Tag Archives: love

The Wedding Planning Begins…

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WeddingActually, if I’m being honest, that’s a complete fabrication. The Bloke and I got engaged in May (after an unbelievable proposal overlooking a 13th Century Scottish castle, and yes, I’m never going to get bored of saying that), and by June I had pretty much decided on what was going to happen on the big day. The Bloke laughed at my initial proclamation that I wasn’t going to do anything until the summer and he was right to do so – I started thinking of ideas the very next day.

Now, when I say ‘I,’ I of course mean ‘we,’ but with me having more free time than The Bloke does I’ve been able to immerse myself in Pinterest for ideas and fill out the necessary paperwork. He’s got used to coming home only to be greeted by my phone being shoved in his face with the question “Now, what do you think of this?” and to his credit he has given me his honest opinion and offered his own suggestions along the way.

I’ve never wanted a big, fancy wedding. I’ve been to a number of them, all which were fabulous and unique with loads of fantastic things to do, but as cliche as it sounds I’ve always liked the idea of a small ceremony and a lack of pomp and circumstance. We get married, we eat, then we get our dancing shoes on and have a great time with people that mean the most to us. I am determined that The Bloke and I get the chance to spend the day together, as one of the biggest regrets that my family and friends say they have about their own weddings is that they were so concerned about everyone else having a good time that they forgot to enjoy it themselves. Continue reading →

It Smells Like Summer

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SummerIt smells like summer this morning.

Despite having a bad night’s sleep, I woke up in a disgustingly good mood. The current heatwave we are experiencing means that it’s already beautifully warm, even at 8.00am, and when I stood outside the scent in the air somehow reminded me of foreign holidays I have been on. My Facebook feed is littered with complaints from hot and uncomfortable friends, and The Bloke, who can’t handle any sort of weather except temperate, clear and dry is struggling, but I love it – after what has seemed like an age of living in the cold and dark, it’s nice to feel some real sun on my face.

I did my last bit of freelance work yesterday for the summer, which means I now have two months off. Two months. I can’t believe how quickly this academic year has gone, and the fact that I have remained reasonably financially stable throughout. There were so many worries and anxieties that accompanied last summer, but I’ve been able to prepare for this one over the last year, and I know that as long as I don’t go out and blow all my money on cocktails (which is always a temptation), I should be fine until Christmas at least. I’ve been enjoying the last few weeks and for the first time ever I haven’t felt like I have counted down the days or desperately wished my life away just to have a break. How lucky I am. Continue reading →

25 Mix-and-Match Date Ideas

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Date ideasI love the idea of dating, even when a relationship is established. The Bloke and I have been together for six years, but we still enjoy planning and going on date nights – mainly because it gives us purposeful time to spend together and something special to look forward to.

The following list is a set of ideas that can be mixed and matched together to suit you and your own tastes, and don’t involve Netflix (or chill). They don’t have to involve spending a lot of money, or be done during the evenings – many are perfect for during the day too!

1. Find the recipes for your favourite foods and create a formal, three course meal from scratch (with advanced planning, ingredients can be obtained from low-cost supermarkets and farmers markets). Put on some nice music, light some candles and turn off your phones.

2. Build a (safe) fire in the back yard, snuggle up under some blankets and roast some marshmallows.

3. Go for an unplanned drive until you find something interesting (but take your sat nav or a map just in case!)

4. Create a homemade spa, complete with a bubble bath, face masks, pedicures and nice-smelling oils for massages. Treat each other. Continue reading →

Don’t Tell Gay People How To Mourn: Dominick Pupa

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imageDominick Pupa posted this in response to the recent and horrific Orlando shootings at Pulse nightclub, which thousands of people have liked and shared. Facebook deleted it, so I wanted to share this on the blog. It’s rare that I will make social commentary, but this is an incredible message…

Us gays.
We make you look prettier.
We dress you for your important occasions.
We polish up your neighborhoods until we get priced out of them.
We plan and attend your weddings even though you take vows to an entity that hates us.
We are involved in every movie you see.
We are involved in every TV show you watch.
We are involved in every song you listen to – even the homophobic ones. Continue reading →

I Think My Liver May Be Upset With Me…

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It’s been an absolutely killer half-term (in the positive sense of the word, of course), filled with friends, fun and an epic amount of food and cocktails.

