Valentine's Day - Throwing It Back!!

Bringing back a 2012 post:
Love was in the air yesterday, as we celebrated our first Valentine's Day together in London. Laura has always loved Valentine's Day (heck, what holiday doesn't that girl love??), and though Sarah hasn't ever taken much notice of it (except since being with Laura, because it gives her a chance to show off her amazing present-giving/spoiling skills!), she (Laura hopes) has learned to love it too. This is why we thought we'd share with you our Valentines Days of old. 

Now, we've talked a lot about Valentine's Day on this blog over the last week or so, but we hope you'll bear with us and enjoy a look back at our three V-Days as a couple. And also a fourth, when we were just close friends. It'll give us a chance to see how our relationship has changed and grown over the years! Lets go in chronical order, because we like it that way. 

V-Day 2009 
Valentine's Day happened less than one month after we became inseparable 'friends' (if you haven't read it, you can check out our love story here - SPOILER: The girl gets the girl in the end). We had become close (while Laura was consoling Sarah's ex-boyfriend) and Laura blew off her then-boyfriend to spend the evening with Sarah at her flat. He should have seen it coming, right? Anyway, we spent the evening eating Chinese takeaway, watching the Top 50 Love Songs countdown on VH1, singing along dramatically to most of them, and...full on spooning. Even though we didn't actually get together for another month (our anniversary is March 16th). Seriously, looking back, we were never really 'just friends'! Laura couldn't have been happier with her choice of date for V-Day. 

V-Day 2010 
Almost one year into our relationship, and practically living together to the point where Laura's poor roommates almost called an intervention about their elusive 5th housemate, we said goodbye to the awful job we were working at together, and headed to Australia for a year. As ya do. We spent our first Valentine's Day officially together on an airplane to Singapore for a 14 hour layover before heading to Sydney. As we sat in the departure lounge together, we each sheepishly pulled out little gifts we had gotten each other, despite agreeing we weren't going to get presents!! *Insert collective awww here* The little monkey in underwear (Hot Pants Monkey, as we call him) has gone on all our trips since. We drank our first Singapore Sling on the plane (at Laura's Mum's suggestion), watched movies and enjoyed our plane ride. When we arrived in Singapore, we explored the city in the time we had - took a London Eye -like ferris wheel, saw some monuments, temples, and got incredibly hot and sweaty. We actually fell asleep on the bus back to the airport, and the driver had to wake us up when we arrived!! 

VDay on a plane and in Singapore!

V-Day 2011 
This is the only not-so-great Valentine's tale. Laura flew back from her home in Idaho for the first week of February to be with Sarah in time for Valentine's Day (to provide back story, after Sydney we went to Idaho, Sarah came back to the UK for Christmas and Laura stayed behind with her family), but Sarah, who had just gotten a new job, had to go on a business trip to Barcelona for Valentine's Day!!! So Laura spent V-Day job hunting, and Sarah spent it at a conference. Essence of romance, right? When Sarah returned, Laura lit candles and placed them around the house, made her a few gifts, and we had a little celebration. 

That brings us to today!! 

V-Day 2012 
All is right in the world again [read: we work together now]. Before work, Laura got a lovely homemade card. Laura wrote on 30 or so red paper hearts - each one with one thing she loves about her Sarah. She hid them around throughout the day. Sarah obliviously missed two in the morning, one in the bathroom and one in the bedroom, but she can't be blamed, as nobody is fully awake until about 11am in our house! 

Ahhhh nice to know there's more than 1 reason to love me S xo

Sarah gave Laura a beautiful little card and a clue to the activity we would be doing in the evening. The clue was a handwarmer!! Laura was as in-the-dark as ever. 

Laura got delivered to work (actually, she snuck out to pick it up, and got the receptionist to tell her it had been delivered. Shhhh!) a giant cookie with the words 'Nothing's as sweet as you!! L&S' on it in strawberry icing, Sarah's favourite!! Funny though, when she went to pick it up, they had written 'Nothing's as free as you!! L&S' on it - erm... I don't think that sends the right message!! But they fixed it and Sarah was none the wiser. 

'Nothing's as sweet as you' - ahhhh

After a full day's work, lots of little paper hearts and even more cookie-eating, we headed off to our surprise location. On the tube on the way there, Laura got a card that finally told her where we were going - ICE BAR LONDON!!!! SO EXCITING!!!

It was really cool ;)

The Ice Bar was amazing. We were given warm hooded ponchos, and went into the bar - it was like stepping into a completely different world! The bar was made of ice, the walls were made of ice, the glasses were made of ice - so wonderful! We had 40 minutes in there, drank some yummy cocktails out of the ice glasses, and Laura took over 100 photos. In 40 minutes. That girl takes pictures at the speed of light. It was a lovely surprise, and Sarah kept her title of best present giver!!!

We then went home, like the poor old ladies we are, and ate Laura's homemade stew for dinner with Sarah's famous mashed potatoes (instead of going out to eat). It was delicious, and the added bonus of being able to snuggle right afterwards was so great!!

We ended the night Skyping Laura's little brother, Jason in Idaho - not the most romantic end to Valentine's Day, but as usual he was hilarious and we loved seeing him!

