea. That was on Sunday two weeks ago.

On the Monday, he called me to say that he'd been thinking about it, and he didn't want to do it. He, as a husband, couldn't leave his wife at home for a day, and he didn't think it was right for me to do that to MY husband either. 

What the .... WHAT!?!

I pointed out that my husband wouldn't dare tell me that I couldn't spend a day with my brother and my dad, and if he did, I'd tell him where to go. I'm MARRIED, not a a siamese twin. I also pointed out that, when I'd spoken to Her, she'd totally understood where I was coming from and thought it was a good idea. That shut him up. He was using Her as an excuse, and didn't realise that I'd spoken to her, in advance. 

I told him to think about it - again - and let me know. But that I'd be really disappointed if he didn't do it because there are plenty of people that would like to spend a day with a parent that they don't have any more. 

I didn't hear anything for 2 weeks. I didn't think I was that bothered by it, until he eventually called me on Monday. I was expecting a blazing row that would signal the end of our father / daughter relationship - that's how passionately I felt about this day out. 

His next excuse was that he wasn't prepared to do it and have Her not have a Christmas present from us. Because - obviously - at 56, she can't possibly NOT have a Christmas present one year *eyeroll*. 

I pointed out that at NO POINT did I suggest that She and Mr B didn't get Christmas presents. Just that the three of us wouldn't - we'd use the money towards the day out. 

After a bit of huffing a puffing, he's agreed to it. 

For now. 

MAMMOTH post - so sorry! 

So much going on!

There are so many things going on at the moment - so many posts just waiting to be written - but just not enough time to write them.

To a certain extent, I think I'm also trying to ignore the stuff that's going on - if I don't think about it to write it down, it's not really happening, right?!

If you're a new follower courtesy of my post on the Lovely Leah's blog - hello and welcome! As I said in my post over on Leah's blog, I am a bit of an intermittent blogger, for which I'm sorry!

I'm also a bit of a random blogger, too - anything and everything goes!!

Hopefully I'll get some time to blog soon... like I said, much to say, not time to do it! xx

Month One Weigh In

I'm a month in to my 6 month challenge to lose 3 stone before my 30th birthday and I had my first weigh in this morning.

In theory, I need to lose 7lb a month in order to hit my target. In reality, losing anything is a bonus.

So this month, I've lost 4lb.

It's not the best start, but it's not the worst, either. I haven't really been all that good, and I can DEFINITELY exercise more, but it's a loss all the same.

Starting weight (2nd September): 20 stone 2lb
1st month weigh in (2nd October): 19 stone 12lb
Total loss: 4lb
Goal weight (@ 2nd March): 17 stone 2lb

Guest blogger!

Leah from Justmeleah.blogspot.com was asking for guest bloggers while she's on holiday this week and I put myself up for it!

I know I've been a bad blogger here - for which I'm sorry - but you can find my guest post here: http://justmeleah.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/guest-post-mrs-bs-top-5-tunes.html?m=1

Spend some time there,  too - I'm a big fan of Leah and her blog! 

Posted via Blogaway

6 months, 3 stone

So, in 6 months from today,  it will be March 2nd.

That's my birthday. 

To be more precise,  that's my 30th birthday. 

It's fair to say that my life isn't where i envisaged it would be by the time I was 30, but frankly,  it's not worth worrying about.  I have a roof over my head, money in the bank (and a job to help keep it there), my health and a man who loves me.

But, I am trying to think of my 30th as a turning point. A bit like my wedding, I guess.

And with 6 months to go, I am aiming to lose 3 stone. 

Half a stone a month.  Doesn't seem to hard in theory, but considering I've been quite good for the past month but managed to GAIN that amount, it might be more difficult than I'd like. 

I'm only going to weigh every couple of weeks or so, and will try to report back!

Starting weight (something I've never disclosed on here!): 20 stone 2lb
Goal weight (@ 2nd March): 17 stone 2lb

Christmas Time...

Yes, I know it's still a few months away, but it's something that Mr B and I have been talking about for a while...

Ever since we moved in together (8 years ago on Friday!!), I've wanted to have Christmas in a different country.
I'm not a huge fan of Christmas, and I'd just like to see what it's like to not be at home. To not have to deal with the politics of whose house we're going to for the day (or who is coming to us), and all the other crap that goes with it.

But Mr B was dead against it. Christmas, for him, is all about family and spending time with them. I get that, but also think it's much "easier" for him. His family consists of his (still married) mum and dad and his brother. So spending time with them basically means the 5 of us being in one room together.

For me, there's my mum, my brother, my dad and his wife (who I don't like) and my grandparents. Spending time with the family is like a military operation. Working out who will be driving, where we'll be, who has to cook and how long we'll spend with each is not conducive to a relaxing day.

