It's been a Very Merry Christmas!

It's been a very Merry Christmas here, we hope you and yours had a wonderful festive period. This is the first time since the 23rd that we have had a chance to sit down. Well I have sat down and Laura is still working to tidy away all the Christmas decorations.

We have spent the last few days surrounded by family and friends and loved it. We have eaten WAY too much, walked miles on dog walks and opened and gifted plenty of presents. It has been the perfect festive period.

Everyone was lucky enough to get a present

Our Christmas Eve was spent wrapping presents, then attending a community carol service at the local church. We had Laura's 91 year old Nan with us and she loved every song. After singing out loud for all to hear - as is the order according to Elf - we returned home to a dinner of party food (sausage rolls, mini sausages etc) and cheese and meat. It was SO good. Then we settled in to watch Elf, which seems to be becoming a tradition. We also got stockings ready for each of our guests to open in the morning.

On Christmas morning we woke early to speak to Laura's Australian grandparents who were full of the of the Christmas spirit and were showing off a delicious looking passion fruit pavlova. As we were all awake we decided to start the day with a full cooked English breakfast courtesy of my wonderful wife. Then on to presents :)

Laura's wish list was set in place well in advance so I had an easy task, quite a few household and beauty requests that included a garlic crusher, a carving set and selfie light. Then a few extras of my choice like earrings and a mini party raclette. We also need to track down Philip Hue lights for the last addition and Willam's 'Suck Less - where there is a Willam there's a way' book arrived today.

I was lucky enough to get tickets to see Charlie and the chocolate factory, Britney's new album and an Amazon Dot.

From Laura's parents we received a lot of goodies from their travels in France that including syrup in peach and raspberry flavours for prosecco or champagne, tubs of Haribo sweets and slippers that get heated in our new microwave that was also a gift a beautiful table cloth and an Amazon Echo tower.

A snapshot of our goodies

From my parents we also got slippers, a few new clothes additions, lots of make up and Laura got a driving lesson to get her on the road.

From my sister we got tickets to Little Mix - woohoo - and from her boyfriend we got a Spa day - whoop! From Laura's brother we got tickets to the cereal cafe and as we now have one in Birmingham it's a reason to check it out.

We were also lucky enough to get great gifts from friends including a full size raclette grill, an Amazon Fire Stick and tons of sweet treats.

The house is bursting which is part of the reason we wanted to start the tidy up.

Laura is trying to make our house a smart house which is helped by the addition of the Amazon Echo devices and Philip Hue lights. Funnily enough after my confusion about what exactly it does and why we would need it Laura went into sales pitch mode and if hearing about all the 'benefits' from her weren't enough we arrived at my parents on Boxing Day only for my sisters boyfriend to be pushing the same pitch on my sister. Always one to fear progress for progress sake I never willing go in search of technology enhancements but I am told that over time shouting Alexa........' for any question I have, setting timers, turning on or off lights and getting news will become perfectly normal. We shall see.

After presents we visited Moseley Bog for a dog walk, it was all going so well with Bisbee walking nicely on the boardwalk that went over the bog until the last part when something got her attention and she performed a perfect dive straight into mud. Thankfully we had packed a towel and we could bundle her into the car to get home and into the bath.

Laura and i then cooked a beef roast dinner which was wolfed down by everyone in record time - I guess fresh air does that - and over dessert we played charades and guess who. Laura's Nan was on great form and after rolling from the dinner table we played a few games of Apples to Apples before dozing watching Miracle on the 34th Street.

Boxing day was another early start to get to my parents and we had a lovely day that included another dog walk and another roast. This time my Mum had done the hard work by peeling all the veg so we just had to turn up and figure out the cooking times, The turkey was delicious. Even though my Dad disappeared to watch Reading play we managed to fill the day with fun. We even manged to get in a game with the mouth guards - although I have now seen my families teeth way too much. It was hilarious though.

