That's It - 2 months to go!

2 months to go!

Why does 2 months seem both a really long time and yet not long at all?! When I think about 2 months in weeks it doesn’t seem many but in days it still seems FOREVER!

I keep wondering if it’s too early to get excited, once I’m excited it’s all I will think about so I have to pick the right moment to flick the switch!

But anyways as April has somewhat flown by the things that have been sorted out this month just seemed to happen without drama, without too much organisation and good job to as they were pretty major events!

Firstly we got our dresses fitted. Laura and I took my Mum with us to the only David’s Bridal store in the UK which happens to be part of the Westfield Stratford mall and right by the Olympic Park – sightseeing and shopping, perfect J

Our appointment was just after 2pm so we held off lunch and headed in with our dresses in tow. The shop wasn’t quite as big as the USA one where we brought our dresses but we were ushered upstairs and into the dressing rooms. After fighting our way into the under garments – corsets and petticoats don’t you know – we were finally ready to put the dresses on.

We held our breathe, would they be too big, too small, we would like them as much as we did the first time…….it was nerve-racking!

Thankfully they fit, well they fit in the main but after Laura’s Keto effort and my occasional bursts of exercise we both needed the dresses taking in. As we stood in the middle of a massive mirrored dressing room being pinned and measured and pinned again and twirled and told to breath out we were fitted. I took along the jewellery my Mum had gifted to me and we tried our hairstyles to get the ‘look’ and we got a real sense of what the day would be like.

Thankfully it wasn't THIS big!

After a few pics to remember the dresses over the next 2 months we were done, it took us just over an hour in total! It is amazing how look getting the dresses on and off really takes.

Then there were the invites. We really had to be calmed down by our wedding planner when it came to sending these out. Our plan was to send them in January desperate to get the rsvp’s back but we were warned if we sent them too soon people would forget them / mislay them and not reply. Not something we wanted to deal with. So they were sent out very kindly by Laura’s Mum at the start of April and ever since we’ve been getting RSVP’s back. Each one is exciting – even the ‘no’s’ as every reply is one step closer to knowing who will be there with us to celebrate.

We shall avoid this! Promise :)

One thing we didn’t take into consideration though was the online gift registry. We use computers all day every day, we search on computers, save things, plan things, work on them- in fact there isn’t much we don’t do so we forget that not everyone is ready to dive online. Therefore setting up an online gift registry proved an unexpected challenge, firstly we didn’t realise quite a few guests only had ipads and we had configured it for desktops, then we didn’t realise that our instructions weren't that clear for those who don’t use ebay etc. Does Paypal confuse everyone else as much as it confuses us?! Thankfully all issues were minor and easily sorted by my wonderful fiancée! It's just kinda odd thinking of ways to have people pay you when all you are doing is having a day to celebrate you......

Finally we decided we would do a pre-dinner game with a prize for the guest who knows us best. We thought we would ask questions that would encourage guests to talk to each other. As far as we know no one guest would no all the answers so there is enough challenge to make it interesting, enough incentive to participate and enough distraction to stop tummies grumbling!  

Next on the to-do list is getting our bridesmaids kitted out and finalising the welcome gifts and i'm sure a million other things but right now we are in a good, calm, relaxed space and wishing 2 months would just fly by!

Z is an aggressive letter

Z is an aggressive letter. There I have said it. Put my opinion to the world and I stand by it.

So in order to record an event that took place last night I thought I would turn to the blog! As Laura stated at the time, this is controversial. A bit like our bath vs shower debate it could split our readers, I am certain this will prove a UK vs USA thing so here goes!

Yesterday L shared an email with me written in American-English and I felt confronted. I am used to Laura’s pronunciation of certain words being different and I am not unfamiliar with the American spellings – I am just about dealing with color instead of colour but the use of ‘z’ really challenges me.

There I am reading along and the word ‘organiZation’ hits me. The ‘Z’ just ruins the word for me. In the English was the ‘s’ allows you to continue reading the word without confrontation, the ‘s’ smooths the journey from o to n without interruption. Put a Z and you have to stop and adjust did the letter really just turn you around. Yes, yes that ‘Z’ stood there brazen faced and said notice me!

Now Laura thinks the ‘z’ adds pazzaz, it keeps you interested and awake. How very American – a letter that wants to be the best, stand out of a word in a sentence when really it doesn't need to! I kid of course – we love our American readers J

But you have to agree:

Realise is so much calmer than realize!

Advertise is nicer than Advertize – are trying to sell to me or scare me!

Americanisation is much more civil than Americanization

Empathise seems kinder than empathize- less angry!

So let’s minimise the use of minimize and make the world a smoother, slick, silky, softer place! Let the S rule!

I’m struggling to think of others but you get the idea. I’m all for a calmer, less confrontational life and this rant has at least got it off my chest!

Are there any words that annoy you?

Marriage Advice from One of the Most Amazing Couples Ever

Well guys, now that we've been legally married for a whole three and a half weeks, though of course not properly married until June, we've learned all there is about marriage, and have decided to bestow our gift of advice on a happy marriage to the masses. What can we say - we are fast learners - and, well, we've lasted almost a whole MONTH!

