#Anyway what's your favourite foods? Could be a breakfast snack dinner or whatever

[jarate-enjoyer]

I'm hungry and I'm watching cooking videos to compensate that

[tsugua-rebmetpes]

101 Cute dates & bucket list

Little fire pit on the beach (middle of the night, private)

Toasting marshmallows & making cute smores

Observing the night sky through a telescope together / watch the stars on a clear sky in the middle of no where

A midnight dip in water (lake, ocean, etc. As long as it's safe)

Skinny dip under a full moon & to kiss passionately on a platform on the lake

To go on a small camping trip just the two of us

To visit the candy shop and pick each other's candy bags for only us to share them between us anyway

Getting crepes with you and eating them side by side

Taking you lingerie shopping so you can see the outfit as I buy it and the level of excite I know you have knowing you'll get to tear it off later

Sharing a bath with you (where we both fit comfortably or just tucked in a little where we can laugh about it)

Baking cookies so we can have them with our coffee in the morning

Taking you to a coffee roaster hut so you can experience amazing coffee

Going to a little tea house & plantation so we can support local business and enjoy the joys of freshly brewed tea

Picking what the other person must eat off the menu at a new venue / a place we've never been to before

Throwing a dart on a map and going to where ever it lands for a small holiday / trip (could be a city map, regional, state, national or global)

Decorating and making a floating lantern to release into the night sky (a la tangle)

Icing biscuits to look like things we like (e.g. ourselves, frogs or whatever your heart desires)

Smooshing whipped cream onto your nose and kissing/licking it off ♡

Making something together in a pottery class for ourselves n one another

Volunteering at a farm to help around (muster, harvest, etc.)

Go fruit picking together recreationally

Go to as many different distilleries and breweries as we can

Try to make bread together

Have our own Minecraft world together

Complete stardew valley & cattails ♡

Take a cooking/pastry lesson

Take Polaroid photos of our time together (on a trip or small adventure)

Go for a little hike together

Go swim in a little unknown ish water hole and push boundaries of comfort

Go to a cinema late at night (last screening of the evening, maybe wear matching pajamas) and buy popcorn / sneak snacks in. Cuddle in the cinema and watch a cute film together (be one of the only people in the cinema)

Have s/o read my favourite book to me aloud before bed time

Make jam & preserve food items & dry ingredients to make tea, etc.

Make chocolates for you (home made)

Grow my own flowers for us to admire

Start a small veggie patch & harvest our own produce to have a "self sufficient" dinner night

Volunteer at an animal shelter

Go to a farmer's market together / local fruit market and buy ingredients we will make into a meal together that evening

Become animal foster parents & successfully get our lil foster a fur-ever home

Do a hot food challenge or some sort of food challenge together

Go to a day spa for a "couple's retreat"

Make your favourite food (lasagne) on your birthday 🥰 / a random day

Steal a shopping trolly and race around an abandon area of the car park thinking we are in go karts & take photos

Dress up as the cool ghosts in the "blanket ghost" trend and take cute photos in odd locations

Explore an abandoned building together and theorize about the past / research about it

Have a little picnic in a field / park

Take a dance lesson together (ballroom) and be clumsily cute on trying something "new"

Sleep next to you & wake up beside you 🥺

Make your lunch for work & wake up early to make an awesome meal!

Make a random meal really late in the evening spontaneously to satisfy a craving

Have a new years kiss

Look at Christmas lights on houses together

Watch all the Harry Potter movies one after another together

Finish a series that either person is interested more initially in but both like towards the end

Do a cute skincare date! (Face masks)

Go to a food festival and try as much food as we can, get creative - pick the other's meals out to switch it up a little

Go paint balling together and try it out (even if I may not be as good as you. :< I'll try!!)

Try laser tag if paint ball doesn't go so well, feel free to invite friends to both events for more fun :) or go karting (something I've never done before)

Go horse riding together sometime

Cook with a campfire / burring our food in the ground for it to cook (Like damper)

Volunteer to plant trees

Become regulars at a small bar

Play pool/billards together

Check out a timezone arcade and play as much as we can :3 see how many prizes we can win and be merry

Have a board game night (catan, uno, monopoly, dnd etc.) Together with friends or strangers

Visit movie world (theme park) and dress up a little! / usj / Disneyland

Play pinball and we swap between balls to see how far we can go together!!!

Have a little date with the power off (candles, moon lit dinner, board games and no electronics! Be cute and creative)

Donate blood, with moral support or together :3

Go foraging for edible fruits, vegetables, etc. And make a meal out of it :3 research and have fun

Make a little stone tower together and take a photo of the creation (balancing stones)

Plant sunflowers and look after them for a whole season ♡ alternatively pick said flowers when ripe and give them as a gift to love ones

Do a Lego / puzzle set together ♡♡

Capture a little froggy and set him free (clean him up and take him to somewhere safe)

Watch horror films or movies we haven't seen before even if it's silly (.e.g the room )

Visit an aquarium and stare at the little jellies in the jelly room

Go to see a musical, play or ballet together 🥰

Dress up and go on a spontaneous date around town, over dressed for the occasion but having fun

Sunset and nibbles planned date 🥺

Go on a theme crawl, e.g. coffee, tea, wine, pub, cocktail, ramen, etc.

rent bikes to travel around on whilst doing a theme crawl

Dinner theatre or dinner murder mystery event together! Something a little less tame and wacky but still just as fun (something I've never done before)

escape room (challenge ourselves to do it within the time set!)

Ice skate together, trip & fall and catch one another on the ice being cute (maybe rent the kiddy pusher to help you out and be dorks)

Mosh and go to A small band performing concert together / go to A concert for an artist one or both like

Hot air balloon ride ^-^ (waking up early and having our own "Up" moment)

Ride in a helicopter one day to see the world like the birds that fly in the sky

Buy a plant or two at a nursery and take them home to look after

Go roller skating, reliving our teenage years with a limited budget, eat old skool candy and slushies.

Surprise birthday party

Outdoor cinema, watch a film on a projector and have fun on some outdoor cushions

Have a little boho tent and lunch date set up as a surprise

Dance under the moonlight and shining stars together just swaying and holding one another

Overnight at a bed & breakfast together, sleep in and enjoy breakfast in bed whilst away from phones

Have a little bonfire moment at home, write down your deepest desire, secrets, fears and burn them

Take a personality test together just to see the results

Read books in a little book cafe & drink our favourite drinks whilst snuggled up in a book nook

Do a little tarot reading & see a psychic or medium

Raise a pet together

Buy some helium balloons & change our voices whilst doing something (e.g. a speak type board game)

Wake up with you kissing me / wake you up with kisses

Plan a vacation together

[dreamescapeswriting]

Silent Treatment ~ OT7 [M] [Request]

WORD COUNT: 3.3K

PAIRING: ot7 x reader

GENRE: ot7, non! Idol, family relationship, smut, oral f recieving, female appreciation, we’re sorry sex,

A/N: I’m still not 100% there with ot7 smut, I am trying though so I hope that this is okay for you! I didn’t add too much smut as you only said a little. I hope you like it!

If someone had told you that you would be in a happy relationship with seven men, you never would have believed them. You never took yourself as someone who would be into polyamorous relationships but when you met the boys it all changed. They were kind, sweet, caring and they all loved you equally so it was no wonder you fell hard for them. Eventually moving into a huge home together and having a child. The only difficult part about that was explaining to your daughter’s teachers that she had different people going to pick her up from school. The dirty looks you would get from other people who thought your business was automatically their business when it had absolutely nothing to do with them.

“Mummy!” You snapped out of your daydream when you heard the familiar cry of your daughter’s voice. The more she grew older the more she began to look like you. Which you were thankful for. Neither you nor the boys knew which of them was the father, none of you wanted to know either. Collectively she was your child and that was the only thing that mattered.

“Hey sweetie, how was your day?” You questioned as you bent down to pick her up, placing her onto your hip as she began to list off everything she had been doing in class that day. You couldn’t believe she was almost seven years old, time flew by so quickly with her. 

“We did maths! I learnt how to multiply up to 10 today.” You giggled as you began heading back to the family car. It was supposed to be Yoongi’s turn picking her up today but it turned out he was busy and stuck at work. No big deal, you were mostly a stay-at-home mum and wife anyway since seven of them earnt far more than you knew what to do with.

“Are my dad’s at home?” A filthy look flew in your direction from the woman in the car beside your car. You weren’t stupid. You knew how everyone felt about your relationship with her fathers. Even the teachers in the school weren't best pleased that your daughter understood that she had more than one father. They expressed that they would rather have her know them as her uncles but who were they to tell you how to raise your daughter?

“Daddy Namjoon and Jungkook are but they’re a little busy, sweetie.” You strapped her into the back of your car, taking her book bag from her to check if she had homework to do. 

Normally it was Namjoon’s job to help with the homework, something you were trying to make happen so she knew it was okay as she grew older but not tonight. Tonight he and Jungkook were making renovations on the house so it was going to be you that helped her out.

“Okay, I’ll ask daddy Hoseok to teach me some dance moves when he comes home. We have an end of the year dance coming up and I want to ask Jaylyn and Katie to go with me.” You smiled weakly at her. The boys were all busy with their own things tonight but you nodded along, not wanting to upset her too much before you got home for the night. 

“Shall we put on some music or would you like to keep telling me about the dance?” You looked in the mirror at your daughter who pointed to the radio. One of her favourite things to do was listen to music. Something she had gotten from Yoongi. He was a radio jingle maker/ producer on the side which meant he was almost always busy with work. 

“Maybe we’ll hear daddy Yoongi’s radio jingle,” You told her with a laugh as you turned up the radio and began your drive home for the night. 

Your daughter had something from each of the boys, Yoongi’s love for music, Hoseok passion for dancing. Namjoon’s brain, Jungkook’s ability to be good at literally everything that she set her mind at. Jimin’s duality, Taehyung’s art skills and she took after Jin with her loud rambling in Korean. There was so much of them in her it was hard to believe she was only one of their children.

Once your daughter had finished her homework you allowed her to go and play while you cleaned up the house. It seemed that no matter how much you tidied up it would end up a total mess again. Clothes were strewn about on the top floor where everyone would come home and dump everything they had on. Shoes were piled up at the bottom of the stairs in front of the front door. Somewhat of a safety hazard. The floors seemed to always get dirty no matter how many times a day you cleaned them.

“What do you have planned for dinner?” Was the first question that flew from Jimin’s mouth once he entered the house. Shoes on messing up your freshly moped floors. Staring at him you almost wanted to slap him with the wet part of the mop.

“Jimin! I just moped!” You called out as you sat him leaving dirty shoe prints all over the place, seeming to have no care in the world as he made his way into the kitchen and heading into the pantry.

“Relax. It’s just a bit of mud.” He grumbled as he continued to go through the cupboards for snacks. Dropping different packets onto the floor that he didn't bother to pick up once he came out with what he wanted. 

“What did you say you had planned?” He questioned when you began cleaning up the mess he left and then began putting everything you had been using away.

“I didn’t, I don’t have anything planned.” You grumbled as you put the cleaning products away into the kitchen cupboards. Standing back up and looking over at Jimin who shrugged his shoulders.

“Nothing planned?” Jungkook’s voice chimed in as he heard you speaking. By now all of the boys were home and expecting something to eat as if you were the only one that knew how to use the oven. 

“Yes, nothing planned because guess what? I’m not the only one that knows how to cook.” You snapped as you glanced at each of their faces. You hadn't meant to snap as nastily as you did but it was getting to be exhausting being the only one that cooked and cleaned everything in the home.

“You’re the only one that has nothing to do all day. You've done nothing, the least you could have done was made dinner,” As soon as the words left Jungkooks lips the air seemed to turn cold and thin. Everyone turned to stare at him as you scoffed at the statement. The only reason you didn't work was that they had convinced you that they earnt enough, there was no need to work because who would look after your daughter all day.

“I did nothing all day?” Your hand rested on your hip as you tilted your head to the side. The boys said nothing leaving Jungkook to dig himself a bigger grave.

“I didn’t mean-”

“I do nothing? So I don’t clean all day, make breakfast and lunch for you, or take our daughter to school..." Jungkook turned pale as he realised how angry he had made you. 

"I don't pick her up even though it’s everyone else's turn. I don’t do the laundry, make sure the studies are clean or go food shopping, parent and teacher meetings?” Jungkook was taken back by everything he realised you did. He had no idea that you did so much leaving them to get on with whatever they wanted to do. 

“Y/n you’re being dramatic,” Taehyung mumbled as he shook his head, to him this was all easy work. Nothing about what you had said seemed as tiring as you were making it out to be,

“You know what...I don’t even have the energy for this,” You began making your way to the door when you heard Yoongi speak out this time,

“It's not like you work a full-time job, we would help but we work more than you do.” There it was. The "you don't work but we do" line. Something you had been anticipating since the moment they told you that you didn't have to work. Looking at each of their faces you knew from the moment you saw them they agreed with Yoongi.

“So you think being a mother isn’t a full-time job? That everything I do around the house is easy? Oh, please I would love to see you fucking try it for once.” You countered,

“You’re being stupid, they didn't mean it like that." All that you heard fall from Jin's lips was that you were stupid. You stared at him mouth hanging open a little but nothing came out. You just shook your head and stormed out of the room.

Ignoring them all as you stormed up to your bedroom. Normally you would share it with one boy a night, or two if you needed the extra cuddles but right now you needed to be alone. You walked past one of the studies to find your daughter fast asleep holding her barbies. Luckily she was away for the fiasco going on downstairs so you picked her up and carried her to your room. If they saw she was with you they wouldn't bother trying to get into the bed with you. 

Days passed by and the boys barely noticed you were giving them the silent treatment. They were all so busy with their jobs that they didn't speak to you. Meanwhile, you played the role of the pretty little housewife that made everything perfect for them while they were away. The house was spotless, your daughter was at school on time and picked up at the same time. 

"Darling, go and tell your dad's that dinner is waiting for them." You told her as you set the table for eight. Making sure your daughter's spot was right at the top of the table before putting their plates down and heading up to your room. There were piles of laundry sitting on the bed waiting to be put away. 

"Daddy," She called out as she walked into the back garden. They were all working on a new wendy house for her. They were trying to make it bigger than the last one so that everyone could fit into the house for tea parties. 

"Yes, sweetie?" Jin called out as she came bounding over to him, jumping into his arms and smiling.

"Mummy told me to tell you that dinner is ready," She looked at all of them and Jungkook clapped loudly. 

"Break time!" He chuckled rubbing his hands together and heading into the house. 

The dining room was empty and only eight placemats were set at the table. 

"Where is mummy?" Namjoon questioned your daughter who was sitting in your usual spot. She simply shrugged her shoulders before eating.

"I haven't seen her much and when I do she's silent which isn't like her," Jin mumbled as he began to eat the food you'd made, everything tasted fantastic like it always did when you cooked for them. 

"I tried to speak to her this morning but she ignored me," Jungkook mumbled as he pushed food into his mouth, 

"I don't blame her, you were rude on Tuesday." Hoseok reminded him of the day of the fight. That wasn't really a fight more like a disagreement. 

"We all were." Namjoon corrected him as they continued to think back on it. 

The weekend continued on just like that. You were sending messages to the boys through your daughter using her as a messenger owl while the boys did the same back. Monday morning came around and you were standing outside the school gates with your daughter. 

"Mum?" You looked at her as you zipped up her coat, grabbing her bookbag. 

"What is it, sweetie?" You questioned as you made sure her hair was perfect and she looked good to go. 

"Are you and my daddies going to spilt up?" You looked at her and then over at the school as the bell rang. 

"No, we're just having a small fight baby that's all." You whispered as you kissed her forehead. If you tried to explain it now she'd be late for school. 

"Go, I promise we'll make up while you're at school." She began rushing off in the direction of her class and you waved goodbye until the doors completely shut and you could head home. 

Home where all of the boys were waiting for you. They had collectively decided to take the day off from work so they could get to the bottom of whatever was wrong with you.

"So what's the problem with you?" Jungkook questioned earning a slap around the back of the head from Namjoon who was trying to be the levelheaded one throughout all of this. 

"What he means to say is, why are we getting the silent treatment?" Namjoon reiterated the question but in a different manner.

"Let me see...Tuesday night ring a bell?" You questioned as you walked past them and into the kitchen. Beginning to get started with the housework when Hoseok pulled you into a tight hug from behind. Your whole body seemed to melt into his as you missed the contact from each of them. 

"We were being idiots, we were tired and irritated with our jobs and we took it out on you." He whispered in your ear as he kept his arms around your tightly never once letting go. 

"Let us make it up to you," He whispered again, his breath making your back tingle as you shook your head. Getting away from him as quickly as you could. He knew what his whispers and touching did to you. 

"You think I'm just going to forget what you said with a simple, "we were irritated?" Because that's not how it works!" You snapped at them all, glancing over all of their faces to see if they truly meant what they were saying. 

"We didn't mean for it to be so mean and we're sorry," Yoongi told you as he stepped closer to you, holding your hand and running his fingers over your knuckles.

"We know how much you do and how hard you work," Jungkook stood up from the sofa and made his way into the kitchen to look at you.

"Now, please...Let us make it up to you." Yoongi told you again as he stepped closer to you. Running his hand up and down your cheek as you relaxed into his touch. 

