So now I'm Cross

It's goodbye Little Lu and a big hello from Lady Cross. So after two and half years of planning and preparation, Little Lu got married to Mr Cross on Saturday 8 August at St Gregory's Church in sunny Stratford upon Avon (yes - we were lucky with the weather, and Alveston Manor hosted a fantastic reception. The guests were charming, the wedding breakfast was delicious, the music was beautiful, the flowers were gorgeous, the cake of cheese and mice bride and groom were delightful, and I am a very lucky lady. Huge thanks to the two families for all their hard work and special mentions should go to the two mothers, my bestest friend and my sister (Big Lu) and brother Lu's girlfriend, Carren.

We went to Santorini for the honeymoon where we gained and maintained lovely tans, ate far too well, went swimming an awful lot, and somehow managed to watch a great deal of English Premiership football. Ah, how nothing changes. You can take the boy out of England, but...

So here is the part where Lu gets Cross. There was me, little Mrs Cross thinking that all the stress and strain of planning a wedding was over and I would arrive home to our lovely new house, to enjoy unwrapping all the John Lewis (JL) gift list presents. How wrong I was. And just how very wrong I was, I could not ever have possibly imagined.

To put it very bluntly, I would honestly say that this was the worst experience I have ever had as a consumer, albeit surprisingly, given their standing as a pillar of British society.

Big Lu had kindly bought us the fridge as our wedding gift and we were looking forward to receiving it, having been fridgeless since we moved into our new abode. The first fridge was dented and the delivery men immediately offered us 25% off. The alarm bells started ringing. We wondered if this was ex-display model or possibly a customer return. Big Lu requested we order collection of el dento and JL could deliver another.

Second time round, even the delivery men commented that the replacement was far worse than the original! They took away both fridges, so again, Mr and Mrs Cross were left sans frigo.

On the third attempt (you might wonder if their advertising slogan should be "third time lucky"), JL managed to cancel the courier who should have delivered our "goodwill gesture" upgraded fridge. The worst of it was that the communication between departments was so poor that they did not know we were still waiting for our fridge, because our order had got mixed up with someone else's. Had I not decided to "phone up and nag", doubtless to say, we would still be fridgeless as I write/moan/sigh.

I was consoled by JL ustomer services that I had been one of the unlucky ones. What a consolation! I would hate to think this is how their best customers are treated. Two goodwill attempts to apologise for the first mistake went wrong - and horribly wrong. I just fail to understand how things can go so wrong, so many times, over what appears to be a simple collection and delivery. And it's a fridge. It's not space science.

But it's just not that simple. It never is. I'm not going to put this down as some cheesy character building exercise, developing my strengths, and all that malarkey, and turning the other cheek. It's an absolute scandal! And Lu-turned-Cross is not going to let this one slide, by any stretch of the imagination.

No, what I will do is go into lawyer-negotiation mode over the compensation. And I've already pre-agreed with JL that I will receive cold hard cash for the anxiety and stress the gift list has inflicted on me. I haven't properly explained every single little detail of how having JL as our gift list provider was probably the worst decision of our lives, but suffice to say that the once sparkling reputation of this store has been flung into the deepest cesspit of that firey underworld in the depths of hell.

Well, I think that will do nicely for now. Next time, Lady Cross will rant about something else, as a "getting this off my chest" exercise. Or possibly reveal more intricate details about the JL saga. It's good for me, and it's good for you too. Mutually beneficial. Plus I'm sure you are dying to know how I manage in taking on JL in the big compensation fight. Let's just say, there will be no prisoners. In the meantime, take care and see you soon.

Final preparations

So, after a long break from blogging, I'm back, just four days before the wedding.

What's been happening in Little Lu world? Well, one big thing is that we have bought a house and moved into it. Our new home is littered with unpacked boxes which contain all our belongings that need to find places to live in. Getting some more furniture might help to put things away! Ah well, messy and bare as it is, it's our home and we hope to be very happy there.