So here we go, you're welcome world.

Obviously, this post is not marriage advice from us. We are super unqualified for that - can you imagine if we actually thought we could give that out though?

We watched this animated interview with none-other than the patron saints to co-dependant close couples, John and Yoko. And we just loved it.

Obviously there are lots of couples out there who do perfectly well living their lives having lots of separate time, and that is also totally awesome! But this advice, and video, really spoke to us - this is the kind of couple we are, and that we strive to be.

Give it a watch - what do you think of their advice?

That Time Laura Made a Reservation at a Takeaway

Last Friday we decided to ressurect Date Night from the dark depths of commuting 4 hours a day, living with parents and having zero moneys.

Because I'm on keto, we decided to go to a lebanese restaurant, thinking the salads, meats, halloumi, and deliciousness is relatively keto-friendly in that cuisine. We remembered going to a lebanese restaurant in Hammersmith about 3 years ago for a friend's birthday, but couldnt remember the name of it.

Luckily, Google Maps came to the rescue! I looked at the area, and saw a place called 'Lebanese Tavern' right where it way - perfect! So we set our sights on the Tav, as we were likely to call this new haunt, and got hungry.

An hour beforehand i got nervous that on a Friday night it might be busy, as most restaurants in London tend to be. So, I called them up. 'Hi, Lebanese Tavern? Can I please make a reservation for tonight at 6:15?' (Hey, we're early eaters. Just wait until we are old enough to eat dinner at 5! #moretimefordigestion #yolo) The man on the other end of the phone said something pretty unintelligible, and put me on hold. Must be to the reservations department.

'Ello?'
'Um hi, can I make a reservation?'
'...... (speaks to his colleagues).... for what time?'
'6:15 please'
'Okay yes bye.'

They didn't even take my name! I chuckled to myself and texted Sarah that they didn't seem used to taking reservations. Silly unprofessional London restaurants!

Annoyingly, Sarah didn't arrive at Hammersmith until 6:20, so we were a good 15 minutes late for our reservation. Slightly concerned we'd miss our table, we strolled arm in arm down the street, and.... passed where we were sure the restaurant was. It was now an Indian restaurant.

Confused, we noticed the Lebanese Tavern 3 doors down. 'Phew!' I thought, as we were starving by this point. As we went to walk in, we noticed the large rotating meat on a skewer in the window.....

And then it dawned on me.

I'd made a reservation at a kebab shop.

At 6:15 (surely nobody eats at a kebab shop before a drunken midnight?).

HOW EMBARRASSING!!

For the quick epilogue, we walked through H'Smith and came across the BEST new little Mediterranean restaurant with the nicest owner - and we ate the heck out of all this. And we lived happily ever after.

A Good Night's Sleep!

Sleeping. We all do it, most of us love it, can't get enough of it and  are happy when days allow us to get more but such is life that alarms ruin the ever so comfortable sleep and days begin before you got your 8 hours! Right now 7 hours is a great night for us, any more and we miss out on evenings and any less and Laura fears for her life with me driving in the morning!

I did come across this in today's paper though and thought it was an interesting one, I don't know how true it is, however as our results mean our relationship is 91% satisfying I would like to think it's kinda accurate!

Source: www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article

The article continues to detail what sleeping positions can tell us about our relationships and I have to say it really appeals to me as I love to learn about the subconscious things that go on and can say so much. Having presented at work and taught others how to present, you really see how your mind can work for or against you. For example, nervous people will more than likely look down, making them look nervous but if you train yourself to look up as much as possible when you are nervous you will come across as a much more confident person!

Anyway, back to sleep: here are what the common positions say about you:

The full fetal position: Indecisive, anxious and sensitive to criticism

The semi-fetal position with knees drawn up: Open to compromise, unlikely to take extreme action, likely to pacify others

Flat on your back: Confident, open, expansive and thrill-seeking

Face-first: tendency for rigidity and need to be perfect

So there you have it, what does your sleeping position say about you and your relationship?

Don't make a spectacle of yourself now!

Vanity: excessive pride in one's appearance, qualities, abilities, achievements, etc.; character or quality of being vain; conceit:

I wouldn’t generally call myself a vain person, hey there are some days I wouldn’t even call myself a person – more like a lounging sloth – but that is besides the point, right now I am suffering from a mild bout of vanity.

It was almost a year ago that Laura experienced the terrible trauma with the blind-spot in her eye (read all about it here) and thankfully the times that she needs to wear an eye patch and become a pirate are few and far between. If even she did rock it! Well last night we found ourselves back at the very same hospital where Laura was diagnosed except this time it was for me!

Last Wednesday I woke up to my eyes being incredibly bloodshot, I thought I may be over tired or a little hung over so I put my contacts in and continued on my day. By the time I got home my eyes were so red that I had been asked numerous times ‘what’s wrong, why are you upset?’ Thankfully they didn’t itch or sting so I thought it was maybe time to change my contacts – or leave them out for a few days. However that didn’t work and trip to the eye hospital was suggested.

