One year of smug marriedness, many more to come

I'm rushing to post this so TLOML, Lady P and I can go and loll about in country hotel splendour. We're celebrating our first wedding anniversary with a night at the lovely Feversham Arms, including a tasting menu dinner in their excellent restaurant. The room is apparently close enough to the restaurant to be monitorable and rush-back-able, so we can bring Lady P with us. Which is nice seeing as she was, in a foetal way, at our wedding.

TLOML, me and Lady P on our wedding day

It's hard to believe it's only a year. And I don't mean that in a bad way, as in, it feels like forever. It's just that we've packed a heck of a lot in. According to the Holmes & Rahe stress scale, some of the most stressful life events include getting married, pregnancy and a 'change in living conditions', 'change of residence' and 'change of social activities'. We ticked all those boxes in our first year. And yet we couldn't be happier.

...and one year later

It bodes well for the next fifty years, I'd say.

My goodness this is a smug post. What can I tell ya? He really is The Love of My Life. Happy anniversary, TLOML.

The spoils of love

Married life, happily, continues pretty much in the same vein as pre-married life.

But there's one big exception. Thanks to the generosity of friends and family, married life is considerably more comfortable and better equipped.

Now, let me be clear: TLOML and I wed for love. Oh, and the fun of throwing a party for the people we love. But mainly because we wanted to do that thing with the lifelong commitment.

Still, it is rather nice to be given lovely new things for Fox Corner. Especially after moving 4 times in 3 years, with the inevitable 'stuff culls' that take place: we were down to old favourites and absolute essentials only. Frankly, in some areas, we were lacking the basics.

We now have a bistro table and chairs, which we use almost daily. Finally, we're getting some use from the kiwi-encircled patio. We never used to walk up the garden to the big table unless it was for a proper long sit-down meal. Now I sit outside with a cuppa in the morning, or we munch on a kitchen cupboard smorgasbord at lunchtime. Positively life improving.

My first salad spinner! The leaves get so dry, so fast! I love it. With these Tricana anchovies biught on honeymoon in Lisbon (because who doesn't go tinned fish shopping on honeymoon?), and the help of the new Magimix, I made a lovely smooth Caesar dressing in half the time it usually takes. And the scales are so accurate: the set they replaced used to jump up in increments of 4 oz, which is not idea for precision measuring.

And that cute little Denby jug matches our new dinner service. Never again will we suffer the indignity, as we recently did, of having to ask a guest to bring their own plate when they come for dinner (we used to have these lovely, old plates which belonged to my Granny. Alas, there were only 5 dinner plates).

We are now so well equipped in the kitchen, we need never dine out again. And with our new cosy blankets and cushions, the sofa has never looked so inviting. So, married life could get rather dull. But it'll be a very very comfortable rut, I must say.

A honeymoon in pictures

1. Fripperies
I love getting all my jaunty, flimsy, striped and patterned clothes out and taking them for an outing in the sunshine.

2. Eating
For we did a lot of it. Mainly octopus, with the odd posh shrimp or peasant-chic claim dish thrown in for variety.

3. Beaches
Windy and beautiful.

4.Brenda
Our ride for the trip. Nice attitude, but despite her broad hips, not very generous in the trunk area.