The First time I met Ben

I wish our first date story was a lot cuter than it was but hey, life sometimes doesn't do fairy tales quite the way you'd like. The story does require a little bit of back tracking and it all starts with my friend Shane...cue picture!

This is the first photo I have of Shane and me (on my Flickr at least) and was taken 2008, at the movies.  Do you like my lip ring? such a rebel! I actually met Shane in high school, maybe around 1998?!? One of my friends, Debbie introduced us (he was dating her best friend at the time) and we stayed friends ever since.

Around 2008-2009 Shane had moved from Brisbane to the Sunshine Coast, I was still living in Brisbane and would go visit. I fell in love with the Coast and it wasn't soon after that I had moved in with Shane and his sister, Laura.

 I owe much to Shane and our friendship, I went from a city girl to a camping, nature loving, adventure person.

Mud fight!!

Okay let's get to the Ben part...

In 2009 I went on some funny and horrible online dates. The funny were good/bad but the horrible were downright bad. The previous date to Ben's was one of those bad ones. In summary the guy was very controlling (we went out on two dates) was convinced I was this super sad person and that he could fix me and got angry when the dates didn't go to plan. I politely explained at the end of our last date that I didn't think we were compatible and then he sent me horrible messages saying I was the worst person in the World. After two dates! When people say to be careful with online dating, I'm the first to admit I was a bit naive and now 100% advocate for meeting in a public place, letting your friends know where you are and having a few backup plans.

So after telling Shane my horrible date he was adamant that he got to suss out the next dude and I was 100% in agreeance

Which brings us to meeting Ben, we had spoken to each other online and on the phone for a couple of months, I was already in love with him, lol and I really wanted to meet him.  I was half thinking he wasn't really into me but also half hoping it would all work out :) He had around five photos on his profile page and they all looked a little different so I wasn't really sure who would be knocking at my door.

Shane and I were at the supermarket together one afternoon, I was texting Ben and Shane said, I should just bite the bullet and invite him around for burritos, so I did...*gulp* and we walked out with burrito ingredients.

The next bit is a bit of a blur but I clearly remember opening the door that night and seeing Ben and feeling instantly deflated. My first thought was that he was way too cool for me after seeing his manicured facial hair and silver chain around his neck and realising he wasn't the dude for me. Obviously this has a happy ending and those two points were cleared up later :)

We made burritos and watched zombie land which actually doesn't sound like a bad first date but the way Ben tells it, sounds slightly awkward. I don't remember this but apparently Ben was downgraded to the beanbag on the floor and Shane and me lay on the bed together. Had I had half a brain I probably would of thought through that a bit more but for me, there was this super cool dude in my house eating my burritos and I, being the pretty nervous/shy person that I am, took the easy option and hung back with my homie. Ben on the other hand was thinking he had landed himself into some threesome situation and was confused as all hell.

Weirdest date ever? I dunno but I'd sure do it a little differently. Once we had quickly established Ben wasn't a serial killer and I wasn't dating Shane our next dates were a whole lot more awesome.

The next problem was months after dating we hadn't even kissed yet, there were some late night gelato missions at the beach and some heart pounding moments for me where things got way too romantic and I was 100% awkward but still, zip, zilch, nothing. I had a debrief with Shane who told me I was quickly heading into friends zone and I needed to step up my game and kiss this boy. Oh boy. I don't know about you guys but I have never ever had to make the first move. I still wasn't sure if Ben was super cool and not that into me or just hella shy like me but I was super into him and I needed to seal the deal.

We had a  party at our place and I did what any super cool girl would do, I drank a lot and then I kissed him and the rest is history :) We talked about this all later when it was less fresh and less awkward and he too was just as nervous as me, he does refer to the first kiss and the "kiss raping" but hey I'm proud I had to guts to step up and get us out of the friends zone, even if it was in the most awkward way ever :p

Oh and remember his super cool facial hair and silver chain? I later learned that he had visited his friend Lucy prior and she had given him his super cool facial hair and told him that chicks would dig it and his silver chain was a gift from his late step dad, something he never took off :) It eventually broke, so he now keeps it cherished and safe in his room.  I can now say that Ben was exactly who I thought and hoped he would be and it makes me smile that we were both as nervous as each other. 

Okay it's your turn - first date story time! feel free to share it on your blog or leave a comment below, you know I love the romance!

