It Must Be Love

I watched a documentary with the other half last week (yes, there's an "other half" now - wonders never cease!) and it got me thinking about love and dating in your late twenties/early thirties. I reckon I'm pretty qualified to comment on this as I've spent a good long while as a "twenty something single."

The programme we watched was following one girl (lady? Woman? Never sure what the polite term is...) as she searched for love - online. We watched as she browsed dating websites, pointing out flaws and giggling at bad photos of potential dates, and it made me cringe.

"Oooh, he's less than six foot tall - No."
"Ah, he earns under £30k - not for me."
"Hmm, he's wearing a football shirt in this photo - it wouldn't work."

Now, I know that everyone has a list of what they'd like in a perfect partner. Personally, I'd love to end up with Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, or both of them, but that isn't gonig to happen and you've got to be realistic. Don't get me wrong here - I'm not saying AT ALL that people should be settling for someone who's not right for them, but what I do think is that people can be too picky when looking for love - online or otherwise.

Dismissing someone because they don't tick all of the boxes on your "perfect partner" list is potentially cutting yourself off from a really special person. Yes, looks are important - but if you like someone, they become more attractive to you. Of course it's nice to be with someone who earns their own money and can treat you occasionally - but money doesn't buy happiness. And it's always good to have interests in common - but difference makes the world go round, "same" is boring.

I guess my point is that people need to open themselves up to the possibility that the right person for them isn't necesarily the person they imagine in their head. When you moan to your friends, "why am I still single?" consider the idea that it could just be becasue you're putting yourself on a pedestal a little and waiting for the impossible. Everyone deserves the perfect partner, but some poeple might just need to broaden their horizons to find them.

PS: don't mean to be controversial. Sorry... :-P

Family Times :)

My family came to stay this weekend. My mom, dad and brother made the trip up North and spent the weekend eating, drinking and being merry in Leeds with me.

Pretty much the first full sentance my dad said to me was, "I've spent the last week in France with your Nanny and Grandad, so if I'm horrible to you it's only because I'm so bloody fed up of being nice!" which I thought summed up our family perfectly. That night we all went out to one of my favourite restuarants in Leeds, Viva Cuba. it's very popular and you can't book a table in advance so we ended up waiting nearly an hour to sit down. In that time my mom managed to sink a very potent cocktail and a glass of wine which ensured she very quickly became rip roaringly pissed (the term lightweight may as well have been invented just for her) and the conversation went downhill from there. It was a hillarious night and Ma's bad head the next day was a small price to pay.

Sunday came round and Pa and David headed off to the Leeds Festival. It comes to something when your 58 year old father is dancing in a field and pissing in a hat while you're shopping in Morrison's and watching The Last Samuri with a hungover mother.

I was sad to see them go this afternoon. It was nice the 4 of us spending some time together and not 1 row was had the entire weekend: result!

Plan, plans, plans!

Today I thought I'd steal Katie's blog idea and write about things I'm excited about. It's a positivity trick that will hopefully make me feel happy about all the fun stuff coming up :)

So, things I am excited about this week:
1. Sunday lunch with Katie and Josh (and Honor, if she can drag herself away from the latest man) at the Scarborough in Leeds today. Is it ok to have pie and mash for Sunday lunch? I love pies.
2. Watching my beloved Baggies first match of the season against Manchester United at the Sports Cafe in Leeds with Dawny, Jav and Andy. Jav's a Man U fan - should be fun!
3. 4 day week at work next week. I love my job, but I love long weekends more :)
4. I'm getting a new tattoo on Tuesday! Booked the appointment yesterday, it's on my ankle and is a play on Picasso's Bird of Peace.
5. Abi's leaving do on Wednesday. Beer and curry, can't go wrong :)
6. The V Festival!! Eminem, Rihanna and Example are my highlights. Them and the camping with friends, boozing and dancing. This is my 5th V and I'm excited!

Ahhh, what a nice list :) Roll on fun times!