V-Day is over for another year, and we can't wait to see what next February brings!!

What was the best Valentine's Day you have ever had and why??

Lots of love,

Laura & Sarah xo 

Valentine's Gifts - Is It Just For New Couples?

How long have you been in your relationship? How many Valentine's Days have you had together? How many Valentine's Day gifts have you received? Do you remember each one, have there been so few it's easy to remember?

Recent research has that 60% of Brits receive their best Valentine's Day gift in the first year of their relationship. 23% of those people received jewellery during the honeymoon period.

The honeymoon period varies between 9 months if you are between 16 - 24 and 2 years if you are 45 - 54.

The stats reveal that the longer you are in a relationship the less likely you are to make an effort. As my parents are approaching their 40 year wedding anniversary and they still do gifts we hope to be doing the same. Their gifts are never extravagant but a minding to show that they are still thinking of one another. We plan to always do the same. After all it's never about the money - just the thought!

Likesism.com

My parents, and us, are thankfully not part of the 20% of couples who stop giving gifts after the first few years of a relationship. Or the 10% who stopped giving gifts all together after the first year!
Protect Your Bubble conducted the study as they insure gadgets, including phones and jewellery. they point out that if you do receive jewellery it might be worth insuring it!

Here are the stats when it comes to your probability of receiving jewellery:

Interestingly the likelihood of receiving jewellery varies widely between cities:
The results show that you are 33% more likely to receive jewellery, in your first year, if you are living in Southampton or Sheffield (44%) than in Bristol or Liverpool (11%).

The study also showed that Brits love a sentimental gift with a high percentage opting for a photograph or something sentimental (definitely Laura and I).  But by the 5th year only 4% of couples opt for a thoughtful gifts and, according to the research, Bristolians are the least sentimental of all cities though. 

Unsurprisingly flowers are still the top gift, 40% of couples receive them in the first year with dinner as the second option with 27% of couples heading out. 

If you are looking for something thoughtful, a little bit different and cost effective - no matter how long you have been in a relationship then check out our post on Valentine's Gift Ideas. 

And remember:

5 Valentines Day Ideas!

Valentine's Day - have you thought about it? Are you doing it something for it? Do you want to do something for it? Or are you avoiding the whole commercialised event and ignoring it? However you plan to spend Valentine's Day we hope it you find some joy in it.

Over the years we have written about Valentine's Day for numerous reasons:

• The facts and why it became an event here!
• A history of our Valentine's days together here!
• How we spread the Valentine's love with those around us here (think cookies and cakes)!
• We had an outright debate on whether children should celebrate Valentine's Day here!
• One Valentine's Day we dedicated to people we love (other than each other) details here.
• And just for good measure:
• We had 'wedding' in Australia with our family and friends to celebrate Valentine's Day here

But anyway onwards and to our 5 Valentine's Day suggestions if you are looking to do something this year:
1) Keep It Low Key - have a night in, get a take-away and watch the movie you have been meaning to. It may not be extravagant BUT time is often the best gift of all and if you can orchestrate and evening with minimal 'life' distractions it's amazing how you can reconnect to the love of your life!

This simple gesture was L's phone background was months!

Sometimes it's the simple things that mean the most.

A walk in the park?

2) Do Something Different - again doesn't have to be big, just book to do something you have never done before, or tried or that you have been meaning to try. It doesn't even have to be on the day, a nice card saying we are doing xxxxx on xx date will mean just as much. You may have seen our posts on Buckt a subscription service that sends you five new activities to do every month. Now subscribing may be a 'big gift' (although cost effective) but check out their site for suggestions and maybe gets some new ideas.....axe throwing, rage room, rifle shooting, meditation, llama walking, butterfly farm, dog rescue centre, local events...you get the idea. Just do something different.


3) Afternoon Tea - If you are more of a traditionalist what about a romantic afternoon tea? Or if that's not your cup of tea (boom boom) what about a tipsy afternoon tea. It seems to be the new thing for traditional bars to increase their trade by offering a selection of afternoon teas. Take Slug and Lettuce for example, I have only ever known them as a bar stop on a night out, turns out they now have fancy decor and a afternoon tea menu. Check out the details here. Or if you want somewhere a little more unique check out Dirty Martini if you have one near by - there twist is 4 martini's as part of their birdcage 'tea'. Details are here.

Slug and Lettuce

4) Enjoy A Stay-cation or a local-cation (is that a thing :) ) anyway just as you could do something different you could make a plan to enjoy your local area and maybe include some new places to check out. As you know we live (and love) Birmingham and the way this city is growing means there is always something new going on. Not just that, even doing something we have done before creates new opportunities. You may have seen our day in the life vlog here, it was a fairly usual weekend day in Birmingham and yet we found 3 new restaurants we wanted to try and numerous newly opened stores to check out.

We often plan weekends for our guests to show them highlights of the area so it's great to look at your home town like a tourist. Here was one of weekend plans, we are fortuitous enough to have beautiful places like the Cotsworlds, Droitwich, Warwick, Leamington Spa and so many more within an hours drive. That's the great thing about the UK!

