Safe to say, the last two months have been a bumpy ride. I’ve been struggling a lot with my indigestion to the point that at meal times, I find it hard to get food down into my stomach. I don’t know why this happens, but it really does make eating uncomfortable - especially when you have to chew something to the point it becomes a part of your phlegm and even then, it’s still really uncomfortable to swallow because you feel like you might choke or there is too much trapped wind in your oesophagus to swallow the food down.

It’s one of the reasons why I’ve felt so unmotivated to do anything - blogging, reading, Dutch, general conversation as the indigestion keeps me up all night. I’ve felt pretty pathetic that indigestion is causing me this much trouble. I find it hard to sleep at night, to shut my brain down from thinking ‘what if I choke on air in my sleep?’ as stupid as it sounds. I’ve had countless nights where I’ve had to run into my parents room from where the trapped wind is so painful and so uncomfortable that I’m having panic attacks over it. I hate it. And not only is it affecting my ability to do things, but it’s making me become very frustrated with things around me far easier than I should be.

On top of that, Davy and I only get to talk between 2-3 hours a day, during the week as he has been having very long shifts. This means by the time we get into a conversational topic, we have to say night already. It can be quite frustrating especially when the both of you wish you could talk longer than the amount you do.

Back on the 17th October, it was our four year anniversary! Yay, four years already!

Unfortunately though, we didn't get to spend much time talking since I had to go to work. But in the time we did have, before and after, we talked quite a bit.

We also got each other a little present. Jane got me this lovely “What I Love About You” booklet, where you have 50 lines with some gaps that you have to fill in. For Jane, I got a drawing tablet to help her draw on her PC with Photoshop and such.

She's been using the tablet a lot as well, she's drawn so many things. 

 (Hehe)

She's getting better with every drawing and I'm just so proud of her.

I just can't wait for our next anniversary again, where we'll be together!! We'll be so together, we will have closed the distance!

Finally I just want to say that I really love my Janey and I'd like to say once more, happy 4 year anniversary!!

When it comes to creativity, it can be hard to find that freedom you need to unleash it all. This is something that happens to me quite often. I can easily have periods of time where the urge to let out my creativity becomes overbearing and I just need to do something productive in a creative manner.

The only problem? I get so indecisive with how to let out that creativity. Sometimes I need to write, but I don’t know what to write. I have a few work in progress novels but I can never decide which one to just stick to and thrash out the plot. I’m learning to draw, but sometimes I’m at that stage where I’m not confident or knowledgeable enough to draw from the depths of my imagination without it looking like a 3 year old scribbled on some paper. It’s quite funny really. I only know how to draw heads right now, and I struggle to draw in proportion bodies. It’s just how do I make sure that the neck isn’t too fat or skinny for my subject’s head and that everything is aligned and looks, well, human? The other day I tried drawing a body and it ended up looking like a demented alien. And trust me, you DO NOT want to see that.

Regarding the fore-mentioned novels, I know I should be focused on writing them. But when your thoughts are constantly whirring about all the small things in life, it’s hard to just quieten it down enough to remain focused at the task in hand. Either that, or I start writing and I think I like the direction it’s going in and then I just hit a stumbling block and I can’t seem to get past it. Or the voice of the character starts irritating me so I start experimenting constantly. This usually leads me to getting fed up of the whole plot and starting from scratch. So I re-plan and rewrite everything all over again. Literally down to the T.

Alongside travel, for us long distance couples, gift buying can be one of the hardest things to budget. Especially if you’re an international couple and you’re trying to save money for visits or closing the distance.

With gifts, you have to think about a range of things. Is the postage going to be expensive to send from one country to the other? Is it too big or too small to send in the mail? Is it going to arrive on time? Is it a restricted or prohibited item? Etc. That’s why in a long distance relationship, you generally have to plan gift buying weeks - maybe months - in advance.

I’ve come up with some pointers on how I go about gift buying when it comes to a special milestone in our relationship - whether it’s an anniversary, birthday or a special holiday like Christmas or Valentines Day.

Being in a slump when in a long distance relationship is not unusual. We all get into them. Being in one doesn’t mean you are unhappy, or that you shouldn’t be in your relationship. It’s common, as humans, for us to feel frustrated with some aspects of our lives. Distance usually is the forefront of these frustrations for us LDR couples, and expectantly so. But what can you do to get out of one of those slumps when the distance just feels like it’s all too much to bear? That you aren’t strong enough to keep going, that you don’t feel worth being with because of the distance? You know what you do? You keep kicking the distance right in the butt. That’s right! Kick it as hard as you can!

Okay . . . You’re probably thinking; ‘what does kicking thin air have to do with getting me out of a slump?’

Nothing, but just imagining kicking all the miles that separate you and your love is pretty satisfying. Especially when you imagine it to be this huge blobby, ugly monster that you repeatedly kick it in the nuts . . . That’s if the monster has nuts . . .ahem.

Okay, okay . . . So kicking it in it’s hypothetical genitals isn’t doing it for you? Fair enough. So that’s why we have some tips to help you get out of that feeling of distance fatigue, heartache and loneliness.

Recently, we were approached by a British journalist - Amanda Stringfellow - from Barcroft Media to get word out about a new case study on long distance relationships for an undisclosed national newspaper in Britain. This case study is targeted at British nationals who are in a long distance relationship (or if your SO is British, that should be fine too!) We don’t have too many details about it, but please be rest assured that this is a real opportunity for you to talk about your experience of being in a long distance relationship and to show the world that distance truly can be overcome! If you are interested in participating or finding out more information, please contact Amanda at the following, make sure you mention that we sent you her way:

Email: Amanda@barcroftmedia.com (Subject: British LDR Case Study)

Twitter: @amanda_l_s

And in case you’re feeling unsure about the authenticity of this opportunity, you can check out Barcroft’s two websites (1/2) to see just what they do!