This is where vanity kicks in for me! I dislike, nay hate wearing my glasses, it brings up a whole bunch of weird emotions that I never feel at any other time and I don’t like it. In the instance of putting on my glasses I feel defensive, like I’m missing out and ugly. I have no idea why but looking at myself in glasses is worse than looking in the mirror after days of illness. And my glasses aren't even that bad!

This pretty much sums it up:

I feel like I am the 7 year old kid that was devastated that I would have to sit out of certain sports in case my glasses broke or had to sit at the front of the class just to see. But here is the weird thing: no-one remembers me wearing glasses at school! How is it that the event was SO big for me but no-one else noticed? I mean there are no photos, my Mum and Dad both said they gave up making me wear them as I would ‘lose’ them so frequently yet some 20 years later I remember hating my glasses!

Moreover if I wear my glasses over a long period of time I get headaches behind my ears, I have a new pair on order, but the ones I currently have are doing my head in. Then there is the constantly slipping off my nose, the act of pushing them back on at least matches my nickname of swot (extra clever, suck up J) at work.

When L& I are alone and we are both wearing our glasses I do have less of an issue but still I get frustrated when I can’t find things or at having to clean my lenses. I honestly can’t believe how contact lenses changed my life. Talking to a colleague this morning I likened discovering contact lenses as learning to drive – it gives you freedom and a new perspective!

So while I sit here and feel a bit too ugly to be out in the world I will give myself a good talking to and hold my head up high, at least with antibiotics and steroids for my eyes they should be on the mend and I won’t continue to look upset for no reason! 

In 20 years of glasses wearing this is the ONLY photo of me wearing them that I actually like, but that maybe more about the hat and the fact I have a tan!

We Need A Hero!!

Fancy dress, dressing up, costumes – whatever you call them, they can be a source of great joy or great dread.  In typical US vs UK style you can imagine which one of us enjoyed the dressing up thing more when we first got together!

However, over the years the US vs UK battle has become more of a style vs effort one. While one of us is ‘go big or go home’ the other is ‘really do we have to spend that much????’ On more than one occasion the go big or go home option has won out and the result has amazing (even if we do say so ourselves).

But today, we find ourselves in a predicament. We have decided to host a ‘Super Heroes and Villains’ fancy dress night as part of our Bachelorette in Vegas. As expected, the feedback has been mixed but not for the reason you might think - but because people can get quite defensive/protective over their costume of choice.

We are trying to find out people’s ideas so we can intercept if we hear two people are picking the same option. That makes it sound like we are organised though – we are trying, but we are NOT!

Laura has tried – emailing, skyping, and thrusting ideas in my face – while I am scared to commit. Initially Laura came across these amazing swim suits at Black Milk which she was set on, but the cost plus the variable delivery time and unknown custom charges make them VERY expensive options however much we love them.

BlackMilk Clothing

Option two was to then scour the internet for the next best thing - but that has raised a new challenge, just who do we go as. And as we know our loyal blog readers are always supportive we thought we ask for your help! Who do you think we should pick?

Batman and Wonder Woman - our original choice, because Laura has always wanted to dress as Batman, and Wonder Woman is hot. BUT they don't really look like they go together, and we haven't been able to find a Batman outfit we like. (on a side note did you know that some fandom's ran with the idea that Batman and Wonder Woman are a couple) 

Batman and Robin - That Robin costume is adorable! The only thing is that Laura doesn't like the idea of Sarah being her sidekick instead of a superhero in her own right :

Superman and Wonder Woman - Laura's never really loved Superman, but how cute is that outfit!!! And the colours of the outfits go better together:

Of course, we aren’t going as the ‘male’ versions we will add our ‘girly’ input to make them more us but we have asked friends and family and they are torn so we are hoping that the blogging world may prove more useful J

Please post your vote opinion in the comments – we’d really appreciate your input!

April Fools Day - The Aftermath

I have a hate/love relationship with the 1st April. I say it in that order because my HATE for being fooled/tricked/pranked is much greater than my love for tricking people.

However, I think the day has become much better since social media, because the tricks/pranks companies play are so much more hilarious than those that get played on me by people I no longer like.

Complete list of awesome internet pranks HERE

Very unlike me, but with the idea from a colleague, I pulled a very convincing prank on my office yesterday.

Sent around the following email:

I was honestly surprised how many people fell for it - and I'm unsure if it's so believable because of my awesome writing style (yay!) or because I'm such an Office Manager nag that they could believe I'd charge them for tea and coffee (boo).

After I sent the email, I started to think it was actually a pretty genius idea. The drinks would pay for themselves, or, even better, I'd no longer have to purchase much tea/coffee! Wins for me all around!

But obviously I'm not imposing it because I don't want a coup d'etat - those Brits are positively murderous without their tea.

Pretty much the entire reason I wrote this post was to share THIS POST with you from Venus Trapped in Mars, one of my favourite blogs to follow. It's just so funny, and so true.

Did you get pranked, or did you prank someone yesterday?

Are you like me, who thought of an awesome one for next year and now has to somehow remember it for an entire year? #nochance