I have to give full credit to our solicitors, Breeze and Wyles who turned around the transaction in just over six weeks, which is some kind of miracle. Special praise should also go to the Hornchurch branch of Beresfords for ironing out a few difficulties. And although I had some customer service issues, HSBC were also committed to completing the transaction just a week before the wedding. And they did resolve all my customer service issues to my satisfaction, although I did have to fight my corner a bit. So now, not only are we homeowners, but also mortgage payers... Ooooh-er...

Back at the House of Lu, family members have been flying in from Hong Kong and Los Angeles to attend the wedding celebrations, to much excitement. My maternal grandparents, one aunt and one little cute cousin and one older cousin are all in situ. I think the older cousin is currently going round Mary Arden's house (Shakespeare's mother). We are awaiting another cousin, the cousin's husband and the cousin's husband's cousin. So LOTS of family. I am very touched and honoured that they are making these special efforts to attend.

I'm just enjoying the build up now to the big day. Everyone says your wedding day will go past in a flash, so I'm trying desperately hard not to wish away the days leading up to it. Besides, it's been fun packing up our things and moving into the house, and doing a very extensive and thorough clean from top to bottom of our new abode.

Mr Cross and I have been engaged nearly two and half years. It's funny how time flies. We've both found jobs that we enjoy and made a great bunch of friends, and grown up together. I'm very immature, but I can be sensible when I need to be, and Mr Cross just seems to enjoy looking after me.

Be warned that once the festivities are over, blog readers will be subjected to many many photos. There will be so many, that you will wish you had never stumbled across my little ramblings.

I promise to try harder with my posts once I'm a married woman. After all, I won't be wedding planning or house buying anymore, so what else will I do with my time?

It's been birthday week for Little Lu. Lots of lovely presents all round and lots of lovely wishes on Facebook and by snail mail too.

We started with drinks and dinner with my fiancé and six friends at the Smithfield Bar and Grill. The service was excellent, the company fantastic and the food, very good indeed. I had calamari for starters, shared a chateaubriand with Mr Cross for mains, and had a lovely warm chocolate dessert with ice cream, with a candle in the middle with everyone singing Happy Birthday.

The next day, we went to see Fugitive Pieces at the Prince Charles cinema in Leicester Square. Reminded me a bit of Captain Corelli's Mandolin, which is not how I remembered the book.

Yesterday, the fiancé took me to Le Caprice for dinner and then we went on to the opening night of Cosi Fan Tutte at the London Coliseum (ENO). The only disappointment with Le Caprice, was that the bang bang chicken as a starter tasted like a jar of Sun Pat peanut butter had been emptied over it, but otherwise, it was an excellent meal, and the staff were very attentive. Beware of the 12.5% service charge and cover charges which are automatically included.

Cosi Fan Tutte was excellent, although being Mozart, each line is repeated about four times, because of the symmetry of Mozart's music. Ah well, it was nice to see some familiar names in the orchestra from my Royal College of Music days.

I'm now exhausted after three nights out on the trot. Maybe old age is getting to me, who knows, but I love my sleep and was glad that I didn't need to wake up at 7.10am this morning.

Thanks to everyone for a lovely week, particularly to Mr Cross, kiss kiss.

Little Lu countdown

Well, the clock has started to tick. It's ten weeks on Saturday!

Final preparations have begun, including meeting with our wonderful wedding co-ordinator, Laura to run through all the details. She is lovely and makes everything so easy for us. Plus she is super organised which really helps.

We have been fairly sensible budget wise, and so have managed to squeeze in a few optional extras to make our day complete. Lips sealed for now, but I promise a full run-down once I am Mrs Cross... Watch this space.

A girl at work was selling her gym membership, so I am now a proud member of Soho Gyms. So far I've been to three classes: abs training, yoga and body attack. All of them very hard but good. It's a great gym and the instructors are friendly, helpful and demanding, all for our own good of course.

Other than that, the Lu Crew base in Stratford upon Avon has undergone an overhaul, and looks tip top. Three new bathrooms, re-wiring, all new lighting and brand new carpets throughout. Just a few snagging issues as they say in construction, and it's home. Elder sister Lu is due home in a couple of weeks for an inspection. She's had my report and it was glowing.

