‘Has everything gone back to normal now?’…

is the question I’m being asked most often these days. ‘How does it feel being a wife?’ is probably the next most frequently asked, with ‘has coming down from all the excitement been tricky?’  following in closely behind. And the answers to all three? Yes, yes, and oh my GOODNESS yes!

The return to normality has been a strange one, if I’m honest. I told you before that it feels as though everything and nothing has changed, and over a month in it remains true. I look at Jason and still see the same constant, steady source of happiness and love and inspiration and joy that he’s been to me for the last six years. We still stay in and watch television or read books and cook dinner together most weekday evenings, and have friends and family over for wine and dinners cooked outside on the grill at the weekends. We still say hasty ‘hi and goodbyes!’ as he arrives home just as I’m heading out of the door to exercise classes, trade off who gets the dog most during one week or the next, and still bicker about really super important issues like ‘you forgot to hang out your towel to dry again’, and ‘for the love of God please put that damn electric drill up into the loft where it belongs’.

But normality has this new resonance now. It feels…deeper, maybe? More profound, more secure? I’m not sure there’s even a word capable of expressing it. I keep glancing over at Jason and catching sight of his wedding band, and the mental picture of placing that band on his finger in front of the people we love most in the world last month comes dancing into my mind, and then I’m beaming like a fool in the middle of Waitrose or sat in the meeting room at his offices or wherever we both happen to be at the time. It’s magic.

True normality is coming back slowly, and though at first I was reluctant to say goodbye to the few weeks of fizzy excitement that surrounded the wedding, coming back to our regular routines now feels lovely in its own way.

Being back in London last week felt like the final step in returning to regular life. Running for trains, spotting mice in the Underground, lugging round bags full of cameras and spare batteries and memory cards and chargers, getting blisters on my feet from walking walking walking all day long- it felt cathartic, in its own funny, tiresome sort of way.

I’d headed over to Shoreditch for a day of working and brainstorming and taking photos, and just generally having a long awaited catch up with my love Tania. We’d not seen each other since the wedding, and had so very much to tell one another that the afternoon ended up being not quite as productive as we’d envisaged…

What did get done though, in our characteristically diligent style, was the eating of some outstandingly good food. I’d picked up some bread and coffee on my way through to Tania’s, and was met by the sight of cookies being placed into a hot oven to bake, and the promise of courgette and potato rostis with poached eggs for lunch. What can I say- my friends are just the greatest! ;)

We sat about chatting whilst eating cookie batter off wooden spoons, then faffed about taking so many photos of our poached eggs and their runny yolks that they’d turned stone cold by the time we actually picked up our knives and forks.

Since cookies and tea weren’t quite sweet enough for our sweet teeth, we decided to go for a  wander through Borough market in search of gelato. Despite not having the first idea where to find good gelato around Borough market, we happily stumbled upon 3BIS Gelateria, just next to Neal’s Yard Dairy. It was a little overpriced, as is to be expected of all food and drink at Borough market, but absolutely delicious and with plenty of special diet options, too. I chose the soy pistachio gelato (not because it was soy especially, but because you can never go wrong with pistachio), and it was so creamy you’d never for a second guess it was made from something other than cow’s milk.

Worth a visit, if you ever happen to be in the Borough market area and find yourself in need of a second lunchtime dessert…

What I wore ::
Cardigan
Blouse
Jeans
Handbag
Shoes
Necklace