Laura's Letter From President Obama!!

Hola,

We know that we've been quite slack since Laura has started looking for a job - but we hope you'll bear with us, because most of our time is looking at job sites!! Much less exciting than writing to you!!

However, just an update on the job-o situation-o, Laura has had a good few interviews this week (3 today alone, no lie!!) so hopefully something good will come through for her soon! Feeling hopeful and happy especially after seeing our lovely friends Lauren & Sarah and Megan (& Karen) at the weekend in London!! We had a lovely Nandos-filled evening in one of our favourite areas in London!! Here are a few pics:

St. Pauls at sunset!!

Following on from our WWLW about President Obama the other week, Laura's amazing Mum (Mamma Smith, as she is known) scanned in and sent us a copy of the email Laura received from good ole' Barack last year!! So now we'll share it with you!!

Here's what Laura wrote to El Presidente - yes it is mildly dramatic, but so are the challenges we face as an international gay couple!!

'President Barack Obama

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW

Washington.  DC.  20500

Dear Mr. President:

First of all, I wanted to wish you and your family a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.

My name is Laura.  I went to the UK in 2007 with the intention of gaining work and life experience; traveling the globe before I settled into the ‘real world’ back in Idaho.  As in most cases, I was taken by surprise and just over one year into my trip, I fell in love.  My partner, a British citizen, is amazing- lovely, kind, funny, so intelligent, and the perfect opposite of me in many wonderful ways.  I could not imagine anyone else fitting me so perfectly, and we have plans to start a great life together.  We spent the last year traveling Australia and New Zealand, and spending every waking moment with each other. Now, we are looking to move back to my hometown of Boise, Idaho: to buy a house, work, raise children, live, love, and laugh.  It sounds like the perfect love story. There is only one problem with our little fairytale.

My partner’s name is Sarah.

Sarah and I both graduated school, we both work, pay taxes, and are upstanding citizens in our respective countries.  So how is it that, when we get married, I won’t be able to bring my beautiful wife back home with me?  The thought is very upsetting.  We haven’t done anything wrong, and the Defense of Marriage Act feels like a punishment for an uncommitted crime.

Mr. President, on behalf of the thousands of Americans like me who just want to bring their loved ones home, I implore you to please repeal the Defense of Marriage Act. The time to proceed is now, as you’ve just been triumphant in overturning ‘Don’t Ask Don’t Tell’.  We believe you can help us put an end to the injustice and prejudice we experience daily.

After all, we are not asking for ‘more’ or ‘better’ rights than anyone else; we simply want equal rights.

I am looking forward to your reply.

Sincerely,

Laura Elizabeth'

And here's his reply - still can't believe I got a letter from the President of the USA!!

And now this man is the first President to back gay marriage!!

Hope you've enjoyed our Presidential blog post! :)

Love always, 

Laura & Sarah xo

7 Question Thursday!! #4

Hi everyone!!!

Here's our funny photo for the week:

The boys at work have just been told our latest blog post is up! ;)

1. What's your favorite style for home decor? (eclectic, modern, shabby chic, etc.) 

S: Traditional, country cottage would be my fav. I like traditional as anything too modern lacks personality and traditional always makes me feel at home! Think wood cabin on the ski slopes! 

Maybe not exactly like this but something like it! (This was our cabin when we went skiing at McCall)! 

L: I love lots of colour and a really homey feel, so I love this DIY fun cute decor that has been around lately! So pretty, and so much going on - I love my home to feel lived-in!!

2. What is the best trip you have EVER been on?

S: This question is so difficult to answer.  I have been on so many AMAZING trips- in fact anywhere me & L go ends up being a fantastic trip. The one trip that holds the most amazing memories for me has to be New Zealand (South Island) though - we hired a camper van and it felt like we had the island to ourselves. No deadlines or time constraints, just us, the road, the fantastically beautiful scenery - sunsets snuggled up in our van, sunrises through the sky roof. Breakfast watching the tide kiss the shore and dinner watching the stars! No day was the same, whether we were throwing ourselves of bungee swings, feeling on top of the world in a helicopter with untouched snow below, holding each other close as we found glow worm caves or relaxing in natural hot springs the whole trip was so different to anything we had done before. It brought us together in a way we had never experienced and we found we can be right little MacGyvers - starting fires, breaking into cans, map reading etc! And the people over there are so nice - everyone's a friend! Oh and I can't forget the lack of traffic lights, the stunning glacier to beach views and the sheep!

L: Well, Sarah about said it perfectly, don't you think? New Zealand was the best holiday ever!

3. If you could have an exotic pet, what would it be and why?

S: I'd like something I can ride on the back on - but as to what that is I'll have to give further thought. Maybe  a Zebra - it would be like riding a designer horse and I do wear a lot of black & white stripes!

L: I'm going baby elephant on this one! Because they are clever, playful, and would be like really smart, adorably chubby dogs. Oooh or a panda!!! I seem to love overweight-looking exotic animals.

