Out There Blog

After reading 50 Simple Things You Can Do To Save The Earth, which lists stopping junk mail as its number one recommendation, they decided to take matters into their own hands.

In the UK alone, approximately 500,000 tonnes of unaddressed junk mail are delivered every year. These nifty No Junk Mail signs will protect your home, help save some trees, and cut out the daily chore of sifting the rubbish from the post. What a great idea!

Take a look or place an order on www.nojunkmailsigns.com.

Posted by Bronwyn at 12:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Unless you are very wealthy, or have an Irish Mammy who insisted you marry well, most people need a long-term financial plan to cover the cost of their wedding.

An average wedding these days costs around £17,000, with the most expensive items making up this sum including £6,000 for the reception, £3,000 on a honeymoon, £2,000 for engagement and wedding rings and £2,000 for wedding outfits.

Whilst the traditional view has always been for the bride’s family to pay for the vast majority of the wedding, this is now only the case for around 15% of weddings, with both parents usually contributing, in addition to the couple getting married.

The average age of couples getting married has increased to 29 for women and 31 for men, meaning that more couples are in a better financial situation to be able to cover the cost of their own wedding rather than relying on parental contribution.

So, what should be the happiest day of your life can also end up being the most expensive, with couples starting off married life in debt, paying off their wedding for years to come.

With marriage back in fashion, setting an expensive trend, make sure you put money away to cover your big day, and hope that you only end up doing it once!

Posted by Bronwyn at 03:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Dirty habits. Untidy. Novelty soon wore off. 

Both being widowed we experienced love again and grew on our previous experiences which has made us both better people.

It was great to know that they would be there each evening as, when living apart, you always have to arrange to meet up.  Moving in together after we got married meant that there was still something to look forward to after the honeymoon. The biggest difference was being able to do independent things in the evening after work and then still see each other later that night. Moving into a new place meant that neither one of us was having to cram into the other's space and we could start afresh.

Yes, I discovered that he was as daft about dogs as I was, even though I came with a snarling, pregnant cat who scratched the living daylights out of his dogs and ate his goldfish for breakfast.  Also had three teenaged children and lots of personal baggage, yet he still loved me.

He was and still is a fairly tidy person, although he does leave his socks on the bedroom floor and expects ME to put them in the washing basket!!

Too overpowering, can be a control freak. Does not allow me to get a word in Edge ways at the best of times. I have set times to eat and if I miss these time slots, I am basically left to starve.

Posted by Bronwyn at 07:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

When i first met my present husband I didn't just fall in love with him, I also fell in love with his house. I could work out so much about him just from looking around his home.

The house someone lives in is an extension of their character in my opinion. His house was warm, lived in and so cosy and with so many personal touches, it made me feel welcome and i felt comfortable. Needless to say we have now been married a year and I love the warmth and character that he has brought into my house since he moved in.

I met my husband to be (wedding 12th January 2006) following a house move from the family home after a divorce seven years previous.  Everyone kept on telling me it was time to move on.  
 
I moved into an apartment for reasons of security and low maintenance and met someone who has changed my life.  He also had moved following a traumatic time in his life and was settling into life as a singleton.  Ironically, unknowingly, we actually had family connections which go back two generations as my mum was friends with his mum and family.  I had gone to primary school with his cousin and had actually visited their house on several occasions as a child and played in their playroom although he was a little older and his only interest was in football and not girls!!
 
We both feel this house move was meant to be and has changed both our lives we have both been given a second chance at happiness and are looking forward to the rest of our lives with happiness.

Posted by Bronwyn at 05:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The living room was by far the faviourite with 59% of the responses in the Attention All Lovers survey.

Here are some of the comments we received in the Attention ALL Lovers survey on what makes the living room romantic. Romance is definately not dead!

We have a huge soft couch with lots of cushions on it. We also have a lovely big fluffy rug on the floor which feels great on bare feet. The lighting is moody and we have lovely paintings on the walls.

The colours in the winter are white, ivory and deep red, with leather sofas, squasshy cushions and fur throws and it is really cosy and romantic in the winter months.

We have done it up ourselves and it now has central heating, an open fire, comfy sofas and lovely bright curtains, plus doors looking onto the garden, so it's very light and has the morning sunshine.

It's where we have all the trappings of our life together.  Family photos, comfortable furniture, soft lighting.

Soft warm reclining chairs. We just love being close to each other.

The decor and cosiness. It is always warm and makes you want to snuggle up. There are normally candles burning with a sweet smell of the aroma from the scented candels.

Posted by Bronwyn at 01:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

What do you make of this?

This ordinary home (built as a semi-detached house in about 1860) suddenly became the centre of world attention, and the headless shark still excites interest today.

The headless sculpture, named "Untitled 1986", was erected on the 41st anniversary of the dropping of the atomic bomb on Nagasaki.

Created by the sculptor John Buckley, it is made of fibreglass, weighs four hundredweight, and is 25 feet long.

Homeowner Bill Heine who commissioned the work commented:

The shark was to express someone feeling totally impotent and ripping a hole in their roof out of a sense of impotence and anger and desperation.... It is saying something about CND, nuclear power, Chernobyl and Nagasaki. 

An interesting way to express your feelings. Read more about this sculpture and Oxford City Council's claims to have the shark removed because it was a danger to the public.

Posted by Bronwyn at 10:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)

A farmer in Somerset is to convert his gas-guzzling jaguar into an eco-friendly car which runs on fuel made from apples.

Henry Hobhouse plans to transform the vehicle to use methane rather than petrol, and he plans to create the fuel using natural waste products - including apples found on his farm.

[The Metro]

Posted by Bronwyn at 09:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)