Today Davy and I will be discussing the moment when we felt truly loved in our relationship. Of course, we have both always felt loved by each other throughout the last (almost) four years but that doesn’t mean that we can’t have particular memories of a moment when we felt overwhelmed (in a good way) about the love that has been displayed to us by our partner. Neither of us are very material people so we don’t need gifts to feel completely loved by our other half so this one we really, really thought thoroughly about before publishing this post.

If you are confused about the premise of the post, basically it is a prompt from ldrblogs (a network for long distance relationship bloggers) where each of you have to write down a moment where you felt truly loved by the other. Both of you can write about anything, as long as it’s to do with the actual prompt. Neither of you are allowed to see each other’s answer for the prompt until both of you have written down your *moment* and then afterwards, you share your reaction to each other’s responses. It’s a great way to make a post interactive especially when you run a blog together.

A long distance relationship isn’t the most ideal scenario for someone who suffers with anxiety or gets easily worked up and/or worried by the smallest things. I’ve had a lot of experience with this in the last three and a half years. Being a person that has had to deal with bullies throughout most of her life, I found it difficult to understand that I would ever be able to find someone who would love me for me. Especially since the target for a bully is to make you feel worthless. The bullies from primary and secondary school succeeded with that and to this day I still find it incomprehensible that I have someone in my life who loves me unconditionally and who doesn’t care what other people think of me because he feels differently and more positive about me than I have felt about myself.

One of my biggest fears is (or used to be quite often) that I’m not the amazing person Davy thinks I am. That this so-called “amazing Jane” of his is just the surface and that there is something much, much worse deep inside. In the three or so years we’ve been a couple, he has seen many sides to me. He has seen the goofy side of me, the passionate (and prepared to do anything for the love of my life) one, the insecure and worried about everything working out side, the book nerd, the stubborn side and the I’m not taking any bullshit side. And yet I still get terrified that one day he will be fed up of my constant mood switches and want to be with someone else. I even ask him “what if you decide you would rather have someone who doesn’t get anxious as easily?” and he ALWAYS, and I mean literally ALWAYS reassures me that there is no one else he’d rather be with no matter the distance between us or what has been said or done, that at the end of the day he would choose me every single time. And I am so grateful to have him as mine, and to be his.

So this is going to be a new feature on the blog. Once a week, we’re going to be listing our favourite posts of the week in the LDR blogverse! At first these posts will only contain a small amount of them, as we sift through posts and try to find ones that we enjoy or feel like we can relate to. We’d like to remind you that posts will be of various ages, they can be older posts that we’ve come across on people’s blogs or new ones. If you would like us to check out your blog post or blog, please don’t hesitate to link it in the comments below! The more links, the merrier and the more we’ll be able to read and include in future POTWs! And if you like a post from here, please do comment (it’s optional of course) on the blogger’s page and let them know! There’s nothing more joyous than letting a fellow blogger know that you like what they write, and that someone out there is able to relate to how they are feeling - especially in an LDR! It really does bring a smile to the writer’s face.

THIS WEEK’S FAVOURITE POSTS

THIS IS WHEN OVERTHINKING MAKES YOU STRONGER - DIANA 

(I feel like at one point everyone tends to overthink in a relationship and it can be scary, this post is super accurate)

WHAT MATTERS - CHRISTIE 

(This poem is beautiful and really captures the heartbreak and determination of an LDR)

I SING VOCÊ CANTA (YOU SING) - TAYLOR 

(Some great song choices and how music can really bring two people closer)

44+ IMPOSSIBLY FUN PHOTO IDEAS FOR LONG DISTANCE COUPLES - LDR MAGAZINE 

(There are some seriously goofy and adorable ideas here if you're feeling stumped on how to make your photos unique from afar) 

If you have any suggestions to be featured in a future POTW or would love for us to read your blog about your LDR, please link us in the comments. We’re always (and I mean always) looking to read other people’s LDR journeys regardless of how little or large the distance actually is. Even if you’ve closed the distance and have written a post about it, we want to know! And to squee at how awesome that is! Have a beautiful weekend all :)

Allow me to say first of all that we’re not a very musical couple. I mean, the only instruments Davy and I probably are able to play is the triangle and that’s just about how far our musical talents go. But listening to music has always been a large part of our relationship and before that, our friendship. When we first started speaking, it wasn’t at all difficult to figure out each other’s taste and as most couples discovered, we had pretty similar music tastes - although to everyone else out there our choices may seem a bit questionable! Ah well, as long as we enjoy listening to them that’s all that matters. Our choices are varied, I think. Although, being the Backstreet Boy fan at heart that I am….I had to make sure they crept in somewhere (even though the two songs selected are Davy’s favourites so ha!).

