Icon & Wedding
New icon, courtesy of J, who chose the wrapping paper for cricketk's present at the last slash gathering, and silver_b_a, who scanned him in for me. It was love at first sight (followed by a few anxious moments as cricketk vigorously unwrapped the present)!
I spent yesterday being as sparkly as possible for my sister. The wedding was a fairly informal one at a community hall, which a small army pitched in to help clean and decorate with plants and chocolate the night before. I arrived very dirty in my jeans and steel-capped boots after a day's work and was immediately assigned the task of cleaning the toilets! Fun to meet some of their friends in a casual setting before going through the dressing-up rigmarole the next day.
I hadn't spent much time around my brother-in-law's family until recently, and have been struck by how physically affectionate they are with each other and their friends. The men hug - long, real hugs - and sometimes kiss each other with every hello and goodbye, and BIL's youngest brother stood next to him stroking his hair the other night. Pretty unusual for Australian men. I come from a mostly non-touching family and it's startling to me. I noticed when I came back to WA after ten years away that my sister was hugging my mother more, and I see where she got it from! I'm still more of a hug-at-very-emotional-moments-only type of person, which translates to just a few times a year.
My bridesmaidly duties on the day were minimal, but included driving the bride to and from the wedding - the first time I can recall attending a wedding where the bride didn't leave with the groom (they thought it made more sense for her to pick up her car first and join him later). My favourite photo from the day is of my sister wearing a Polartec jacket over her wedding dress in my mother's kitchen as we discussed the fate of the remainder of the exciting chocolate wedding cake, before she headed off home.
Just met my new neighbours in a quick conversation over the fence and thought it was better to own up immediately to the suspicious black area on their side next to my boundary. "Hello! I'm Zebra and I set fire to your place the other day! Sorry about that! Lovely to meet you!"
I spent yesterday being as sparkly as possible for my sister. The wedding was a fairly informal one at a community hall, which a small army pitched in to help clean and decorate with plants and chocolate the night before. I arrived very dirty in my jeans and steel-capped boots after a day's work and was immediately assigned the task of cleaning the toilets! Fun to meet some of their friends in a casual setting before going through the dressing-up rigmarole the next day.
I hadn't spent much time around my brother-in-law's family until recently, and have been struck by how physically affectionate they are with each other and their friends. The men hug - long, real hugs - and sometimes kiss each other with every hello and goodbye, and BIL's youngest brother stood next to him stroking his hair the other night. Pretty unusual for Australian men. I come from a mostly non-touching family and it's startling to me. I noticed when I came back to WA after ten years away that my sister was hugging my mother more, and I see where she got it from! I'm still more of a hug-at-very-emotional-moments-only type of person, which translates to just a few times a year.
My bridesmaidly duties on the day were minimal, but included driving the bride to and from the wedding - the first time I can recall attending a wedding where the bride didn't leave with the groom (they thought it made more sense for her to pick up her car first and join him later). My favourite photo from the day is of my sister wearing a Polartec jacket over her wedding dress in my mother's kitchen as we discussed the fate of the remainder of the exciting chocolate wedding cake, before she headed off home.
Just met my new neighbours in a quick conversation over the fence and thought it was better to own up immediately to the suspicious black area on their side next to my boundary. "Hello! I'm Zebra and I set fire to your place the other day! Sorry about that! Lovely to meet you!"