4. Do you snore? (you can be honest, we're all friends here.) 

S: Nope - maybe rarely but in general nope. Supposingly I am very good to sleep with or near :)

L: Pssh Sarah, good to sleep with? *wink wink* haha

I don't snore (often) but I grind my teeth, sit up straight in the night and 'divebomb' into the pillow - my Mum said recently that I'm the worst person she's ever had to share a bed with!!! Mum, I think you're being a tad dramatic haha - but yes I'm a terrible sleeper.

But Sarah, you sleeptalk!!

5. Your car breaks down on the side of the road, what do you do?

S: Hahahahaha I actually have a true story from Oz where the car L&I shared ran out of petrol. As someone who HATES letting the car get to the last little bit of petrol I now know why - I had finish work and was on the way to get Chinese and get petrol. I saw the red light flash and before I could hit accelerate to get through the red light - dead! The car had given up. I was on a main road in rush hour and had no mobile phone - PANIC! I jumped out the car, ran across 3 lanes of traffic and accosted a random stranger to ring Laura - she didn't pick up- sh!t. Ran back to the car and found the number of another friend - accosted another stranger, got through to L. Screamed at her to get to where I was. (Except outside NAB (bank) is not specific enough when there are 3 on one road!) So with Laura some half hour away I noticed I was on a 'red route' when some woman told me (unhelpfully) that I could get fined for stopping on a red route!!!! By this time my car had caused a significant back log and a random guy offered to help - he sat with the car as I ran (and I mean like my life depended on it) to the nearest gas station to beg for petrol. That's right I full-on cried and got $5 of petrol in a borrowed canister. I got back to the car Mr.Random helped pour it in - NOTHING! It took numerous tries to 'get the petrol through the system' and jump it into action. From there I got help to push it off the main road. L turned up half an hour later and I ran to the petrol station to return the can & get another $10 of gas! The car eventually started. L had thankfully warned the Chinese we would be late :) and she went to every other NAB before finding me - NIGHTMARE!!!!! I now I insist we NEVER let the petrol go that low!!!!!

L: This was the only time that I have ever broken down!!! To reiterate, I had NO car, she had NO phone, so it was a ridiculous exercise in trying to use the slow Sydney bus system, passing 3 NABs, not seeing her, running miles in flip flops panicking that I was in trouble for letting the petrol get that low, calling the Chinese so she didnt think we'd abandoned her (didn't want her to take away our free spring rolls!!), and eventually finding her. Awful. I'd say I wouldn't do that again, but I still think Sarah obsessively fills up our tank - but then she is the kind of person who buys new toothpaste when we have more than half a tube left haha!

6. What's one item that has been on your wishlist lately?

S: A holiday - anywhere!!!!!

L: SAME!! I can't think of anything material that I would want to buy at the moment, but we've been really needing a holiday the last few months - I'd love to go back to Naples for a few days to sunbathe and eat amazing food!!

7. It's almost Summer (or winter if you live in the Southern Hemisphere), what are you looking forward to most?

Well isn't that convenient, we wrote a blog post about this yesterday!!! Check it out HERE!!

Love always,

Laura & Sarah xo 

What We Love Wednesday!! Summer Lovin'!!!

These last two days have been so beautiful – sunny, hot, sunny, did we mention it has been SUNNY?? It’s been almost impossible to be down about anything!!

Brits are funny ones when it comes to sun. In Idaho, a place with actual seasons, we’ve always enjoyed our long summers, but nothing like the British. There is a sort of desperation about their sun-soaking love. Like they’ve gotten to hook up with the star (the sun, get it? Astronomy jokes are out of this world!!) they’d grown up idolising,  and for the night they are with them they can’t believe their luck and want to soak up every minute by being overly excited and clingy – because they know they won’t see that star again. Yes, that was an elaborate simile, what’s it to ya??

As The Fonze would say - 'Ayyyyy'

Sarah is a perfect example of the star-struck Brit. As soon as the sun is out, it’s deeply frowned upon to want to stay inside. You’ve twisted your ankle and it hurts like hell? Oh well, you still have to walk the hour home because the SUN is out. You want to sleep in until 11 on a sunny weekend morning? That’s not allowed because it’s a waste of the SUNNY day. All you have left in your cupboards at the end of the month is a can of soup for lunch? You still have to bring that hot, messy bowl of soup out of work to sit in the park and eat it in the SUN so her (and literally everyone within a 2 mile radius, all squished in the sunny spots together) can soak up 30 minutes of sunshine before going back to their indoor, depressingly sun-free jobs.

But can you blame them? It’s almost June – a proper summer month – and these have been our first proper good days since February/March. Sun doesn’t necessarily come all summer here in the jolly old UK, so they have to take any chance they can get to wear next to nothing and get their fair skin severely burnt. All we want is a solid three months to sit in beer gardens and drink Pimms (or ice cold Diet Coke, whatever you fancy), is that too much to ask?

So, in tribute to these two amazingly sunny days (please let us get some colour at lunchtime today!), we thought we’d do our WWLW this week on SUMMER!! All the things we are looking forward to in the (no doubt epic) summer 2012. In chronological order, yo.

