10-19 September 2008: Tuscany, Italy (Jason and Caroline's wedding)

London
Not only was this holiday about my brother's wedding (Jason), but it was also the first Lind family reunion in 15 years! My parents and sister came out to London a week before and split themselves across myself, Jason and my other brother, Geoff's family. It seemed to work and we all had 'mini' reunions before flying out to Italy on Sunday 14 September.

Italy
The wedding venue was Villa Maiano - a beautiful villa (built in 1400) that is situated on a olive farm, about 10km from Florence. The Villa has 5 halls on the ground floor, splendidly furnished with original seventeenth and eighteenth century furniture and a panoramic garden overlooking all of Florence.

Our actual accommodation was in an old nun's convent next door - luckily the whole Lind family (11 adults, 3 children) could stay together in one apartment - though my 14 month old niece Grace ensured everyone was an early bird for the whole week! Three other apartments were booked for other family members of the bride, and friends.



The week in Tuscany was filled with catching up with each other (two sets of aunts and uncles were out from NZ and Australia), seeing some of Florence (and even Rome), going to a very exclusive spa resort (organised for the ladies), and generally helping with any wedding preparations that Jason and Caroline needed doing.

The sun was shining most days though the temperature had dipped from 35 degree the previous week to c.20 degrees while we were there. And of course the rain had to happen....on the wedding day...but thankfully only for the morning!

The wedding (Fri 19 September)
I was bridesmaid so had a few things to do like turning up for my hair appointment and makeup, getting ready and basically helping the other bridesmaids to ensure everything went smoothly for the bride! A few stress moments at the hairdressers and then when the makeup artist turned up late, but considering all, Caroline was fashionable late for her wedding, but only by about 15mins!

The wedding ceremony was held under a marque (i.e. as it was spitting slightly), and it went very smoothly. Everyone remembered their respective parts, (particularly the 'I will' part), there were three beautiful readings and also a singer. Once Jason and Caroline were official 'joined in matrimony', they went off for their photos and everyone else enjoyed the antipasta buffet and champagne. The sun also came out and the terrace (which also overlooks Florence) was put to good use.

The rest of the wedding was filled with a dinner (gorgeous food), speeches (well written), an improvised theatre production (extremely funny - though most of it was in Italian and French), cutting of the wedding cake (lots of fireworks), more speeches (letting the 'cat out of the bag' on a few occasions) and final the 'first dance'. Caroline and Jason did an amazing Latin American dance that they had practiced and was choreographed for them specially - I am sure the wedding photos won't do it justice! (Caroline changed into a figure-hugging red dress for this dance and then changed back into her wedding dress for the rest of the evening). [PICS TO COME]

After the 'first dance', there was dancing, drinking, eating, sitting around chatting, or cooling off outside on the Terrace - something for everyone. The party started to dissipate around midnight with the die-hard party animals staying on until 2am - when the DJ also packed up. Then some of the more awake (or should I say, less drunk) guests moved across to an apartment and continued drinking (and eating more of the wedding cake) until the early hours of the morning.

The wedding went perfectly, the bride and groom looked radiant, and everyone had a fantastic time. Thank you Jason to Caroline and I wish you the happiest of lives together!



More photos...

28-30 September 2007 - Devon, England (surfing)

Myself, and friends Sera and Tina decided to do a learn-to-surf weekend down in Croyde, North Devon (which came with all the 'oh my god, you're crazy, you'll freeze' ringing in our ears). Come 5pm Friday afternoon I was rearing to get out of London and head towards the coast, but getting there was another matter entirely.

After 7 hours we did eventually got to Croyde, but that was after idling for about 1.5hrs after an accident on the motorway. Half an hour later we passed another accident but this time we got through pretty quickly. It did mean we couldn't enjoy the scenery as it was about 12.30am when we got to our rented cottage 'Chapel Farm Guest House'.

I had looked up the weather forecast and it 'promised' sunshine and a very 'warm' 18 degrees. Unfortunately it didn't quite turn out that way and it was a bit grey and overcast when we got up the next morning.

After breakfast we turned up at the surfing school and got kitted out in wetsuits and booties. We then got a lesson in the sandpit which showed us the necessary basics to standing up on a surfboard. Pretty easy on land....not so easy on the water! We had booked lessons for the whole weekend, which meant 2hrs in the morning and afternoon on both the Saturday and Sunday.

Amazingly the water was warm and with a 7mm full wetsuit on, we were all pretty toasty while (trying to) surfing the waves. It really wasn't as easy as it appears, and I have a new found respect for surfers as it is a hard workout and by the end of the first lesson on Sat morning we were all feeling pretty tired. You literally have to heave yourself onto the surfboard, start paddling like crazy to catch the wave, push yourself up to a standing position and then try to stay on! Then you have to drag yourself back out into the surf, avoid other surfers and crashing waves, and do it all over again...and again...and again.

For us beginners, we also had to deal with swallowing water, having water rushing up our noses when doing a nose dive because your weight is in the wrong position, and also the constant face plants and belly flops when you fall off the board. All the instructors were patient and I can still hear their 'paddle faster' screams as we were trying to catch the waves! They are all surfers themselves and know what they are talking about. The school we went through has a 1:6 ratio, so we all got individual attention which helps a lot.

As part of the surfing package we got lunch includes which was delicious. In fact, I would go back to Croyde for just the food as all the meals we got over the weekend were really tasty and reasonably priced.

After the Saturday afternoon lesson, we were so tired that we headed back to our cottage, had showers, a wine or beer, and dragged ourselves out for dinner. It didn't help that Croyde was packed and the restaurants/bars were packed (all 3 of them), but we eventually sat down for a meal and then dragged ourselves back to the cottage and ended up going to bed...very early....(far too embarrassed to say what time!)

The next day we woke up with very achy muscles and wondered how on earth we were going to surf that morning. It was slightly colder as well and still grey and overcast. We warmed up pretty quickly after literally dragging on wet wetsuits inch by inch...very ungraceful getting into them and out of them, and very unforgiving on the figure! But we got there in the end and headed towards the beach for a lesson...this time the three of us had an instructor to ourselves. We were all able to catch the waves and get up on the board so we were improving...gradually! That afternoon we had another lesson but the water was much more flat and we were getting cold towards the end.

We had such a great time in Croyde (which is a lovely little village), and I would recommend surfing to anyone...it's such a buzz when you catch the wave and manage to stand up and stay up. If you do go to Croyde, the Surfing Croyde Bay surfing school is a great school to go through. We may well have been bitten by the 'surfing bug' as myself and Sera are already trying to organise a surfing week in Portugal over Xmas and New Year!