But, I got where Mr B was coming from, and I'd come to terms with not having a Christmas abroad any time soon.

Then, something unusual happened. Last Christmas, I put my foot down and said I wanted to spend Christmas day at home, just me and him. His brother - who had a new girlfriend - wanted to stay at home just the two of them, too. So that left Mr B's mum and dad at home on Christmas day, on their own, for the first time in 50 years. FIFTY YEARS!!!! They've always had Christmas with either their parents when they were younger, or their children as they've got older, and it was the first time that their parents weren't around and their children were doing their own thing.

And do you know what? They actually quite enjoyed it. And something clicked in Mr B. He decided that if they could do it once, they could do it again and maybe we should go away for Christmas this year! I totally held him to it, and within the first 3 days of being back at work, we'd booked the time off.

I wasn't sure, when I changed my job, that I'd be able to get the time off as I was the new girl, so we kept our plan to ourselves for a bit. But, about three weeks ago, I got the time off confirmed, and plans are back on track.

So much so, that we've told our families. My dad's not bothered, and my mum's quite jealous, but Mr B's parents were more than a little bit annoyed. They didn't actually say anything, but it was very obvious from what they didn't say, that they weren't happy. They obviously haven't considered that, if we weren't away, we'd've been at work apart from Christmas and boxing day when we'd be at my family's anyway, so they're not seeing any less of us than if we were in the same country as them.

I thought Mr B would back out and want to stay here, but actually, he's still keen, which is good. I am more excited about Christmas than I've been for a really long time. For me, Christmas is just another reminder that another year has passed and I'm still not a mummy. At least this year, I can spend the day doing something different, that hopefully won't make that quite so painful.

You're probably wondering where we're planning to go?

VIVA LAS VEGAS, BABY!!!!

July Date Night

So July's date "night" was one I was really looking forward to - a tourist day in London with lunch at a Gordon Ramsay restaurant and a trip on the London Eye.

Although the original plan was to go on The Eye, the more I thought about it, the more I realised how ambitious I'd been with thinking I'd be able to do that. I'm more than a little bit afraid of heights, and I'm a touch claustrophobic, so I didn't know that I'd be able to cope with it in the end! So instead, we did a bus tour round London.

We only live a 30 minute train journey from London, but we don't often go just to be "tourists". It's usually to see someone or do something specific, so it was actually really nice to just enjoy it for a day.

We've both said for a long time that we wanted to eat at a Gordon Ramsay place, and it was on our list for 2010, so it made sense to combine it with one of our dates, so I booked a table at The Savoy Grill for lunch.

I had a minor panic when someone at work said they went for her birthday and it cost them £400 for the 4 of them, but I knew the hubs and I would be ok with the set menu for lunch (Three courses for £34 each. Much more our budget.)

It was frigging amazing. The service, the food, the place itself. Fricking awesome.

I was a bit self conscious taking photos of the food in there, so they're not great but I ate (top row) baked beetroot with shallot, mozarella and toasted pine nuts; beef filet ravioli with garden peas and Eton mess. Hubs had duck egg mayonnaise, goats cheese and red onion tart and summer berry mille fueille. 

It was, without a doubt, the best meal I've ever had. And definitely worth the money. The service was immense, too - and despite the fact that we were both wearing jeans, I didn't feel under-dressed or that we were being "looked down on", which was nice. 

We then did the bus tour, which was pretty interesting - we both saw things that we'd never seen before, which was cool, and it's given us ideas for other date days in the future!! 

We're having to put August's date day on hold, though - it's to go to the theatre, and the local one is only showing kids stuff this month. I never thought of summer holidays when planning that one!! 

We will get there, just not this month. x

Time Warp!

I literally have no idea where time is going at the moment.

I can't believe it's the 10th August, which means I haven't blogged for over a month, when I have LOTS to say.

Hopefully I'll get to do some this afternoon!

I've Changed

It's 9.50 and I'm working at home...

I haven't done that for years!

It's not something I actually agree with, but at the moment I'm literally running out of time during the day and all I'm actually doing is typing up my notes while I'm watching TV.

It'll help me in the long run... !

May / June Date Nights

So in my lack of posting, I'm very late with reporting May and June's date nights - but they DID happen!

May's date night was Sky Box Office Night.

We've had Sky for a few years now, but we've never ordered a box office movie. Can't really explain why, we just never have! 

We watched Flight - the Denzel Washington film - but were both REALLY disappointed! If we'd not paid to watch it, we probably would've switched off. 

June's date was to have a day at the coast. 

Originally, the plan had been to have a day out, just the two of us, but we ran out of time with everything else that was going on. 