"None of you have actually said sorry except for Yoongi." You moved closer to Yoongi, wrapping your arms around the back of his neck as you giggled. 

"So maybe I should only forgive him." You looked at the boys as your lips slowly began to kiss up and down Yoongi's neck, biting down softly right at the nape of his neck. His weakest point. 

"No! We're sorry! I'm sorry." Taehyung whined out desperately as he so wanted to have your body on his. It had been so long since any of you had been together intimately it was starting to become too much to be away.

Seven apologies later and you were laid on the bed making out with Yoongi while Namjoon's hands ran down your naked body. Massaging your breasts while his mouth wrapped around the other, sucking and nibbling on your nipple as you let out small moans of pleasure. 

"L-Let me touch you," You complained as you reached out to touch Yoongi but he moved your hand away. 

"It's about you tonight and only you," Confused by what he meant you went back to kissing him. Your lips moving in sync with one another as he held your face in his hands.

Suddenly you felt Jimin's lips on your core making you cry out at the sudden contact, 

"Seems like someone has missed us almost as much as we've missed her." He chuckled as he began to slowly lick stripes up and down your folds, nibbling at your clit whenever he could.

"Jimin!" You whined out, back arching a little as he continued with the slow movements of his tongue which almost had you begging for more.

"Hmm so good," Jimin moans out as he begins to dip his tongue in and out of you. Taking his time as he slowly licks your pussy, tasting every bit of you he can get. 

"So fucking good," He growled deeply, your whole body shaking as he continued to lap up your juices. Repeatedly flicking your clit with his tongue causing you to cry out his name, hands buried in his hair as you pushed him closer to your cunt.

"Jimin right there!" You cried out as he inserted two fingers into you, curling them up as he continued to suck on your clit. 

Your whole body was on fire as you could feel yourself getting closer to the edge. The curl of his fingers making you moan out, every now and again he would let out growls causing your pussy to clench around his fingers. 

"Don't take away all the fun," Yoongi pouted as he took your breast into his mouth, sucking harshly while Namjoon did the same to the other. Your head was spinning so fast you'd forgotten the other boys were in the room.

Watching as you were eaten out so carefully and lovingly.

"J-Jimin!" You warned as you could feel yourself beginning to get closer. The coil in your stomach was beginning to tighten with every bite, lick and thrust from him. 

"I-I can't-" You couldn't even finish your sentence before your orgasm ripped through your body. Your eyes shutting tightly as you cried out his name. Hips bucking against his lips begging him not to stop until you rode out your high.

"My turn." Jungkook chuckled as he began to kiss up and down your body. Hands travelling down to your core as he began to rub your already sensitive clit. Each touch felt intensified from your previous orgasm. 

"J-Jungkookie," You moaned out as he kissed you sweetly, two fingers rubbing small circles into your core.

"Shh, let us take care of you tonight, it's not about us." Jin's whisper filled your ear as he began to kiss and suck on your neck. Hoseok's hands made their way to your breasts as did Taehyung's. It was going to be a long and very good day.

By the time they were finished with you, you were panting and dripping in sweat...As well as other substances. You'd finally convinced them into letting you please them. Girls couldn't have all of the fun after all. Whining out as you held onto Jin you looked up at him,

"Someone needs to go and pick our little girl up, I don't think I'll be able to walk straight for a week." You laughed softly as Jin helped you into the bathroom. He'd already drawn you a hot bubble bath with a mug of hot chocolate waiting for you. 

"I'll go and get her, we can stop by the library before we come home," Namjoon said as he watched you sink into the hot water, eyes rolling back as you finally relaxed.

"I'll come too," Jungkook said as he looked at Namjoon and then at you. Making sure you were okay before they headed out to go and pick up your little girl.

"J-Jin." Your hand reached out to touch him and he turned to look at you. 

"Can you come in? I don't want to be alone." You told him, the others had all gone to wash up and you would have been alone. 

"Sure." He whispered as he stripped down, getting into the bath behind you and holding you close.

"I really love you guys," You mumbled as you closed your eyes. Listening to nothing but his heart beating against his chest.

"We love you too," He whispered as he began to slowly wash your body off carefully.

Tagline: @lyoongx​ @mitzwinchester​ @rjsmochii​ @sw33tnight​ @taestannie​ @sweeneyblue1​ @jin-from-the-block​ @acciocriativity​ @mwitsmejk​ @taeechwitaa​ @justbangtanthingz​ @stillwithlix​

[tsukkisbean]

how they cheer your up | headcanons

genre: fluff

characters: iwaizumi hajime, miya osamu, terushima yūji, kunimi akira x gn!reader

warnings: none!

a/n: hello if you’re seeing this, that means my scheduled post worked, yay!! hopefully this shows up in the tags otherwise i’ll have to reupload it at a later time (sorry in advance if that’s the case hehe). i’m also trying my hand at writing for other characters so hopefully this does their characters justice??

anyways, i hope everyone is doing well and staying healthy and happy! if you requested something from me, sorry i haven’t gotten to it even though i said i would. i’ll try my best to complete them when i get the chance, thank you for being patient with me 💖 all boys after iwaizumi are under the cut!

iwaizumi hajime

best boy iwaizumi would without a doubt use exercise as a way to cheer you up

but don’t get me wrong, he’s not going to force you to run a marathon or anything like that

i imagine him taking you to one of those entertainment/game parks (not really sure what they’re called ahh) where you guys just hang out all day

when you get there, he’ll immediately take you to the batting cage so you can just channel out all your anger into your swings

once your blood is pumping from the adrenaline he’ll take you to the trampoline area where you guys just bounce around and do flips into the foam pit to burn off all your extra energy

you’ll just be chilling, jumping up and down on one of the trampolines, your back turned to iwaizumi when he straight up scoops you up and tosses you in

he’s cackling and dying of laughter and when he finally offers to help you out you grab his hand and pull him in

when he doesn’t resurface you get nervous, where could he be?

from the corner of your eye you see the foam rumbling slightly but you react too slowly and iwaizumi pops out and tackles you in the biggest hug, peppering kisses all over your face and people are staring as you scream your head off trying to pry him off of you

for dinner, you guys indulge in all the greasy food the park has to offer, and by the end you’re stuffed

to help with digestion you suggest a game of mini golf which iwaizumi gladly agrees to

for someone who played volleyball his aim is absolutely horrifying

he argues that the windmill is IMPOSSIBLE to get a good score on and no one can ever get a hole in one

luck must have been on your side because you get a hole in one right after (and so does the small child behind you guys, but you choose not to tell him that)

you end up destroying him (he lowkey hints that he let you win but we know that’s not the case)

when the park closes, instead of taking you straight home, he’ll take you to a nearby park and the two of you just stroll around enjoying the chill of the night and the stars in the sky

miya osamu

he pulls you onto the couch next to him and the two of you look through baking videos on youtube and osamu being osamu cannot decide because he wants to make them all

eventually you guys settle on a cake recipe by cooking tree (a/n: 10/10 would recommend watching them, their videos are super soothing and aesthetic esp if you enjoy cooking asmr!!)

so at 9pm you guys set off to the grocery store to buy the ingredients you guys are missing 

the trip takes much longer than expected because osamu keeps putting in more and more snacks that you guys definitely don’t need

so instead of shopping osamu is trying to grab as many snacks as you can while you trail behind, trying to put them away  because your pantry is already way too full

by the time you get home it’s close to 12 and you’re tired but osamu insists that you guys start now

for the most part all goes well, you guys manage to get the batter to look smooth in the cake pan (definitely some playful flour throwing here and there)

the real problem is assembling the cake. at this point you’re wondering why you guys decided on a 3-layered cake that required cutting

teases you for cutting the first layer slanted and so you pass over the cutting to him but his slicing work is just as bad and you just have to bring up the fact that he owns a restaurant but apparently his knife skills suck

you thought cutting the cake would be a problem?? now you guys have to fill the layers and it’s a complete disaster; there’s whipped cream just everywhere and at this point you guys are half filling the cake half throwing it at each other

cake ends up being iced unevenly but that’s the least of your problems

you guys pour the decorative icing on top and instead of running over the sides only slightly, it drips messily down the cake and onto the counter and now you guys have a blob of a cake

you guys spend the rest of the night cleaning up and pass out on the couch and in the morning you guys enjoy a sweet breakfast together <3

terushima yūji

terushima is a free soul and so he believes expressing yourself through art is one of the best ways to feel better

when he sees that you’re down, he’ll immediately whip out all of his salon products and pull you into the bathroom

he takes you by surprise saying that he wants you to whatever you want to his hair - today his hair is your canvas

at first you’re reluctant, but he insists - as a hair stylist it’s all about experimentation with styles and colours and plus he can easily fix whatever you do considering that it is his job after all

so you guys scroll through pinterest together, trying to find some fun hair ideas that you’d be able to pull off on your own (with some instruction from teru of course)

you finally decide on a style and so together start on getting all the hair dye ready

he explains to you the different types of develops and how important they are in the hair colouring process - there are different volumes and will essentially affect how much your hair colour changes

after all the colours are mixed and ready to go, you gingerly grab a piece of hair, constantly checking your phone to make sure you’re doing it exactly like the photo

meanwhile terushima has the softest smile on his face, watching you through the mirror - he thinks you look absolutely adorable with the way your brows are furrowed and your tongue sticks on slightly as you focus

as you run the colour brush along his hair, he’s constantly encouraging you, telling you what a good job you’re doing and how he’s so excited to the end product

while the dye sits in his hair, you sit in his lap

once it’s time to wash out the hair dye, you bring him to the sink and carefully run your hands through his hair, trying your best to give him the best head massage he’s ever had!!!

after toning and a hair treatment, your masterpiece if finally done!! ofc being the boyfriend he is, he takes a million photos and posts them on social media to show how talented his significant other is - like not only is it your first time dying someone’s hair but you managed to pull off RAINBOW hair!! (a/n: think sehun from exo as a reference hehe) he literally will not shut up about you to his clients tomorrow

kunimi akira

kunimi has a rep for being lazy and just overall a really nonchalant kind of person but he’s sharp, so when you’re feeling down he immediately picks up on it even if he doesn’t confront you about it

however i don’t think he’d be as aggressive as the other three and do something huge rather he tries to make you feel better only in smaller ways and it definitely adds up

like in the morning he’ll make you coffee or tea or whatever you want - orange juice, a bakery bun? he’ll make an excuse saying he wanted something from the convenience store anyways and head down. when he comes back  with three bags of food and drinks he’ll insist that he just grabbed whatever he saw because he was “too lazy to decide” n b d

throughout the day he’ll be a lot more affectionate than usual, hugging you whenever he gets the chance, maybe even a kiss on your forehead

when you tell him you want to go out on your own for a bit  he doesn’t argue - whatever you need to do but when your back is turned he’ll slip you a handwritten note telling you to enjoy your alone time and that he l-word you and it’s even signed off with a teensy teensy heart that you almost don’t notice

when you get back, you’re greeted with the smell of your delicious food mixed with a burning smell and on the kitchen table you see takeout from your favourite restaurants and in the garbage is a black burnt mess - kunimi insists he doesn’t know how it got there even though its quite obvious

you bring the food to the living room and to your surprise there’s a blanket fort set up with pillows spread out all across the floor

when you try to question him, he just shrugs saying that it’s not that hard to throw a blanket over a couple of chairs, even a baby could do it

today he lets you choose the movie even though it’s technically his turn and when you choose a  comedy he doesn’t complain about the obnoxiously loud and hot headed lead character

when the movie is over, he quickly cleans up all the trash, making sure you don’t have time to move from your spot

when he comes back, he flops on top of you, holding you close

then he plays the spotify playlist that he made for you; it’s a whole mix of songs - slow, upbeat, instrumentals - anything he thought might help you feel even the tiniest bit better

and so you guys just lay there not speaking, enjoying each other’s presence until you fall asleep

[eldritchsurveys]

945.

When did you wake up today? >> I woke up at like 4a at first, and then finally fell back asleep sometime after 6a, and woke up for good at a little after 8a. IDK why this happens, but it’s really annoying when it does.

Are you a breakfast person? >> I don’t know what a “breakfast person” is. I do eat a meal in the morning...?

How often do you exercise? What type of exercises? >> I don’t exercise. It’s difficult for me to find something engaging and fun enough for me to stick with it. When the weather cools off a bit I will probably take up morning walks again, but right now I’ve reached my limit with summer conditions and can’t be motivated to willingly drench myself in sweat.

Any favorite TV shows? >> Plenty. Here are three: Person of Interest, The Dragon Prince, Hannibal.

Do you pay attention to the news? >> I read news articles sometimes, when the subject matter is of interest to me or I want to get the full story behind something. Also, I get daily emails from The Flip Side, so that’s a bit of news every morning.

Do you ever donate a dollar to fast food charities? >> Not usually. I also am rarely at fast-food restaurants, so.

What type of books do you like to read? >> I like a wide variety of books -- genre matters less to me than whether the content is written in an engaging manner and whether I care about either the characters or the subject matter presented.

Have you ever enjoyed a reading assignment for school? >> ---

Did you get to decorate your own bedroom? What's it like? >> As a child? No. Now? Yes, because I’m an adult and I pay rent here so I can do whatever I want with my own room. It’s not really decorated in a specific manner, though, like it doesn’t have a ‘theme’.

What size bed do you sleep on? >> Twin, because that’s what fits in my room. Fortunately, I am a relatively small person.

Do you wake up easily to alarms? >> I would if I used them.

Do you stay up unnaturally late at night or do you get to bed early? >> I don’t think I go to bed particularly early or late. Ten PM seems a pretty neutral bedtime.

What are you usually doing if you're up late at night? >> If I’m up late at night, it’s most likely because I couldn’t get to sleep no matter what. It’s definitely not on purpose.

Do you keep anything on like a fan or the TV while you sleep? >> I have the fan on in summer because otherwise the heat would kill me. But I don’t like the noise, I prefer silence when I’m in bed.

Do you procrastinate with deadlines? >> I don’t usually have deadlines.

Do you put a lot of effort into school? >> ---

What food could you absolutely live off of? >> I don’t think I could live off of any food (barring survival situations, of course). I require an array of nutrients just as much as anyone else.

What do you get when you go to the movies? >> An alcoholic beverage, sometimes. Otherwise I don’t usually buy concessions, they’re too expensive. I’ve definitely sneaked many a snack or beverage into a theater and I’ll do it again.

Where do you like to sit at the movie theater? >> Back center.

If you're just lounging around the house, what are you wearing? >> PJ pants or shorts and an undershirt or t-shirt.

Do you like wearing heels? >> An inch or two is fine. I’d prefer not to wear anything higher than that.

Would you prefer a night in or a night out? >> A night in usually suits me, but depending on the kind of night out, I wouldn’t say no to that either. Definitely been getting nostalgic for dinner-and-movie outings lately.

Do you enjoy being alone, or does it make you feel lonely? >> I do enjoy being alone. It’s nice to just veg out in the apartment doing whatever I want, and I don’t feel like I’m being scrutinised every time I move.

Obsessed with any songs at the moment? >> Not any that I can think of.

Do you enjoy showers, or do you take them cause you need to? What about baths? >> Showers are a bit triggering for me for a tangle of reasons, I don’t enjoy them at all. I never take baths, those are a hard limit for me.

Shower robe or towels? >> I just get dressed immediately after drying off and moisturising.

Do you have routines for waking up and going to bed? >> I clean my face and take my Pill before going to bed. I usually read for an hour after waking up, before getting up for bio stuff.

Do you remember your dreams often? >> Not often.

Do the dreams you remember make sense? >> I usually only remember ones that have some kind of connection to waking life. The more esoteric ones are difficult for my brain to hang onto, I think. They come through less frequently.

How is summer going so far? >> I’ve had my fill of summer and now I am looking forward to fall. That’s the thing about summer -- it’s short enough that by the time I’m tired of it, it’s almost over anyway. By the time I’m tired of winter, the worst months haven’t even hit yet.

Do you spend a lot of time tanning? >> I don’t spend any time tanning.

What would you say occupies your time most? >> The Internet, I guess.

Do you keep your room clean, or are you not phased by mess? >> I try to keep my room clean, although the size and how everything is set up makes it look a little more cluttered than it actually is, which drives me batty.

Do you get hassled to keep a clean room? >> Who would hassle me...? I’m grown, I’m responsible for my own damn room for better or worse.

Do you do your own laundry? >> Sparrow does the laundry.

Do you think graffiti is art or vandalism? >> It’s both. Art from the perspective of me, a passerby who likes pretty colours and funky lettering. Vandalism from the perspective of a building owner or law enforcement official.

How do you like your marshmallows roasted? >> Until they’re crispy? Is there any other way, lol...

How do you get rid of hiccups? >> I don’t do anything, mine go away pretty quickly.

How about brain freezes? >> I don’t do anything for that, either, it’s over in a few seconds.

Do you have any healthy addictions? >> That’s... that’s an oxymoron??? What do you think “addiction” means?

Are you old enough to vote yet? >> Yes.

Is voting important to you, or are you uninterested by politics? >> I am uninterested in politics and yet I still participate in the voting system. I didn’t used to, but I’ve come to understand the importance of participating and so I do my best.

Are you alright at world geography? >> I’m pretty abysmal at world geography. I know where some countries and geographical features are, and I can figure out the general area of where other countries or geographical features would be, sometimes... but mostly I just never put much mental energy into that sort of thing and I’m often wrong.