On the 27th Laura had organised a London afternoon so we could see Charlie and the chocolate factory. We walked around seeing all the lights but our plan to see the window displays failed as Selfridges, John Lewis and Harrods all had Sale signs up instead. We had Wahacca for dinner then planned to check out the new Lego store but the queue was around the block so we settled for a stroll in the French market. Only thing was we spotted mini pancakes / Poffertjes and they are SO good we had to get some. I cried eating them they were that good.

We spent the next morning hanging out with my my Mum psyching ourselves up for the journey home.

Once home we had less than an hour to get ready for our next guests. Thankfully Laura's parents had started dinner so all we had to do was finish it off. Our friends arrived and the rest of the evening was a merry blur of food, drink and Cards Against Humanity - which Laura's Mum was surprising good at. We all went to bed slightly disturbed.

To clear the cobwebs we headed to Cannon Hill Park for a dog walk in the frost and sunshine. It was just what we needed. After our friends packed up Laura started on the decorations while I had a much needed bath before we headed to our neighbours for dinner.

An evening of sitting around eating other peoples cooked dinner and watching everyone get more and more drunk was a great way to end a busy week.

Today we are tidying and relaxing before getting into the party spirit for a New Year's Eve in Sheffield.

I think work may come as a rest :)

We hope whatever you've been up to you've had a great time. Wishing you a very Happy New Year.

Two years of Bisbee!

On the 19th of December 2014 we picked up Bisbee Avie, our amazing, beautiful, funny, cocky, charming, entertaining puppy and life hasn't been the same since. It's 2 years since that gotcha day.

When I think about our life I can't imagine it without her. My daily routine when working from home revolves around her - I make sure pre-work calls that she has toys to play with and let her chill out in the kitchen. After my calls I free her and she goes back to roaming the house like it's her Queendom.

She is a guard dog, door bell and people greeter. She loves doing tricks and being part of any action. While Laura practices for choir she will lay on the couch and listen ready with licks of encouragement. When I close a deal or have a successful call she is ready to dance to cheesy music as if her job is to share the joy.

When we cry at TV shows or because we are having hard days she is ready to pounce and lick away the tears or step on us until we stop crying and give her attention.

As a family we are never happier than when all three of us are squashed on the sofa watching something, all getting slightly too warm and Laura and I unable to move from puppy paralysis.

Bisbee has brought smiles to not only friends and family but to complete strangers and we couldn't feel luckier.

Our Mum's adore her - my Mum has a whole new career as a dog walker because the fluff ball made her remember just how great dogs are. In fact if my Mum could only walk Cockapoo's I think her life would be made. As it stands she walks two.

Even our Dad's are in love. My Dad spent a whole 10 minutes fighting her for a penguin cuddly toy and Laura's Dad is often seen play fighting her.

We have a list of people ready and willing to look after her should we need and her pile of Christmas presents is bigger than ours. It's fair to say that our little girl is loved and adored everywhere.

On top of all of this her comic timing is on point, with human like burps she gives feedback on food and with yawns she'll let us know when we are droning on or need to change the subject. Her outfit choices seem to be ever increasing but when she plays a shark so well it's hard to resist buying them :)

She has taught us that working as a team means sharing success and that consistency and dedication will deliver results - even if results are new tricks that are purely for our entertainment. And we couldn't be more grateful.

We are also lucky enough that she loves the car and is happy just to pop out to pick someone up or travel for hours. In a pub she'll nap why we catch up with friends and in crowds she is happy to be held to see the action. I have never met a dog who barely blinks when a marching band in full flow marches past but Bisbee barely notices it.

We now arrange dog holidays/weekends, if new friends have dogs or old friends get dogs it something we actively talk about. We have explored more of our local area and seen more sunsets that in previous years - I can't thank Bisbee enough.

Bisbee's bestie Otis is also a firm fixture in many of our weekends (his Mum's are pretty awesome) and they are quite the adorable double act so we have a constant source of entertainment.

Our phones are filled with 100's of photos of Bisbee and as we follow Cockapoo groups on Facebook just so we can lose hours looking at cute puppy pics.

In fact I can't think of a single downside of owning Bisbee. Here's to many, many, many, many, many more Bisbee filled days.