Remember, this is for British LDRs! We’re just simply trying to help people get their LDR journeys heard by a real newspaper! Let’s show everyone that long distance relationships aren’t impossible! That we can defeat the miles, regardless of all the obstacles facing us! Good luck!

It’s no longer Summer and with that comes a new refined blog design. This is so that our blog is much more pleasant to browse, and hopefully it means that more people will stick around and follow our posts than before (fingers crossed). The only problem we’ve come across so far, is that you might have to do a cache refresh (ctrl and f5) to get the navigation bar’s font to show up as it seems to be a little temperamental for us, at least. If you have any other problems experiencing the blog’s new look, please do comment!

So you guys understand what changes have been made, we’ve decided to break it down for you. Below is an overview of the new blog design.

The overall look of the new design is fresh, but simple.

Last night was probably one of the most stressful and worrying nights I’ve ever experienced in our relationship.

Not because of a fight or plans going wrong but more because I was so worried about Davy. He had been feeling a bit under the weather these last few days. At first we didn’t think much of it because we assumed it was from him lifting boxes and just being generally busy at work. But then yesterday, Davy started coming down with other things. His throat was hurting, he couldn’t lift his left shoulder/arm without it hurting, he was starting to wheez and cough constantly. Then later that evening, he checked his temperature: 101.4 F / 38.6 C. This was just as we were saying goodnight because Davy had an appointment with his GP this morning at 8.30am.

When he told me it was 38.6c, he was like “oh it seems normal” which confused me, because I was sure that the average body temperature was at least a centigrade or two lower than that. So feeling confused and even more worried, I asked my parents if that temperature was considered normal. My parents knowing from experience of having six children (and at some point, we’ve all had high temperatures whether it’s from pneumonia or other illnesses) knew something was off. Dad told me that I HAD to wake Davy up to get him to cool his body temperature because it went from normal to just a sudden hot spike in a matter of an hour. So, I woke him up - as bad as I felt about it and I managed to get him to get some ice for his head and cool cloths for the rest of his body.

I felt horrible because I knew he needed sleep in order to wake up for his appointment in the morning but at the same time, making sure his body was cooler was hugely important too. It took about half an hour for his temperature to be in the 36-37c range without any ice or wet cloths on his body, which wasn’t too bad. But all night I couldn’t stop tossing and turning in bed. Now we are just waiting to hear back about his x-ray results.

Last night was a defining moment for me because it just made me appreciate him even more. It made me realise how badly and how much I really need him to be okay. How heartbreaking it is not being able to care for him, look after him and be by his side to help him recover from this. He’s had colds and flu’s in the past, don’t get me wrong, but nothing as worrying and scary as this.

It’s little moments like your other half being ill to the point that you’re scared of their condition worsening and feeling useless because you can’t physically prevent it that really make you see how deeply you feel inside about them. Of course, Davy knows I feel deeply about him, as do I know how deeply he feels about me. But when you’re faced with possibly your SO having to be admitted to hospital, it makes you want to give them even more TLC the next time you see them. It makes every little kiss, hug, glance and butterfly in your stomach even more special.

Inspired by this LDR Writing Prompt: Defining Moment

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(don't forget to add Jane as a reference if you do sign up)

Finding things to keep an LDR fresh and exciting can be frustrating and at times tedious. But I have come up with a few ideas and tips that Jane and I use when looking for things to do together whilst apart.

I'm here to let you know about a few things Jane and I do ourselves to keep us busy and entertained.

It's hard to always keep busy though. You might not be in the mood to do something. Or you might not have the time to something because of the time zone differences. And sometimes even talking is more than enough.

But what if you want to do more than talk? Here's some suggestions:

Watch a TV show or a film together.

This is something Jane and I do often. Not too long ago we started watching New Girl, which is hilarious. We've also watched a British comedy called Bad Education and I can't start about the amount of films we've seen together.

It's really easy to do. Just find a show or show to watch that both you and your significant other are interested in, buffer your file and do a little 3, 2, 1 countdown and start watching. It'll keep you busy for a good amount of time for an extended period. It might take you a week to watch a show or maybe 3 months, as long as it keeps you busy.

A few days ago, I received a really cute package from LeafCutter Designs; their deluxe tiny mail kit (also known as the world’s smallest post service). I was super excited to try this product out as it’s one of those products that is really unique and it brings a little bit of pizazz to packages and letters to your loved ones - in my case, Davy.

When I first opened the package, I was stunned at how compact everything was. Usually DIY kits are far larger than advertised, but it LITERALLY is a tiny mail kit. It made me giggle at how small the stationary sheets were. I was expecting to have to use tweezers to handle it but thankfully my fingers were careful (and small) enough handling everything. The kit comes with different coloured stationary sheets, very fun-size postage stickers, various mini envelopes (plus not-so-tiny translucent envelopes for your minuscule envelopes to go into), brown paper and string for craft boxes and last but not least: some very cute special delivery/air mail stamps and ink. You also get a special edition of ‘the small times’ especially made for the tiny mail kit, along with a LeafCutter Designs magnifying glass! I did notice there was a DIY cut out mailbox, which I’m planning to make with Davy when we have our next visit!