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5 year anniversary

The other week Ben and I celebrated our five year anniversary, to me that sounds like a long time and in the scheme of things really isn't but it's also my longest relationship and that makes me super happy. For those who don't know, Ben and I met through an online dating site. If you have never been on one, 99% of the Aussie guy profiles read something like this

"I'm a fun loving guy, who enjoys hanging out with my mates, going fishing, playing sport"

"I also enjoy cuddling on the couch"

Which sounds good, heck I like cuddling on the couch but after a while that line starts to become a little repetitive. When I read Ben's profile it was weird and he said he liked art and it was pretty much love at first read and sight. I remember feeling totally smittened after our first phone call together. I remember he talked about those tiny, fish shaped, bottles of soy you get with sushi and how awesome they are and that made me think he was awesome. Our first meeting was a little funny but maybe I'll save that for another time.

Our Limerance has lost some of its shine (google it it's interesting!) but how I feel deep down about him is just the same. I'm beyond stoked I got to meet someone weird and cute and smart and goodlooking and so stoked that he liked me back. I'm also so grateful that his heart, like mine has a desire to commit to someone not just in those peachy happy times but through all those annoying, bad mood, peeved off, pms-ing times too. I love him so crazy much and I'm so thankful we met each other :) Five years kind of just happened - we're still the same silly peeps that met, liked each other and luckily still like each other (or even more).  Below are photos from our trip to the Gold Coast we took together (and with Gremlin). I had no idea pet friendly motels existed but apparently they do :)

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Ben's keychain collection

Remember when I said Ben and I are in strict competition over who has the cooler key chain collection (I do!) well I finally got around to photographing his. I think we're going to have a Facebook comp to see who wins but feel free to voice your own opinion in the comments below. I think it's going to come down to who has more friends really :p

You can check out mine here.

I had this revelation the other day that Ben and I optimise the stereotype of little kids and their genders.  My favourite colour is pink and I like all things cute and as you can see above Ben likes swords and guns and tools and toy cars :p

The best thing that came out of all this (untangling his collection was certainly not) is that I've been wanting that cat keyring Ben got in Japan (for forever) and he finally gave it to me! (who ever said persistence never pays). I also love that it looks a little bit like Gremlin!

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Film Christmas

Before it's officially too late to stop posting Christmas photos, here are some shots from a roll of film I recently got developed. I used my Canon 1000f with Ektar film (will review soon!)

You may notice, from the above picture, I like to clash at Christmas! Thanks Dani for the 'upping the aperture' tip to get my film shots in focus, seems to be working, hurrah!

Ben and I went to my family for Christmas lunch, Ben commented it was a very Australian Christmas spread; cold ham, fresh prawns, chicken, salads and of course Bon bons!

At night we headed to my friend's shane place, they have a wood fire oven, so we all made our own pizza and had a pizza-off, my pizza didn't do so great because the pumpkin was slightly undercooked...oops!

And then Ben and I ended the night by getting silly but we're always silly, so that's not so odd :p Ben went back to work the other day, so it's back to being boyfriend-less for another six weeks, nooooo! I've learnt to adjust to him being away (sorta) but it's still sucks, I miss my buddy :(

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We're back!

Yay I'm back from my Singapore/Malaysian holiday and let's just say it was even better than I expected :) I think Singapore gets a bit of a shoddy rap for it being only a shopping/eating destination and Malaysia well we only saw a glimpse in our three days which clearly means we'll have to return!

I ended up taking 3000 photos with my digital camera + 8 rolls of film that I need to scan, mmm, this blog might need to take a short hiatus as I feel like I've come back to an even busier life than when I left it...how did that happen? For now I'm going to leave you with the silliest photo we took, just before we left. We're not use to having handfuls of cash and when the Malaysian dollar was 2.4 times our own, it was hard to resists doing the following...

If only they exchanged coins instead, could of maybe completely covered Ben's body, lol

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The Lillies have woken up :)

Remember the bunch of flowers Ben brought me? Well all 10 lilies have now opened up and they fill my room with the most magical smell, it makes me happy every time I see/sniff them :)

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Someone who gets me :)

I’m so blessed to have met Ben, he looks after my happiness in crazy way.  I came home the other day after a bad shift at work and had a vent on the phone to Ben (he is still out in the desert for work, only one week to go though!!).   The very next day, a big bunch of flowers were delivered to me :) Ben later said, it was all he could think to do, being so far away.  It was a really nice surprise but maybe even nicer than getting flowers was knowing, how well Ben knows me.

