Right, where do I start? It’s been almost two months since I wrote one of these and a lot has happened in that time.

My normal work, if it can be called that had to take a back seat for a while as there was something slightly more pressing coming up. At the end of October I married my partner in crime, Jolene and in our infinite wisdom we had decided to make everything ourselves for the wedding. For the four or so months leading up to the big day we sketched out ideas for table centrepieces, decorations, invitations, signs, outfits etc. and set about making them. The hammering and sawing could be heard for miles and we came out almost completely uninjured! Jo can’t look at a pallet now without getting glassy-eyed and rolling her sleeves up.

We knew from the word go we weren’t going to get bogged down in any “rules” or wedding etiquette we deemed silly or unnecessary. We wanted everything to reflect our personalities and most of all, we wanted us and our guests to be comfortable. A wedding can be a long day if you’re watching your P’s and Q’s, wandering round in ill-fitting tailcoats and obeying every command of your wedding planner or hotel master of ceremonies so we wouldn’t have any of that. We’re not great at taking orders at the best of times.

Instead, we asked the Ulster-American Folk Park could we have the wedding there and right away they were up for it. Simply by making this one decision, we had given ourselves full control over the whole day. That’s not to say we didn’t get help. Our friends and family helped us with everything and the folk park people and caterers were amazing but it meant we could design it all to suit our tastes without facing any obstacles.

The wedding was a mix of the things that make us who we are. We had Autumn leaves, pumpkins, scarecrows, handmade crafts and a good dose of rock n’roll. It was fun, genuine, relaxed and informal thanks to our guests and everyone involved and the setting was just magical. I know we’ll be able to look back in years to come without regret, knowing it was Kev and Jo through and through.

For our honeymoon we set off for Florida to spend Hallowe’en in Disneyworld and Universal Studios. We’re very much Hallowe’en people and we spent the few days leading up to it being chased round Universal by zombies, witchdoctors and, at one stage, Michael Myers!

Now, neither of us had ever been on a roller-coaster before so this holiday was going to be about jumping in at the deep end. Well, we certainly broke THAT ice. We did everything going. We learned not to do them on a full stomach, the free-falls are very unforgiving. We loved them all except one that was absolutely terrifying and am fairly certain we will never ever EVER do again. Ha, you live and learn…thankfully.

The one time in all of this I allowed myself to think of work was one day in Disney. There are Walt Disney quotes written all around the parks, just little snippets of things he said through the years and one jumped out at me: “Get a good idea and stay with it. Dog it, and work at it until it’s done right.” I stood there and thought about all the ideas I have from week to week and why I never seem to see any of them through. It’s because I try to do them all at once. Of course it makes perfect sense to stick with one till it’s done and then go on to the next but sometimes people have to literally spell it out before it sinks in. I’ve taken this thought home with me and now that I’m back and painting away I’m organising my ideas into an order. An order of what I can achieve first and a timeline to it in and I intend to see results.

No doubt I’ll let you know how I get on!