It's The End.... of 2013

We have been up in our new home since before Christmas, and wow how it has flown! We can't believe how lucky we are, and how right this place feels for us.

We were lucky enough to have Christmas day here together this year. We went caroling at the local church on Christmas Eve, then put together an indoor picnic of cheeses, meats and things to dip, and watched Christmas movies as well as Santa fly around the world delivering presents on the internet.

On Christmas morning, we woke up late and opened our presents - we only gave each other one each, as really what present can top a HOUSE? So we opened ones from L's family, and friends. We then went for a walk around our neighbourhood, before Sarah's parents arrived for Christmas dinner.

They brought a few more prezzies, we watched a movie together, and we roasted beef for the first time, as we'd just had Sarah's family Christmas (and a turkey!) the weekend before. Luckily it went well, and everyone loved it.

Sarah's family introduced Laura to Pictionary - 25 and a newbie shocking!!!- whether it was beginner's luck or just pure skill we were the winning team. Oh and Jenga randomly found it's way out of the depths of our cupboards - that game is tension inducing! Her parents then headed back to Reading, and we had a nice long Skype with Laura's parents.

Our low-key Christmas was pretty perfect!

Check out our classy sheet/curtain! Thank goodness, blinds will be fitted in Jan

Since then, we've spent time DIY-ing, building things, painting things, eating (we made cupcakes twice from our new Hummingbird Bakery book from L's parents!) - we aim to do a house post on a few of the more completed rooms in our house in the next few weeks.

And tonight, is New Years Eve! We can't say we are sad for this year to end. 2013 has been a fantastic year, one where we have done a lot of supporting of others, while there have also been HUGE changes in our lives (like Sarah's new job, a new house, commuting and suddenly having to count every penny!) - all good, but stressful. It's been a year of finding new friends and bringing back old ones, it's amazing how happy old friends have been about our wedding and we can't wait to have all the important people - past and present, at the wedding.

Queue random photo of pumpkin pie and mulled wine

It is officially less than 6 months from our wedding, and in less than 10 hours, it will be the year we get married in. We aim for 2014 to be our year - it will be one of the biggest of our lives, and we are determined to enjoy every minute of it. And though it's not looking likely, we'd like 2014 to be less busy! :)

So, in light of that, we've made a few new year's resolutions - not something we usually put a lot of stock in, but we feel there are some things that we need to leave in 2013.

Laura:
1. Sweating for the wedding! Though I'd done well in my weight loss before our trip to Boise in September, since then, with my birthday, and holidays galore, I decided to enjoy myself and forget about it until the new year. But with less than 6 months until the biggest day of my life, there are no more excuses - I will look the way I want to look in June. That means toning up, and not baking any more cupcakes (until July!).

2. This year, I resolve to worry less about others. I've spent a good deal of the latter half of 2013 stressing myself into upset about relationships that I can't control. It's awful for me, a pain and upsetting for Sarah, and completely unnecessary. We've had a few issues of this in 2013, the worst of which being someone we thought was one of our closet friends randomly stopped answering our calls/texts in March, no explanation. I need to learn that I can't singlehandedly keep friendships going - that they are a two way street, if I am giving my best and not receiving back, it is not my responsibility to push until I do. If you are important to someone, they will come to you if they have an issue, and if they just fade away instead after you've tried to figure out why, you need to let them. Caring too much is an odd problem to have, but it is especially important this year as I want to focus entirely on being happy, and spending time with the woman who is to be my wife.

Sarah:
1. Panic less! This year has been exhilarating, exhausting, exciting, challenging, terrifying but ultimately filled with gestures of such kindness. On this roller coaster there have been plenty of tears though - good and bad. And plenty of doubt - mainly in my own capabilities. Laura handles things - generally in a cool as a cucumber 'we got this' kind of a way. I panic. I cuss. I drop the f-bomb if anything looks to be going wrong and worse still I get myself worked up before standing back and working out a plan of action. I get there eventually but in 2014 hopefully I can get there without the panic! Or with less of the panic!

We are in more debt, with more responsibility and about to have the biggest event of our lives and I can't wait - but as much as the buying the house was the right decision it hasn't been without hours of hugging Laura to gain reassurance that it will be worth it. Borrowing money from loved ones has caused us both angst - not because we aren't grateful, quite the opposite - we don't know how to show just how grateful we are - have we really made sure our families know we appreciate it more than we can ever say. Our lives are great because we are together but hopefully 2014 will be the year of paying people back and celebrating!

What are your resolutions for 2014?

We certainly won't be sad to see the back of 2013 - it was meant to be our 'quiet year to save' and that is NOT want it ended up being so who knows what 2014 will bring. All we ask for is the health and happiness of one another and all our loved ones - and of course anyone who reads this :)

The best possible ending to our year - white hot chocolate, Santa size!

As Sarah's Mum Scottish we have the traditional house cleaning to occupy the rest of our day - something about the new year being a clean start! Then we'll be ringing in the new year in our home, hand in hand - we hope you have a wonderful night, and that 2014 is your best year yet!

Christmas Miracles - Merry Christmas from Birmingham!

We hope you are currently enjoying your lovely Christmas Eve's - what are you up to today?

We have just returned from caroling at our local church (hey, just because we aren't religious, doesn't mean we don't appreciate a good hymn) and we're setting up a gorgeous spread of cheese, salami, bread, chutneys, and Elf!

We are really happy to be spending our first Christmas in our new home together. We've decided not to do presents this year, as really a house is the best present we could get! So Christmas this year is all about quality time together, snuggling, and food.