Happy Christmas from my family to yours!

Countdown to Christmas!

Happy Holidays!

Merry Christmas!

Festive Wishes!

Good tidings and all other good things. How has December been so far?!

As you know Laura LOVES everything about Christmas and so December is always a busy month. So rather than go into great detail about all the fabulous December activities we have been up to here's the highlights with a few pics:

Thanksmas: our annual gathering to celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas with friends and delicious food. This year we managed to squeeze in 13 guests by removing ALL our furniture.

Laura's Christmas choir concert: complete with Laura and two friends singing 'Let It Snow' - amazing! Followed by a night out in Birmingham.

Excuse my dodgy filming

Pre-Christmas Costco shopping trip with the in-laws....I think we are sorted....almost!

Christmas Queens drag show at Birmingham's O2 institute

Work Christmas party in Bournemouth - the photo booth was a definite highlight!

Date night at The Alchemist in Birmingham. If you love cocktails this place is amazing - what they do with dry ice is mesmerising, they have cocktails that change colours, flavours and create bubbles as you watch. It's entertainment in a glass. The food is bar style and the battered prawn lollipops were so good we ordered two portions.

Gift bags from Eness - seriously love this place, we missed the launch night for their new Argan Oil range which is great for moisturising and nourishment. Great for this time of year :)

I managed to organise and host a Christmas party for the Sales team at work which involved 4 rounds of activities and a meal out at an Indian in London. 

I also made it from Birmingham to London to Manchester and back to Birmingham in less than 48 hours thanks to Virgin Trains. 

Watching 'It's a Wonderful Life' at Birmingham cathedral with friends. 

Visiting the Coca-Cola truck in Birmingham city centre 

And we also got this family pic in our new AlderHey hospital charity pj's - because we can't get enough cute pics and because there is nothing better than relaxing at home on cold, winter evenings.

We hope your Christmas prep is going well!

Catfish - Our Experience

So we may be slightly obsessed with Catfish the TV show. Have you seen it?

Our love of Catfish (and Nev and Max) has made us slightly more wary of online followers, but in this day and age, safety is paramount - so we don't think that's a bad thing.

From the Urban Dictionary:
Catfishing
The phenomenon of internet predators that fabricate online identities and entire social circles to trick people into emotional/romantic relationships (over a long period of time).
Possible motivations: revenge, loneliness, curiosity, boredom

Here's the thing - Laura is too nice. I mean that in the nicest way, but online you have to be slightly less nice and slightly more wary. I am writing this post as a cautionary tale and not to scare. Take it or leave it, your choice, but I thought it was an experience worth sharing.

Our blog has first and foremost been a space to share what's going on with us with anyone who is interested. It started as a project for our family abroad and has grown and evolved in a number of different of directions. The full story of our lives can be tracked through the blog - but at a highlight level in most cases. Couple this with our Instagram and you get a more daily dose of us :) add in Twitter and you'll find I love a good rant about trains and a re-tweet of anything LGBT related, and finally if you want even more of us you can head to our Facebook page that keeps track of all posts.

We may be slightly over-exposed online, but as it's all managed centrally it's easy for us to update and we have different audiences on each social media platform so it works well for us.

We don't know if Facebook, as the most established platform, has the widest viewer range, or if it is easy to find our page. It doesn't really matter. On Facebook you can receive public messages and over the years we have received the loveliest messages, photo-shopped images of us and on occasion some hatred. In the main though it has been positive so we have left the option open to message us.

However, when people start searching and adding our personal Facebook accounts I personally draw the line, unless we know the person pretty well from an online point of view. Laura is a little more open and has accepted friend requests in the past. In most cases this has been absolutely fine but in the case of one individual this allowed contact on a whole new level.

Instagram is also a source of random messages. Again our experiences have been both positive and negative but on this platform to a more extreme level. The positives are that we have made and met genuinely amazing friends through firstly comments on pics, then moving to messaging before eventually meeting up.  The negatives are the number of accounts that spam us or are created just to send homophobic abuse.

