Annual Michelin Star Pilgrimage

Every year, once a year, the bf and I pledge to visit a Michelin-starred establishment so we can pig out on some world class grub and reminisce about life BC. For once, the credit crunch worked in our favour. Bf needed to use up holiday so took some impromptu time off, I'm at home being unemployed and since we're in the middle of a recession, we had no problem getting a booking. This year it was the turn of Maze, part of the Gordon Ramsay empire. It didn't disappoint. Nothing disappointed. The whole experience was sublime.

En route to the resto we also saw some seriously cool Blue Plaque type activity. I love Blue Plaques. I love the way you just stumble across them whilst going about your daily business. They have this way of shouting "Oi, you! Whatever important thing you think you need to be doing right now just stop, pause and remember that at this very place something way bigger than you and your tiny life happened: a piece of History was being made."

We've also used the time together to visit Hatton Garden to do some engagement ring research (via Smiths of Smithfield of course) and also see Slumdog Millionaire. It was a stunning film. And powerful. And emotional. And funny. And tense. OMG was it tense. I bawled the whole way through and I was still very shaky at the end. And in the car home. In fact, it took me a good couple of hours to recover. Very rarely does a movie affect you that much - emotionally and physically. I hope it creams the Oscars. An absolute must see.

What with lots of outings and getting engaged and luxury birthday earlier this month, it's been a very decadent start to the new year for unemployed, credit crunch babymomma.

In which babymomma reminds everyone what the rules of engagement are

Rules of engagement:

1/ Don't leave it so late that I will be too old, fat and wrinkly and will look crap in the wedding photos.

If you leave it too late I will know you never planned it properly, ran out of time and popped the question at the 11th hour. In this scenario, the answer will be a firm no.

If you need more help in working this one out: getting married at 40 is way way way way way way too late for me to look good in photos, so deduct a good couple of years from that to work out when the latest you can propose is, and make sure you propose A LONG TIME before that.

2/ Don't go on bended knee.

3/ Don't buy me a ring. I'd like to have input.

That's it.

And he followed them perfectly. Mainly by not planning it in the slightest, but just seizing the moment when it came.

Lucky me.

In which bf follows the rules of engagement superbly

4th Jan 09

Last stop on the luxury birthday tour was Stonehenge.

Stonehenge. Sigh. Stonehenge on a crisp Winter's day. Deep Sigh.

Simply my favourite place in England.

Which makes it all the more fitting that bf proposed to me at Stonehenge.

It was very sudden, very short, very sweet and went something like this:

B: (carrying Jasmine, who is wriggling) Girlfried?

G: (a bit distracted. jiggles Felix up and down in the bub carrier) Yes?

slight pause

B: (with meaning) Girlfried. Will you marry me?

micro pause

G: (agog) Boyfried. (places hand on boyfried's arm) Are you seriously asking me to marry you?

Boyfried nods

G: (realisation dawns - this is one of those moments I'm going to remember for the rest of my life so I blurt out:) Of course I will. Of course I will.

Smiles. Kisses. Big family hug. Girlfried blubs copiously.

And the photo story goes something like this:

It was sub-zero so I put my cashmere gloves on Felix' feet to keep his tootsies warm. It looked so wrong. Like a mutant chicken. People would look and burst into hysterics. I had to take the gloves off in the end it got too much, so thankfully, Felix the mutant chicken-boy was not present when bf proposed, but Felix the gorgeous boy-bub witnessed it instead.

My engagement day. Jasmine still steals the show by looking cute. Typical.

Big grins, plus a pouty look from Jambeans.
Spot the almost honest woman on the right.