Other than that, it's my birthday tomorrow and I'm off with a few friends to the Smithfield Bar and Grill. Two for one cocktails in happy hour and then on to a private room for myself and seven guests. Should be a great time. Thursday is a film in Leicester Square and on Friday, Mr Cross is taking me to Le Caprice for dinner and then on to see the English National Opera performing Cosi Fan Tute at the Coliseum. I think I will be feeling like a bit worn out by the weekend.

Over and out, tune in next time.

Party planning

So it's wedding update time.

What's the latest in the Land of Little Lu when it comes to getting married? Well we've decided to throw a pre-wedding party. This is completely separate from a hen or stag do, and is a good excuse to get people together to have some fun before the wedding. In Chinese weddings, the celebrations go on for days, and I'm trying to incorporate a little bit of my culture into our wedding.

And who needs an excuse for karaoke? Well not me! I love karaoke and all my friends to do, so what better way to celebrate two people getting together?

The only thing is, that people need to be slightly "merry" to overcome their inhibitions and get up and sing. But I've a feeling this won't be a problem.

Other wedding preparation progress includes keeping fit to get in shape for my gorgeous wedding dress. I'm doing the 5K city run in July as a running target and in my lunchtimes, you can find Little Lu running up and down the South bank, looking gormless and tired. I seem to wear a rather blank expression when I run. Must change that.

Well that's enough for now. I'll have more for later. Toodle-pip!

Old chums

It's the facebook phenomenon.

Out of nowhere, you suddenly have 300 friends. And some of those people you weren't particularly bothered about in the first place. Or worse still, you really didn't like them, for one reason or another. With the upcoming wedding, I am suddenly finding that I have a lot of "friends" who had disappeared into the woodwork a long time ago. Now, they're sprouting up from everywhere.

To be honest, people are bad at keeping in touch. We've all taken longer than we should to reply to a text or return a call. Birthdays and other special events are easily forgotten, and it's so easy to send one less Christmas card each year.

And, in all fairness, some people that I've reconnected with have picked up with me as if it was only yesterday that we were last together. And the wedding is a perfect excuse for me to get back in touch. And I've been in touch with lots of people who are delighted, albeit a bit surprised to have been invited.

There's also those who fall into the category of "wanting an invitation and that's why I'm now in the frame". With that category, to invite or not to invite is a close call. It's about trying to remember why we never stayed in touch, or wondering quite why somebody is being super-pally even though you haven't spoken in five years and they did not send you a Christmas card when you picked the best one from the pack for them.

At the bottom of my heart, I would like to have a wedding of a thousand guests, but at the end of the day, I am inviting those that matter to me, those that I want to see me getting married to the best guy I've ever met. And trust me, those people have to be pretty special to make the cut.

So I've whittled it down to 110 or so, plus or minus a few undecideds and all seems well. I'm really looking forward to the big day - just over three months left to go.

Well that's enough Little Lu sharing for today. I've done pretty well keeping to the twice a week regime at blogger.com. See you a few days...

Credit card catastrophe

Ok, so here it is, my first rant.

I would just like to point out, as a little caveat, that I am not one of those people that has nothing better to do with my time than be a serial complainer. It's the end of the financial year at work, and my boss and I are working terribly hard, I have a wonderful fiancé that I love to spend time with, I'm getting fit for myself and the wedding and I like to have a healthy social life too. So "nothing better to do with my time" just doesn't fit my bill. But there are just some things that people and large corporations should not be allowed to get away with.

Also, this is not just a moan about capitalism in general, nor a protest against fat cat chairmen with large bonuses.

Enough said.

Well, I have a couple of credit cards. One I am very pleased with, with is a Lu crew credit card with American Express. I've never had a problem with them, and you can save up British Airways airmiles for them and get tickets Oracle and Daddy Lu's holidays, which they enjoy and love.

Here it comes... And then there's Tesco. Every little thing about their online credit card statement does not help. It is impossibly difficult to understand. And I'm ok at maths, honestly, plus I managed to survive the law school accounts exams unscathed. But when you look at your online statement, you just don't want to. And it's not just the numbers. Balance means unbalanced, spending plus adjustments is not adjusted, and if you ever set up a direct debit... Well just don't.