We did, however, spend a weekend in Brighton in June. With my mum. Not necessarily romantic, but it was lovely all the same, and we did make a point of having some time on out own. We played in the arcades, drank lager and lime, but we didn't paddle in the sea - it was a bit cold, to be honest!!

We had a really lovely weekend.

As you can see, I'm making progress with my "take more pictures" resolution, too - more than 300 over the weekend... whoops!

July's date night is my responsibility, and I'm very much looking forward to organising it... Plans are already in place and I CANNOT WAIT!

xx

Feeling Crafty!

Hello lovelies

So sorry it's been so long again. I literally don't know my arse from my elbow at the moment. It's nice that I'm busy, but equally frustrating. I'm incredibly tired, and don't remember the last time we had a weekend where we weren't doing something. And I think it's set to stay the same until the end of SEPTEMBER! Man, it's mental!

Anyway, in between starting a new job, being incredibly busy at the weekends, trying to get my arse in gear with losing weight and everything else going on, I have managed to do some crafting, which has proved quite therapeutic!

I found this via Pinterest and showed it to a friend whose brother was getting married. She was looking for something a bit different for a present for them and liked this, but wanted to do it herself... It turns out she's the least crafty person in the world, so she came to mine and I made it for her...

Her brother and his new wife loved it, so that made me quite happy, too! 

Once we'd made that, someone from (old) work saw it, and asked me to make some sort of calendar that her sister could use as a countdown to her wedding for the last 4 weeks. Again, thanks to Pinterest, I found this, and reproduced it to make this!

The lady that asked me to make it framed it and gave it to her sister yesterday at her hen do along with a dry wipe marker so that she can add to it for her last month as a Miss! 

I also made another hen do memory book this week, (as well as a penis pasta necklace), but I don't have pictures of either of those, unfortunately! 

I've got plans to make a present for the wedding (or maybe two, I'm not sure yet!). 

I'll keep you posted!

Quick Catch Up

Sorry it's been such a long time since a post - I can't believe how quickly time has gone.

I thought I'd just do a quick round up of my 10 in 2013 and where I'm at with them, as it's the middle of the year!

1. Be Positive I'm not necessarily doing this consciously anymore, but I am definitely feeling more positive, which can only be a good thing!

2. Get my BMI Below 40 Yeah, so this one's not going to well. Let's gloss over that... 


3. Take More Photos I am totally nailing this one! 1,286 photos so far this year and 2,536 last year... I reckon I'm well on my way to taking more!! 

4. Swear less (particularly at work!) This one has worked out quite well - I set up a charity swear jar at my last job, which really helped to curb my potty mouth, and then the new job has helped, too. Trying to make a good impression, and all that! 

5. Make more of an effort with my appearance. Again, the new job has helped with this one. I'm trying to look more smart and professional at work (I'm not sure if I'm pulling it off or not!!), and I'm wearing dresses and accessorizing more. We have a dress down day on a Friday, so my aim is to wear dresses for 3 days, and trousers for one. I can also wear heels now, too, because of driving rather than running for the bus every day!

6. Be more crafty. As well as the first date things, I've made a wedding present for my friend's brother; I'm in the process of making a wedding countdown calendar for another friend's sister and I have plans to make a wedding present for later in the year, too (separate posts to come!) 

7. Drive more! Another one that's been nailed by the new job! 30 mins each way every day. BOOM! A driving machine! 

8. Cook new recipes / more regularly This one isn't happening quite as much as I'd like, although I am back into a habit of "batch cooking" on a Sunday to save time in the week. I did a new chilli recipe today, too, which tastes LUSH! 

9. Bake a cake Hmm... so we all how the Easter cupcakes ended up. I'm not keen to try again, but I think I have to... my friend is having a Bake Off for her wedding, and I've been told I HAVE to enter... Joy

10. Change job BOOM!!! Dunnit!! And loving it, too!!!!

Argh!!!

So much to catch up on, but such little time to do it! I'm so busy at the moment, and I don't think it's going to change any time soon - I start my new job on Monday!

SO exciting!

I will be back, and I will update with everything.

So sorry.

Nailed it!

I paint my nails a lot, and I have loads of nail polishes, but I hate it when they chip


Last September I had 3 weddings in 10 days. Yikes! Rather than painting my nails every time and worrying about chipped polish, I decided to treat myself and get a Shellac manicure. They cost £20 (ish), but should last two weeks.

Perfect for my little wedding bonanza.

Or it would've been, if they hadn't peeled off after three days.

In all fairness, I think it's more me than the manicure - I had acrylics done once that only lasted 4 days.


In the interest of making the most of how I look for my 10in2013 challenge, I've started to paint my nails more regularly.

