So it's been a while since I was last here...again!! I've missed this site through moving in, getting organised, playing Mario Kart and generally not doing a whole lot =D
Where to begin? Well, let's start at the start! Me and Chantelle have finally moved into a place of our own, in a little square on Ella Street, off Newland Avenue in the heart of Studentworld in the city centre. The front "garden" needs some work, and there's a need for decoration and tidying, but over the last couple of months we've got stuff sorted and made it our own place - we still have boxes, and even boxes of boxes, but it's our place and we love it...
On 19th April me and Chantelle got engaged, and we are looking at getting married around September of this year. Chantelle's parents have a timeshare apartment in Maderia, and have paid for us to have a week's holiday there so it'd be a perfect time to have our honeymoon!
We were in Hornsea and we were talking about getting married, and how we both really want to do it, and by the end of the day we'd made the decision to get engaged and start planning a wedding...of course, it wasn't official until we'd updated our status on Facebook!! ;)
So far it's been pretty complicated trying to plan it all. At first, we were thinking about hiring a place and then that started to get expensive and messy trying to organise a million different things, and so the talk turned to making it simple, making it our day and using the rest of our time, efforts and money to spend on ourselves and the festivities. When Chantelle's folks offered to put £5,000 towards the wedding, we thought that it was quite a lot of money to spend on a wedding - turns out these days it's just a small chunk of change that would get swallowed up in the process, so keeping it simple also keeps it quite economical...!!
Talk also recently turned to church, and how we both missed being there, the people and the atmosphere of being at church. Over the last couple of weeks or so, it also dawned on me that whilst I started seeing reasons for leaving church, and reasons why it might not be true and so on, what I was actually looking for was an excuse to leave, so I could "take a break" from the burdens, and pressures, and responsibilities of being an active member, an example and "pillar" of the stake so to speak. Truth is, when I first joined the church, I went in all guns blazing, with the mindset of "I've been given a second chance at life and stuff, I'd better be worth it", and ended up putting too much pressure on myself, getting into it all too quickly, and turning myself into someone I didn't really want to be.
Now I've been away, I've had time to reflect on what I'd been away from, and also to reflect on who I've been, who I am, and what I'm doing with my life. I've found now that I can very likely still make it through life going to church and being a part of the experience and the atmosphere, and unerstanding and acknowledging what the church stands for, whilst still being me.
This is what I want to achieve - to be a good person, to try and live a good life, and enjoy and take in the teachings of the church, whilst still being true to myself. We're both looking for a fresh start with a fresh perspective, and I know that I will be taking it easier and steadier this time around so that I can keep myself balanced. I might not agree with absolutely everything, and I'm certainly not perfect, but the church is a good place to be for "life guidance", and I'm willing to try again and do what I can!
We went to Institute on Wednesday night as we'd been invited to a meal prepared by the teacher. It was good to see her and other people again, and we are now considering having the wedding at the chapel in Anlaby. The chapel itself is a really nice room - it has a nice modern feel to it and doesn't look too "churchy", and it also has a bit of an elegant "function room" look to it without looking too much like your average function room....if that makes sense!!
The most important concern we have is getting Chantelle's dress, and now we're on the hunt for good music that isn't Pachelbel's flippin' Canon...it's a lovely piece really, but everyone seems to have it for their wedding, and we want to be different. Ideally we'd like to have someone sing and/or play the music, and we have considered Kissing You by Des'ree, but we're still working on it!
And that brings us to now. Chantelle's working tomorrow, but I've been invited to Hull 1 in Anlaby as they are having a "linger longer" lunch after church, which means I get to meet people and eat food =D officially, we're living in the Hull 1 area so eventually we'll be asked to go to their services rather than Hull 2 if we want to settle in :(
Today was a day spent cleaning and tidying the house whilst Chantelle was at work. We got a four month old Staffie puppy this week but quickly rehomed her again after it turns out Chantelle is allergic to her...we ended up driving to Matlock in Derbyshire, where the new owner's son was to receive the dog for his birthday :) so today was a day to try and clean up dog hair and the like and generally make the place a bit prettier...we have cord carpets so a lot of dust and cat hair gets worn in very quickly, but after a good vacuuming the floors so look a bit better, and it made Chantelle smile when she came in so I must've done good!!
In other news, I've decided not to go to University this year. I've decided that I want to keep working, and I also wondered if it was really worth if for three years if nothing big came out of it...if I decide to go for it I can always apply next year, but if I had decided to go for it this year but then found that I didn't want to do it after all, it would be a bit of a waste really.
I am however still looking for other jobs and careers, as I still don't know what I want to do!! I still consider the Police every now and then, but other than that, I'm still stumped!!! Any ideas or offers greatly appreciated.....
