On Engagements and Eating

Wow. I really had the relaxing weekend I needed after last week. Although admittedly I face this week with much the same unresolved issues from Friday.

Thankfully the New Floor Guy came and did an assessment. Initially the maid wouldn't let him in ... I'm now on the prowl for a new one who has at least a better than basic grasp of the English language. We have taken to communicating with the current one via sms the night before so she can have someone else translate it for her. This is *not* ideal. Anyway. So he came and did the assessment. And apparently left it there for us. When I got home, it was no where to be found. Turns out he didn't leave it (although I wouldn't have been surprised if the maid had hidden in some completely random place, like the kitchen dustbin!) he says he'll email it to Varen. We're still waiting. Sigh.

But, there was some excitement ... the dining room chairs finally arrived (damn, forgot to photograph them for you!). That has been a marvelous development in the downstairs. It's finally coming together. And we've found someone who can stitch the cow-hide squares together into Varen's dream carpet :)

Friday night (after gym?!), was not your average Friday night. I'm afraid we're showing our age ... and our sad dedication to this BFL Program. We stayed home, planning Week 2's menu and the requisite shopping list. And I admit I had my first forray into Pick 'n Pay's online shopping portal. On Saturday when they delivered almost everything we ordered (they'd phoned to warn us in advance of the items they didn't have in stock and we could return the items they'd incorrectly swapped - big corn bites instead of tortilla wraps ... hello?), I was impressed. We'll use them again and even move on to Woolie's online shop too. It saved us so much time this weekend :)

Saturday (our free-from-BFL day!) started with breakfast at Doppio Zero in Rosebank with Varen's dad & sister. Yum. I must say that the BFL breakfasts have become my least favourite meals.

And then we headed out to order perspex drawers for the TV Cabinet. Shooo, they better end up perfect because they sure as hell cost a fortune! That was followed by the last of our shopping and then we headed home. I started cooking some of our meals for the upcoming week. It's been surprisingly fun :)

And then we headed (in the rain) to Pianogirl & Vori's engagement party. Let me say, that the bride-to-be looked lovely but engagement parties for me are an interesting topic. I don't really understand them.

I mean, sure it's fun to celebrate, but really ... everyone generally already knows when a couple is engaged. And if they don't, the invitations are a dead give-away :) So it's not like in the old days (or my warped opinion on then) when the announcement was actually only made then and there. And if it's all about celebrating, why aren't you saving up for the wedding? I say this because I haven't really been to many engagement parties, but this one had over 100 guests with a bar-man and live band. Seemed a little grand to me, for an engagement party.

And then there's the debate over who you invite to the party. I had discussed this with Pianogirl earlier in the week. Now I'm far from knowledgeable on the etiquette of wedding planning, but I thought that if you invited someone to the engagement party, you had to invite them to the wedding. She'd read this online too, but found a contradictory article that said one should rather have a large engagement party and a more intimate wedding. So basically, invite all the people you only know tenuously to the engagement party so they can feel a part of things but leave them off the wedding list when you're spending the big money.

I don't think I'll be having an engagement party, I'll just be generally celebrating with everyone I see, when and where. I figure getting engaged would probably be a good time for the folks to meet tho ;) Maybe you can get away with an elaborate engagement party if you're not planning on getting married traditionally (like Jof H & YogaCherryl who want to do it on a beach with no guests) or if you're only planning your wedding in 18 months or more.

And then there's the present question. I mean for your wedding you get yourselves a registry. Nice and easy and it ensures you get things you want. And before that there's the hen's party where the rule is generally lingerie and what not. And now there's an engagement party too ... What does one do? My vote is we tell the couple in question we're willing to spend x-amount, you decide if you want one large gift at the wedding or the cash split over numerous other presents. I mean it does get a little expensive for everyone, especially when weddings seem to come in waves. I certainly don't want random house stuff (that I'd at least get to chose myself for the actual wedding with the registry) for my engagement. I've decided that if I ever do have an engagement party, I'd rather do something like Not Another Toaster and let guests contribute cash to a specific part of my wedding :) Now that would be a useful engagement party!

Anyhoo, it was still a nice evening although we knew about 5% of the guest and the Tuesday night crew generally hid-out in the study enjoying the snacks and non-stop wine :) Oh and the cake was very yummy!

Sunday it was back to the BFL Eating Plan and more preparation for the week ahead. This weekend I became a real little Martha Stewart and made Peanut Butter muffins (they're a bit solid, but are made pretty much entirely from oats), a frozen strawberry dessert (not bad, after you stick it in the micro for 20 seconds!), ostrich chili soup (only trying that at lunch) and healthy macaroni cheese (with whole-wheat noodles!). We also had the most divine spinach & feta pizza's for lunch yesterday, Varen made basil & orange trout for dinner and I made an apple & raspberry bake for dessert. See, not such a bad "diet" :) The tricky part yesterday was getting to gym. Especially after spending the rainy Sunday in our PJs cooking, eating and watching TV :) Yesterday was a tribute to Sundays!

Oh, and apparently the Rent *will* get paid today ... sigh.