I sat a few days ago thinking about my blog, what I hadn't realised is that a whole year has gone by since I last posted. I miss posting and hopefully I'll keep it up because, quite frankly, I have nowhere else to rant/express my feelings without the risk of bugging people.
Anyway, so a year has gone by and a lot has happened. Last September I posted that I started work at Lush and I was so excited about it. I was working with some of the nicest people I've ever met and it really didn't feel like a job because it was so much fun! Even when it got busy. Despite how much I loved it, with only a few hours a week I wasn't earning enough so, after running it by my manager, I took a second job at HMV which I started in October.
Juggling two jobs in retail over the Christmas period was ridiculously hard. The job at HMV was fine but the customers were awful. They were rude and their lack of knowledge about what they wanted made my job so much harder. I get that if you are buying for your teenagers then you might not know the exact name of something they want. But please, at least go in with an idea of what it is. I am not a mind reader, and neither is anyone else in retail, so think before you shop!
So basically through October, November and December up until boxing day I was juggling two jobs, trying to earn as much money as I could as my partner, Tom, was in his last year of uni stressing about his dissertation and everything else. It was really tough. Then, on the 4th December we lost Tom's nan, Doris. She was one of the most kind, caring and supportive people I've ever known. I think when Tom and I were first together, I was most nervous about meeting his nan out of all of his family because he spoke so highly of her and I just hoped that she liked me. It's safe to say that she did, and she was one of the most encouraging people towards us. While some of the family unintentionally made us feel guilty about moving away for uni, she encouraged us and said that as long as we are happy, she was happy. I really miss her.
So, I really wasn't in the Christmas spirit last year. Working in retail over Christmas just kills any joy you have for Christmas because all you hear is people moaning that they hate it, and they can't wait for it to be over. I usually love Christmas but I just really wasn't excited. I remember about two weeks before Christmas day, Tom was getting giddy. I don't just mean excited for Christmas, I mean he was bouncing off the walls! I could not understand why, I just put it down to the fact that he was trying to make me excited because I had been a bit miserable about the whole thing. Don't get me wrong, I was excited to have our first Christmas together in our flat but in general it felt like just another day. I remember walking home from work at 8pm on Christmas eve thinking "it just doesn't feel like Christmas".
On Christmas day, something amazing happened. Tom proposed! Now, we had talked about it in the past but I never, ever expected it because we had never had the money for him to buy a ring.
So we got up in the morning and after we had opened our presents I told him that I was going to call my mum and everyone to thank them for my gifts. He told me that I had one more present to open and I looked around and disagreed, (we knew everything that we had bought each other and I was nothing missing). I was instructed to go and fetch my mystery present from the computer desk drawer, when I opened the draw there was a small box, wrapped up. I took the present back to the front room where he told me to open it and inside was a beautiful engagement ring. He took the box from me and said a few lovely things, then got down on one knee and asked me to marry him. I cried, and obviously said yes! He told me that he had the 'blessing' of my family, which is something that was important to me because my mum is quite old fashioned and would appreciate that so much!
Then he told me the trouble he went through with my ring! Basically he had bought a ring from a store, gone home and then after looking at it again decided he didn't like it. He told me that it was a nice ring, but he wanted 'real' diamonds which the first one he bought wasn't, so he took it back and bought a real diamond ring from somewhere else. (Please bare in mind that real or not real, it wouldn't have mattered to me, but he always wants the best for me and I think that is adorable!). The shop didn't have the right size ring so they ordered it in, and he got a text on Christmas eve to pick it up! 'Just in time', he thought, but there had been a mistake made and the wrong ring was sent to the store. This meant that the ring he proposed with was too small so I couldn't wear it until after Christmas when the right size arrived! I was obviously gutted but it wasn't his fault, and at least I could look at it.
So, it all made sense. The mystery of the 20 year old man that was strangely excited for Christmas had been solved! He had been running around the shopping centre, visiting various jewellery stores whilst dodging where I worked so I wouldn't see him and question it. I was and still am in love with my ring. I have had a 'wedding board' on Pinterest for a few years now, because I love coming up with ideas even for things way in the future. He had used the board to see what kind of engagement rings I liked and he picked the perfect one. I definitely have a keeper.
Our Christmas together was amazing and we entered the new year as a newly engaged couple, with even more things to come in 2015. See my next post for news on 2015 so far!