It was on Instagram that our catfish story begins.

A few weeks ago, a new account was created to send us a message saying 'you are disgusting gross gays'. We ignored the message and a few days later the same account commented on a  picture saying 'can I ask you a question'. On seeing the comment we deleted it, and decided to block the account.

The next week a new account started following us that looked to be posting photos of photos, and a lot of the same photos. There is nothing wrong with that, but we noticed as it seemed odd. In this day and age posting a photo straight from a phone is almost easier that taking a picture of a photo. We thought nothing more of it until the account started posting 'can I ask you question' on our pictures. This account was very complimentary, but then started messaging us on Instagram asking us to email them. It was all a bit strange.

It just so happened that at the same time the random who had added Laura and subsequently me on Facebook started sending the same message via FB messenger. The only thing was that the person on Facebook was a man. The Instagram account was a lesbian, posting photos of her and her girlfriend.

Loving Nev's face!

As similar messages kept coming from both accounts, we decided we needed to investigate. We tried reverse searching the Instagram photos on Google search (thanks Catfish The TV Show).....nothing. On the hunch that it was the same person, we tried to look through his friends, but came up short again. Then Laura had the long shot idea to look through the guy's photos on Facebook, and lo and behold there he was with the girl from the Instagram account.

A quick search on her FB page showed she was very much with a guy and the tone and style of writing didn't match our messages. A scroll further and the same guy who had friended us had commented 'can I ask you a question'.

Boom! We had our confirmation that this guy was behind the lesbian Instagram account.

We Facebook messaged the girl to let her know about the Instagram account and she had it promptly shut down. It turned out that guy had been harassing her and her family on social media and so she had blocked him. The Instagram account was potentially revenge.

We then followed suit and blocked the guy on every platform we could.

It is not clear what the reason for contacting us was, why emailing him was a requirement or if there was any malice. It started as fairly innocent messaging and didn't go into anything inappropriate (although we have had a few of those requests) but it does show that you have to be careful.

In the case of this girl the Instagram set up with her photos was following 500+ accounts, mostly lesbian couples. We know that he was messaging at least one other account and had commented on other photos. It's just awful to think her identity was being associated with something she had nothing to do with.

Having watched Catfish we know that it could have been way worse. As in most cases, the guy was probably lonely. The stories he had made up were easy to pull apart and while we tried to be kind the messaging was an interference. We don't message our family as often as he messaged us.

We hope that he learns from this, hopefully the account was shut down before anyone else got involved but please be careful with who you message with and reply to. If there is cause for concern, don't ignore it. Most importantly if you suspect the images on an account don't belong to the person, tread carefully.

Have you ever been catfished?

Eness cosmetics - perfect gifts!

How's your Christmas prep going?!

We have the tree up, everything else is a work in progress but the tree is up! Thankfully we have finally been paid.....was November a super long month for anyone else? And so the shopping can begin.

A while ago we were invited to check out a new store opening in Birmingham - Eness. The easiest comparison to make is that it is like a Bodyshop, except way less overwhelming and prices are much better value. The store is divided in ranges and then each range is divided into products, so if you love a flavour you can buy the whole range of products easily.

It's all so pretty

Products include nail cream, hand cream, body powder, body lotion, tissue oil, deodorant, foam bath, body wash, body spray, soaps, hand wash and scented candles. They have a men's range too. Body lotions start at £4.50, nail creams £3.50, Body Butters £5, tissue oils £6 - all affordable in our book.

The prettiest range of all

We thought now would be an appropriate time to mention the store in case you were looking for any family friendly gifts for Christmas (or any occasion). We ended up bringing home the Strawberry body lotion, some Rose Tissue oil (great for scars / stretch marks etc) and the Diamonds body lotion because it was so pretty. The products smell delicious and have lasted really well.

Eness are a ethically responsible company that focus on making products without cruelty. To the earth or to animals. Even better because the company actually work to protect black rhino's so your purchases support a greater good!  

You can check out the full range available and the Christmas deals on the website here! (See if you can spot yours truly on the news page!)