Anyway, shall we get down to the list. They will be listed in no particular order, and at the end of the post I will embed a playlist via Spotify so you can listen to the songs with ease! Please, don’t judge our choices hehe. These are the top ten songs we’ve always had some kind of meaning throughout our entire relationship and have helped us get through the good, bad and ugly times with the distance! We hope you enjoy our choices!

Many years ago, before I met Davy or even knew what a long distance relationship was, one of my sister’s moved out of our family home and approximately 350 miles away. I never realised it at the time, and still didn’t realise it until I got into my own long distance relationship that LDRs can also go far beyond just the romantic type of relationships. I was still pretty young (just fifteen) and naive when my sister left home with her partner to Ipswich. I was really upset because we’ve always - and still are - been super close and she has always been a part of my support unit. If anything has been troubling me, even from a young age, she would be the one person I go to.

Even as I am nearing my 23rd birthday in August and she is nearing her 28th, we have always kept that bond between us. As I’ve grown up and learnt things, she’s always helped me understand various perspectives of it. She’s made me laugh when I’ve wanted to cry. She’s been there when me and Davy have had our rough patches and in return, we’ve helped each other through emotionally tough times. We’ve kept each other company on Skype whilst her partner has been working, and she has kept me company when Davy has been at work too. We’ve really helped each other through our anxious moments. When I’ve been on Skype worrying, fidgeting and almost to the point of panicking - she’s been there to rationalise the situation when I haven’t been able to talk to Davy.

Travelling isn’t always the easiest thing to do. Especially with money being so tight thanks to the economy among other situations. Whether you are on the minimum wage (or just over it) or earning a decent salary you can still get some really good deals. Due to our financial situation as a couple and as individuals not being stable, we’ve had to adapt and find other solutions to be able to have those visits.

The most complicated thing about finding affordable travel in Europe (this can apply for other continents too) is finding one that fits within a price range of under £100. You can get many good deals with flights and trains, but sometimes even the most simplest form of travel is overlooked: coaches. Sure, they’re not always the most comfiest and people are usually turned off by sitting in one place for numerous amount of hours but isn’t that what most international couples have to do regardless? I know many couples who live further than across mainland Europe and those couples have had to go via routes that don’t allow them to even stretch their legs other than up and down the plane aisles. This problem gives coach travelling some leverage. Depending on the coach company and the schedule, a coach driver will and be happy to allow you to stretch your legs outside of the coach for a few minutes during a scheduled stop - that’s if the coach is running on schedule. There are also other opportunities for you to stretch your legs during a coach trip. For example, say if you are travelling from Antwerp (or any other European destination) to London and you have to go via ferry/tunnel. You can take advantage of this as when you are on the ferry, all passengers are required to go the main deck. This allows you to wrinkle out all the tightness in your legs, you can get warm food and beverages. You can even get in some extra phone/gadget charging or grab a sofa and snooze for the duration that it takes to get from Calais to Dover!

The first visit of the summer. Finally, it is here again! Well it already happened, so…..finally it happened again! It feels surreal that we just had a visit after six long and arduous months! But I’m so happy we managed to have one after Davy worked so hard to make sure he could make it for his birthday, and what’s even better…he’s already booked August for my birthday too! Thank god for Megabus who makes it so much easier for us to see each other, right? ;)

So on the day Davy arrived, I was a lot more calmer about it. Usually I’d be biting the nails off of every single finger possible on the day, but I felt much calmer. Since Davy has had his new job, with longer hours and more days, I’ve gradually got accustomed to not being able to talk as much. Even though my anxiety is still quite prominent when we aren’t able to be together, it’s calmed down enough for me to think rationally during his shifts and when he is travelling. I used to be a lot worse with panicking about it, but I’m slowly getting to the point where I can think straight without automatically assuming the worst. Anyway, we picked an unshaven Davy who needed a shower and a good warm meal inside of him after roughly 20 hours of straight travelling in a coach. Safe to say, even when he hasn’t been able to wash properly…he still smells good after travelling….well, when he sprays some Dark Temptation on those lovely pits of his - I’m kidding boo, but seriously…they are lovely ;)

Most of our visit consisted of curling up on the sofa and just spending every second possible together. We wanted this visit to be much more casual and a lot less about going out everywhere, although if the weather had permitted it we would’ve probably gone at least a few more times other than to Asdas and Frankie and Benny’s (and popping into places where I can feed my book addiction…) Anyway, this visit was more about being in each other’s company, we’ve had all the visits where we’ve done so much stuff that we’ve barely been able to sit down and relax so this visit really needed those two aspects. We had fun doing things together still, but I was glad that we could just step back from constantly being everywhere and anywhere, from jumping from Costa Coffee to the cinema so I’m really glad we could just chill as a couple, in the comfort of my family’s home. Each visit, regardless of how long or not so long they are, is starting to feel more like a home-coming for Davy which is great because my baby gets to come home (well at least his future home).