Tomorrow Sarah's parents are coming up for dinner, and we will be Skyping with Laura's parents and grandparents throughout the day.

While we're settling in, thought we'd tell you about a few 'Christmas miracles' we've experienced this season.

1. Laura left her phone at the photo printing area at Tesco's today, and we didn't realise until we'd left the store. When she rushed back in, someone had left it at customer services, so we were able to get it back safe and sound. How often does that happen these days? THANK YOU to the person who turned it in!

2. Our boiler broke on Saturday morning, and our house is big and cold without it! Thankfully, we were able to get it temporarily repaired today, so are sitting in a toasty warm home. On Friday our friendly boiler man will come back with the part it needs. We are very relieved we'd sorted homecare cover for our boiler when we first got in!

3. The high winds in the UK meant our fence fell down this week! We've had a serious homeowner reality check this weekend. BUT luckily for us, it is the fence owned by our neighbour - it's not nice for them, but we simply couldn't afford to have a new one put up at the moment.

4. Finally, and maybe miracle-tastic of them all, we had a 'fake' Christmas day with Sarah's family on Saturday. We both cooked the whole thing, and kept Sarah's mum away from the kitchen so she didn't get stressed (she hates the cooking, but Laura loves it!) - so the family (Sarah's parents, us, and Sarah's sister and her boyfriend) had dinner, games, and little presents. It was great - and we think it was the perfect sendoff for Fiona to Kenya for the big day. Who would have thought this would be where we'd be this year?

Enjoy Christmas tomorrow! We'll finish off the evening with some Lauren-made pumpkin pie, and watching Santa visit all over the world on the NORAD tracker.

Christmas London Date Night

Christmas is, if you can believe it, one week from today.

We've really struggled to get into the spirit this year, and I know we aren't the only ones, so I've got to blame the weather. It was 10 degrees this week. Celsius! Not at all Christmassy. Or perhaps its the commuting, the house buying, the fact that we are always on the move, and always very tired (3 hour commutes one way!), and currently have little quality time together or with friends. But whatever it is, I'm not a fan. Christmas is my favourite holiday, and only comes but once a year!

So we took it upon ourselves to stay in London for three nights this week, and do some London-y Christmasy things. We're in a very cheap hotel, which is probably more of a hostel, but it'll be worth it if we come out of this feeling restored, and festive. So last night, we braved the rain in search of a date night.

WARNING: This post comes with probably the worst quality photos in the history of blogging history. It was rainy, foggy, and I only had my phone with me. Sorry!

We went to TGIF in Leicester Square, which was delicious, as usual!

We walked up to Primark to get Sarah some clothes for her Christmas party at her new job today, and I got myself a £3 skirt. Score!

Then we headed through the streets of Soho, and happened upon something which made the night for us - a tiny old London pub, heaving with Christmas decorations, which inside had a drag queen cabaret act named Cookie MonSTAR. It was fantastic - her first song was Cabaret, which is my Liza Minelli fan's favourite, and she followed it up with one of my favourite Barbra Streisand songs. We were hooked!

Could I have taken a worse photo? Probs not.

As we stood in the warmth and sang along with everyone in the packed pub, something came upon us - I think it must've been what the Grinch felt when he realised Christmas isn't about presents (thank goodness, because we're very poor this year!) - it was Christmas spirit! And the realisation that everything is great, despite all the changes and all the rushing around we do lately. I particularly loved the two theatre gays in the corner who thought it was the best thing ever to harmonise with the last note of every song - it reminded me of my choir days, and of my high school Christmas concert I try to get to whenever I'm home at this time of year.

Tonight Sarah is going to her work Christmas party, so I'm going to Winter Wonderland with our friends Alison and Dave, and then to (hopefully) successfully do the bulk of our Christmas shopping. I feel like a boy, not having done it yet - hoping our family won't receive petrol station Christmas Eve presents from us! ;D

 Tomorrow? We're heading back to that pub for the gayest kind of Christmas cheer.

A new start for Sarah!

So I thought I'd do a quick post and clarify what we've been referencing on Twitter and Instragram recently - started a new job!

For various reasons I've tried to keep it quiet, partly out of respect to my previous company and partly because I didn't want to jinx it. But Friday saw my last day at the company I had worked at for 2 and a half years. The day was filled with mixed emotions. Sadness that my time was coming to an end, I had a great team that all got on well and it was nice feeling like I had people I could chat to over tea. Happiness that I was ending on a high - everyone said they were really going to miss me and were sad to see me leave. Amused as everyone was dressed in Christmas sweaters - how can that not make me smile?

My leaving presents were all things I love - Diet Coke, in all sizes, sweets/candy and a cake pop maker (more for L to make me cake pops :D )! Two girls I was particularly close to also wrote me a personal leaving card - it was so sweet - I shed a few tears!

Today was a new world though - I am officially a Unicorn Senior Relationship Manager. That doesn't mean I manager relationships for Unicorns (unfortunately ;D ) but that I will be working to build existing accounts who want e:learning. So I'm still in training just a different type of training. It turned out that an opportunity came along just when we were trying to work out finances based on our existing income.


In the short term my journey is longer as I have to get into Bank instead of Victoria but the first day was great and I really like the team. My manager is lovely and everyone was so helpful. It's a small office in London with a bigger office in Bournemouth, where I went to university, and eventually I'll be able to work from home! Perfect for when we eventually move to Birmingham!

My beautiful fiancee made my first day all the better by taking me to Nando's and surprising me with a wonderful card and packet of Nerds - as i'm her Nerd :) I could not love her more!

So that's all my news for the moment, but where better to record it that our blog!