Birmingham is their first UK store and it's well worth checking out if you are in the city, but they have plans to expand - not that you need to wait as you can buy online. Perfect for Christmas - see :)

Anyway if you try it let us know and if you have any great idea for gifts or shops to check out leave a comment - we love random suggestions!

Magical Lantern Festival Birmingham

It's almost Christmas right? Well Birmingham is certainly in full festive mode. The German market is up and open in the city centre. The Christmas lights have all been turned on in the surrounding areas. And now the Botanical Gardens are glowing with lanterns. It's all so pretty.

This is actually the first year the Magical Lantern Festival is in Birmingham (there are also events in Leeds and London). It officially opens on the 25th of November but we were lucky enough to attend the preview night.

Covering the 15 acre site at the Botanical Gardens a trail guides you from display to display. The set up is gorgeous and when you aren't looking at the beautiful lights you are able to enjoy the stunning surroundings. We will be back to check out the Botanical Gardens during the day at some point!

There is a clear Chinese theme, so keep your eyes peeled for the star signs and pandas. You'll also spot Santa. And in true Birmingham fashion there is even a bull just like the one outside the Bull Ring.

Our favourite was the fairy dress for sheer beauty and scale it was impressive. 

These are just a small selection of the lanterns on display as we didn't want to show everything in case you do go.

There is plenty of food available - you can even get flavoured marshmallows that can be toasted over a fire. Our favourite was a raspberry and champagne. We also really wished we had been able to try the nutella & marshmallow or the white chocolate & jam sweet crepes but ran out of time.

There is also a tea room at the venue should you need to warm up after walking around.


A couple of things to think about if you do plan to go. Parking! There isn't much so if you do drive look to park on the street (not right outside the gardens). Alternatively there is parking advice here: TRAVEL. 

What to wear! Waterproof footwear is essential as the trail takes a slight detour through areas covered in leaves and it is already a little muddy.

If you do go let us know what you think. The event runs until the 2nd of January. Adults tickets are £13.87 (inc booking fee), children are £9.62 (inc booking fee).

Christmas is coming!

Do it for the dogs!

So I mentioned in a post the went up a few weeks ago (here) that while in Boise for a wedding Laura and I signed up to do See Spot Walk, a charity walk raising money for the Idaho Humane Society.

It's not an organisation that we had ever heard of or seen much about until Julia - Laura's school friend - donated a art work to them to promote the walk. We loved the t-shirt design so much that we were happy to sign up just for the t-shirt.

In signing up we got reading about the great work the Society does and wanted to find out if we could help on the day. It turned out that they needed dog walkers to accompany the dogs that were available for adoption so we signed up.

In all honesty I had no idea how the day would go, part of me feared that I would want to leave with the dogs and part of me feared I would spend the day in tears. In fact both those fears came true but I pushed through knowing that the money we donated and the time we were giving were benefiting the Society and therefore the dogs.

We picked up Rudy from the dog carrel. He was sweet, excitable and desperately wanted to be friends with every dog and human he could find. Compared to Bisbee, Rudy was a big dog. Where Bisbee struggles to reach my hip Rudy had no issue reaching my face. By the end of the 2 mile walk I was exhausted.

We walked with Laura's school friend Kelcie and her dog and even with 3000+ other dogs around Rudy stayed close and well behaved. He was clearly happy to be out and about and won us over quicker than we thought. He had two tricks that he insisted on performing - sit and lay down - for treats and when I had to walk him on stage for the adoption mutt strut he added 'smother me in kisses' to his repertoire.

When it was announced that any adoption made that day would have the fees covered both Laura and I burst into tears - unfortunately it happened just as I was about to go on stage. Sadly we don't know if Rudy found his forever home that day but we did see a few other adoptions agreed. We are planning to stay in contact with the Society to follow Rudy's story. If we were based in Idaho we know we would have taken him home in a heartbeat. I think Bisbee is secretly relieved there is an ocean separating us.

