Wednesday 25 February 2015

It's a Gay Olde Life!

I can't believe how infrequently we post here now. We had discussed restarting the blog with a bang in the new year and then our furry bundle came along and we promptly found an idyllic balance of work, home life and being together. Blogging seems to have become secondary.

However it has been such a significant part of our lives, our relationship and in keeping track of our lives that i'm not sure i'm ready to let it go completely. It was actually two random messages that actually made me want to write this post, partly as a thank you and partly because it's about time we wrote a post!

The comments, both through Facebook, were from two lovely ladies - one we know and have known for while who was reading our blog to catch up on our lives since the last time we met the other from someone who has followed our blog and wanted to say 'thank you to you two for being you and for letting us be a part of your life'. It's the comments that have always made our blog so worthwhile. For us personally of course but also because when we first dated there was no 'normal lesbian' life for us to aspire to everything was about lesbian sex or 'who looks like a lesbian' or 'hey look we are lesbians with a cause/chip on our shoulder'. There were plenty of blogs showing straight couples life's but very few lesbian couples just getting on with their lives, in normal relationships. Our aim was to be that normal relationship.

Thankfully as time has gone on there are so many more blogs normalising gay relationships that it makes being 'gay' no longer the niche it once was and that is so refreshing. Hopefully wherever you are reading this being gay is no longer the issue it once was.

And so to our lives. Bisbee is growing up fast - a little too fast for our liking especially when she needed a hair cut, we left it as long as possible as we like her teddy bear look but a freshly trimmed puppy means we get to see her eyes so that's a plus.

Oh and we have actually had a couple of puppy play dates both with lovely lesbian couples that we met through social media.

The first was with fellow Birmingham-ites Laura and Estelle and their pretty pooch Deliah. We had the perfect chilled out afternoon strolling around Birmingham's Cannon Hill Park before heading to a farmers market. It's amazing how fast time flies when you are having fun we had made our dogs walk for over 3 hours by the time we parted - no wonder they slept for days after!

Our other puppy date was with Sara and her wife Sam. They are based a little further north of the country so we looked up a location somewhere between the both of us and agreed on Ashbourne. It was a beautiful market town in Derbyshire famous for it's market square and cobbled streets.

We parked and met the girls before getting to know one another while strolling around a very muddy park with our puppies. Their puppy Otis is two weeks younger than Bisbee and while she tried to force him to play he was more interested in cuddles so our walk involved a lot of muddy paws on coats and leggings as they ran around excitedly and then tried to climb up.

The February weather got the best of us and saw us retreating to a pub when the rain arrived. Thankfully Ashbourne is really dog friendly and most shops and pubs let you in with your dog. Our pub of choice overlooked the market and was big enough to let the puppies run around and make friends with the owners sausage dog Reuben. The walk did the job of wearing them out though and they slept throughout our entire lunch!

3 hours later we had talked, eaten and drunk enough Diet Coke to keep us going so we headed out to explore in the sun that had replaced the rain. Ashbourne was a maze of interesting streets with unique shops and plenty to see. We even found an indoor market that we could walk round with the pups. Having said that we didn't do much walking as everyone wanted to met the puppies - it was like holding a mini-celebrity!

Our final stop was a cute tea room for an afternoon snack of cake and milkshakes, again the puppies slept at our feet. Understandable -  i'm sure 6 hours of listening to me talk would have anyone asleep.

It might be fair to say that Bisbee has a better social life than us or at least our social life is better with her! We are just lucky that she loves meeting new people, sleeping for hours in the car and walking for hours while we chat.

Life is good right now.



Saturday 14 February 2015

Valentine's Day - To the Loves of my Life!

I am very lucky to have a life surrounded by strong, powerful, amazing women and I hope I never take that for granted. So on this Valentine's Day I thought I would write a dedication post to the wonderful women I love so very much!


The first is my wonderful, amazing, adorable wife who has single-handedly managed to find a job in a matter of days that gives us a lifestyle we once dared to dream about but were scared would never come true.  We are for all intents and purposes about to start a new, fulfilled life and it is mainly down to my wife. I can't wait.