The excitement of last week led to a number of celebrations with some of my friends over several days. We took the opportunity to catch up the on the recent events of each other’s lives, talked about life, love, eyebrows and weddings (one of my friends got engaged a few months before me, so is currently in full wedding-planning mode), ate some yummy lunches and washed them down with a large amount of raspberry mojitos (well I did at least – they were a bit more adventurous in their choices). I did attempt to take some pictures:

However, the wind seemed to be against me at one point: Continue reading →

The Bloke Proposed Today…

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I had a very different post planned for today. I’m in Scotland with The Bloke for the week, and I spent some time last night preparing a post that showed all the different photographs I took on the nine hour drive it took to get here (it’s a lot more interesting than it sounds, I promise). It was sitting in my drafts folder, ready for me to press publish the next day.

However, The Bloke and I visited Dunnotar Castle this morning. It was an absolutely glorious day, and I sat on the cliff top opposite while he adopted his inner David Bailey and went around taking pictures of everything. It had rained the night before, so the grass was still a bit wet and I had borrowed The Bloke’s spare t-shirt to sit on while I was waiting for him to finish. It was a truly spectacular view, and he had put his bags and camera paraphernalia next to me to look after. Continue reading →

Blog Anniversary and Guest Post Competition

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I received my notification from WordPress this morning that it was three years ago that I signed up Suzie Speaks and published my very first post.

I wrote a post a while ago that I planned to publish today, but decided against it – I wouldn’t be saying anything my regular readers haven’t heard before. Instead I’ve decided to make my blogiversary (yes Phil, I’m using that word) an opportunity for someone else, and I’m launching a competition to win a guest post spot here on Suzie Speaks.

It’s been a long time since I had a guest post on the blog, and the winner will be given the chance to have one of their articles published here on a Sunday of their choice, which is my biggest day for traffic. Suzie Speaks has a readership of over 15,000 people, and their post will be also promoted all across my social media pages, including #SundayBlogShare, my blog sharing hashtag that trends every week here in the UK. Suzie Speaks doesn’t have a niche or theme, so the content of the post can be pretty much anything (although, be aware that I will not promote any posts that advocate things like hunting, the wearing of fur, or anything with racist, homophobic, sexist or religious material). It doesn’t matter how established your blog is, what type of blog you have, or what host you use – everyone and anyone is welcome to participate! It does need to be a new post though, and not something that you’ve featured on your own blog before. It’s a fantastic opportunity to promote your blog to a wonderful community of people and boost your traffic in the process! Continue reading →

Friendzoned…

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After a crazy few days, including a brilliant time celebrating my friend’s birthday, I’ve just got home, and it would be fair to say that I’ve had a few drinky poos. I’ve never blogged whilst intoxicated, but after what I witnessed today I had to write it down or I know I would be awake for most of the night writing a potential blog post in my head anyway. Continue reading →

A Fabulous Week!

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It’s always difficult when the urge to write is present, but there doesn’t seem like there is the time to do so. I’ve composed a million blog posts in my head over the last few weeks, and yet haven’t been able to get round to completing and publishing them.

It was back to work last week, after an incredible week off. To be honest, my initial plans were to adopt my inner broccoli and veg out, but it ended up being filled with friends, food, films and plenty of cocktails. I’ve caught up with friends I haven’t spoken to in months, and one that I haven’t seen in years. It’s been busy, but it’s been fun. I know, it’s a tough life, but someone has to do it.

I received a text from one of my oldest friends, asking to meet for lunch. I haven’t seen her in a while – her job means that she works six days a week – so it was a nice surprise. She’s been in a relationship with her bloke almost as long as I have been with mine, and it has been a bit of a running joke between us that neither of us are ever going to get proposed to – both our fellas are quite laid back. However, within about five minutes of meeting her, she showed me a beautiful shiny engagement ring on her left hand… Continue reading →

I Wanna Know What Love Is… Blog Party and Competition

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After waiting for nearly two weeks, the day is finally here folks!

Yes, it’s the mahoosive blog party that Steve and I have been getting all excited about, and what a day we have planned – with a blog party, a radio show and a competition to win a huge amount of Organique products, what more could you wish for?

Blog Party

For those of you who have never participated in a blog party before, the rules are simple (PLEASE READ THESE FIRST BEFORE POSTING)…

1. Choose your favourite post from your own blog. The subject of the post can be anything you love (it is Valentine’s Day after all) – blogging, food, parenting, life, travel, thoughts, photography… Note: This should be only one post at a time or it will get sent straight to the ‘spam’ folder and I may not be able to find you for a while. You can share up to three links, and for maximum impact I would suggest that you wait a little while in between posting them rather than in one go. Continue reading →