My poor neglected blog. I have been doing plenty of walking, but not very much writing! My walks have been generally dog walks, and although some have been adventurous, I feel as though I have had a bit of writer's block when it comes to my blog.
And for that I fully blame 'wedding brain'. I have become consumed by wedding planning, reading wedding blogs, lying awake coming up with ideas for decorations, worrying about almost every aspect of the day, and just generally knackering myself with over-thinking. Don't get me wrong though, I am thoroughly enjoying the process, I just wish I could find a way to switch off!
The dog-walking does help this, although as always I tend to be my most creative when I'm out walking, so I'm coming up with loads of ideas - all wedding related!
The end of July and beginning of August brought two very memorable dog adventures. First, a trip to Seacliff beach in East Lothian, a place Dave and I had never been before. It's a cracking beach - the views to Tantallon Castle are wonderful (just seen to the right of Tig in the first picture - sadly the light and my lack of camera skills put paid to any better shots!).
The second adventure was up Eildon Hill North on Monday 1st August. I was at the summit before 10am, reflecting on a brilliant start to what is usually a chaotic month. It was a lovely day, and the views from the top of the rolling Border hills were magnificent.
On the way down I picked some delicious wild raspberries before strolling down into Newstead and back to Melrose.
Tig seemed to enjoy herself too...
However, the thing that has most taken my mind off my impending wedding, ironically, is a trip to Ireland...for a wedding! Not just any wedding, the wedding of my brother Colin to his amazing now-wife Emma.
It was the most incredible weekend. From start to finish (and it started when our alarms went off at 4.30am on Friday morning!), it was emotionally and wonderful.
On the Friday afternoon there was a fun Texas scramble at Carrickmines Golf Course in Dun Laoghaire. Hopefully you can make out the deer in the picture below, an added challenge to the golfers!
I took the chance for a walk round with the golfers rather than playing myself - I'll save that for Christmas day!
We had a lovely meal on the Friday night, and already it was starting to get emotional.
On Saturday afternoon we made our way round to St Paul's Church in Dun Laoghaire for an incredible wedding ceremony, complete with InChorus choir all the way from Peebles!
And then we partied until the wee small hours at the reception venue, enjoying a wild ceilidh and plenty of sweaty dancing!
I'm so proud of all my brothers in general, but on this day, the first family wedding, I could have burst with sheer pride and emotion.
I'll stop there, because I'm getting emotional thinking about it all over again!
Crazily, there's now less than two months until Dave and I give it a go, and I'm sure time is going to fly by faster than ever in the run-up. I have a million and one DIY projects on the go, and the house is just full of stuff!
I've certainly got a bit too wrapped up in it all recently, so I hope I can remember to breath, take my time, go on plenty of walks, and just look forward to the day!