Laura I love you so completely, madly, utterly. I am crazy in love with you and that makes every day better. The great times are exceptional, the bad times are never so bad, and the everyday is fantastic because I get to say I love you. I am proud to call you my wife, to talk endlessly about you to anyone and everyone who will listen and I am never short of things to say when they ask 'who's Laura?'. You complete me - Happy Valentine's Day my love.


The second lady is my Mum. The older I get the more I appreciate the practical help my Mum offers. When days are busy and long, I never underestimate the power of her home cooked meal and the offer of 'let me look after that' be it washing, paperwork or anything else. The past few days we've had my Mum to stay and through support, advice, guidance and a lot of work she's has turned our house from a building busting at the seams with our stuff back into our home. Since moving up full time we just hadn't had the time and in 3 days her experience sorted everything. We are lucky to have such a wise, helpful Mum to call on and we will never take it for granted.

The third woman is my Mom-in-law - Lyn. While we don't get to see Lyn anywhere near as much as we'd like, we are forever grateful for the Skype calls, Whatsapp messages and emails helping and advising us when planning trips, days out or even where to eat. Exploring every city is made better with the Lyn factor! We like to think that distance doesn't make a difference and our relationship with Lyn certainly shows that with modern technology it really doesn't, the only thing they need to work on is the virtual hug. We are constantly stocked with all the American goodness Laura misses and because of it L's homesickness is rare and infrequent- it's all because of the thoughtful lady that is my Mum-in-law. I couldn't have got luckier!




The final lady I have to mention is our puppy Bisbee! I like to think in human form she would be a wonderful woman because in puppy form she is so happy, loving, caring and ready to spread love that she couldn't be anything but wonderful. We have smiled more, laughed harder and found ourselves having conversations we never thought we would because of her. She has strengthened our family and given us the best excuse to have more time at home together so I couldn't not wish this bundle of joy a Happy Valentines!



I hope whatever you are doing, have done or plan to do today puts a smile on your face! Love is love and love is wonderful whoever you get it from!




Happy Valentine's day!



Tuesday 10 February 2015

**New Post** Our Wedding Feature on Wedding Chicks!!

OMG OMG OMG you guys, our beautiful wedding photos are up on one of our very favourite resources for all things bridal, Wedding Chicks!!



Go take a look, even if you've seen our wedding photos - because the write up our wedding planner, Brandi at Weddings by Soiree did, is just lovely.

See it HERE!!

Oh, and have you checked out our wedding videos yet? We are so grateful for all the memories we have from our big day!

Happy times, happy times. Have the best Tuesday!


Monday 9 February 2015

It's Official

I have a job!!

As most of you will know, I left my beloved role at Threshold Sports at the end of January, because the 4-5 hour daily commute had become too much, and too expensive, and we decided 2015 was the year to properly move to Birmingham.

So after having two promising roles go to internal applicants (how does that happen twice?) I was given the opportunity to interview at a training company, here in the Kings Norton area... and I got the job - started today!

I am really excited because training is the field I started my career in (Sarah and I even met in training!) and I think there's a lot I can bring to the company. And perhaps the best thing? The hours are 8 to 4pm, and the office is only a 6 minute drive from home! Or, a 20 minute stroll, as I found out today!

I just can't imagine how incredible it will be to get home by 4:30pm each day - after over a year of not getting home until 8pm, Sarah and I will not know what to do with all our free time!

So we are officially proper Birmingham residents - dog walking, farmer's market-ing, korma eating (hey, we've got to work up to more spicy curries!) Brummies! And couldn't be happier 


P.S. to celebrate, why don't you head over to our Youtube channel to watch the beautiful professional videos of our wedding we just got back? We are just SO in love with them!

                                  ♥ Follow us on Facebook + Twitter + Instagram + Youtube 


Friday 6 February 2015

28th June 2014 - Our Wedding Photos - The Reception






It's February! Which has us thinking about love. And remembering how we didn't finish showing you all our big day!

Our reception was beautiful - natural and woodsy, but floral and feminine - and with lots of fairy lights to complete the look.




Our Sweetheart Table - so glittery!
Entering cocktail hour from having our photos done
Our awesome band, Hillfolk Noir
The gorgeous bouquets by Flowers at Will
 





Being introduced into our reception!
 

The coolest Smiths you ever did see
Le guestbook
 




Hope you've enjoyed these - only a few more to go sadly!


                                   ♥ Follow us on Facebook + Twitter + Instagram + Youtube