One of the first things Ben asked me that evening was “did they deliver them around the back?” I told him no. The only people who do that are a) the mailman or b) angry neighbours. I’ve had to cop an angry neighbour confrontation before and since then I’ve been too scared to answer the front door :P Ben said he made sure to give special instructions to deliver the flowers to the back door, knowing I’d be too scared to answer anyone knocking on the front.  Even though the flower guy messed up, I had the hugest smile knowing, someone gets my strange ways :)

 

P.S. I’ve been inspired by Irela’s blog lately and how she lays out her photos, so I thought I’d try something different myself.  I’ve used Pugly Pixel’s Photo Layouts which were simple and easy to use in Photoshop :)

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DIY Letterbox Umbrella

Do I mention enough, how rad I think my boyfriend is? He had the idea (actually I think it was a combined light bulb moment) of making our letter box an umbrella because our packages sometimes get wet. We went down to the plaza and the only small umbrella we could find was decked out in a football team's colours and logos. The lady at the counter warned us (after we told her our mailbox idea) that the umbrella was so cool someone might nick it :p Mmm we're not really sports people, so that was kind of lost on us, lol.  Anyway when we got home Ben decorated it with his recent spray can loot (we've both been practising with the cans..they're hard!) and then we strung it up... ta-da...no more wet mail. It's been up for a while now and no one has pinched it, I think the new colours might be a deterrent :) lol

P.S. I personally LOVE junk mail but I live with a bunch of commercial haters, so no trash for me :(
P.S.S. You can see my spray paint attempt over at my other blog, yes I have more than one blog, crazies!  Be warned it is extremely cat-centric!

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Monkey Land

Monkey Land from Fee Harding on Vimeo.

My boyfriend brings me back magical gifts from small country towns when he travels, this is one of them!!

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Balcony Tv

I realised I never shared Ben's balcony TV performance, if you have a spare 5 minutes give it a watch, I loved it :)

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Fresh and dying

Ben is a nice boyfriend and buys me flowers, unfortunately they seem to be coming to their end days :(

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Getting to meet One Direction!!

Being silly at the supermarket :p

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Eggs Benny

I had to get up at 5 am (way too early!) this morning to drop off Ben and Lowie to their seismic jobs. When I say I had to, I did get to snooze on the drive down to Brisbane which turned out to be the most glorious indulgent sleep I've ever had, the kind where you don't take a minute of snooze for granted, you're extra cosy and the pillow is being all kinds of soft, ahhh, magical! What is not so magical is tonight, falling asleep alone. Luckily Ben's hitch is only three weeks this time, so that is magical. What else is magical is Ben and our last breakfast cook up! It was sooo good, even if the chickens did harass us all, as we sat down the back eating in the winter sun :) After taking this photo Daz joked and said "you're not going to Facebook that pic?" and I laughed back and said, "no I'm going to blog it" (nothing wrong with take photos of your food right?!? Lol)

I've had such fun times with Ben of late that it makes me even sadder he is gone. I've captured a moment in my head and I keep reliving it. The moment goes a little something like this, Ben bought a new (to him) car and the previous owner's CDs was still in the player, from that CD Ben discovered that "call me maybe song" which meant just yesterday we were rockin' out to it in his car as we drove to take pictures of a Big Dinosaur, which I need to get onto editing! I'm so happy I get to date someone who embraces lame things as much as me, well maybe not as much as me but he definitely let's me indulge in them and joins me on my lame quests :)

It's true what they say though, absence definitely makes the heart grow fonder :)

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Yogurt World - Mooloolaba

It's hard to miss with it's huge penguin logo and inviting bright colours! I'll admit I tried to pulls Ben's arm into the direction of Baskins but I'm glad we detoured into Yogurt World.

The concept it pretty simpler you grab a cup, fill it with yoghurt and add in your toppings. You then go to the counter pop your cup on the scales and you pay $3.20 per 100 grams. I manage to settle on two flavours, lychee and chai, but really you could make a Frankenstein concoction if you wanted :) For toppings I went with strawberries and popping lychee balls, chocolate and nuts. They have a LOT of options, next time I won't play it so safe! The verdict, yummo! I was a bit worried this would taste super healthy but it tastes more sorbet than natural yoghurt if you catch my drift :p. The yogurt flavours weren't overwhelming either which for me was awesome. Ben got Milo which definitely tasted like milo but managed to somehow work as being yogurt...baffles me!

We will be back!!

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