5) Make It A Mini-break! Okay so this is a 'go big' present but one that shows thought and is a great chance to get quality time together. Over our 10 years (eek) together we have often surprised each other with a mini-break or trip, somewhere not too far but far enough for a change of scenery.

A chance to get lost together

Our most recent trip was to Wales but our favourite romantic getaway of all time was to the Upper House Spa on the Welsh border. A scenic spot with a beautiful cottage and everything you need for a weekend, including a spa should you require it!

Time to just be together

So there you have it, our five suggestions depending on your budget, level of effort and partners requirements! Hopefully it'll help with the ideas process. I always find myself frantically Googling 'Valentine's ideas' to come up with something new and then I remember it's just about the time, thought and preparation......oh and LOVE!

Happy Valentine's Day

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!

A Weekend Away at Home - Valentine's Day 2014

Pretty sure you can tell by now, we love living in Birmingham. Something we've really started taking advantage of is how incredibly easy and quick it is to get to so many lovely places from our home!


This past weekend was Valentine's Day, and also our 59 monthiversary. We love celebrating, or at least acknowledging, our monthiversaries, because they are a chance to take a moment out of our hectic lives to enjoy being together and to appreciate what we have together.

On V-Day, we treated each other with lovely little gifts and thoughtful words.

We had our friends Alison and Dave come up with us for the weekend, so headed up after work, stopping to stock up on cheeses and meats and delicious things to eat for dinner that night. We watched Wreck It Ralph (because we are all partial to children's movies) and all managed to fall asleep at different times during the movie. Not because it wasn't good, but because it'd been a long and hard week - oh, and because of the joy and relaxation which exudes from our house!

The next morning Alison made her famous breakfast bake, and we headed for a 20 minute drive to Droitwich, a little spa town with a pretty canal running through it. We loved the scenery there, and drove to a stunning church overlooking the town to take some lovely photos. It rained occasionally, but for the most part was a glorious afternoon.

'Nice' photos...of gravestones.

We then headed into Birmingham city centre and showed Dave and Alison our favourite discovery so far - the canals! It's our third time now walking through the city canal-side, it's so unique and pretty down there. They loved it! We wandered into a pub along the water and took advantage of Happy Hour, had the pleasure of a very excitable older gay man who thought Sarah & I were 'adorable lesbians', and chatted away the time before our dinner reservation.

We took them to Jimmy Spices, which was, as always, delicious, and a wonder of its own. SO much delicious food, from so many different places, and we always marvel at the girls there dressed up for a night out in high heels and tight dresses. Surely JS is the worst place to go before a night out - we always wear 'extreme-eating friendly' clothing options! They loved it, as we thought they would, and we all ate... well, a bit too much.

We watched another movie that evening, the Ryan Reynolds and Jason Bateman version of Freaky Friday - it was funny, but really over the top and had wayyy too many unnecessary penis references.

Sunday was our favourite part of the weekend. We headed to Warwick, another 20 minute drive from home (see how easy it is to get around??) and explored the castle and surroundings in bright sunshine. It was fantastic! We climbed 160 spiral steps to the top of a nearby church, and got to witness a cannon demonstration from above. We explored gardens, bought cheese, and marveled at the old historic buildings - truly wonderful, and we really recommend going there. We'll be back in the summer with picnic in hand!

One of our favourite things about our new home is how easy it is to feel like you are on a weekend away. Obviously once we live there full time, it won't feel quite that way, but it's wonderful to think that it only take a 20 minute drive to once again be on holiday.

Why We Work

We work because Sarah makes me laugh more than anyone else I know.

We work because we both have strong opinions, and both of our inability to back down leads to huge blow outs over something obscure, or on better days to obscurely intellectual arguments that make us feel super grown up.

We work because she likes crispy fries, and I like soft ones.

We work because we surprise each other with notes and little presents - to remind each other of how much we're loved.

We work because Sarah will eat the yellow/orange/green sweets in a bag for me, and not get mad when I take all the reds and purples.

Likewise, we work because I have come to terms with Sarah's high speed of eating; I know that when we share, I'll never quite get half.

We work because even when I'm mad at her, I'm planning our next anniversary/holiday/birthday, and because I somehow feel guilty for being mad because I know she didn't mean to upset me.

We work because Sarah will apologise for pretty much anything, to get back to hand holding and cuddling.

We work because I'm a dreamer, and she's my realist.

We work because if something is really important to us, we make it happen, no matter what.

We work because if I'm on a diet, she'll go out of her way to help me on it - even if that means trying new things, or eating foods she doesn't really like.

We work because in getting these photos out, I realised I have a ton of photos of Sarah with oversized food. I count this as a win.

We work because I give full massages upon request; and because she's much better at curling my hair than I am.

We work because she almost kills me most mornings in the way to work - but I still would trust her with my life in an instant.

We work because we work - at communication, at focusing on the other's love languages, on laughing every day, and making the most of even the most mundane of days.

We work because I can't picture any great thing - trips, experiences, friendships - without her by my side, experiencing it right along with me.

Happy (early) Valentine's Day, Sarah Bearah xx