How about navigating your city? >> I can navigate this city pretty well. I’m good with cities.

What part of history interests you most? >> What part of history doesn’t interest me, at least marginally?

Do you keep your cell phone on you all the time? >> Not necessarily on me, but it’s usually somewhere nearby. ... *looks around* ...Well, right now, it’s all the way across the room, but hey.

Do you answer it when it rings or do you screen your own calls? >> I don’t answer my phone at all. Every call I get is spam or a misdial / someone thinking this number belongs to someone else entirely.

Are you big on the texting? >> I don’t text much because there’s no one to text except Sparrow, who I see every day in person anyway.

Do you like chewing gum or eating mints? >> I like the cognitive effects of gum-chewing. But Orbit changed the formula of my favourite gum so I had to give it up.

Do you use dental floss much? >> I don’t floss.

If you're biking do you wear a helmet? >> I hate the way helmets feel on my head but I understand their importance so I just avoid biking at all, basically.

What is your favorite outdoor activity? >> I’m not sure. Hiking, maybe? I do miss hiking.

Do/did you enjoy living with your parents? >> I did not enjoy it.

Do you have any favorite clothes? >> If I still have an article of clothing, one can assume it’s a favourite of mine. Otherwise I’d just... get rid of it. I don’t like keeping things I don’t enjoy.

How about a favorite pair of shoes? >> I only have two pairs of shoes and I like them both for different reasons / purposes.

How many different types of ID do you have? >> Well, I have a state ID, and a Social Security card somewhere (... I should really figure out where that is, I always seem to misplace those), and a birth certificate. I think those are the major forms in this country (I don’t have a passport, which would be another major form).

Do you always remember your license when you're driving? >> ---

Do you pay much attention to speed limits while driving? >> ---

What do you listen to when you're in the car? >> Sparrow’s iPod, usually. But she got a new dongle for the car and it’s Bluetooth, so now I can play my Spotify sometimes too. I have a playlist specifically for the car that’s my Liked Songs with all the metal and hard rock removed (which is, like, three-quarters of my likes, lmao).

What do you spend most of your money on? >> Rent.

Do you take advice when it's given to you? >> I don’t usually receive advice.

Are you optimistic or pessimistic under the shield of "realistic"? >> I feel like that’s not the whole picture. Some people are plainly pessimistic, some people are pessimistic and call themselves “realistic”, and some people are realistic. Whatever. I think my viewpoint depends on what kind of day I’m having, not some innate preference.

Do you avoid arguments or do you go out of your way to express your views? >> I avoid arguments but not to the point where I never express myself. Sometimes my trauma-inspired aversion to perceived conflict can get in my way, but I try not to let it win every time.

Are you looking forward to the future? >> I don’t usually think about the future. I’m busy enough with the present.

[adventurecatalog2015]

In Retrospect

In May of 2015, I set out on a backpacking trip through Europe. It was supposed to last two months, but I came home after only five weeks. 

While I still have a lot of mixed emotions about the trip, it did teach me a lot about myself. Namely, that it's not a great idea to go to backpacking when you're in denial about your eating disorder.

CW for descriptions of disordered eating behaviours, including bingeing and restricting.

The bus ride to Munich took five hours, and I cried the whole time.

For what it’s worth, it was a nice bus. I mean, it had wifi, and a USB plug in so I could charge my phone, which I took advantage of to watch the latest season of Orange is the New Black while I sobbed softly, occasionally looking up to wonder why no one was asking me what was wrong.

The tears had been building up in my chest for a while, and I’m not sure what specifically broke the dam—maybe watching the buildings of Prague whiz past the window in a daze and thinking gee, I’d like to go to Prague someday, even when I’d spent the past 48 hours exploring the city. Maybe it was the comfortable seat, or how when I finally sat down I could actually feel how twisted and bloated my stomach was. Maybe it was the knowledge that as tired and as sick as I felt, I still had four more weeks of what was supposed to be the best experience of my life stretching out endlessly before me. I tried to imagine Greece and Rome—the white sandy beaches I had been so looking forward to visiting, the ruins, the beauty of Cinque Terre that everyone had told me I absolutely had to see—but when I did I only felt lonely, and tired, and numb.

I don’t think I’ve ever truly experienced depression, but when checked into my hostel room in Munich later that day and sank to the floor sobbing before I could even take off my backpack, I was closer than I’ve ever been.

I had set out on my quintessential backpacking journey five weeks earlier, after months of planning. I had carefully budgeted $6000 for my two-month trip from Ireland to the UK, mainland Europe, and the Mediterranean. I was “winging it” as much as I could—I hadn’t booked any hostels or flights, and had only a loose idea of the things I wanted to do and see. This would leave me open to experiences, I reasoned.

For the record, I still like this approach to backpacking, and my chosen method of travel was not the problem.

The problem was that for the previous two years I had been fostering disordered eating habits that had lead me to lose almost fifty pounds in ten months while simultaneously descending into a hellish binge/restrict cycle that occupied most of my waking thoughts.

I’m still not comfortable saying I had (have?) an eating disorder; “disordered eating” feels better for some reason. I’ve always dealt with anxiety, and maybe OCD, so the way I see it, an obsession over food and exercise was just a fun new way for my mental illness to manifest. At the time, though, I didn’t see it as mental illness.

When I boarded my flight from Vancouver to Dublin, I still thought that my obsessions and anxiety were a flaw. Just like the way I sometimes opened the cupboards and ate everything in sight, my fears were something to be conquered. If I could just grit my teeth and get over my stupid neurosis about food, I could have a good time in Europe, god dammit. I mean, it’s Europe! Once I got there, I told myself, I would be so distracted by the cool things around me that I wouldn’t have time to have a panic attack because I ate a fucking French fry.

As soon as I boarded my flight, my thoughts turned to food. What would they be serving? Would it have protein? Would it be fried? If there was a dinner roll, could I resist eating it? If I couldn’t sleep, I would be hungrier—I would probably end up eating a whole extra meal just because of the time change. What if I ended up eating two breakfasts? I could always just not eat the protein bar I had stashed in my purse; that could make up for it… Shit, the mere thought of my protein bar made me want it. I wasn’t hungry, but I ate it, and then felt simultaneously terrible that I had caved and relieved that it couldn’t taunt me anymore.

I watched movies on the in-flight TV. The first meal came, and I ate the dinner roll, with butter. In the bathroom, I lifted up my shirt and studied my stomach. I’m still okay, I thought. If I don’t eat all of the breakfast meal, I’ll be okay.

I ate all of the breakfast meal.

By the time I had landed in Dublin and found my hostel, almost all of the shops were closed. I ended up getting Subway, because I still remembered how many calories were in my favourite sandwich. I ate it in the restaurant and thought about how many meals I had eaten that day—too many.

It’s okay, I told myself. If I just have a light breakfast tomorrow, I’ll be okay.

I did not have a light breakfast.

So here’s a thing about hostels—they’re cheap. And guess which food macro is the cheapest? That’s right: carbs! My hostel in Dublin offered several breakfast food choices: corn flakes, Muesli, and toast.

I avoided it for as long as I could. I thought of buying eggs from the shop next door and cooking them, but a quick tour of the hostel kitchen ruled that out—it smelled like garbage and there were flies crawling on all of the dishes.

I walked into the dining hall and surveyed my fellow travellers, eyeing their sugar-topped cornflakes and white bread with Nutella disdainfully. I resolved myself to have one bowl of Muesli with milk and a cup of tea. That would be okay. But after that I was still hungry, so I poured myself another bowl.

Fuck, I thought as soon as I sat back down. I really fucked that up, didn’t I? God dammit. Well, if I just eat this last bowl, I’ll be okay—I can still save this.

And then that thing happened. My heart started racing, and my brain was filled with two opposite sentiments: hey, when in Rome! You’re in Europe! Enjoy the food! and Fuck fuck FUCK you fucking failure, what the hell are you doing?

So what the fuck do you do then?

Well, you get another bowl. And another. And the whole time though your brain is screaming at you to stop, for the love of all that’s holy, STOP but you keep getting up, you keep pouring yourself bowl after bowl, and when you realize how spectacularly you’ve fucked up you just and pour yourself some cornflakes, too, with sugar, and make yourself some toast with Nutella, because if you’ve already failed so badly what’s 500, 1000, 2000 more calories anyways?  The whole time you try to be casual about it, you hope no one notices, but you’re sure they do.

By the time I met up with my travel buddies I was so full I could barely move. And it only got worse from there.

Now, I’m not going to relive every time I binged in Europe—that wouldn’t be very interesting, because every time kind of looks like that. Every binge starts with me hating myself for eating, and every one ends with me in pain, short of breath, and promising myself that that this will be the last time.  

I won’t relive every binge, but I will tell you about a few of the worst ones.

In London, I stayed with an acquaintance who I had met through a mutual friend, and who had graciously invited me to stay with her. While I was there she went to work as normal, and I filled my days with sightseeing in the big city. She also very kindly gave me permission to eat whatever was in her cupboards—a nice, normal thing to do. But for me, it was terrifying.  

One day I got home before she did. I decided to have a snack—peanut butter on toast. The peanut butter was good, and slightly different from the stuff we have in Canada. Peanut butter has always been one of the things I am most afraid of—delicious and high calorie, it was one of my favourite binge foods. I had banned it from my house, and even got mad when my partner bought it solely for himself. Consequently, I hadn’t eaten peanut butter in a very long time.

So, I had another piece of toast. And another. And then I didn’t even bother toasting the bread. And then I started eating it by the spoon.

I paced the kitchen, spoon in hand, horrified at myself. Why was I doing this? This wasn’t even my fucking food. Surely my friend would notice how much of her peanut butter I had eaten. It was a smallish jar, and it had been almost full when I started.

And still, it taunted me from the cupboard. My mouth watered. She wouldn’t notice one more spoonful missing, would she?

It took me just over an hour to consume the entire jar, and it was one of the worst hours of my life. I felt sad, sick, out of control, and guilty. At a certain point I decided the only way to fix what I had done was to finish the peanut butter altogether and buy another, identical jar to replace the one I had stuffed myself on.

I still remember lying on Kaitlin’s bed after it was over in the fetal position, in pain, clutching my stomach, yet feeling almost victorious. I had eaten it all. I had replaced the jar. She wouldn’t know what I had done and now I felt so sick and awful that I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt I would never, ever, binge again: this was the low point. The fever dream was over now; I could see clearly at last, and I would be better now.

In case you haven’t guessed it already, that’s not what happened.

Another version of this story: I’m staying with relatives in Holland. They’re distant cousins, all removed and various degrees of separated from me, but they’re some of the most welcoming and hospitable people I’ve ever met. One day they leave me alone in the house. In a daze I rummage through their drawers for food, stuffing myself on cheese, meat, cookies, chocolate, sprinkles—anything I can get my hands on. I pace the house, berating myself but unable to stop. I’m out of breath so I lie down and think this is it; it’s over; I’m done, but that lasts five minutes before I get up and eat another cookie. When they get home I wait for them to say something—to make some surprised comment at how half their food is missing—but it never comes.

Another version: I’m staying on a farm in rural Ireland. They eat mostly bread and potatoes, and I should be grateful that they’re feeding me but all I can think about is how much I hate that the nice old Irish grandma making my dinner insists on making up my plate herself. She sets it in front of me and I feel bile rise in my throat. After dinner they take me to a gathering with a few of their friends and I eat the meat and cheese and bread they’ve laid out until I feel like I might puke. In the bathroom I lift my shirt and stare at my stomach—to my eyes it looks distended, bloated, horrific.

Another: I’m walking through downtown Brussels with an American girl I met at my hostel, eating from a mixed bag of chocolates. I laugh about how I don’t even care that it’s my breakfast, lunch, and dinner but I feel panic rising in my throat, and because I don’t know what else to do or how to stop myself I eat the whole bag.

I’m sitting on the back steps of a hostel in Amsterdam. An Australian boy is sitting beside me, waxing poetic about British Columbia and its wonderful natural beauty, and I’m eating my fifth peanut butter and jelly sandwich. The calories are all I can think about.

I’m in the train station in Berlin, trying to find something to eat for breakfast. I get candy and cookies and eat them while I wait for my train. By the time I get on board I feel like I’m bursting out of my clothes; I give the remainder to the girls sitting beside me and silently congratulate myself for not finishing the bag.

I’m in a cat café in Prague. The cats aren’t very social but there are free snacks; I keep making passes by the table to grab fistfuls of peanuts and cookies before returning to the cats. I play with them as best as I can and try not to cry.

I hold out until an hour later, when I board the bus to Munich.

When I check into my hostel later that day, the boy at the counter looks at me with concern. I don’t quite know what I looked like then, but it couldn’t have been great after five solid hours of crying on a bus.

“Do you need anything?” he asks uncertainly as he hands me my room key. A few sad tears leak out of the corners of my eyes and I shake my head. As I walk away to the elevator, I wonder if he thinks something terrible has happened to me.

I make it to my room, but just barely: as soon as I shut the door everything I’ve been holding inside my chest spills out and I’m sobbing with all my heart, gasping, clutching my face with my hands. Somehow, I manage to call my mom, and she answers.

“What’s wrong?” she asks.

“I can’t do it,” I say between sobs. “I thought I could do this, but I can’t. This is so much worse than I thought—I’m so much worse—and I don’t know what to do now.”

“That’s okay,” she says. “You don’t have to—you can come home.”

“I can’t,” I say, thinking of the hotel I booked on a small Greek island and my return flight from Rome that doesn’t leave for another four weeks. Oh god. Four more weeks of this? It seems like an eternity, and the thought fills me with a deep, aching exhaustion I can feel in my bones.

“Don’t think about money,” my mom says. “If you need to come home, you need to come home.”

When I finally make the decision to cut my trip short, it’s the best I’ve felt in weeks. I find the cheapest—and soonest—flight back to Canada that I can, and book it before I can second-guess the decision. My hostel is noisy and uncomfortable so I check into a hotel for the last two days of my time in Munich.

Those two days are filled with more anxiety, more binges, and more pacing around my hotel room. Eventually I find my way to the airport and board my flight home.

I wish I could say that when I got back I was instantly better—that being back in a familiar environment with people I loved somehow fixed me. I wish I could say that, after some reflection, I realized that the good memories of my trip outweighed the bad, and I didn’t regret going.

The truth is, I shouldn’t have gone to Europe. Two years later, the memories are still painful, and even though there were some good times and cool experiences, what I remember more than anything else is my obsession with food. Thinking about it, fearing it, and bingeing till I couldn’t move or breath and I hated myself more than anything.

At the same time, that trip was a wake-up call. Would I have realized the extent of my eating disorder if I hadn’t gone? Or would I have just kept going—kept counting every calorie, measuring every spoonful, spending hours every day working out on an empty stomach until I couldn’t take it anymore and binged again, only to redouble my efforts to restrict in the morning.

I don’t know. But I think I’m glad things happened the way they did. The most valuable thing to come out of my experience was the realization that I wasn’t okay. The things I thought were simply character flaws ran much, much deeper, and it just wasn’t possible to grit my teeth and will myself better.

My journey back from that hostel room in Munich didn’t end when I got off the plane in Canada. Two years later, I’m still working to repair my relationship with food and my body and to figure out how to deal with my anxiety.

I haven’t shared this story too freely, because I think a big part of me is still ashamed. Not just because I bought into the toxic attitudes towards food and our bodies that society pushes on us every day, but because part of me still buys into them. Part of me still thinks my life would be better if I was thinner, even though I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that that’s not the case. This belief is the product of decades of messages telling me that the only way to be valuable is to be thin; decades of people all around me repeating this simple truth ad nauseum. Not always with their words, but with their actions, spurred on by their own self-hatred; their own attempts to strive for nonexistent ideals.

This is what I am trying to unlearn.

I haven’t weighed myself in years, but I’m pretty sure I’m back to where I started. It’s hard to make peace with that, especially now that I know what it feels like to be thinner, like I’ve wanted to be since I was eight. Every time I have to buy clothes in a bigger size I panic, and all the old feelings come up again—if I just eat less, if I just exercise more, if I just…

But if I did those things, I know I wouldn’t be happy in the long run. Whatever satisfaction I got from being thinner was hollow. Sure, it made me feel better about myself in the short term, but it was more like a fleeting ego boost than any genuine increase in self-esteem. Because no matter how smug I felt about losing weight, my sense of satisfaction was always, always coupled with fear. More more than anything, I was absolutely terrified that I would slip and lose control and gain everything back. That terror drove me to restrict, and it drove me to binge. I don’t want to be in that place again.

I don’t count calories anymore, nor do I restrict or over exercise, and I haven’t binged in a long time. I finally enjoy eating out at restaurants again, and panic doesn’t grip me when my coworkers bring treats to work. That didn’t happen overnight, and some days are still hard. But you know what? I think that’s okay.

Truthfully, I’m afraid to share this. I’m afraid that you will judge me, or think less of me, or maybe that you won’t even believe me. But maybe someone will see themselves in my story. To you I say: please know that you are not a failure. Please know that it is okay to ask for help. And if you want, I’d love to talk.

