Day: June 3, 2018

Honeymoon

For our honeymoon, we flee the city to Granite Falls. Or cities, in general. San Myshuno is a great place, but everyone needs to escape the pollution and noise and concrete every once in a while.

Since we are us, we start socializing as soon as we get there, and by the first night we’ve already organized a barbecue around the campfire. I go ahead and tell scary stories that scare nobody.

I’m thrilled at the idea of three days doing yoga in nature.

The forest guard that guided us to our lodge stays to eat with us at noon. She tells us fun Granite Falls anecdotes.

Roasting marshmallows with three neighbors whose name we’ll probably quickly forget.

Hugo is in charge of the cooking. It’s probably wiser.

“And then the woman SCREAMED! IT WAS VLADISLAUS STRAUD!”

The nights get dark here. In San Myshuno there’s always some light pollution to make the dark less dark.

We spend a good chunk of the night looking at the Milky Way.

They have some amazing bath oils at the lodge. Hugo and I spend our honeymoon taking turns in the bathtub.

Rose petals and green goo on my face, this is all perfect.

Selfie with Grandma

After the wedding, Grandma comes visiting us. While she’s here, I give her a tour around the Spice Market. She hasn’t been here in ages after all!

She’s nice and patient, and deals with my 500 selfies a minute.

I love this city.

The day’s overcast though. Rain is coming. We head home and spend the rest of the afternoon talking about marriage while Hugo’s at work.

She says I’m lucky to be able to start my life with the man I love. I know what she means. Grandma got married for the first time just a year before my mother was born, when her oldest child was already well into his teenage years. She says it was worth every minute of the wait.

SELFIIIIIIIE

Wedding Day!

The Photoshoot

The most important part of a wedding is, of course, taking a lot of cute couple pictures. Nothing else. And I must say, the location we chose has a beautiful garden. It’s almost like someone made it specifically to look stunning for a wedding.

So by sunset, a few minutes before the ceremony, we pose together. It’s hard to keep solemn picture faces, because we’re giddy.

The Vows

This is when we vow to love, protect, and support each other forever.

We both already trusted each other to do so. My heart still implodes a little.

We exchange the rings and become, before our closest friends and family, husband and wife.

The Reception

This is when we eat.

And also when the close friends and family do their best to embarrass the bride and groom with anecdotes.

Thay’s right, Marie, you laugh. You know I’ll get back at you.

We cut and murder the wedding cakes (plural), then I surprise Hugo, who wasn’t expecting me to do a whole speech about how much he and his love meant to me.

That’s right baby, you married a romantic sim.

The Right Dress

And now, for the moment I’d been waiting for. Or dreaded?

Charlotte tells me her boss is thrilled with the street shots she took of the models after practicing with me. She wants to make it up to me, so she gets in touch with a designer she knows, and she grants me access to the wedding boutique of San Myshuno.

It sits at the very top of a glass building in the Fashion District, right above the club that never sleeps, the one spot for the richest and coolest.

This is as classy as it gets, and I’ve never felt smaller.

And Charlotte, who was supposed to accompany me, has an emergency and has to stay at the office.

Oh well. That way it will be a surprise for everybody.

Even in the poshest of boutiques, a bride’s a bride and I will be picky.

How much?

I found it.

Photoshoot

This is what happens when your best friend is in the world of fashion and wants to practice her photoshoot skills.

I mean I’m not complaining — the photos turned out stunning. And I got to spend the whole day with Charlotte, who was the one who had to take the train from the Fashion District with all her shoot equipment.

Charlotte’s always had an insane drive. I’m excited to watch her as she ascends to the fashion mogul spot she deserves. And if I can help even just by sitting directly on the pavements of the Spice Market, at the risk of staining my favorite pair of jeans, so be it!

Hi yes, this is my new profile picture. Everywhere.

The Spice Festival

Do you remember when I fell in love with the Spice Market? I do. Years ago, when the Spice Festival was in town as I visited Miranda, and all the colors and smells got engraved into my memory forever.