Their call centre puts you through about eight different sets of options. I was really pleased with myself having keyed in my credit card number, date of birth and pin, and got through another couple of levels, and then, most unfortunately, I pressed the wrong option and was greeted with "This office is now closed. Please try again later." CLOSED??? At 12.34pm. How dare they?

Their saving grace was a lovely guy who gently explained my problem and patiently talked me through. He even took my suggestion of "making the online statement system more user-friendly" with good grace. Unfortunately, I didn't get his name, but I'm sure I made his day with my helpful comments.

Hmmm, I feel much better now. I think the grumble is definitely better out than in. All that negative energy building up inside of me. In fact, you know what? Tesco credit card have saved me from dishing out for a therapist. Maybe I'll write them a thank you letter. Or then again... maybe I won't.

Kid me or kid me not?

So it's wedding update time.

In a nutshell, and not to get to slushy or anything, I'm marrying the most wonderful man I've ever met (cue the sickbags). I promise not to go any further. We got engaged over two years ago and I've been wedding planning ever since. Venues in the town I'm getting married in get snapped up very quickly, particularly for Saturdays in the summer. So we have a lovely venue, beautiful church, fantastic photographer, wonderful cake people, amazing wedding singer...

The RSVPs have been trickling in. We had 113 on the guest list and so far six definite no's. Because the venue is so popular, we need to hit minimum numbers of 100. Just to make doubly sure, we needed to firm up on the "maybe's". And so the time old question rises again: kid me or kid me not? In other words, do we allow little ones to attend or not? A few people have said if they could bring their kids, they would be there like a shot.

The more I think about it, the more I like the idea. In fact every wedding I've been to have had children of all ages (including drunken has-beens...) and they've all been lovely. I think if someone could guarantee me a sunny day... Ah well, I'll say my prayers and hope someone up there is smiling on me on our wedding day.

It's just that I also have visions of some little horror running around crashing into everyone, screaming his head off, with grubby baked bean fingers. Quite why I have this image I'm not sure, and maybe this is more of a reflection of the person I am, I don't know.

What I need is a sign, that's it, a sign. Or maybe some helpful person reading this post will helpfully post some words of wisdom in response. That would be really useful. So, to the unknown blogger that has yet to post, I await your wise words...

Well I can't make a decision without my fiancé, so I guess you'll need to find out next time what we decide.

Launching a little line from a Little Lu

So here it is, the blog of Little Lu.

It's the start of the weekend, which by 12.30pm, has already clocked up four hours of working from home with the help of a handy little Citrix token. I can now access all my files as if I was in the office, without having to leave the house. Wonderful.

So what's going on in my world, the world of Little Lu? Well I'm getting married in less than four months. Well three months and twenty days to be precise. It's not quite Bridezilla stage yet, but soon, I'm sure. I'm enjoying the wedding planning, probably because I have the luxury of time. We got engaged two years ago and arranged most of the big things like the church and reception venue fairly early on. But more of that later.

Work wise, I'm an editor in legal publishing. I qualified as a lawyer back in September last year and decided publishing was where I wanted to be, and here I am. There's a great working atmosphere in the office and the work is good. Couldn't ask for more. Except maybe a clothing allowance. Speaking of which...

I like shopping. Well actually, I love shopping. That's better. A great website called MoneySavingExpert (MSE) created by a guy called Martin Lewis taught me how to look for discount codes when shopping and also, how to get cashback on your online purchases.

A couple of months back when I was looking for a reasonably priced pair of authentic Uggs, I came across a site called Shudoo, through MSE. They e-mailed me earlier this week with a special promotion of 20% off if you sign up to their newsletter (http://www.shudoo.co.uk/forms.php?form_id=30). I'm quite tempted by another pair of French Sole ballet pumps.

That's enough for a first post. Mummy Lu, or the Oracle (as she's known in the Lu Crew), always said something about keeping something back for later. So that's what I'm doing now. Taking the Oracle's advice and keeping something back for later. Well lots more in fact. See you next time for more Little Lu ramblings.