[suckitsurveys]

1. What’s the last thing you ate? Overnight oats with peanut butter and banana.

2. What’s your favourite cheese? Goat and cheddar.

3. What’s your favourite fish? Catfish, if crab doesn’t count as a fish.

4. What’s your favourite fruit? Pomegranates, watermelon, pineapple, bananas.

5. When, if ever, did you start liking olives? I don’t remember? I never liked the Kalamamamamama olives they have in greek salads, but I love black olives and green olives with pimento. That was always on my dad’s go-to tray of appetizers when we’d have Christmas at our house. 3 kinds of olives, some cheese, and salami or whatever. I always ate the green and black olives from there. I also like green olives stuffed with other things too, like bleu cheese or garlic.

6. When, if ever, did you start liking beer? I only like some beers really. I think I’ve been conditioned to like it at baseball games because my dad does, haha.

7. When, if ever, did you start liking shellfish? My whole life dude. When my parents would go out to dinner with us when we were little, they always just gave us stuff from there plates to eat. So if someone had lobster or crab legs or shrimp I would too.

8. What was the best thing your mom/dad/guardian used to make? My dad makes KILLER bleu cheese dressing. I could eat that shit with a spoon it’s SO GOOD. He also makes amazing spaghetti sauce and is pretty good at getting popcorn perfect everytime. My mom used to make really good beef stew, and her famous potatoes and eggs fr dinner. She also made the BEST potato salad, and that recipe has been handed down to me. Everyone claims it’s amazing, but I still think she made it better.

9. What’s the native specialty of your hometown? Deep dish pizza, hot dogs, beef sandwiches, caramel and cheese popcorn.

10. What’s your comfort food? Everything.

11. What’s your favourite type of chocolate? Milk chocolate. With caramel. 12. How do you like your steak? Medium rare.

13. How do you like your burger? Medium rare.

14. How do you like your eggs? In omelet form.

15. How do you like your potatoes? I ain’t got no type.

16. How do you take your coffee? I don‘t, really.

17. How do you take your tea? Green.

18. What’s your favourite mug? The one I use most often is just a plain red one that I got from Home Goods because it came with a tea infuser.

19. What’s your biscuit or cookie of choice? Sugar cookies. My favorite ones are actually those Pillsbury pre-made-dough ones you break off and bake. I also love Oreos.

20. What’s your ideal breakfast? Lox and bagels.

21. What’s your ideal sandwich? ^. Or tuna on any bread.

22. What’s your ideal pizza: Very saucy, lightly cheesy, with pepperoni and black olives.

23. What’s your ideal pie (sweet or savoury)? Cheesecake. <– Same, and it’s been waaaay too long since I last had a good piece of cheesecake. <----CHEESECAKE IS NOT PIE YOU HEATHENS, IT’S CAKE. Anyway, pumpkin pie has been my go to since I was a baby.

24. What’s your ideal salad? I don’t really have an “ideal” salad, but I like spinach salads with various toppings.

25. What food do you always like to have in the fridge? Hmm. Eggs, soy milk, condiments and marinades, sriracha, pickles, olives, cheese, water.

26. What food do you always like to have in the freezer? Ice. :P And frozen dinners for Mark. We don’t buy a ton of frozen stuff.

27. What food do you always like to have in the cupboard? Oatmeal, Ramen and other soups, pasta, rice, flour, breadcrumbs, olive oil and other oils, tea.

28. What spices can you not live without? Celery salt, red pepper, and cilantro. And of course salt and pepper.

29. What sauces can you not live without? Sriracha.

30. Where do you buy most of your food? Jewel-Osco. We might start shopping at Aldi for boxed and bagged goods. I don’t trust meat and produce from there though.

31. How often do you go food shopping? Twice a week. Once on Sunday to get lunch things and snacks for the week and dinners for that night, Monday, and Tuesday, and then Wednesday just for dinner things for that night, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.

33. What’s the most expensive piece of kitchen equipment you own? I mean, probably the fridge or stove? We don’t really own those though? Sooooo the food processor?

34. What’s the last piece of equipment you bought for your kitchen? It’s been a while since we’ve actuall bought something for the kitchen. A lot of our stuff is hand-me-downs or wedding gifts. So probably something from when we first moved in and needed basic things like plates and silverware.

35. What piece of kitchen equipment could you not live without? Probably most of them? Like we need the fridge and stove for obvious reasons, so I guess next to that, the microwave?

36. How many times a week/month do you cook from raw ingredients? We try to almost every night.

37. What’s the last thing you cooked from raw ingredients? Chicken and spinach last night, unless overnight oats count, which I made shortly after that to eat this morning.

38. What meats have you eaten besides cow, pig and poultry? I’ve had lamb, duck, goat, alligator, buffalo, and ostrich. Well I guess duck and ostrich are poultry?? Oh and a shit ton of seafood too since that wasn’t listed in the question. Way too much to name.

39. What’s the last time you ate something that had fallen on the floor? Yesterday. I ate a chip that fell in sand oops. Haha.

40. What’s the last time you ate something you’d picked in the wild? Uh, I mean, we have a veggie and herb garden in our yard. I packed some cucumbers and tomatoes from there for lunch today.

41. Arrange the following in order of preference: Italian, Mexican, Chinese, Indian, Thai, Sushi – Sushi, Thai, and Mexican are tied for first. Then Italian, Indian, Chinese.

42. Arrange the following in order of preference: Vodka, Whiskey, Brandy, Rum – Rum, Vodka, Whiskey, Brandy.

43. Arrange the following in order of preference: Garlic, Basil, Caramel, Lime, Mint, Ginger, Aniseed – I have no idea what aniseed is, but the rest are all tied.

44. Arrange the following in order of preference: Pineapple, Orange, Apple, Strawberry, Cherry, Watermelon, Banana. – Watermelon, pineapple, banana, strawberry, orange, apple, cherry.

45. Bread and spread: Um. My favorite bread is garlic bread, if that’s what you’re asking.

46. What’s your fast food restaurant of choice, and what do you usually order? Popeye’s. I get chicken strips and Cajun fries. If they are having some promotional thing with the strips I’ll probably get that.

47. Pick a city. What are the best dining experiences you’ve had in that city? Any city and any restaurant that has crab legs is a good dinning experience in my mind.

48. What’s your choice of tipple at the end of a long day? What the hell is a tipple?

49. What’s the next thing you’ll eat? Lunch. I made tuna and have cucumbers and tomatoes to eat with it. I brought bread too but I probably wont end up eating that.

50. Are you hungry now? I’m a little hungry.

51. Do you eat your breakfast everyday? Yes. I have oatmeal or cereal every day.

52. At what time do you have breakfast? When I work, it’s sometime after 7am. On weekends, it’s whenever I get up.

53. At what time do you have lunch? 11:30am on weekdays, whenever on weekened.

54. What do you have for lunch? I mentioned this above.

55. At what time do you have dinner? around 7.

56. What do you have for dinner? Obviously different things every night? Tonight’s dinner is up in the air because my cousin is coming in from Hawaii and we are staying with my dad so my he will most likely order takeout.

57. Do you light candles during dinner? No.

58. How many chairs are there in your dining room and who sits in the main chair? We don’t have a dining room in our apartment. We have a kick ass coffee table that pulls up to dining-table height and we eat on the couch at that.

59. Do you eat and drink using your right hand or the left one? I eat with my right and I don’t have a hand preference with my drinks.

61. Mention the veggies that you like most: Spinach, asparagus, zucchini, butternut squash.

62. What fruit and vegetable do you like the least? Apparently fennel is a vegetable, so that. And water chestnuts if that’s a veggie too. My least favorite fruit is blackberries and raspberries.

63. You like your fruit salad to have more: Watermelon.

64. You prefer your vegetable salad to contain more: Uh. Cucumbers, I guess? Is a vegetable salad just raw veggies thrown together?

65. What’s your favourite sandwich spread? Peanut butter, I guess?

66. What’s your favourite chocolate bar? Butterfingers.

67. What’s your favourite dessert? Brownies or cheesecake.

68. What’s your favourite drink? Root beer. Preferably Barq’s.

69. What’s your favourite snack? Chips and guac or salsa, popcorn, Goldfish crackers, Cheez-its, Chex mix.

70. What’s your favourite bubble gum flavour? WATERMELON BUBBLICIOUS. I haven’t had that in a hot minute.

71. What’s your favourite ice cream flavour? Salted Caramel Butter Pecan. Only one brand makes it. I haven’t seen it in a while though.

72. What’s your favourite potato chip flavour? Sour cream and cheddar.

73. What’s your favourite soup? Potato. Egg lemon. Lobster bisque.

74. What’s your favourite pizza? Deep dish from Lou’s, thin crust from Marie’s, and 8-corner pan pizza from Jet’s.

75. What’s your favourite type of dish? Seafood dishes.

76. What food do you hate? I’ve kinda mentioned these throughout this survey. There’s not much I dislike.

77. What’s your favourite restaurant? Any place with crab legs.

78. Do you eat homemade food, food delivered from outside? Both.

80. Who cooks at home? Mark usually.

81. What kind of diet (e.g. low-fat, high-fiber, high-carbohydrate, balanced diet etc.) do you have? I try to balance it.

82. How do you keep yourself fit? I work out every day. I’m by no means “fit” yet, but I am getting there.

[rkola-m]

Disagreements:

Who is more likely to raise their voice?

I think Gemma is more likely to raise her voice. She’s a little more aggressive than Rhys is, I’d say. And I can’t see Rhys raising her voice with Gemma anyways.

Who threatens to leave but never actually does?

I don’t think either of them would threaten to leave unless they were really serious. Breaking up has never been an option for them so for one of them to say, “I’m breaking up with you”, would be a really big deal. Nevertheless, when they fight Gemma like her space so sometimes she leaves the house but she always comes back the next day.

Who actually keeps their word and leaves?

I think if one of them were to leave it would be Gemma.

Who trashes the house?

Rhys might if Gemma leaves their home after a fight, but he’d always clean it up before she came home.

Do either of them get physical?

No, not at all.

How often do they argue/disagree?

It depends how moody Gemma is. And when Rhys drinks alcohol.

Who is the first to apologise?

I think Gemma apologizes more; however, I don’t know that she’d be the first one to do so every time.

Sex:

Who is on top?

For sure Rhys for the most part. But sometimes Gemma likes taking control and he lets her do whatever she wants, including being on top.

Who is on the bottom?

Gemma for the most part.

Who has the strangest desires?

Strangest? They don’t really do strange things, they’re pretty vanilla.

Any kinks?

Nah.

Who’s dominant in bed?

I think usually Gemma is but she loves it when Rhys gets dominant.

Is head ever in the equation?

Of course.

If so, who is better at performing it?

I don’t know that one would be better than the other at it. Gemma hasn’t really been with many guys prior to Rhys so she doesn’t have a lot to compare it too, but Rhys would stop at nothing to pleasure her so obviously oral for her would be amazing. And Gemma in the same way, loves pleasuring Rhys, so she’d tease him until he couldn’t handle it anymore and really work hard for him.

Ever had sex in public?

On Rhys’s set in his dressing room. In the car as well I think.

Who moans the most?

Gemma holy yes. But Rhys growls and groans more.

Who leaves the most marks?

Hahaha when Gemma gets jealous she leaves a hickey on Rhys’s neck where it’s visible. But I feel like other than that it’s mostly Rhys leaving hand prints from grabbing her ass and hickies on her ass too.

Who screams the loudest?

Gemma definitely especially when Rhys is dominant and gets rough with her.

Who is the more experienced of the two?

I want to say Rhys is, but they’re both really experienced with each other. They’ve been together for so long that they know exactly what the other likes and they still try new things every once and awhile to keep it from getting too boring.

Do they ‘fuck’ or ‘make love’?

I’d say mostly make love. They fuck when Gemma gets Rhys worked up and teases him when he’s at work and pretty much begging to be fucked.

Rough or soft?

Mostly soft, but they’ve been getting into rough sex a little lately.

How long do they usually last?

I think it’d totally depend on Gemma’s mood and how much time they had. Like there was that one time where they tried to have as much sex as they could on their day off, but they would also have quickies before Rhys has to go to work in the mornings. I think also they’d have sex close to every night unless they were too tired or fighting or something.

Is protection used?

Gemma’s on birth control so no.

Does it ever get boring?

They went through a phase where I think both of them thought it was getting a little boring, but neither of them wanted to admit it. But now Gemma’s becoming more confident in trying new things and being adventurous in the bedroom.

Where is the strangest place they’d have sex?

The strangest place so far I’d say is in Rhys’s childhood bedroom or in his dressing room.

Family:

Do your muses plan on having children/or have children?

Yes, for sure! However, I think the both of them are scared of having a miscarriage again. Maybe Rhys is more terrified than Gemma is.

If so, how many children do your muses want/have?

Gemma wants to have a huge family with maybe four or five kids. Rhys is a little more timid about it and wants to take it one at a time though.

Who is the favorite parent?

Definitely Rhys because he’ll be the ‘fun’ parent.

Who is the authoritative parent?

Gemma because she’ll be very protective.

Who is more likely to allow the children to have a day off school?

Rhys… Gemma would never. Unless maybe if her kid was getting bullied or something.

Who lets the children indulge in sweets and junk food when the other isn’t around?

Oh Rhys.

Who turns up to extra curricular activities to support their children?

Mostly Gemma, but Rhys would try to make it whenever he wasn’t working. Gemma’s going to be such a helicopter mom so you can bet she’s going to be at every soccer game and recital.

Who goes to parent teacher interviews?

Definitely Gemma, and she’d make Rhys go with her if he wasn’t busy.

Who changes the diapers?

Ah, both of them but Gemma would only do them if Rhys wasn’t around.

Who gets up in the middle of the night to feed the baby?

They would take turns on this one.

Who spends the most time with the children?

Once they start having kids, Gemma would reduce her work load dramatically and basically become a stay at home mother so her. But Rhys would definitely spend all of his free time with them when he’s home from work.

Who packs their lunch boxes?

Omg I can so see Gemma packing them healthy lunches but then Rhys sneaking in an unhealthy snack or treat in there without telling her and it’d just be a secret between him and the kids.

Who gives their children ‘the talk’?

Gemma would do this I feel like. Maybe Rhys for the boys.

Who cleans up after the kids?

Both of them really. Just whoever’s looking after them at the time.

Who worries the most?

GEMMA oh god this screams her. She just wants her perfect little life to remain like so.

Who are the children more likely to learn their first swear word from?

Hmm, I think Gemma for this one but it’d be a total accident. Like she’d never swear in front of her kids on purpose so maybe she’d like burn herself on the stove or drop something on her toe and swear and her kids would just pick it up from there.

Affection:

Who likes to cuddle?

Both of them are pretty affectionate so I’d say both but Gemma likes to have like designated cuddling nights.

Who is the little spoon?

Gemma always. She hates being the big spoon and Rhys hates being the small spoon.

Who gets naughty in the most inappropriate of places?

Hmm, Gemma sometimes gets horny while Rhys is at work so she’ll send him inappropriate pictures and sometimes even show up to his set to tease him. I feel like if Rhys were to get naughty in an inappropriate place it’d be like at dinner or something. Like they’d be at a big dinner party and he’d slip his hand under her dress and tease her or something like that.  

Who struggles to keep their hands to themselves?  

I think it totally depends on the situation. Like Rhys has his hands-y moments but that’s usually because Gemma’s wearing something really sexy or has hinted that she wants him to act like that. But like when Gemma gets in a mood, she’ll be all over Rhys until she gets what she wants.

How long can they cuddle until one becomes uncomfortable?

I mean she’s the small spoon all night long so I guess never.

Who gives the most kisses?

Probably Gemma.

What is their favourite non-sexual activity?

Gemma loves cuddling so that. And big hugs from Rhys.

Where is their favourite place to cuddle?

On the couch watching a movie. And then Gemma would get bored so she’d either 1.) fall asleep in his arms, or 2.) try and turn him on to have sex.

Who is more likely to playfully grope the other?

Rhys omg. I feel like he’d just like grab her ass playfully like when they hug or when she’s cooking in nothing but his t-shirt. Also I feel like he’d just always randomly have his hand on her boob when their cuddling, like it’d always just end up cupping her boob and rest there with out either of them noticing.

How often do they get time to themselves?

Like during the week their apart for the most time since Rhys is on set and Gemma is working, but they can’t really get enough time together. They love spending their weekends with each other and Penny so.

Sleeping:

Who snores?

Rhys is honestly such a dad already so probably him.

If both do, who snores the loudest?

I don’t think Rhys would snore that loud though.

Do they share a bed or sleep separately?

Share a bed obviously.

If they sleep together, do they cozy up together or lay far apart?

They spoon when they sleep.

Who talks in their sleep?

Gemma probably.

What do they wear to bed?

Gemma wears one of Rhys’s old t-shirts and undies. Rhys probably just wears boxers.

Are either of your muses insomniacs?

I don’t think so but if either of them were, I think Rhys would be. Gemma only has trouble sleeping when their fighting or when she’s really worried about something.

Can sleeping pills be found by the bedside?

Nah, I don’t think so.

Do they wrap their limbs around each other or just lay side by side?

They either spoon or Gemma sleeps with her head on his chest so.

Who wakes up with bed hair?

I’d say both.

Who wakes up first?

Rhys most mornings.

Who prepares breakfast in bed for the other?

Gemma! She loves doing cute things like this for Rhys, but he usually wants to make breakfast with her so that’s what happens.

What is their favourite sleeping position?

Spooning

Who hogs the sheets?

Gemma always.

Do they set an alarm each night?