Now I live in the Spice Market, and the Spice festival appears again, right at my doorstep, and it’s as beautiful as ever, perhaps more. The music and the food, the lights and the colors, the absolute magic of it all, they transport me again into another world.

There’s a street artist performing for us all to hear, and there is no way to refrain myself from dancing.

… and then I raid all of the food stalls, and taste it all.

I also buy fifteen bottles of spices that I will never use and a T-shirt, and it’s absolutely worth it. The vendor is also the absolute nicest.

Hugo is still upstairs, as he had a stream scheduled tonight. Our house is the only one with light pouring in through the windows. He was so sorry to miss it. I’ll be bringing him samosas to cheer him up.

The yoga sure helps with the flexibility.

At this exact moment, I know again, without a shadow of doubt, that the Spice Market is the right home for me.

Poses are from @rethdis-love , and they’re the best thing in the universe.

Date Night

Hugo and I think it’s important to break the routine from time to time. We’re always loving to each other, but we want to keep the dates, these special times outside of the house, very much alive.

I told Hugo once about this old house renovated into a restaurant in Brindleton Bay, the one where Mom, Mam, Grandma, and Miranda went for my sister’s birthday. I told him that I never had an occasion to go, too. So he surprises me with a renovation, and not at any table, but their “romance” table, which is inside some private corner of the restaurant.

It’s like we’re alone, except someone else is bringing us food. And some amazing food, too. Better than our usual, terrible cooking.

And then we take a walk on the nearby wharf.

Why yes, I will have your weirdest-sounding meal!

Even over dinner and wine, we discuss our common app project. We’re getting closer and closer to our goal, and then to a release date, though we had to put it aside in favor of our work.

But it’s a work of passion, and we love being passionate.

Also, the wine helps us be passionate.

Yes. Yes, there is fog around my soup. I should have read the name better. It tastes beautiful, though.

I had missed the night lights of the wharf.

As we kiss, a flock of birds takes flight.

I’m a Disney Princess now.

My favorite type of nights.

Morning at the Spice Market

We get back into a routine. We have an easy-going, comfortable life at the Spice Market, and we thrive here. It’s the perfect cocoon for our work and ambitions to bloom.

The Spice Market is always in ebullition with life and movement, color and fun, but in the mornings, you could never tell. In the morning, it’s calm, and silent, with the distant buzzing of cars on the bridge highway buzzing like a faraway lullaby. There is no chatter yet, but the temperatures are cool, and even the old buildings seem at peace.

This is my favorite time for morning meditations on the balcony, usually after I clean out whatever laundry we’d hang to dry there.

Then on good days, I go downstairs and shoot some hoops with any other early bird that I meet. Often, it helps me find ideas and solutions for my current projects; and when it doesn’t it at least clears my head to make room for some.

Peaceful.

I mean I’m still playing a match with her, but am I the only one who thinks she is terrifying? And why does she also look so familiar? This keeps happening to me!

Early morning dunk! With the Myshuno Bridge and Miranda’s renovated house in the background. Perfect!

Housewarming

As soon as our house is done renovating and that it feels like a full-blown home, we finally call our friends to join us for a little housewarming party. 

Hugo and I did spend the morning getting everything ready. We went to the store the day before, and bought enough for an elaborate lunch and cake. I let Hugo do the cooking, he gives me the baking. It’s all about teamwork!

And if we’re being honest, we kind of want to impress the others. We may not have a view over the whole of San Myshuno, but we have our ish together.

It’s a pretty low-key party. A platter of cheese, charcuterie, and many, many glasses of wine with jazz music start us for a cozy afternoon. Still on the couch, we move on to the main course.

Over the apple pie I baked, Romain and Marie tell us about their own engagement, and Charlotte laughs that she’d better be the maid of honor to both of our weddings.

They still don’t say a word about their music careers, though Marie lets it slip that she’s working on something. She says it like that. Romain is not part of the sentence/

I’m going to let you chop the onions, okay darling?

Leave my nose alone!