Bring on the Bubbles.

Well I never thought I would be writing a blog post about becoming engaged but here it is!

Having being burned once before with the whole marriage business, I was, for a long time, a firm believer in the fact that I would never do that again, but it's funny how things turn out.

Having met Alistair almost a year ago, we have been fairly inseparable from the word go and quite quickly found ourselves living together and making future plans.

Now I suppose it is only when you meet the right person that your "never again" attitude might begin to change and for both of us this was definitely the case. I think the conversations started as a testing the water type thing over some wine one night and we both agreed that yes maybe marriage would be on the cards again. We both felt that making that commitment to each other was something that we wanted to do.

I have often spouted over the years that marriage is going out of fashion or doesn't really stand for anything these days as it's so easy to get divorced and many people enter into it without any foresight, but this time 22 years on from the last time I did it, it feels so much more special.

The actual proposal was made many weeks before the ring appeared and was in the kitchen and I was given a gorgeous bunch of carnations. This however we kept secret until we had gotten ourselves more organised.

After some searching around on the old internet we found a jeweller on Etsy who had a fabulous range of rings and so ordered one. This was a slight gamble, but when the ring arrived a week later we were relieved to find that it not only fitted but was as lovely as it looked on the website.

Our original plans were to leave it until October time when we have some days off planned and to go up North and do something to mark the occasion, but we were way too excited so changed our minds to "lets go do it now!"

We trundled off to the Co-op and bought a bottle of Moet (£10 off special deal) and headed up to the top of the local hill Lee Pen.

Thankfully it was a truly gorgeous Summer evening and so could sit out in our shorts and tee shirt and drink our bubbly and just soak up the moment. Even Bodhi chilled out when he realised that this was the end of his walk for a few minutes.

A phone call to my Mum from the top of the hill was made and to hear the surprise and delight in her voice was enough to get me tearing up again. It was a very happy moment for us all.

After consuming half a bottle each we thought we had better go get some dinner as lightweight Harvey was getting kind of drunk. Descending sober,without a dog, I can fall and break my wrist so was getting slightly nervous of getting down intact, but we did thankfully.

We popped Bdog back in the house then hurried round to the Traquair Arms for some food and more drink to celebrate.

It's been a hell of a quick year since I moved house but without a shadow of a doubt it has been one of the best decisions I have ever made. Who'd have thought I would find my soul mate living just a few doors down. It's a funny old world.

Bdog and the bubbles.

Family photo.

Fancy.

Bored now Mum.

Cheers.

Happy shadows.

Peace.

All photos by Caroline Harvey.

Lovin' it.

The first full working week is over, thank goodness. It's always a thought knuckling back down to the dull repetition of work but in order to enjoy your free time, you got to make some bucks somehow!

The great thing about the end of the week is of course the weekend and this weekend was made all the better as the weather was fabulous. Cold, but fabulous.

Of course when the weather is good it makes the thought of going out and exercising so much easier and enjoyable. When the winter mornings are still dark and the urge to hibernate under the duvet is strong,  it is amazing to see a beautiful  blue sky take hold of the day. Even if there is no blue sky if it's dry and not blowing a gale, you've got to jump at the chance to get out and enjoy the few hours before darkness comes in again.

Saturday morning was one of those cold and very crisp mornings and having not run since the beginning of the week it was a great opportunity to head off the pavements and into the hills, or at least closer to them. The small amount of pavement and roads that i did go on were incredibly slippy with black ice, but thankfully I did not become a cropper. No speed records were made, but a successful 8ish miles were completed.

Sunday was mountain biking day. Yippee! Although the blue skies had been swapped for clouds it was dry, but still very cold and frosty.

The decision to head to Glentress and tackle the black route was made. I was especially looking forward to this trip as I recently treated myself to a drop seat (Rock Shock Reverb). This is a fancy seat post that you can lower and raise with the push of a button. This may seem a slightly pointless gadget to some people, but to me it is absolutely amazing. I like a high seat for climbing the hills but like it quite low for the downhills and on a varied trail this can be quite tedious and time consuming to do manually, but with this gadget you can do it on the move. It made me so happy it was beyond ridiculous.

Getting to the top of the black route is quite a leg and lung buster and is broken up with some technical downhills, but all the puffing and panting is worth it, not only for the views but for the great downhill at the end. To come down, we took the direct route that followed mostly red and then blue trail markers, and apart from having a few frozen gear problems it was a great run.

To top off a rather splendid January weekend, we stopped in at the Whistle Stop Cafe in Innerleithen. They have a gluten free menu that delights an especially hungry and slightly chilly me. A bowl of chips, a piece of carrot cake and a latte, blissful.

Now that, in my book, is a great weekend.

Morning run.

Morning bike ride.

Peace x

All photos by Caroline Harvey.