Epic Fail

"I've found the best Valentine's card EVER. It's perfect. You will LOVE it. Guaranteed."

Thus spake Bedders. Thus spake Bedders, in fact, for a good two weeks. He was proud of himself, man. In fact, he was a little smug. It started to grate a bit, if I'm honest.

I was my usual disorganised self. My work/life balance (pah, work/life? More like work, more fecking work, oooo hello worky work WORK WOOOOOORK) has been ree-dic-u-larse of late and etsy-perusing has become a luxury I can ill afford.

So I purchased a card that I liked and that reminded me of that belter of a Frank Wilson tune #do I love you? Indeed I do, sweet darling, indeed I do....#

Owing to the paraphrasing on the front, y'see. Cute. Nowt spesh.

Smug Bedders had one up on me. Or so I thought.

BECAUSE HE LEFT IN HIS BLOODY DESK DRAWER AT WORK.

Like my card to Bedders?

Like Bedders' card to me?

He was right though, wasn't he? It IS rather lovely.

Yes, that is Fitzwilliam Darcy's declaration of love.

Cue some serious Regency-style swooning.

Be My Valentine

//find me here//

It is one of the finest Valentine's cards I've come across this year.

It almost made the cut for Bedford. Almost.

Unfortunately, I figured I'd probably appreciate it more than him and I was doing that annoying thing of buying something because I really liked it. Rather than because my husband would adore it similarly.

Today I am mainly procrastinating. Next week I will mainly be trying very, very hard to concentrate on work and not be completely and utterly distracted by going here on Friday:

Capel Pennant, NE Wales

Yes, in time-honoured Mr and Mrs Bedford tradition, we will be holing up in a country spot for a few days in half-term. Eeeeeeek. Oh, how we love a damp UK hideyhole!

Err, have you ever been on Under The Thatch? It's pretty amezzin'. Seriously. Want to stay in a renovated 1920s tin bungalow? Or a gypsy caravan by the sea? Or indulge your inner Cher and set up camp in the wagon from a travelling circus show?

Although I'm convinced they photoshop the skies in all of the pictures - the Welsh heavens have never, ever been that blue. But I'll let them off.

For the bathroom

Which, unfortunately, needs cleaning.

But at least I'll do it with a bit of enthusiasm now that I know this has arrived in the post.

Like it? Etsy, baby.

Stuff and nonsense

I have purchased these for the princely sum of £1.26:

From this guy. He's basically selling bits of scrap paper on etsy. Good on him.

They WILL have a purpose. I'm just not sure what it is yet.

That goosey head is the sweetest.

Oo my.

I had an email from the lovely Joycey the other day. In it, she said she's been prompted to email me by finding a beautiful fine-tipped pen that would have "blatantly been up mine and your streets circa 1997. And we'd have used it to draw all sorts of pictures of our imaginary prom."

And I laughed. Out loud. I suppose that means I LOLd, in fact. 

It's true. I have always been a stationery-lover. Good pens ("Ooo, that's a nice writer") have been unleashing Actual Quivers Of Joy since 1991. I was crap at Maths at school, but absolutely ACE at working out how many packets of 69p stickers I could buy with my pocket money in Stationery Box at the Galleries during my weekly shopping trip (the best ones? The furry Jack Russells. No question). I've taken an unprecedented interest in our good First Lady Sam Cam purely on the basis that she works for Smythson. Oo, Smythson wedding invites. Or even Thank You cards. There's the dream right there. 

So about a week ago we set about trying to decide on wedding stationery. And I was excited. This is my thing, you know? Whereas dresses were an unknown minefield of potential disaster, I'd anticpated that stationery would be easy peasy. 

But do you know what? There's a hell of a lot of crap out there. 

Believe me. I've been looking for a while prior to the obligatory Me-And-Bedders-Sitting-Down-Together-To-Sort-It session. And I've been astonished by the amount of - for want of a better word - tack. Rhinestones, for God's sake (rhinestones make me think of Sweet Valley High. Jessica had a rhinsetone-covered jumpsuit in one scintillating edition). Butterflies. Swirly-wirly-twirly fonts. What a load of guff.

I'm opposed to traditional wedding stationery on two counts.

1) Lots of them look like the poor bloke hasn't had a look in. I'd be embarrassed for Adam to have his name on the majority of the ones I've seen. He'd look like a big wet girl.

2) They're really spenno.

So the obvious port of call was etsy, but even there - EVEN THERE - there was a load of crap.

It's made from felt, ergo it's crafty and cool? Err, no. I feel a website coming on. crapweddinginvites.com. A collection of the most hideous wedding tat you've ever had the misfortune to receive through your letterbox.

But if you learn one thing from this post (hark - this blog as educatational resource!), learn this. Perservere with etsy. Even when you're being bombarded with crap from all angles (FELT! SEQUINS! RETRO! VINTAGE! KITSCH! Err, no, just crap, actually), stick with it. Because eventually you will be rewarded. God loves a trier, after all. And here it what God showed us. ellothere wedding invitations. 

Oh, behold. Behold with joy. 

I know. I know, my child.

And again. Stready yourself. Yup.

Delectable. And what about this?

So which one are we going for? You shall have to wait and see ;)