A couple of weeks ago I found this guide on Pinterest (FYI - totally in love with Pinterest!).

I had some birthday money left over, so decided to buy the stuff needed to see how I got on.

I followed the instructions from the directions exactly. It's time consuming, but so worth it! 

My nails look really nice, and the finish is awesome! I've done it a few times now, and I'm really impressed. 

Now. the instructions, and a lot of the comments on the blog say that doing your nails like this will mean they last as long as a Shellac manicure. As I said earlier, my Shellac manicure only lasted 3 days. And unfortunately, so did these. 

BUT - and this is a massive but - I didn't have a single chip in any of my nails for the duration of the mani. They lifted just like the Shellac did, so I still think it's an issue with me rather than the process. And for me, it's great - it means the nails don't chip, but I can change them up a couple of times a week. 

If you're near a Sally's, I'd definitely say the £12 investment (for the Gel Coat and Top Coat) is worth it. 

The Hardest Thing

I think the hardest part of our TTC journey and inability (so far!) to get pregnant for me is the feeling that I'm letting people down. 

I constantly feel that I'm letting Mr B down - he could be a daddy by now if it weren't for me. 

But I often feel that we're letting other people down, too - our parents, our brothers, our extended family - by not having a baby yet. 

A couple of weeks ago, a friend of my mum's posted this on Facebook:

I always thought that my friends posting their pregnancy and birth announcements on Facebook was difficult, but this completely broke my heart.

I want MY mum to have baby cuddles with a grandchild. I want MY mum to spoil my children. And I want to make MY mum proud.

But most of all, I want MY mum to be this excited.

I want MY mum to be a Nanny.

Pink is my new obsession

If I'm totally honest, she's not a new obsession at all. In fact, I had a Pop Stars themed fancy dress 17th birthday party and I went as P!nk.

She's my absolute girl crush and I love everything about her - she's hot, she's funny, down to earth and man can she sing! She's confident, knows what she wants, isn't afraid to speak her mind and I think I'm a little bit in love.

I've wanted to go and see her live for AGES, and I was very excited when her new album came out last year. And then totally gutted when both Mr B and I were on holiday when tour tickets went on sale and sold out.

I wrote it off as our tough luck.

BUT THEN!
The O2 released more tickets about 4/5 weeks ago, and hubs managed to get some!

I'm not a big fan of the O2, nor of sitting at concerts, but it's what we got, so it's what we had to deal with!

When we got there, I was a bit totally disappointed with the seats. We were sort of to the side, almost behind the stage and couldn't really see much to start with. We couldn't really see much. And I thought we'd been totally ripped off.

NAH-AH!

It turned out that the seats were FRICKING AMAZING! I couldn't tell you what the stage looked like. But I can tell you that we were REALLY close. That she's ABSOLUTELY AMAZING live. And that it's the best concert I've ever been to (and I've been to a few!).

If possible, I'm even more in love with her than I was before. Below are some of my pictures - I took absolutely loads - but please, please check out this video on You Tube. It's by someone called EroticSludge, and they were obviously better than me because in my video all you can hear is me going "WHAT THE F**K!!" Amazing.

SO FRICKING EXCITED!!

So, you might remember that I went for a couple of job interviews a few weeks ago and that I didn't get the job?

Well, when the guy called me to tell me know about the role, it turns out that when he told me that he would give me a call if another role came up wasn't just a nice brush off!!

He called me last night and offered me a job!

I am so excited (and a little bit shocked!).

The paperwork should be with me this week so that I can get my noticed handed in before my holiday next week.

So, so happy!!!

April Date Night

April Date Night was down to the hubs to organise (again! May's all mine, though!) and although it should've been a relatively cheap one, it actually turned out quite expensive.

April's Date Night was BOARD GAME NIGHT! We had dinner at home, before spending the evening playing board games.

All good, except we don't actually own any board games! They're the sort of thing that we keep saying we should get, but never actually get round to buying.

Clockwise from Top: The date night envelope; Mr B contemplating his next move; the games, ready to go:

POOH - it scored me 36 points!!! (double letter on the P, then a triple word score);
the board at the end of the first game. Excuse the swear word!! 

I thought the hubs would just buy the one, but actually he got three - Scrabble, Scattegories and Monopoly. 

We didn't actually play Monopoly, but I think it was on cheap so he went for it while it was there! We played two games of both Scrabble and Scattegories, though. 

We each won a game of Scrabble (183 v 160 to him and 256 v 227 to me), drew one Scattegories then I won one. 

I think Scattegories would be more fun with more people (and possibly some booze, too!) but overall we had a really good evening. 

Can't wait to open May's envelope now!!