Weekdays, yes. Weekends, no.

Can a television be found in their bedroom?

Yes

Who has nightmares?

I don’t think either of them, but if someone did it would be Rhys.

Who has ridiculous dreams?

Probably Gemma lol.

Who sprawls out and takes up most of the bed?

It’d say Rhys for this but Gemma would find a way to wrap herself around him so she was still comfortable.

Who makes the bed?

Gemma on weekdays since Rhys is getting ready for work before she gets out of bed most mornings. But Rhys on the weekends I feel like.

What time is bed time?

Honestly, early. I feel like they’re like an old couple.

Any routines/rituals before bed?

I think just the usual like get ready for bed together, for example brushing their teeth together type thing. And then once they were in bed, there’d be a little bit of pillow talk and then bedtime.

Who’s the grumpiest when they wake up?

Hmmm. I honestly don’t know? Gemma maybe?

Work:

Who is the busiest?

Definitely Rhys.

Who rakes in the highest income?

Rhys.

Are any of your muses unemployed?

Nah.

Who takes the most sick days?

Rhys is the type to never take sick days so probably Gemma especially since she works for herself.

Who is more likely to turn up late to work?

Again, Gemma works for herself so she can’t really be late so probably Rhys. But I feel like Rhys being late would be a result of Gemma doing something. Like begging him to stay in bed a little longer or jumping into his shower or wanting to have a quickie before he left.

Who sucks up to their boss?

I don’t think either of them are the type to suck up.

What are their jobs?

Gemma is an interior designer and model. Rhys is an actor.

Who stresses the most?

Overall, Gemma stresses more but I don’t think she stresses about work much. Unless clients are rude to her or something, but she enjoys what she does for the most part. She just stresses about everything else.

Do your muses enjoy or despise their careers/occupations?

I think they both enjoy what they do.

Are your muses financially stable?

Yes. They also have a lot of family money as well.

Home:

Who does the washing?

Gemma

Who takes out the trash?

Rhys

Who does the ironing?

Does Rhys even know how to use an iron? Ha just kidding, but Gemma probably.

Who does the cooking?

Both! Cooking together is a big thing for them, it’s just something they enjoy doing together.

Who is more likely to burn the house down just trying?

Gemma probably.

Who is messier?

Gemma I think.

Who leaves the toilet roll empty?

Rhys most likely, and this would drive Gemma insane.

Who leaves their dirty clothes on the floor?

Most likely Gemma. Or maybe Rhys. Nah, probably Gemma.

Who forgets to flush the toilet?

R H Y S but probably not that often because that’s gross. Only when he’s drunk maybe.

Who is the prankster around the house?

Rhys would do anything to see Gemma laugh so probably him.

Who loses the car keys when it comes time to go somewhere?

Gemma; she’s not the most organized.

Who mows the lawn?

Rhys.

Who answers the telephone?

Gemma

Who does the vacuuming?

Gemma

Who does the groceries?

Both of them, I’d say.

Who takes the longest to shower?

Gemma obviously.

Who spends the most time in the bathroom?

Gemma.

Miscellaneous:

Is money a problem?

Nah

How many cars do they own?

It’d say one each? But they probably need to get a new one for when they have kids.

Do they own their home or do they rent?

They own their current one.

Do they live near the coast or deep in the countryside?

Near the coast.

Do they live in the city or in the country?

In the city, but I could kind of see them moving somewhere quieter when they have kids.

Do they enjoy their surroundings?

Gemma does for sure since she loves the sun and the beach. Rhys likes cooler weather better I think, but doesn’t hate California.

What’s their song?

Oh god I don’t know. I feel like “Say You Won’t Let Go” by James Arthur is a good one though.

What do they do when they’re away from each other?

They’re usually only apart for work or for girls/boys night. And sometimes for travel. Gemma usually gets bored when she’s away from him and sends him pictures or wants to facetime. She gets into trouble with him sometimes too because she’ll spend time with Theo or something.

Where did they first meet?

At an awards show when they were teenagers. Gemma was there with her parents.

How did they first meet?

Gemma’s dad knew Rhys’s dad so they ended up getting introduced to each other like that.

Who spends the most money when out shopping?

Gemma definitely.

Who’s more likely to flash their assets?

Oh god I don’t think either really. Unless Gemma was trying to tease Rhys. Or if Rhys was trying to make Gemma laugh.

Who finds it amusing when the other trips over?

Both would find it funny.

Any mental issues?

Rhys is recovering from alcoholism, but other than that no.

Who’s terrified of bugs?

Gemma. But I feel like Rhys might be too.

Who kills the spiders around the house?

Gemma would make Rhys.

Their favourite place?

Honestly I think home is one place. Gemma loves Arizona now since Rhys proposed there.

Do they have any fears for their future?

They’re both terrified about having a miscarriage again. Gemma’s super concerned about raising kids as well. Just like, what that’s going to be like.

Who’s more likely to surprise the other with a fancy dinner?

This screams Rhys to me because again, he just wants to see Gemma smile and is quite the romantic. But also Gemma likes to make dinner and surprise him when he gets home from work.

Who uses up all of the hot water?

I could totally see Gemma taking a really long shower in the evening and Rhys getting annoyed because he just got home from work and wants to take a warm shower but he knows Gemma’s using it all up, so instead of getting mad he’d just like hop in with her.

Who’s the tallest?

Rhys

Who’s more likely to just randomly hop into the shower with the other?

Gemma would so do this in the morning if she was up early enough. But Rhys would totally do this too.

Who wanders around in their underwear?

Both of them. Especially on weekend mornings.

Who sings the loudest when singing along to the radio?

Rhys to make Gemma laugh.

What do they tease each other about?

Oh god I don’t even know. I’m sure there’s lots I’m just blanking right now.

Who is more likely to cringe at the other’s fashion sense at times?

I don’t think either would cringe at each other’s fashion sense.

Do they have mutual friends?

Not really. Like Rhys knows all of Gemma’s friends and their boyfriends, but he isn’t like friends with them. Gemma doesn’t really know much about Rhys’s friends at all.

Who crushed first?

I think Gemma did.

Any alcohol or substance related problems?

Yes, Rhys is recovering from alcohol abuse.

Who is more likely to stumble home, drunk, at 3am?

Hmm, Gemma probably.

Who swears the most?

Neither of them swear a whole lot so I’m not sure.

[krystiangorak-blog]

Ultimate Simple Keto Starting Guide

The hardest thing to do with anything new, is to start, that is including any kind of diet. There is a lot of information out there… Recipes, guides, videos, suggestions, transformations and many, many more sources of good and not so good information. All of this can be a little daunting, especially if you have never heard of Ketogenic or low carb dieting. I can relate to that myself, as at first I was very hesitant to pull the trigger on starting this lifestyle.

I took a leap of faith and here we are some time later and I’m happy, excited, energized and getting shredded. I want to help you make the same leap but reduce the unknown by giving you a step by step breakdown of what you should eat as well as some tips to get you started. Bookmark/favourite this page, so you can refer back to it as this is a staple for starting Ketogenic diet.

I’m not gonna get into too much detail as I can write 15 separate articles on what Keto is and it’s benefits(link to a video) so let’s keep it simple. Ketogenic diet consists of reducing your carbohydrate intake to minimum(below 35g), ramping up the fats(around 200g) and keeping the protein moderate(around 90g). The idea is when your body doesn’t get enough carbs to fuel its functions, it fully switches to taking energy from fat, turning you into a fat burning machine 24/7. You might say “Krystian, that sounds amazing, how do I get started”. Let me give a list of must have foods on Keto diet as well as some of the ones that I tend to avoid.

Meats:

This is the first section where it flips old fashion low fat diets on their heads. When choosing a meat you want to look for ones that have high percentage of fat.

Best ones include:

All sorts of minced meats(pork, pork&beef, full fat beef, chicken legs)

Fatty Steaks

Pork Chops

Fish(Salmon, Mackerel, halibut a little more rare)

Bacon

Sausages(Companies tend to put sugar in some so be careful)

Meats below aren’t necessarily bad but are very low in fat and high in protein. You can still eat them but you will have to pump much more fat on the side to balance them in your meals

Meats to stay away from:

Chicken Breast

Tuna

Reduced Fat Minced Meats

Dairy:

There is a lot of conversation around dairy, as some people do not react so good to too much of ir and will actually gain weight. The only thing I can say you shouldn’t stay away from it but you should definitely use it as an addition to your meals rather than a main ingredient(moderation is key).

Cheeses(Any kind ranging from normal Gouda all the way to Brie or Camembert) Avoid flavoured cheese.

Heavy Cream

Butter

Mayonnaise

Cream Cheese

Natural Cottage Cheese

Nuts & Seeds:

These are a great source of omega-3, omega-6 fats, minerals and necessary vitamins. All around great keto snacks in moderation and an amazing addition to a salad.

Macadamia Nuts

Hazelnuts

Almonds

Sunflower kernels

Pumpkin seeds

Fats & Oils:

I would say total basic of keto diet is to have a strong foundation and these are exactly that.

Olive Oil

Coconut Oil

Avocado Oil

Macadamia Oil

MCT Oil(Test it first, some people do not react so well to these)

Custom made Fat Bombs

Fruit:

A lot of people will tell you that some specific fruit is ok but I found that they really easily knock me out of ketosis, even in small amounts so I only have a couple VERY specific that I eat

Avocadoes

Olives

Vegetables:

You gotta be careful with these as well… I’m not going to be your grandma and tell you to eat yo’ veggies. I would say anything that grows above the ground you should be safe with but even then I have my safe list which I refer to.

Cabbage

Cauliflower

Broccoli

Spinach

Kale

Tomato(Really watch how much)

Onion(same here)

Green Bell Peppers(aaand here)

Beverages & Drinks:

I like to keep this really simple, but I know some people do need some other flavors in their lives. Here is a list of keto safe drinks:

WATER

Broths

Flavored Water(Sugar free little squidgy flavorers)

Tea

Coffee

Coconut/Almond milks(moderation)

Sauces & Condiments:

I tend to stay away from sauces, as there aren’t that many sugar free here, where I live. Nevertheless there are some I can recommend, but always be on guard of what it says on the back if the label.

Salad Dressings(Choose low carb, fatty ones like ranch or caesar)

Yellow Mustard(Moderation)

No sugar ketchup(Moderation)

Please stay away from sweeteners. They are not necessary… you are trying to get rid of sugar in your diet, not exchange it with something else.

How I prepare my meal(Typical day of eating)

Probably going to be the most useful part for you. You might have the ingredients but what the heck to you do with them? I 100% recommend to KEEP IT SIMPLE, especially at the beginning. You do not need all of those fancy recipes or keto friendly versions of high carb foods. You wanna keep it as simple as possible so you don't spend 5 hours a day in the kitchen.

Before breakfast/Pre morning workout:

Every morning, no matter if I’m going to the gym or not I’m having my “Coffee of the gods”. Some people call it bulletproof, some just call it keto coffee. Basically what we are looking at is:

Black coffee

15g of Butter

3tbsp of Heavy whipping cream

15g Extra Virgin Cold Pressed Coconut Oil

All of those ingredients are blended together in a blender to give you a really nice energy boost you need in the morning. That baby is around 44g of fat, 1g of carbs and 1g of protein. It is an equivalent of having a pre workout supplement, but rather than pumping sugar into your body, you are giving it a healthy portion of fat to function off. This will usually be enough for me for good 3-5 hours.

Breakfast:

Now you will see exactly what I mean by keeping it simple. I will usually have breakfast post workout or just whenever I will feel hungry(on my rest days). This usually consists off:

3 scrambled Eggs

50g of chopped Tomatoes

30g of chopped Onions

30g of grated Gouda Cheese

60g of some source of meat(Usually it is some kind of sausage or bacon)

20-30g of Mayonnaise

This delicious and beautiful breakfast adds up to around 6g of carbs, 56g of fat and 35g of protein. Notice how simple it is! I scramble some eggs, and pretty much just throw the rest of the ingredient on top. Remember to add salt(more on this later)!

Lunch:

There isn’t like a set in stone lunch, I will usually have whatever I crave from fats in moderation. Sometimes I have bread-less sandwich:

2 leafs of Chinese Cabbage

30g of Salami Ham

30g of Sliced Cheese

20g of Mayonnaise

Or I might have some peanut butter(unsweetened) with some nuts or other snack. It really depends on the day. The above sandwich adds up to 1g carbs, 29g of fat and 14g of protein.

Dinner:

I keep it simple with dinner also but I have a little blueprint for making a nutritious dinner. I’ll try to explain it the best I can:

1 Avocado

200g of any Meat mentioned in recommended meats above

100g of some vegetable, broccoli, cauliflower, spinach, kale… you name it

Then if I need to fill macros I’m gonna add whatever will fill them best. I could go Olives, piece of chicken with a bunch of mayo or cheese.

Depending on what you pick and choose, you will end up different macros but I’m always aiming for the highest number to be fat.

Snacks:

Everyone is different but I will generally only snack when I either need to fill my macros after all the meals(mainly fat), when I’m away and I can’t get a meal in or I’m just super hungry. I usually treat my lunch as kind of a snack, I guess that is the reason I snack very rarely. When I do:

50g Sunflower seed kernels

Or

1 Fat Bomb

When eating sunflower kernels we are looking at 26g of fat, 5g of carbs and 10g of protein. My own fat bombs(very simple, I’ll share how to make them soon) have 10g of fat and 1g of protein per bomb.

These right here, are only guidelines… Keep it simple, pick and choose from the list of keto friendly foods and make up some easy meal ideas. You don’t have to be an amazing cook or use all of those fancy Instagram/Pinterest recipes.

Now to finish up this Ultimate Keto Beginner Guide I’m going to share few tips on how to succeed. These are general and will work for everyone if applied correctly.

1. Remember about Electrolytes

This one is really important and was a night and day difference for me. Couple of days into the diet I started feeling lethargic, tired and like I had no energy.Naturally my body, which was still craving carbs, automatically thought that the reason was the lack of carbs but it was something completely different. I wasn’t supplying enough Potassium, Magnesium and Sodium into my system. These are crucial for balancing fluids in your body, helping supplying energy to muscles and regulating heart rhythm. I ran out to get multivitamin tablets and all of the above symptoms went away almost immediately.

2. Fat, fat, fat...

You have to get over the notion that fat makes you fat… IT DOESN’T. It’s carbs/glucose stored in your fat cells that make you bigger. Anyway, the point I’m getting to is don’t be afraid of fat, and supply plenty of it! Look at it this way, your body will now be running primarily off of it so it needs a lot of it. I know it can be hard switching after hearing for so many years that fat is bad and you need a healthy mix of nutrients.

3. Track or not to track

I would suggest tracking for the first 2 months and then trying to not track at all. After couple of months you will know how your body feels when in ketosis and you will be able to carry out your life without tracking. Remember to monitor your ketones, especially when you stop tracking to make sure you are on the right track. If not, go back to tracking for a few days and try going off again. No one expects you to track forever!

4. Stay away from any sugar or sweeteners

This is a rule of thumb. Sugar is bad but many keto-doers will still use artificial sweeteners and will successfully stay in ketosis. For me it is like a bad middle, this means you aren’t freeing yourself from sugar, but rather just settling for a different version of it. I would say stay away from sweeteners, especially when starting out to for sure break the addiction from sugar. You will later find out that you don’t need them at all anymore

5. Hydrate

This is kind of general health tip. 60% percent of our body is made out of water so it makes sense we need plenty of it. Drinking plenty of it will also promote weight loss as first of all you will lose all the excess water stored in your body but also your body will be able to more efficiently transfer nutrients around all organs.

6. Work out

If you are going to use keto as a mean to lose a bunch of unnecessary weight and you aren’t very active, I would suggest starting to work out or just implement some kind of activity into your life. I’m not saying you have to become a bodybuilder or a professional athlete, but just get yourself moving and use the energy you are supplying to your body for more than just maintaining. Again, this doesn’t have to be a heavy weight lifting routine, it could be as simple as taking your dog for a longer walk, riding your bike to work and taking the stairs rather than the elevator.

7. Change your mentality

I see a lot of people making this mistake when starting Keto. They think “I need to cut carbs” or “No carbs”... carbs, carbs, carbs. Even though they just switched to ketogenic diet, they are still thinking in terms of carbohydrates all the time. The thing about it is that your brain doesn’t understand the word “No”, so when you think “No carbs”, your mind and action will naturally gravitate towards thinking about carbs, potentially craving them or making it hard for you to withstand the urge. Rather than thinking of limiting carbs, think of increasing fat intake! This is extremely helpful while shopping early on in the diet. Whenever I walk into a grocery store, I don’t think “Ok, which carbs I’m gonna avoid today”... I’m literally going to be like “Where are the fats at?!”. Switch your mentality, it will help a ton.

8. Chill out

This is another general health tip. When you stress about your job, relationship, your dieting result or anything, your body produces cortisol, which in turn causes it to go into body fat storage mode. That is bad, we don’t want that. Also stress causes you to overeat, lose sleep, have sexual problems among many others. Calm mind and a good diet go hand to hand so get meditating or do something that chills you out.

Here we are, an extensive look at starting a simple(the way it is supposed to be) ketogenic diet. Hopefully my list of foods, super easy recipes, as well as some starting tips will help you on your journey or make it easier to make your first step into the healthy keto world.

