Its been a while - want to hear about my holiday?

Hi! How have you all been? Whatcha been up too? Any exciting news to share?

I have been living a montage lately, which largely seems to defeat the point, but have a few days off in London to spend with my brother who is visiting. He is still sleeping, so I am taking the time to write a much needed blog.

Last week I headed up to Scotland for a wedding in Drumtochty Castle which is about an hour and a half outside of Aberdeen. I normally have a few mixed feelings about weddings, I am so genuinely happy for the couple, but there is an element of, I wish it was my turn. I remember my sister saying to me, that there were a few people that she was pleased to beat down the aisle, but that I was not one of them. Which is comforting. But last week, there was none of that. I guess that I was too busy in the run up to have a chance to even really think of it.

As I was uncharacteristically packing the night before, and then at midnight it occurred to me to find out what time train I would have to get to the airport and discovering that there was only enough time for two and a half hours sleep, I was excited to be heading away on a holiday. I thought to myself, life has to change, you need to slow down. When you see the bride on the day before her wedding and she says with sympathy that you seem to have been manic, you realise that its gotten out of hand. I was hardly organising a wedding far from home, I have just been working like a madwoman.

Nic & Gareth are great friends of mine, I helped them move to Reading, about an hour outside of London about 6 weeks before their wedding. We don't get to see each other often as their lives are as manic as mine. Finding time when all three of us are not working or away is an exercise in military precision. But when we do find that time, we have a ball. There are always loads of laughs and lots of drinking. They are some of the most easy going, drama free people I know. As an example, on their wedding day both of them took the time individually to tell me how lovely I looked. What sweeties. So I was more than delighted to be invited to their wedding. I think that it is a testament to them that despite having their wedding on a Wednesday, far from where most people live, that they had such a large number of loved ones around.

The wedding was fabulous – I was lucky enough to have my hair and makeup done with the bridal party, which was great as I can be quite rubbish at that and I have loads of hair. It was nice to see Nic so chilled out and relaxed on her wedding day. The day was not as hot as it has been, the weather was slightly overcast – perfect for photos, and everything went off without a hitch. The chapel where they got married was just lovely, it was on the grounds of the Castle. As we were waiting for Nic to arrive, the Vicar gave a talk about the history of the chapel and described it as a thin place, where what we know and what we don't know are very close. I loved that description and it was typically Scottish.

Nic, Nic & Gareth

When Nic arrived she looked amazing, she had a proper princess dress. Gareth looked amazing in his kilt, in fact a large number of men were wearing kilts. The wedding was lovely, with a song written and performed by Nic's brother that had us all giggling as the chorus was 'My sister has been given away to Deano'...

At the reception we partied the night away – the illusion with Scotland is that it does not get dark to really late and then dawn breaks at 3am – so as we were coming home the dawn broke. I loved the personal touches – like the bottles of whiskey and gin that were personalised for the bride & groom, like the table names – I was on a Castle table, reminiscent of our pub. A fab night was had by all, it was perfect.

Me and the huge ice cream

The next day was a bit slow. I was woken up at about 9.30am for breakfast in my fabulous B&B for salmon and scrambled eggs. I headed out to Stonehaven to have a look around. Its a beautiful seaside town about an hour from Aberdeen. I happened to meet up with some of the girls from the wedding and we had a walk around and some delicious lunch at a great fish and chip shop. As we were sitting there, struggling through our fish and chips, we began to notice the icecream shop right next door. There was a constant queue out the door and kids were coming out with icecreams bigger than them. So we decided to queue up and try for ourselves. It was worth the wait and the pigeon pooing on me for the delicious icecream, which came with marshmallows and chocolates on the top. Just what you need for a hangover.

Dunnottar Castle

I headed out to Dunnottar Castle, which is a ruin on a cliff top. There is actually still a lot in tact there. But the walk down had me thinking twice in my tired and hungover state. I decided to guts it up and do it, who knows when I would be back. The castle has in the past been visited by William Wallace and famously saved the Scottish Crown Jewels from being destroyed. It was very atmospheric and had stunning views out to see. On a good day apparently you can see whales or sharks off the coast. I was hoping to see a few whales but nothing on that day. It was a stunning day out in the sun, but I was glad to drive back to Edzell for a night of tele watching and chilling out, going to bed early to recover before a big drive the next day.

So there are the first few days of my holiday, I promise to write about the rest of them soon, in my new resolve to not fill every minute and to relax a bit more. There are probably bets being taken the world over to see how long that lasts. And rightly so, I have a reputation for burning the candle at both ends and being surprised when it burns out. So lets hope that I can make it to my next holiday in Greece!