To anyone who has adopted a shelter dog - thank you. We had always planned to rescue a dog until Laura was bitten by a dog in Thailand, that changed things. Understandably Laura gets nervous around energetic, bigger dogs and we wanted to know exactly where our first dog had come from so we could be confident from the start. Who knows when it comes to our next dog we may be able to do things differently. Until then we will support and donate in any way we can.

While we appreciate that many of you reading this live no where near Idaho we wanted to highlight the cause of dog protection. We understand there are many situations that lead to a dog needing to be re-homed and are grateful to everyone who volunteers in some way - you are stronger that Laura and I.

By the end of the walk we sat in the car and cried for a full 5 minutes, feeling somewhat helpless that we could do no more and sad that Rudy would be heading back to the shelter. We are terribly emotional dog owners - poor Bisbee often has us crying on her declaring our undying love.

Even the MASSIVE cinnamon bun didn't make me feel that much better.

I mean even this advert made to make you smile brought a tear to me eye.... a happy tear but still. I need to get a grip!

Do you volunteer anywhere? Or have a rescue pup?

We donated our first fivers (the UK launched a new plastic £5 note and you donate your first one to charity) to Birmingham Dogs Home and the Dogs Trust. This is a short video from them full of feels.

Maybe make your Christmas present request a donation for somewhere or make a donation on behalf of someone - i'm sure every little bit helps.

and

Bisbee

Focus on the positives!

Is the nightmare that Trump is President-Elect over yet?

What a week it has been....what a roller-coaster of emotions. It's been almost a week and I still don't feel as if it has sunk in.

I am simultaneously seeking news while wanting to afford anything new to feed into my fears.

What if it's not that bad....he did say that Gay Marriage was law of land and he won't seek to change that.....but then Pence is involved and he has voted against every bill protecting gay people and actively supports gay conversion therapy (I thought that was buried along with the antiquate views).

One thing is for sure I am not ready to accept the new-normal. I can't dismiss the awful comments that have sparked the wave of behaviour in 'Trumps name' - here's just a few examples I've seen. The USA seemed to have come so far only to be set back years by a nonchalant voting public. I mean I am still reeling from the fact that 43% of voters didn't vote!!!!

However life has to go on and if you can't beat them then you have to focus making any bit of difference you can locally. I am glad that the aftermath is not full of acceptance. I hope the anger, frustration and shock continue to make people want to take action. Whatever this President-Elect has planned I am not sure I am for it.

On the brighter side of life though I am forever glad to the people who have decided to flood the internet with Joe Biden and Obama memes. Poor Laura must be sick of me shoving my phone in her face to show her another.....but seriously....how can you not smile?!

Hopefully you can read this selection.....

And rather than wallow in devastation we have decided to throw ourselves into Christmas. As you'll know from many, many previous posts Laura LOVES Christmas and needs no excuse getting the prep started. And while I am the more reserved one I can't help but want to focus on  the fundamentals of Christmas - family, food and joy!

Here's a post about our favourite Christmas things....A Very Merry Christmas

Can you spot the lesbian couple?

As we never do things by halves the first of our many Christmas activities was a trip to the Ideal Home Show Christmas event. Hosted in London and Manchester we decided to head north. With our free tickets in hand (courtesy of the amazing Sam KA) and indulgence in the wonder of Christmas. From the snow covered entrance to the stunningly beautiful trees the welcome was nothing short of a wonderful winter land. Then the choir started and that was it Christmas was a GO......Ho, ho ho :)

After a food refuel and map scoping session our route through the exhibition was planned. Food followed by gifts and gadgets finishing with decorations. Within 3 hours we were done, laden with goodies, warm from the exercise and ready for a sit down. Thoroughly enjoyable and thoroughly exhausting.

We were staying in Sheffield overnight so the journey back from Manchester took us via the Peak District. That part of the world is always so beautiful and the scale is breath taking. We took a short shopping break at a new outlet village to stock up on dinner food and then did the final part of the journey comparing purchases.