[pkmnnovareset]

multiples of 2 for ali declan and noll please (▰˘◡˘▰)

get to know my character!

This is great because I haven’t thought too much on the three of them yet. This ask also ended up being long so I’m putting everything after q10 under the cut! 

Also I’m sorry this took forever to answer, there were a LOT of questions lol, but here it is~!

02. What is one of your character’s biggest insecurities? Are they able to hide it easily or can others easily exploit this weakness?

Ali’s insecurity is how he always ends up depending on his twin on basically everything. Don’t get him wrong, he loves Declan a lot, but sometimes he wants to be brave and courageous enough to handle situations on his own without having to fall back on Declan. He’s good at keeping this secret from others, even Declan (who isn’t great and pin pointing on other people’s emotions, not like him).

Declan often feels like he’s too much of a bother to people, like people don’t actually really want to hang around him or be his friend. That they’re only doing it to pity him or out of necessity. When he starts feeling those doubts, he pulls away from social gatherings, from other people and leave a distance between each other. He doesn’t want to end up being right about his paranoia that the friends he has made truly do hate him. Ali picks up on Declan’s insecurity right off the bat, being that Ali is extremely empathetic, and the whole twin-telepathy thing.

This took me a while to think because Noll is a character I haven’t explored deeply yet (granted the other two I haven’t either, but I planned them out before so *shrugs*). But I feel like it’s his image of being seen as weak? He doesn’t want to be pushed around by people who thinks they’re better than him, so that’s why he ends up donning a personality that rubs people the wrong way.

04. What are their favorite traits about their lover? (one psychological and one physical)

Well, considering all 3 of them are like, 11, they don’t really have a lover - not yet anyways. Maybe when they’re older. But I can tell you what they think about their crush.

Ali loves how affectionate, kind, and sweet Miranda is. He loves how she’s always so true to herself and doesn’t falter with who she is to the entire world. He loves how brave she is for being who she is. A physical aspect is how soft Miranda’s hair is. Ali just loves running his fingers through her hair, it’s really soothing and honestly, it’s incredibly soft like holy heck.

Declan loves how Adrien is so reliable all the time and how he’s such an amazing big brother to Miranda. He also loves how the two of them share so many things in common: their loves for outdoor activities, their love and care for their siblings, etc. Declan really loves Adrien’s eyes, like they’re just such a pretty colour that Declan wouldn’t mind staring into Adrien’s eyes for hours.

Noll is tricky, because he really cannot stand what Adrien is all about. He’s too similar to his cousin, Declan. But he also finds it admirable that Adrien does things because he wants to, or things that betters others. Noll really loves Adrien’s fingers, they’re just long and slender (despite the fact that Adrien ends up shorter than Noll when they all grow up).

06. Do they have any hobbies that their lover finds unusual, odd, or otherwise annoying?

Hmm… Not particularly?

Miranda thinks Ali’s hobbies are his hobbies and doesn’t judge him for it.

Adrien, although not knowing that the two people have crushes on him, don’t really judge Declan or Noll for whatever they do. I mean, many people tend to get annoyed that Noll ends up ignoring everyone when he goes off to read a book, but other then that, nothin’ really comes to mind.

08. What is, perhaps, their biggest flaw? Are they aware of this or oblivious to it?

Ali is a people-pleaser. He’s very well aware of this and has tried to stand up for himself to stop, but it never worked. Declan has helped him many times, but Ali could never get a hang of it. Sometimes Declan ends up shoo-ing the people away and protects him from them.

Declan ends up disregarding the people around him when he’s focused in on something, or when a situation is at hand. He forgets that whatever action he does can potentially affect people around him until it’s too late. He’s not exactly someone who thinks ahead, only realizing the consequences after he’s done something.

Noll is self-centred and extremely arrogant. He isn’t very aware that he does this, but he does. He generally ends up looking down on people if they aren’t up to his standards intellectually. He can also be selfish too depending on the situation before him.

10. Is your character more feminine or masculine?

All three are on the masculine side

12. Is there some particular talent, skill, or attribute that they simply could not give up?

Ali is very great at breeding Pokemon and would never give that up.

Declan is an amazing Pokathlete and has worked so hard to get to where he is now.

Noll has spent time perfecting his directing and videography that it’s pretty much become his everything.

14. Do they live alone or with family? How do they feel about their family/roommates?

They all live with their families!

Ali and Declan LOVES their moms, Leaf and Serena!

Noll took a while to get used to his new family, but he’s definitely come to care for them very much, even Kylie, ha ha!

16. Is your character the athletic type or more of a couch potato? What are some sports/games that they like?

Ali is not the athletic type at all, ha ha! He doesn’t quite have the stamina for any sports. He’d much rather watch. But he isn’t a couch potato since he does move his body a lot. Becoming a Pokemon Breeder helps keeps him on his toes!

Declan is obviously the athletic type being that he’s a Pokeathlete. His favourite events are: Hurdle Dash, Relay Run, and Disc Catch!

Noll is definitely a couch potato. He doesn’t do sports. At all. He’d much rather read his books in the comforts of his home.

18. What kind of home would they want to live in? Where would they place this abode?

Ali would want to live in a home where there’s a large open field for him to continue his Pokemon Breeding! He’d also want to live with Miranda but SSHHHHH, don’t tell her that ;) (plus they’re like 11 so let’s hold off of that for now, just until they’re older). He’d want a house with two floors, a moderate sized bedroom and two extra rooms for whatever he (or Miranda) wants to put for their own personal space.

Declan wants to live in a penthouse. He just loves how big and spacious they are, it’d also be a great place to train and stuff. Maybe not the more intense trainings, but like the more smaller ones. Like lifting weights, doing sit ups, etc. Things you find at a gym.

Noll wants to live in an apartment where he could put all his books and video cameras. He’d want a room where he can use as his office to edit videos and what not. His books would be in the living room placed in bookshelves. He’ll also have a nice comfy reading chair next to all of those bookshelves!

20. Does your character like animals? What are some of their favorite animals? Would they want pets? What about mythological creatures?

Ali and Declan grew up with lots of Pokemon as their stay-at-home Pokemon: Poocheyana, Skitty, and Pidgey. The two of them loved those three. Ali loved Poocheyana and Pidgey more, while Declan loved Skitty! Because they both grew up with stay-at-home Pokemon, they’d for sure want one of their own when they move out. Ali’s always been fascinated by werewolves, and Declan’s been interested in Banshee’s.

Noll isn’t a big fan of any troubling Pokemon that could distract him from his work. He really likes the Wendigo myth though.

22. What kind of tattoos, piercings, birthmarks, freckles, and other such unique physical features do they have?

Ali has freckles all over his arms and legs.

Declan has two little moles on his right butt cheek in a diagonal line kinda.

Noll doesn’t really have any unique physical features.

24. In their own words, how would your character describe what their lover is like?

Ali: Brave

Declan: Considerate

Noll: Admirable

26. What is their lover like sexually? How do they feel about their lover’s quirks, needs, etc?

I mean, I know I’m going to write about their adventures sometime in the future, and they’re all going to be aged up, but let’s not go there. At least not right now. They’re 11 years old. That’s just awks.

28. If your character became a celebrity, what would they be famous for?

Ali’d be famous for his Breeding research, probably

Declan would be famous for being a Pokeathlete and wining lots of medals at every Pokathlon

Noll would be famous for his movies/films and his directing skills

30. When it comes to the arts (music, film, theater, etc), what does your character like?

Ali loves watching romance movies

Declan prefers watching action-packed movies

Noll appreciates theatre as well as symphonies/orchestras!

32. If your character’s lover offered to take them out on a dream date, what would they want to do?

Ali wouldn’t care what he and Miranda do. He just wants to spend time with her, and make sure that she’s happy~!

Declan would want to see the big named Pokathletes in Pokathlons and cheer for them, he’d also want to go to gardens just to watch Adrien’s face light up.

Noll wouldn’t mind going to a cafe, or one of those Film Festivals!

34. Does your character have favorite foods? (breakfast, lunch, dinner, dessert, snacks, etc)

Ali enjoys having breakfast a lot, it’s the first meal of the day and the meal to wake you up in the morning. He really loves pancakes and would drizzle a shit ton of maple syrup all over em’.

Declan would eat pretty healthy considering he’s a Pokathlete and all. But there are times where he’d sneak in a couple of junk foods here and there! His favourite junk foods are Ruffled All Dressed.

Noll loves drinking tea and cinnamon rolls - or anything with cinnamon in them. He just likes the flavour of cinnamon.

38. What kind of weather does your character like? Cloudy skies, rainy days, sunshine, etc?

Ali and Declan both love sunny days the best! It’s when they could do the most without having to worry about the weather and such!

Noll on the other hand, prefers rainy days. He loves listening to the sound of the rain against the window panes, or the bushes, and etc. It gives him a good excuse to read his book inside! He also loves the smell of the rain.

40. Does your OC have any guilty pleasures they enjoy? Hobbies, past times, music, etc that they wouldn’t want known by others?

Ali’s love for watching romance movie is usually kept hidden from his brother. Miranda knows of Ali’s interest for it and doesn’t really judge him for that. She thinks it’s cute and romantic. But Ali definitely keeps this away from Declan.

Declan actually enjoys tap dancing! He just loves being able to move his feet around and the sound of the tap shoes against hard surfaces! Ali and his mothers are the only ones who knows about this - being that Ali too, has taken tap dancing lessons with him.

Noll reads like, a shit ton of yaoi/shounen-ai manga okay like. That is the one thing he keeps hidden from everyone else lol. He has a stash of yaoi/shounen-ai stuff hidden away behind one of his many stacked books on his bookshelf. And some tucked away in the corner of his closet.

42. Is there anything in your character’s past that they regret, haunts them, or they wish they could change?

For all three of them? Nope!

44. Is there a particular event that would emotionally devastate your character?

Oh my god, oh my GOD.

For the twins, it’s DEFINITELY losing each other okay like. Y’ALL PUNKS REMEMBER IN HP DEATHLY HOLLOWS WHERE FRED FUCKIN’ DIED AND SHIT? AND IT WAS SAID THAT GEORGE COULD NO LONGER CONJURE UP A PATRONUS B/C HIS TWIN BRO IS DEAD AND SHIT? THAT’S HOW ALI AND DECLAN WOULD FEEL IF THE OTHER DIED. LIKE THOSE TWINS HATES BEING SEPARATED, EVEN FOR A FEW MINUTES. THEY KICK UP A RUCKUS IF THEY GET SEPARATED FROM EACH OTHER. SO IMAGINE WHAT WOULD HAPPEN IF THEY NO LONGER HAVE EACH OTHER - IF ONE OF THEM DIED.

IF AL DIED, DECLAN WOULD JUST LOSE HIS SUNSHINE CHARM. HE’D BE SO DEVASTATED AND SOLEM THAT HE WOUDLN’T KNOW WHAT TO DO. IT’S LIKE LOSING HALF OF YOURSELF. HE’D NO LONGER WANT TO CONTINUE HIS POKATHLON STUFF AND ANY MENTION OF BREEDING JUST REMINDS HIM OF HIS BRO AND HE’D JUST, GET SEVERELY DEPRESSED.

IF DECLAN DIED, ALI WOULD CRY FOR HOURS ON END. NON-STOP. LIKE HE’LL STILL WORK HARD AT BEING A POKEMON BREEDER, BUT WITHOUT HIS BROTHER THERE TO SEE HIM ACHIEVE HIS DREAMS, IT’S MEANINGLESS. LIKE HE’LL JUST LOSE MOTIVATION. HE JUST WOULDN’T KNOW WHAT TO DO BECAUSE FUCK HIS BEST FRIEND, HIS PARTNER IN CRIME, HIS TWIN BROTHER IS DEAD. DEAD AND GONE. LIKE HE HIMSELF WOULD JUST FEEL DEAD INSIDE OK LIKE BRUH.

I think Noll would be severely devastated by his fears and paranoia that his current family would abandon him, or lock him away somewhere. He’s extremely claustrophobic and his birth parents were pretty abusive towards him. So it would just trigger an onslaught of horrible memories for him if Brendan and Calem ended up being the same. But thank god that’s not the case.

46. What is some random affectionate thing that your character always does to their lover?

Ali loves spoiling Miranda with sweet, innocent kisses. He’ll also compliment her every single day and doing tons of romantic gestures. He’ll even reply to Miranda’s cute sticky notes with his own cute sticky notes!

Declan would always hug his s/o whenever he gets the chance! Loving hugs, surprise hugs, cuddle hugs, all the hugs imaginable!

It’s quite hard for Noll to randomly show affection to his s/o, but if he loves them a lot, he’d definitely start laying out kisses all over them with a straight face, but still blushing!

48. Is there anything in particular that would ignite your character’s jealousy? Or does your character not get envious?

Ali would totally get uncomfortable and jealous when other guys show interest in Miranda. He’d be pretty silent about his jealousy, but his actions definitely speaks louder than his words. He’d go up to Miranda and just wrap his arms around her protectively (even though when they get older, Miranda ends up being much taller than Ali, so it’s an interesting sigh to see from an outsider’s pov). His eyes would also just glare at the guys flirting with Miranda; like his glares could literally slice things up.

Declan gets pretty pouty when he’s jealous! He grumbles a lot and sometimes acts a little selfish! He wants the person he likes to give him attention and spend time with him! And, unlike his twin, he can be vocal about his jealousy - which is where his selfishness comes in.

Noll gets pretty protective and mildly possessive over his s/o/crush when he’s jealous. He’d go straight up to whoever was bothering his s/o/crush and tell them, bluntly and rudely, to fuck off. His glare is a bit more intimidating than Ali’s, being that he already looks like he’s glaring at people with his resting-bitch-face, but when adding jealousy into the mix, his glares are... Pretty scary.

50. If your character confessed love to their crush, boyfriend, girlfriend, etc, what would they say?

Ali would be the most romantic person ever when confessing to Miranda. He’d go full out with the romantic stuff and it’d be so cheesy but so cute at the same time.

Declan would probably be blunt about it? But in an embarrassed way? Like he’ll definitely blurt out “I like/love you!” first before stammering into a list as to why and how.

Noll is a bit trickier considering he’s kind of stoic when it comes to showing emotions other than his default.

[topfygad]

10 Day Egypt Explorer Tour

We have been wanting to visit Egypt for a while now so when the opportunity to get away over the Christmas and New Year period arose we knew we needed to head there for a break. We joined Expat Explore on their 10 Day Explorer Tour through Egypt taking in the sights of Cairo, Aswan, Luxor and Hurghada.

The reason we chose Expat Explore was that they were the cheapest in price with all the same sights and in the end we were happy with our choice.

Pre-departure they emailed us our itinerary with the optional excursions and additional costs for entry fees included so that we could budget properly. As well as following up with our pre-trip questions regarding flights, insurance and uhealth and safety advice.

From the start they were very professional. Landing in Cairo we were personally greeted the day before our tour and transported to our City centre hotel. That drive was an eye-opener to Egypt with crazy lane changes, honking, swerving, flashing lights with animals, people and vehicles everywhere.

El Tonsy Hotel is your base for your arrival and last night. Luckily we didn’t expect much as our door didn’t lock which was a bit dodgy and the rooms were freezing cold with a broken heater and only one blanket. You wouldn’t think you would need heat in Egypt but it was the middle of winter and it was chilly at night. No complaints with the location though as we could see the Pyramids in the distance and were only 5 minutes walk from the Nile and 15 minutes to Tahir Square (perfectly safe by the way). Plus they have a little bar/restaurant with cheap food and free Wi-Fi. Just buy your snacks and water from the supermarket across the road and you will get on fine.

It’s quite hard to break down a whole trip into one post but here goes:

Day One

Your tour starts with the best in my opinion by touring some sights of Cairo. The steeply angled Step Pyramid, mind-blowing Pyramids of Giza and the smaller than expected Sphinx. This day was definitely the highlight.

That night is spent aboard the train for 10-12 hours to Aswan. I highly recommend the Sleeper train for an extra £50 per person. Others that caught the standard train froze their butts off while we had a toasty sleep with a served dinner and breakfast. Unfortunately Expat Explore never told us about the provided food so we ate before we got on-board but what we could fit in was delicious.

Day Two

The tour splits in Aswan as one group embarks on a River Cruise aboard a 5 star ship while the others spend time in hotels and on a Felucca. No surprise that we went with the cheaper option aboard the Felucca so the next few days are from that point of view.

The afternoon is yours at Sara Hotel on the banks above the Nile. We lapped up the beautiful rays of the sun and managed to turn our pasty white bodies a more fitting slightly white shade. The Hotel was great until the toilet next-door erupted sending a river of smelly waste across our bedroom floor (throw your toilet paper in the bin not the loo)! Luckily we woke in time to rescue our bags from the watery mess! Not the fault of Expat Explore and we didn’t blame the Hotel either as shit happens.

Day Three

Your day begins by visiting the monstrous High Dam for 10 minutes (fairly boring) and a drive past the Unfinished Obelisk. While the highlight is definitely the Philae Temple. When the sunsets across the Nile reflecting off the stonework it really is quite magical.

The evening ended with an optional dinner in a traditional Nubian families house. The food was scrumptious and you better bring your singing and dancing shoes.

Day Four

The following day and night is spent relaxing aboard the Felucca for a sail up the Nile for several hours. Sleeping no more than 8 people you will be snug if you bring your own sleeping bag like us. The rest of our crew were jealous as it did get quite chilly in the evening however blankets were provided.