It's been a long, long time since I’ve done a post on this blog but that has its own reasons here and there!

What is more important is that very soon, June 10th, I’ll be with Janey again! Yaaayy!! For my birthday and our 1 year engagement anniversary.

It’s the first time since January that we’ll be together again so both Jane and I and are super excited! And to make things better, in August I’ll be with Jane again for her birthday!

It’s been such a very long time. A time that has been cruel to us. Then again, time is always cruel when in a LDR. I’m sure people who read this can relate here and there!

We’ll finally get to do things together again properly! We can go watch films at the local cinema, go out for dinners or just stay in all day, all cuddled up under a blanket! Well, maybe not under a blanket since the Cornwall summers are quite hot.

In my experience that is .. Once .. But it was hot!

The life of an LDR couple (credited to the original artist, we found this on the internet)

It’ll also be the first time that Jane and I get to experience her birthday together! Then we basically have checked the list of special days we wanted to experience together so badly! Valentine’s Day, my birthday, Jane’s birthday, annual anniversaries, Christmas and New Years!

Jane and Davy here - or as you best know as us as Davy and Janey. It’s been a while since we updated properly and you’re probably wondering why there has been such a huge gap between our last post and now. Our last post was September, and since then we have celebrated our third year as a couple and finally had our first Christmas and New Years celebrations together as a couple and we even had our first LDR couple meet up / double date with the lovely Chelsea & Chris over at LoveMyBrit.com - which by the way was amazing and we can’t wait to have another!
In the last few weeks, and months, we have been trying to deal with the ups and downs of a long distance relationship. We’ve been a little cranky occasionally and have been trying to make sure that we put each other first, hence why we haven’t written anything in so long. Added to the stress of a long distance relationship are our own ventures. Jane since September, participated in her first NaNoWriMo and managed to hit the 50k word goal. Something that took a whole lot of time and commitment to, of course, and now she’s in the process of editing that novel (the working title was Sinking Fast but she has now renamed it to something awesomer, obviously) whilst having an idea of another novel. Jane’s also been progressing a lot with her Dutch, she recently took a language test over at Dutch Language School and managed to score an 83% (around an intermediate level roughly)! Of course, the test only included writing and reading Dutch but Jane has also been working on her speaking and listening - which have improved vastly. When she first began Dutch, the first six or so months were full of ‘I can’t do it’ etc but now Jane plucks up the courage to speak more Dutch. She’s also been reading books/news articles, listening to radio and watching Pokemon in Dutch.

Meanwhile, Davy has been busy looking for a second job - on top of the one he has - as the agency he works for simply doesn’t give enough hours, and if we’re going to close the distance between November 2015 and February 2016 this is something that is really important especially on the money side of things. We’ve also looked into packing boxes, and shipping companies. As well as that, on the job front - we sat down and re-wrote his CV, one in Dutch and one in English (for when he moves over) so we can give him the best possible chance of getting an interview. Just a heads up, but for those who want a CV format that is recognised all over Europe - EuroPass is officially recognised by the European Government, as well as the UK Government. They also have information on their website about the recognition of qualifications all across Europe - it may take a bit of clicking about, but it’s not that much of a difficult website to navigate. They also have an editor to create your CV online which they then save into a fancy and smooth looking PDF!

So in a few weeks time, it will be our three year anniversary! Something we have been eagerly anticipating. A lot has happened for us this year, we've had the most amount of visits between us - we became happily engaged (it will be four months on the 14th of October!!!) and are now looking forward to being able to spend Christmas together - a first for us as we'll actually be able to spend it together physically and not just over Skype. So we have plenty of things to look forward to. And I can't believe we've been together for three years. Time has literally flown by for us. It's crazy because if you would have asked me three years ago, if I thought that I'd be engaged to my dream guy, I'd be telling you to stop being so silly because he's so far out of my league! (And yes Davy you are if you're reading this, don't you pfft me Mr! :P)

And as a post, I thought I'd share some ideas of what I and others could make for our SO's for any kind of anniversary, or just a gift to show your SO how much you love them! So, are you ready? I've gone for some suggestions that aren't too expensive as I know how money is difficult to come by myself and I always find it difficult to know what to buy Davy - not because he's difficult to buy for but rather, I just want to make sure his gift is perfect! And I always feel bad that I can't contribute much to gifts, other than sending him books I know he'd like so this year I thought I'd try be a bit more creative. I think the price tag on your gift shouldn't really matter, as long as it's meaningful to you, and when you make or buy it - that you like it. As long as you've tried, I think your SO will love it regardless.