Being thwarted by the sun numerous times in Boise, Idaho

The Queen’s Jubilee – As you all know, our flat overlooks the river – it’s one of our favourite things in the world. We are lucky enough to have front row seats to the Jubilee River Pageant! Well, kind of. They moved the starting point one bridge down due to the ‘lowness’ of Wandsworth Bridge, so we have front row seats to the ‘mustering’ of the 1000+ boats on the river. We are so excited to show a bit of British pride with our Union Jack balcony flags, watch the boats, then go find a place to watch the flotilla. The jubilee is a once-in-a-lifetime event for us (and for Queenie), and we are so happy to get to be a part of it! Laura will be putting on her best English accent all weekend. It is sure to get very annoying haha!!

A road trip to the country – Sarah has wanted to take me out into the countryside for awhile now, and while Laura’s a bit of a snob about where she goes on holiday (they must speak a different language, and we should have to fly there), due to our massive holidays later in the year, we are going to finally try to holiday in the UK this year. B&B in the Cotswolds? Don’t mind if we do!

Worldpride London!!! – We love a bit of gay pride, and have gone to London’s pride every year we’ve been together (Laura was going even when she was dating black men, but that’s a different story!), and this year will be bigger and better than ever – London is hosting Worldpride in 2012!! No doubt dressed up in costume, we are really looking forward to the parade, the music, the drag queens, and the all-around amazing atmosphere Pride brings with it!!

While we’re on the subject of Pride, of course we’ll be going to Brighton Pride too!! But it’s not until September, so shouldn’t really be on this list.

We are going to get a portable BBQ, and Laura is going to have a BBQ on her balcony. Is it a fire hazard? Probably. But year-long dreams shouldn’t be silenced at the little risk of burning our house down. We want to have an old fashioned BBQ, dammit!!

Sarah’s 29^th birthday!!!!!! – Laura is probably more excited than Sarah is as of yet, but this birthday promises some big surprises (hopefully!)! Either way, Laura loves planning for her love’s birthday, and enjoys the challenge that is making her so happy and not ask if she’s kept the receipt. Yes, really.

(source)

The Wireless Festival – We have tickets to see Rihanna (along with a ton of other artists we like) at the Wireless Festival in Hyde Park!!! Woohoo! Not much else to say about that!!

The London 2012 Olympics – of course!!! Though we will be out of the country for the second week, we plan on making the most of the excitement and atmosphere during the first week of the Games. We’ll be watching on the giant screens around London, taking part in related events, and making sure that even though we don’t have tickets (sadface), we get to really enjoy the Olympic Games!

(source)

And then finally, our trip to Thailand!!!! First week of August we are heading there to be at the wedding of our good friends Blakeley & Sam, who sadly (for us, happily for them) moved to Australia so they no longer live down the street. On our way we will have a long layover in Cairo, and are being taken to see the pyramids, Egyptian museum, riding on the Nile River, and to a market. Then back to the airport we will go, no staying over in Egypt required! Wham, bam, thank you….Egypt.

Then we are staying in a Fisherman’s town on Koh Samui for a week, where we will (hopefully) be getting a tan, boating over to experience a Full Moon Party, watch Blakes get married, and hang out with an elephant or two! We’ve never been to Thailand (or much of Asia at all, for that matter) so we are pretty excited!!

On top of all this, we plan on visiting Borough Market numerous times (to get cheese!!), enjoying all the fun things London has to offer throughout summer, hopefully coming out of it all a bit less glow-in-the-dark white than we currently are, and spending time with friends!

Brian Adams, the Summer of ’69 is SO over – bring on the Summer of 2012!!!

What are you planning to do this summer?

Love always,

Laura & Sarah xo

What's Happening, Hot Stuff?? A Lasting Memento!

As you may have seen this week, we got the news on Thursday that Laura's contract is not being renewed at the company where we both work - it really will be the end of our world as we know it- so as we start our last 2 weeks working together (*sob*) we thought it was about time to post our 'Day In The Life' video. It was made earlier this month, on our only sunny day, and shows well a Day in OUR life! So sit back and enjoy a trip to work in Victoria, London - if you look closely you can even see our shout out to NoH8!

While we appreciate the fact that we have been so incredibly lucky to have the last 9 months working for the same company, the hard part to deal with is the fact that for the majority of our relationship we have worked together - we are used to having breakfast together, loo breaks together, lunch together and tea breaks together! A hug in the lift can make any crappy day seem a million times better and to know that it's ending is the worst.

Thank you for the kind words and lovely messages - we are hoping that something turns up soon - and while we're not sure it will be for the better (unless Laura can find a company with a job opening for Sarah :) ) we can always look back and appreciate the time we did have together! Sarah has decided the lift is a no-go though - too many fond memories of stolen kisses & hugs! The other choice is to trial it and if it sucks pack up the old kit back and head for the sun again; Australia was a good choice last time!

Love

Sarah & Laura

xoxox