With delicious pita bread and falafel cooked on the boat you will not be disappointed with the food either.

The day ends with a bonfire on the Nile shoreline as you sing and dance with the crazy fun Nubian crews. This was definitely one of the highlights of the entire trip for us.

Travel Tip: Don’t be put off by doing your “business” amongst the reeds of the Nile. Just enjoy the view and remember to bring your own toilet paper (which you need everywhere in Egypt anyway).

By all accounts, from the other tour members, the River Cruise is just as great with 3 nights on-board in comfortable accommodation, a pool and  buffets morning, noon and night.

Day Five

Waking to a sunrise breaking the morning chill is a glorious way to start a new day. Unfortunately there is little time for relaxation before you are off the Felucca and on a bus to Kom Ombu and Edfu Temples. I must say, all of the transportation was more than adequate with toilets on the buses and room enough for everyone. It’s lucky because you do spend the majority of the time being driven around.

The Lotus Hotel in Luxor was probably the pick of them all. Situated on the Nile bank with a swimming pool and tasty buffet breakfast.

Day Six

One more day, one more busy schedule. Rushing to beat the crowds at the Valley of the Kings it’s another 8am start. You are only allowed to visit three tombs and we recommend the guides picks which were Ramses II, IV and IX.

Travel Tip: You are NOT allowed to take your camera with you off the bus. Please don’t ruin it for everyone by taking photos as you will be charged by security when caught.

We also squeezed in the crowded rock carved Hatshepsut Temple but only drove past Luxor Temple as we ran out of time as you need to drive 6 hours to reach Hurghada that night.

Day Seven and Eight

The next two days at the Red Sea are yours to do whatever you like so use them wisely. We joined most of our group for a spot of snorkelling and diving. The dive and the staff were great but the whole day seemed a little rushed which was a shame. Keep an eye out for our post on our diving experience in Hurghada.

So nice being able to relax on a beach and read a book after such a hectic schedule. It’s hard to leave and the 6 – 8 hour bus ride back to Cairo is tough.

Travel Tip: If you plan to do the tour over New Years Eve then you will have to depart Hurghada half a day early which sucked as it meant celebrating the New Year at the Hotel in Cairo. Bit of a let down but when hasn’t New Years Eve been!

Day Nine

Your final day of sightseeing is spent around Cairo. Our favourite part of the day was definitely the Cairo Museum with an excellent tour guide. It fits perfectly at the end by seeing all the history close-up after having learned about it over the last 8 days.

By the time we hit the old area of Cairo and the Coptic Hanging Church we were spent on history but our guide made a good effort at keeping us entertained.

The last group activity is free time for an hour or so at the Khan El Khalili souk markets where the touts try to prise your cash from you for the last time from every nook and cranny.

Day Ten

With the tour over it’s time to head home. Our flight was late the following night so we walked around the city and Souks on our own for the day. Expat Explore provides transport back to the airport which was great.

The Negatives

The trip was awesome but we think it’s important to note the little things that could make a huge difference to the overall experience:

It felt like we were always hungry. Maybe it is just Kiwi’s and Aussies that eat all the time but it seriously felt like we were constantly starving with lunches being served usually after 4pm and dinner at 9pm onwards. It might be the Egyptian way to eat at those times but not for us. Travel Tip: Buy lots of snacks for the road which are very cheap at supermarkets.

There was sometimes a lack of direction in what seemed to be happening. Everything is done on Egyptian time so be patient.

We were often delayed or behind schedule with little to no guidance as to how long it would take to get from place to place. A little knowledge goes a long was as then we can plan ahead.

More free time would be great to explore places on your own rather than have our hands held everywhere.

The Positives:

As we said above, the trip was amazing and the little positive things far outweighed the negatives which helped make it a memorable trip.

Pre-departure information and care was extremely good.

The tour was exceptional value for money and it was the cheapest tour we could find even though we still saw all the same sights the other groups did.

The guides were extremely knowledgeable and never failed to answer any questions we had. The insights into the daily lives of the people around us was a nice break from all the history. They also ensured you never felt unsafe or uncomfortable.

The Felucca trip was better than expected and overall so was the accommodation and transport options.

All in all we highly recommend you book with Expat Explore if you are considering a trip through Egypt.

Make sure you subscribe now and come back soon so you can enjoy reading our new posts which will cover everything else in more detail.

Disclaimer: Expat Explore provided us with a discount for our 10 day tour of Egypt however as always our thoughts are always our own.

source http://cheaprtravels.com/10-day-egypt-explorer-tour/

[londonlanded]

Weeks 7 & 8

Alright so the longer I am here, the longer I am starting to realize that this is going to be a bi-weekly digest at best, sorry my life isn't interesting enough to document on the daily but hopefully it's worth the wait (and hopefully more stuff happens to me to make it worth chronicling!). 

Monday was marked by another walk around my area, though I headed east along the Thames this time, and stumbled upon the Hammersmith bridge, which I had heard rumours about but hadn't actually seen myself. 

Tuesday, came home and decorated my room to the point that it's actually liveable, half since it was about time it started to feel like home, half because I had just had an infuriating shift at work and needed something to go well that day. Here's the thing about my job that I can actually, legally disclose without compromising the welfare or confidentiality of the people I work for and with; how my day goes is largely dependent on who I am working with. This is the reality for any job, I know, but it's all the more relevant when you are someone who largely depends on being cognitively stimulated to at least a small degree. My job involves a lot of repetitive tasks, the bulk of it isn't necessarily challenging though it is tiring and relatively demanding. You're remotely interacting with literally hundreds of people per day, some are a little less thrilled to speak to you than others, some want to tell you the stories of their lives. The day-to-day job is almost never the same, and it varies just as greatly based on my company as it does based on the phone calls. On days when I feel like I'm doing the job of two people, I am somewhat less friendly than usual.

Dave was the recipient of my angst on Tuesday night, and as a result, sent this to the hotel. 

A very confused concierge, used to receiving guest-related and not staff-related queries, cautiously came into the communications office and dropped them off, but only after having read the delivery notice for the flowers since the recipient was initially written as "Maple Face." Not a bad start to my Wednesday. 

Finished it with dinner outside my building, I am happy on the pavement so long as there's a decent sky above me. It's not living on Park Lane, certainly, but at the moment, I am more than happy with a partially obstructed view of the sunset, and Red Planet Pizza as company.

Friday before work, I hunted down a birthday present for my Englishman, hopping between tailors in Mayfair and trying to find something I could afford wound up being impossible, so I found myself on Carnaby street.

After successfully hunting down the requisite obnoxious yet high quality pair of socks he was looking for, I meandered among the throngs of tourists that I have only recently stopped identifying with myself. It's not that there isn't anything more to discover, that would be insane to think, but it's mostly that I feel like I have my bearings now, and that I honestly feel at home. Spent Saturday in Wycombe with Dave to celebrate his birthday, and spent Sunday helping a friend move out of his flat. Quiet weekend, the first I had off in a while, and it was wholly appreciated.

Monday was spent doing a bit of life admin, but things got interesting again on Tuesday when I went to meet a Swedish friend to go get our very first ever official English breakfasts. 

I decided to go for the grilled tomatoes, British bacon, sausage, egg and black pudding, while Bea went for the baked beans, bacon, sausage and toast combination. Salty and satisfying, I could hear my arteries crying but for that moment, I didn't really care.

Bea and I decided to explore the area after our meal, and before we knew it, we were at the foot of Westminster Abbey, accidentally trying to enter through the exit. 

We walked on, over the Thames on the Westminster bridge, and right under the London Eye. 

We parted ways so that Bea could continue her day off at the Tate Modern, and so I could make it to work on time, but my walk took me through Trafalgar Square where I got to listen to an incredible violinist alongside a hundred or so other spectators. 

Walked past the Canadian embassy and made it to work 45 minutes early in spite of my morning of adventures. It would have all been perfect had I not somehow sprained my ankle while walking... someone told me it was a bad idea to walk 8 miles inToms.....I didn't listen the last 30 times why should I listen now!!! Still, it's been a bit demoralizing being unable to really get around these past few days, but there's nothing a little ice and ibuprofen can't fix right?...

Wednesday I managed to have another instance of public transport sociability. I offered directions to an American couple and wound up learning that the gentleman was a pediatric orthopaedic surgeon who spends a lot of time at sickkids. I told him I had spent quite a bit of time there too, though not as a patient of course. He told me they were from Boston, his wife was a social worker and told me I should consider social work instead of law, and she invited me to her practice in Boston if I ever found myself here. The gentleman handed me his card and did the same. It was only when I looked at it that I realized I had just traded giving directions for a tour of Harvard Medical School. Oh, the people you meet.

Thursday, Spent my afternoon at a guitar shop contemplating a little pre-birthday impulse buy (I was talked out of it, thank you dad). While I didn’t wind up buying anything, I did hook up to an amp and enjoy myself thoroughly for the hour and a bit I was there. I wonder how many times I can go back before they tell me I need to buy something...

Still, the day really picked up at sundown, as my Four Seasons affiliation was about to pay off once again. Every department was given a pair of tickets to Kinky Boots, and my supervisor, Paris, decided to take me since we both had a day off! Nothing better for a sprained ankle than being forced to sit still for an hour, right? Though my friend Coline and I got stuck on the tube for about an hour on the way to Embankment Station, we still had time to grab a bite without having to speed-hobble to the theatre. Coline and I knew nothing about the show at all before it started, but thankfully the show has more blunt statements than it does subtleties. 

We were met with Drag Queens and drama, tales of self-acceptance and songs that made you laugh and, at a few moments, made some of us cry. While I’m no professional reviewer, I’d recommend this show to anyone with a soul, who wants to laugh until they snort a little while feeling like their perspective on people might be slightly more open than it was when they walked through the Adelphi Theatre’s doors. 

Friday, back to work, nothing like a 6:30AM start time after going to bed less than 4 hours prior (whoops). Still, working with Paris is always a pleasure, and the day was a literal zoo. Apparently one of my colleagues ran some statistics, we received 3000 phone calls over two days. It’s August, high season for hotels, but it’s still so hard to believe that one room staffed with three people (at most) can handle that much attention in a 48 hour period. 

Saturday, working again, thankfully this time I was alone for a few hours but didn’t cause any hotel-wide problems like I did that first time.... After work, headed out to Hyde Park to meet up with some of my coworkers for a picnic, and was pleasantly surprised with the way our rainy day went. 

My Guyanese coworker Glen had been back to Ghana since we saw him last, and brought raw coconuts, plantains, and black beans from home. He made us bean fritters and fried plantains, jungle juice (ginger, lime juice, African chilli, cayenne and some other spices I’ve forgotten), and brought some raw coconut for us to snack on. 

Our Portuguese coworker (Isabel, the long-time operator who is queen of the office, night shift, and everything in between), made fish cakes, some salad concoction with everything under the sun in it (mussels, eggs, corn, potatoes, parsley etc.), chorizo from Portugal and some other fried stuff that I can’t name but ate anyway. She would hold her ground against any Jewish grandmother I’ve come across if there were a competition for who could stuff their grandchild with food the fastest, I was literally having food thrown at me. 

Still, the highlight of the day came after we had finished eating. Isabel guided us to the small patch of trees in the southwest corner of the park where, for whatever reason, someone once set their pet cockatiel free. Instead of losing track of their pet, the cockatiels somehow bred and stuck around, and what resulted is a thriving community of bright-green, ex-domestic relatives of parrots that hang around in Hyde Park and eat seeds out of your hands, off your head, off anything you place food on that’s high enough for them to feel safe enough to land. Exhibit A, my new soulmate:

Sunday, 6:30 start with my favourite night operator, Bertrand from France. He’s quiet and has the kind of humour that catches you by surprise sometimes. On the other hand, he’s the same guy whose stomach grumbled loudly all morning today, and the first time it happened he looked at me with a deadpan expression and said, “oh, inside fart,” just as I was reaching to pick up the phone. Not sure whether it was his comedic timing or the concept itself, but he had me in stitches and therefore unable to do my job. Thankfully, most people have better things to do than call the Four Seasons at 7:15AM. 

Today was a reflective sort of day though. I bailed on my afternoon plans because of my sprained ankle, and wound up sitting in a cafe with my journal, my head as full as its pages. Perhaps its pathetic fallacy, the weather was grey and the rain was spitting and I was about to descend into a funk. 

But then, I stopped and thought about everything for a second. I thought beyond the moment I was living in, and about the fact that I was able to reflect on it at all. I am lucky enough to be in a position where I can actually want things to be different than they are. I want my schedule to work so I can travel, I want to go to law school, I want to do a job that I love. I have desires that go beyond feeding myself and my family, I have people who know I am far away and still take care of me. I can afford the coffees I sometimes allow to go cold on the table, too engrossed in the ideas flowing from my ballpoint pen onto well-loved pages bearing the stains of many mugs that cooled before this latest victim of my narrowly focused attention. I know I did a bit of my own legwork to get to this position, but beyond my own limited contributions, I know I have more people to thank than I have the eloquence to properly do so. 

I looked back out at the rain and smiled, packed my bag and my journal, pulled on my jacket and left my dishes where they were. I walked outside, pulled my hood off my head, and smiled into the mist.  

e

[offwithalicesheadx]

Breakfast! 1.) Have you ever eaten a “balanced breakfast” like they show in cereal commercials (I.E., bowl of cereal, fruit, glass of orange juice)? I had porridge with banana and orange juice the other morning, if porridge counts, and when I ate super healthy I always used to have bran flakes, low fat yoghurt, fruit and orange juice for breakfast

2.) When’s the last time you made someone breakfast? A long while ago now

3.) What’s your favorite cereal? Chocolate Shreddies

4.) What’s the highest calorie, most terrible for you breakfast you’ve ever had? Probably like pancakes with sausages and golden syrup, or like leftover takeaway haha

5.) Would you rather get breakfast from McDonald’s or Burger King? McDonalds, never had a Burger King breakfast

6.) Waffles or pancakes? Pancakes

7.) Eggs or cereal? Eggs

8.) Milk or orange juice? Orange juice

9.) PopTart or Toaster Strudel? I've only ever had a Pop Tart so I'd have to say them

10.) Do you even eat breakfast? I've started to again recently

11.) Do you take vitamins with your breakfast? No

Lunch! 1.) When do you usually eat lunch? My lunches are usually 1pm Monday and Wednesday and 12pm Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, on the weekends I just eat whenever I like haha

2.) Did you get notes from your parents in your lunch when you were little? No

3.) If you had one, what did your lunch box look like? I think I had school dinners instead of a packed lunch but if I ever did I assume I probably had a Groovy Chick one or something

4.) What’d you have for lunch today? Spicy rice with chicken and a cup of coffee

5.) Do you like to go out for lunch? Where? Yeah, my favourites are Wagamama and Gourmet Burger Kitchen

6.) Do you have/want any cute sandwich cutters? (They decrust your sandwich into a shape) No

7.) Do you sit with/meet with anyone for lunch often? On the weekend I'll usually have food with Jesse, at work I eat on my own

8.) Have you ever had a peanut butter and butter sandwich, or does it sound appealing at all? No but I've had peanut butter on toast, I imagine I'd like it

9.) Is your lunch usually a hot food or a cold food? It depends what I fancy, I've had hot the past few days with having rice/cous cous and if I go out it's usually hot but then sometimes I just have sandwiches

10.) Has the word “lunch” been repeated so many times it’s a meaningless word by now? No

Dinner/Supper! 1.) Do you follow the health rule of having a small dinner and big breakfast? No

2.) Do you ever say a prayer before eating dinner? NNo

3.) What’s your favorite take out dinner, if you have one? Indian

4.) Have you ever been taken out to a nice restaurant for a dinner date? I don't know what classes as 'nice' but I have been on dinner dates

5.) Did you grow up eating dinner with your family? How do you think that affected you? Yeah, I'm not sure whether it really did, I guess it was a time for everyone to talk or whatever

6.) Do you have “nice” dinner plates for special occasions? We do if we have Christmas dinner at my nan's but that's it

7.) Do you ever eat frozen dinners? I have done

8.) What dinner foods can you cook? I can cook a fair amount of things I just don't really choose to cook

9.) White or red meat (or their vegetarian substitute counterparts)? Red meat

10.) Soup or salad? Salad

Dessert! 1.) Do you ever get dessert at a restaurant when they ask? Sometimes

2.) Is there a dessert food most people like that you hate? Cake

3.) Cupcakes or real cake? I don't really like any cake, I like the icing on cupcakes though

4.) Ice cream or pie? Ice cream

5.) What kind of birthday cake (or other sweet birthday type thing) do you usually get? I usually get some sort of Disney cake

6.) What was your favorite childhood birthday cake? One that had sweets all over it as decorations

7.) Do you have a favorite foreign (to a Westerner, anyway :P) desserts? (Baklava, biscotti, churros…) Churros are pretty good

8.) Do you bake sweets? Which are you best at? I've made brownies, they were pretty good, and I'm a really good pancake maker

9.) Have you ever had a good “diet” dessert, like something endorsed by Weight Watchers? What was it? Weight Watchers do dessert flavoured yoghurts and they're pretty nice

10.) What’s your dream dessert? Banana waffles with salted caramel sauce or peanut butter cheesecake

11.) Do you watch shows like Cake Boss or Cupcake Wars? No

Snacks! 1.) What’s the best candy in the world? Bubblegum Millions, pink and blue fizzy bottles and crispy M&Ms

2.) Do you eat more snacks or full meals? Meals I think

3.) Is there anything you find yourself eating when you’re bored? I usually eat crisps or chocolate or something which I know is bad

4.) Do drinks with calories count as a snack? No

5.) What’s your favorite food that’s usually served at parties? Pizza or cheese and pineapple

6.) Do you eat in class? If so, what is it, usually? I don't have classes

7.) Honestly, are your snacks healthy or bad for you? Mostly bad

8.) Potato chips or trail mix? Potato chips

9.) What do you usually get at the movie theater? A Tango ice blast and popcorn

10.) Did you get fruit snacks with your favorite character on them when you were little? No

11.) Do you remember any sayings from conversation hearts? Which is your favorite? I don't know what they are

Food in general! 1.) Do you buy generic brand food? I usually buy the stores' own brands, they tend to be cheaper and just as good

2.) Is there a common food you find repulsive? Coconut, if that's common

3.) What’s your favorite “ethnic” cuisine? Indian or Mexican

4.) If you were stranded in a zombie apocalypse with only a full, run-of-the-mill and full-of-junk vending machine for food, which items would you eat first? Probably crisps

5.) Are you a candy fanatic? I don't eat it like super often but I do get in moods for it

6.) Do you like any weird food combinations? I'm not sure what could be classed as weird that I can think of

7.) Are there any foods you shouldn’t eat because of your religion? No

8.) Would you eat a bug if it was covered in your favorite food? No

9.) Do you think being a vegan would be/is really hard? Yeah

10.) Do you eat in the car? I'm not very often in the car tbf

11.) Do you pay attention to serving sizes? Sometimes

12.) Fruit or vegetables? Fruit

13.) Mustard or ketchup? Mustard

14.) Does mayonnaise disgust you? No

15.) What’s your favorite holiday, in terms of the food you get to eat during it? Christmas

16.) Are you hungry? (: What do you plan on eating next? No, we're having tuna pasta bake for dinner and I'm currently eating spicy rice and chicken for my lunch

[topfygad]

10 Day Egypt Explorer Tour

We have been wanting to visit Egypt for a while now so when the opportunity to get away over the Christmas and New Year period arose we knew we needed to head there for a break. We joined Expat Explore on their 10 Day Explorer Tour through Egypt taking in the sights of Cairo, Aswan, Luxor and Hurghada.