On Sunday Christmas phase two happened. A Christmas Crafternoon. The KA's are always amazing hosts but if there is one thing that will make Laura over-joyed it's the opportunity to craft. It turns out that like us the KA's have a craft box....Laura was too excited.

Laura's handy work

As a non-crafter I took to the dog sitting role as if I had been born to it. While I tried to be 'present' in the activities my lack of commitment to a task and frustration when it doesn't look like it should makes me a terrible partner. Thankfully with friends who share the interest I could make a swift exit for a dog walk.

Back home we received delivery of our 7ft Christmas tree - a promise I made to Laura last year after 5 years of a 'small' tree placed on a box. I am nervous and excited to see the new tree fill our lounge. As with most things I know Laura will make it work....I will just have to be of assistance in getting it to a position.

Our next event is Euro Disney in Paris at the weekend for the Christmas celebrations, the Minnie ears are down and there has been a ridiculous amount of Disney gear purchased - check out our other social media accounts for the updates!

How's your Christmas prep going?

How did this happen America? #imstillwithher

America, America, America.....

What can I say that hasn't already been said.

It's terrifying, shocking, disappointing, sad, upsetting......

The world in which Trump is president is scary.

Hate won. Anger won. Those who want to 'take back their country' (although i'm not sure who has it) won. The bigots, racist, sexist, homophones won. The biggest bully won. And not by a small margin. Trump got his message out loud and clear to the white, male voters who made all the difference.

The devastation is pouring out on Twitter, on Facebook, on the news - it's everywhere. It's worse that Brexit. It's way worse that Brexit. This isn't just a European tragedy this is a worldwide tragedy.

On a side note isn't United States a somewhat ironic name now right?! I mean if the #CalExit in 2019 is a real thing then what is the USA without California?!

And yet when Trump took the stand to give his acceptance speech was I the only one shocked to hear how....how democratic it was?

He spent the first few lines praising Hillary. He spent the next few lines stating that 'Now it is time for America to bind the wounds of division, have to get together. To all Republicans and Democrats and independents across this nation, I say it is time for us to come together as one united people' (Sounds rather like 'stronger together!!!')

Then he went further.... 'It is time. I pledge to every citizen of our land that I will be President for all of Americans, and this is so important to me. For those who have chosen not to support me in the past, of which there were a few people, I'm reaching out to you for your guidance and your help so that we can work together and unify our great country......It is a movement comprised of Americans from all races, religions, backgrounds, and beliefs, who want and expect our government to serve the people -- and serve the people it will.'

And he finished with 'No dream is too big, no challenge is too great. Nothing we want for our future is beyond our reach.'

If you want to read the who speech it's here: Donald Trump victory speech

Who knows if the promises made in the speech meant anything. I challenge his and Pence's beliefs - I dream of a world of acceptance whomever you love, whatever religion you believe in and whatever the colour of your skin. Lets hope my dream is not too big and my challenge too great!

So can love still win? Can the changes and developments we have seen in recent years still move forwards?! I hope so. I hope that Pence idiot gets no where near gay marriage. I hope that the number of people who have seen the light and realised that a world where individuals can love whomever they want ONLY creates more love increases. I fear that I am naive when reading articles like this.

I hope that those in minority communities integrate further rather than isolating themselves. Whether Donald believes it or not the evidence is clear that immigrants are not bad people. In fact all as Americans are immigrants and they built a GREAT America I think history shows that America needs them.

As Michelle Obama said we have to go high when they go low. America is at a real low so hopefully those who don't share Donald's opinion can take the high road and focus on making a difference locally. The time will have to come when love, kindness and acceptance trumps hate again. It just has to.

If anything hasn't this campaign shown that ANYONE can become president? That it doesn't take a lifetime of dedication, that if you have a few solid ideas that appeal to the masses you are good (a few million $$$$'s would also be beneficial). It's a scary thought but if an idiot can be elected then surely that opens the door for someone with commonsense and decency to sweep in when 2020 rolls around.

Our condolences America. May Trump's version of progress be slow (Brexit style) and may the greater good trump this evil.

And if all else is failing today and you are need of a smile these are my favs from today.....