The reason we chose Expat Explore was that they were the cheapest in price with all the same sights and in the end we were happy with our choice.

Pre-departure they emailed us our itinerary with the optional excursions and additional costs for entry fees included so that we could budget properly. As well as following up with our pre-trip questions regarding flights, insurance and uhealth and safety advice.

From the start they were very professional. Landing in Cairo we were personally greeted the day before our tour and transported to our City centre hotel. That drive was an eye-opener to Egypt with crazy lane changes, honking, swerving, flashing lights with animals, people and vehicles everywhere.

El Tonsy Hotel is your base for your arrival and last night. Luckily we didn’t expect much as our door didn’t lock which was a bit dodgy and the rooms were freezing cold with a broken heater and only one blanket. You wouldn’t think you would need heat in Egypt but it was the middle of winter and it was chilly at night. No complaints with the location though as we could see the Pyramids in the distance and were only 5 minutes walk from the Nile and 15 minutes to Tahir Square (perfectly safe by the way). Plus they have a little bar/restaurant with cheap food and free Wi-Fi. Just buy your snacks and water from the supermarket across the road and you will get on fine.

It’s quite hard to break down a whole trip into one post but here goes:

Day One

Your tour starts with the best in my opinion by touring some sights of Cairo. The steeply angled Step Pyramid, mind-blowing Pyramids of Giza and the smaller than expected Sphinx. This day was definitely the highlight.

That night is spent aboard the train for 10-12 hours to Aswan. I highly recommend the Sleeper train for an extra £50 per person. Others that caught the standard train froze their butts off while we had a toasty sleep with a served dinner and breakfast. Unfortunately Expat Explore never told us about the provided food so we ate before we got on-board but what we could fit in was delicious.

Day Two

The tour splits in Aswan as one group embarks on a River Cruise aboard a 5 star ship while the others spend time in hotels and on a Felucca. No surprise that we went with the cheaper option aboard the Felucca so the next few days are from that point of view.

The afternoon is yours at Sara Hotel on the banks above the Nile. We lapped up the beautiful rays of the sun and managed to turn our pasty white bodies a more fitting slightly white shade. The Hotel was great until the toilet next-door erupted sending a river of smelly waste across our bedroom floor (throw your toilet paper in the bin not the loo)! Luckily we woke in time to rescue our bags from the watery mess! Not the fault of Expat Explore and we didn’t blame the Hotel either as shit happens.

Day Three

Your day begins by visiting the monstrous High Dam for 10 minutes (fairly boring) and a drive past the Unfinished Obelisk. While the highlight is definitely the Philae Temple. When the sunsets across the Nile reflecting off the stonework it really is quite magical.

The evening ended with an optional dinner in a traditional Nubian families house. The food was scrumptious and you better bring your singing and dancing shoes.

Day Four

The following day and night is spent relaxing aboard the Felucca for a sail up the Nile for several hours. Sleeping no more than 8 people you will be snug if you bring your own sleeping bag like us. The rest of our crew were jealous as it did get quite chilly in the evening however blankets were provided.

With delicious pita bread and falafel cooked on the boat you will not be disappointed with the food either.

The day ends with a bonfire on the Nile shoreline as you sing and dance with the crazy fun Nubian crews. This was definitely one of the highlights of the entire trip for us.

Travel Tip: Don’t be put off by doing your “business” amongst the reeds of the Nile. Just enjoy the view and remember to bring your own toilet paper (which you need everywhere in Egypt anyway).

By all accounts, from the other tour members, the River Cruise is just as great with 3 nights on-board in comfortable accommodation, a pool and  buffets morning, noon and night.

Day Five

Waking to a sunrise breaking the morning chill is a glorious way to start a new day. Unfortunately there is little time for relaxation before you are off the Felucca and on a bus to Kom Ombu and Edfu Temples. I must say, all of the transportation was more than adequate with toilets on the buses and room enough for everyone. It’s lucky because you do spend the majority of the time being driven around.

The Lotus Hotel in Luxor was probably the pick of them all. Situated on the Nile bank with a swimming pool and tasty buffet breakfast.

Day Six

One more day, one more busy schedule. Rushing to beat the crowds at the Valley of the Kings it’s another 8am start. You are only allowed to visit three tombs and we recommend the guides picks which were Ramses II, IV and IX.

Travel Tip: You are NOT allowed to take your camera with you off the bus. Please don’t ruin it for everyone by taking photos as you will be charged by security when caught.

We also squeezed in the crowded rock carved Hatshepsut Temple but only drove past Luxor Temple as we ran out of time as you need to drive 6 hours to reach Hurghada that night.

Day Seven and Eight

The next two days at the Red Sea are yours to do whatever you like so use them wisely. We joined most of our group for a spot of snorkelling and diving. The dive and the staff were great but the whole day seemed a little rushed which was a shame. Keep an eye out for our post on our diving experience in Hurghada.

So nice being able to relax on a beach and read a book after such a hectic schedule. It’s hard to leave and the 6 – 8 hour bus ride back to Cairo is tough.

Travel Tip: If you plan to do the tour over New Years Eve then you will have to depart Hurghada half a day early which sucked as it meant celebrating the New Year at the Hotel in Cairo. Bit of a let down but when hasn’t New Years Eve been!

Day Nine

Your final day of sightseeing is spent around Cairo. Our favourite part of the day was definitely the Cairo Museum with an excellent tour guide. It fits perfectly at the end by seeing all the history close-up after having learned about it over the last 8 days.

By the time we hit the old area of Cairo and the Coptic Hanging Church we were spent on history but our guide made a good effort at keeping us entertained.

The last group activity is free time for an hour or so at the Khan El Khalili souk markets where the touts try to prise your cash from you for the last time from every nook and cranny.

Day Ten

With the tour over it’s time to head home. Our flight was late the following night so we walked around the city and Souks on our own for the day. Expat Explore provides transport back to the airport which was great.

The Negatives

The trip was awesome but we think it’s important to note the little things that could make a huge difference to the overall experience:

It felt like we were always hungry. Maybe it is just Kiwi’s and Aussies that eat all the time but it seriously felt like we were constantly starving with lunches being served usually after 4pm and dinner at 9pm onwards. It might be the Egyptian way to eat at those times but not for us. Travel Tip: Buy lots of snacks for the road which are very cheap at supermarkets.

There was sometimes a lack of direction in what seemed to be happening. Everything is done on Egyptian time so be patient.

We were often delayed or behind schedule with little to no guidance as to how long it would take to get from place to place. A little knowledge goes a long was as then we can plan ahead.

More free time would be great to explore places on your own rather than have our hands held everywhere.

The Positives:

As we said above, the trip was amazing and the little positive things far outweighed the negatives which helped make it a memorable trip.

Pre-departure information and care was extremely good.

The tour was exceptional value for money and it was the cheapest tour we could find even though we still saw all the same sights the other groups did.

The guides were extremely knowledgeable and never failed to answer any questions we had. The insights into the daily lives of the people around us was a nice break from all the history. They also ensured you never felt unsafe or uncomfortable.

The Felucca trip was better than expected and overall so was the accommodation and transport options.

All in all we highly recommend you book with Expat Explore if you are considering a trip through Egypt.

Make sure you subscribe now and come back soon so you can enjoy reading our new posts which will cover everything else in more detail.

Disclaimer: Expat Explore provided us with a discount for our 10 day tour of Egypt however as always our thoughts are always our own.

from Cheapr Travels https://ift.tt/31WUqms via https://ift.tt/2NIqXKN

[topfygad]

10 Day Egypt Explorer Tour

We have been wanting to visit Egypt for a while now so when the opportunity to get away over the Christmas and New Year period arose we knew we needed to head there for a break. We joined Expat Explore on their 10 Day Explorer Tour through Egypt taking in the sights of Cairo, Aswan, Luxor and Hurghada.

The reason we chose Expat Explore was that they were the cheapest in price with all the same sights and in the end we were happy with our choice.

Pre-departure they emailed us our itinerary with the optional excursions and additional costs for entry fees included so that we could budget properly. As well as following up with our pre-trip questions regarding flights, insurance and uhealth and safety advice.

From the start they were very professional. Landing in Cairo we were personally greeted the day before our tour and transported to our City centre hotel. That drive was an eye-opener to Egypt with crazy lane changes, honking, swerving, flashing lights with animals, people and vehicles everywhere.

El Tonsy Hotel is your base for your arrival and last night. Luckily we didn’t expect much as our door didn’t lock which was a bit dodgy and the rooms were freezing cold with a broken heater and only one blanket. You wouldn’t think you would need heat in Egypt but it was the middle of winter and it was chilly at night. No complaints with the location though as we could see the Pyramids in the distance and were only 5 minutes walk from the Nile and 15 minutes to Tahir Square (perfectly safe by the way). Plus they have a little bar/restaurant with cheap food and free Wi-Fi. Just buy your snacks and water from the supermarket across the road and you will get on fine.

It’s quite hard to break down a whole trip into one post but here goes:

Day One

Your tour starts with the best in my opinion by touring some sights of Cairo. The steeply angled Step Pyramid, mind-blowing Pyramids of Giza and the smaller than expected Sphinx. This day was definitely the highlight.

That night is spent aboard the train for 10-12 hours to Aswan. I highly recommend the Sleeper train for an extra £50 per person. Others that caught the standard train froze their butts off while we had a toasty sleep with a served dinner and breakfast. Unfortunately Expat Explore never told us about the provided food so we ate before we got on-board but what we could fit in was delicious.

Day Two

The tour splits in Aswan as one group embarks on a River Cruise aboard a 5 star ship while the others spend time in hotels and on a Felucca. No surprise that we went with the cheaper option aboard the Felucca so the next few days are from that point of view.

The afternoon is yours at Sara Hotel on the banks above the Nile. We lapped up the beautiful rays of the sun and managed to turn our pasty white bodies a more fitting slightly white shade. The Hotel was great until the toilet next-door erupted sending a river of smelly waste across our bedroom floor (throw your toilet paper in the bin not the loo)! Luckily we woke in time to rescue our bags from the watery mess! Not the fault of Expat Explore and we didn’t blame the Hotel either as shit happens.

Day Three

Your day begins by visiting the monstrous High Dam for 10 minutes (fairly boring) and a drive past the Unfinished Obelisk. While the highlight is definitely the Philae Temple. When the sunsets across the Nile reflecting off the stonework it really is quite magical.

The evening ended with an optional dinner in a traditional Nubian families house. The food was scrumptious and you better bring your singing and dancing shoes.

Day Four

The following day and night is spent relaxing aboard the Felucca for a sail up the Nile for several hours. Sleeping no more than 8 people you will be snug if you bring your own sleeping bag like us. The rest of our crew were jealous as it did get quite chilly in the evening however blankets were provided.

With delicious pita bread and falafel cooked on the boat you will not be disappointed with the food either.

The day ends with a bonfire on the Nile shoreline as you sing and dance with the crazy fun Nubian crews. This was definitely one of the highlights of the entire trip for us.

Travel Tip: Don’t be put off by doing your “business” amongst the reeds of the Nile. Just enjoy the view and remember to bring your own toilet paper (which you need everywhere in Egypt anyway).

By all accounts, from the other tour members, the River Cruise is just as great with 3 nights on-board in comfortable accommodation, a pool and  buffets morning, noon and night.

Day Five

Waking to a sunrise breaking the morning chill is a glorious way to start a new day. Unfortunately there is little time for relaxation before you are off the Felucca and on a bus to Kom Ombu and Edfu Temples. I must say, all of the transportation was more than adequate with toilets on the buses and room enough for everyone. It’s lucky because you do spend the majority of the time being driven around.

The Lotus Hotel in Luxor was probably the pick of them all. Situated on the Nile bank with a swimming pool and tasty buffet breakfast.

Day Six

One more day, one more busy schedule. Rushing to beat the crowds at the Valley of the Kings it’s another 8am start. You are only allowed to visit three tombs and we recommend the guides picks which were Ramses II, IV and IX.

Travel Tip: You are NOT allowed to take your camera with you off the bus. Please don’t ruin it for everyone by taking photos as you will be charged by security when caught.

We also squeezed in the crowded rock carved Hatshepsut Temple but only drove past Luxor Temple as we ran out of time as you need to drive 6 hours to reach Hurghada that night.

Day Seven and Eight

The next two days at the Red Sea are yours to do whatever you like so use them wisely. We joined most of our group for a spot of snorkelling and diving. The dive and the staff were great but the whole day seemed a little rushed which was a shame. Keep an eye out for our post on our diving experience in Hurghada.

So nice being able to relax on a beach and read a book after such a hectic schedule. It’s hard to leave and the 6 – 8 hour bus ride back to Cairo is tough.

Travel Tip: If you plan to do the tour over New Years Eve then you will have to depart Hurghada half a day early which sucked as it meant celebrating the New Year at the Hotel in Cairo. Bit of a let down but when hasn’t New Years Eve been!

Day Nine

Your final day of sightseeing is spent around Cairo. Our favourite part of the day was definitely the Cairo Museum with an excellent tour guide. It fits perfectly at the end by seeing all the history close-up after having learned about it over the last 8 days.

By the time we hit the old area of Cairo and the Coptic Hanging Church we were spent on history but our guide made a good effort at keeping us entertained.

The last group activity is free time for an hour or so at the Khan El Khalili souk markets where the touts try to prise your cash from you for the last time from every nook and cranny.

Day Ten

With the tour over it’s time to head home. Our flight was late the following night so we walked around the city and Souks on our own for the day. Expat Explore provides transport back to the airport which was great.

The Negatives

The trip was awesome but we think it’s important to note the little things that could make a huge difference to the overall experience:

It felt like we were always hungry. Maybe it is just Kiwi’s and Aussies that eat all the time but it seriously felt like we were constantly starving with lunches being served usually after 4pm and dinner at 9pm onwards. It might be the Egyptian way to eat at those times but not for us. Travel Tip: Buy lots of snacks for the road which are very cheap at supermarkets.

There was sometimes a lack of direction in what seemed to be happening. Everything is done on Egyptian time so be patient.

We were often delayed or behind schedule with little to no guidance as to how long it would take to get from place to place. A little knowledge goes a long was as then we can plan ahead.

More free time would be great to explore places on your own rather than have our hands held everywhere.

The Positives:

As we said above, the trip was amazing and the little positive things far outweighed the negatives which helped make it a memorable trip.

Pre-departure information and care was extremely good.

The tour was exceptional value for money and it was the cheapest tour we could find even though we still saw all the same sights the other groups did.

The guides were extremely knowledgeable and never failed to answer any questions we had. The insights into the daily lives of the people around us was a nice break from all the history. They also ensured you never felt unsafe or uncomfortable.

The Felucca trip was better than expected and overall so was the accommodation and transport options.

All in all we highly recommend you book with Expat Explore if you are considering a trip through Egypt.

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Disclaimer: Expat Explore provided us with a discount for our 10 day tour of Egypt however as always our thoughts are always our own.

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