Inspired by Liam and Miley: The So Not Right Sh*t My Australian Husband and I Do To Each Other.

If you follow any social media channel at all then you know, recently, Liam Hemsworth has been posting videos of himself scaring Miley Cyrus. It's so bad, but for me, so relatable. In other words, my Australian husband and I do the evilest shit to each other, too! Of course, it’s all in good fun. But, sometimes, only one of us is having fun. 





In order from when we met, some of the shittiest things we’ve done to each other:




Green Apple Splatters

While I certainly love a good Pale Ale, I also like fruity drinks. One of the first fruity drinks I had in Australia was a green apple flavored malt-ish beverage. Adam told me they were called, Green Apple Splatters. So the next time we went grocery shopping, while we were checking out he told me to go over to the liquor store, (he actually called it a Bottle Shop because that’s what a liquor store is called in Australia) to get my new favorite, green apple splatters.

When the bottle shop attendant asked me what I wanted, I said, "Green Apple Splatters." She looked at me confused. I told her that they were green apple flavored in bottles. She walked me over to the beer section, and the two of us started looking for green apple splatters. Within a minute, Adam walks up, and I tell him we can’t find them. He breaks out into a fit of laughter, then tells the girl exactly what it is that I’m looking for. She then breaks out into a fit of laughter.


I look at him. Now I’m the one confused. He says, "We call them green apple splatters because the next morning you splatter the toilet bowl when they run through you."


Payback, my first Thanksgiving in Australia.



Two days before my first Thanksgiving in Australia, while having dinner with my mother-in-law and two brothers-in-law, Adam says, "We want to do something special for you for Thanksgiving. How do you celebrate? What can we do to make it just like home?"


I told him that in America we dress up as Cowboys, Indians, and Europeans and have a huge battle in the backyard. Whoever loses has to do the dishes. They asked me questions, and I answered them to my best of lying abilities. The next day, when I was bombarded by the family with what they were going to wear, how they were going to battle, I came clean. I let everybody know it was bullshit. We ended up going to an American-style restaurant and ate a ton of french fries and fried chicken. #GoodTimes

His payback, Sea Same Chicken

 
Something that really amazed me living in Australia was that people thought American accents were "melodic and beautiful." They love to hear me talk. I once had two kids stare at me like I was an alien because they’ve “never met an American in real life.” 

So one night, shortly after meeting my husband’s best friends, Mr. J and Mr. D, we had a little get together and decided to order Chinese takeaway. My husband insisted that I do the ordering because they would love to hear an American. I went right along with it.

They gave me the order, which included sesame chicken. Except, Adam swore up-and-down it was called, SEA SAME chicken. His damn friends agreed. Y’all, I goddamn ordered the SEA SAME chicken. Needless to say, he and his mates full-on pissed themselves laughing.

My payback, fireflies.

When I brought Adam back to the States for the second time, it was mid-June. I had a third-floor walk-up with a really nice balcony overlooking a park. Not long after we arrived back, I hear him yell out, "Baby! Come here!" I could tell by the tone of his voice something was not right. I run out to join him on the balcony when he points out to mid-air and says, "Did you see that?"

I have no idea what he’s pointing at. A few seconds later, a firefly blinks right in between us. He points at it and yells out, "That! That bug just lit up!"

I said, "Oh yeah, they are government bugs. They take photos of us periodically."





Mortified, he runs inside and sits down at his computer. A few minutes later I hear him yell out, "They're bloody fireflies."



All of these things happened within the first two years of us being together. We’ve been together 10 years, and we still strive to shock the shit out of each other, trick, or scare each other every chance we get.  How else are we supposed to keep it interesting?


Bottom line:  Australians are a breed their own, and I’m so thankful that I get to call one my husband.




Oh! And for those of you shocked by Miley Cyrus saying, "C*NT," in Australia it's the equivalent of "bitch" in the states. Aussies will completely disarm an American of the word in two weeks or less.

That Time My Husband Told The World My Quirks, And We All Laughed Together

In these times of sadness, pain, outrage, and suffering, I always turn to my husband for support, love and a bloody good laugh. He reminds me that laughing is many times, the best medicine. If you need that kind of medicine too, then keep reading because below is one of my favorite posts he's ever written for the blog, and it's all about me and my quirks. He wrote this five years ago, and I'm happy to say, I'm still doing every single one! 

I present: "My Marital Bliss" By my hysterical Australian husband, Mr. Awesome. 


Howdy interweb readers and welcome to the wonderful, wild and wanky world of FTD!  As my wife is consumed with important html, javas and mac-book thingo's tonight, I thought that I would take this opportunity to lead you on a grand tour of cheap-thrills, saucy adventure and bloggedy blog excitements.



So...sit back, balance the 'ole laptop, ipad or other wireless device on yer guts, get a nice big bag o chips, a Pepsi Max, moist towelette etc etc and READ ON...

7 Tips For Surviving Being Married ... With Children





I once heard the leading cause of divorce is marriage. I'm now convinced, it's children that lead the pack to divorce. It's so hard to stay connected mentally and physically to your partner when your children are physically stuck to you while mentally destroying you.

We have watched many happy couples during the first few years of becoming new parents struggle with balancing their relationship and being parents. Sadly, many of those couples are now divorced. Now, infidelity, abusers, liars and fu@kwits are one thing, but for the couples that just fell out of love, I get it. The Aussie and I have had many, many ups and downs in our relationship since becoming parents.

Today, we are celebrating seven gloriously years of marriage. (Think: War & Peace meets dirty porn. Kidding... maybe...) It's been amazing, hard, annoying, fulfilling and as much as I want to throat punch the fu*ker sometimes, I am so happy and blessed to call him my partner in life. In honor of our seventh wedding anniversary, we wanted to share a few tips we've learned the hard way about being married with children.

1. It takes so much friggin' work. During the days leading up to our wedding, we asked people about the secret to a long marriage, all of them answered almost word-for-word, It's not easy, it takes work. They were right. Marriage is anything but easy. Marriage takes loads of compromise, putting yourself second, but not all the time, accepting an opposing opinion, alternating weekend days so you both get a morning to sleep in... Basically, when times get tough, you have to work through the issue as a team. You know, the whole United We Stand, Divided We Fall, thing, it applies to marriage big time.

2. Talk to each other, not at each other.  Communication is Key. You have to talk to each other, and not just about the shit that annoys you about each other. Talk about your day, current events, the neighbors, whatever, just talk. A couple of years ago we fell into a nonverbal funk. We both knew we were drifting apart, so we agreed to spend at least 10-15 minutes each night after our son went to bed talking. We migrated out to the porch, sometimes walked around the house, sometimes had a beer. To this day, we go outside together at night regularly. It's really nice.

3. Affection is what sets you apart. Nothing beats hella good intimacy in a marriage. I once read that the fastest way for couples to reconnect is to have sex every day for 30 days straight.  I can definitely get down with that. The couples that stick together, well, stick together.

4. Date Nights Are Not Optional. Date nights are essential for staying connected. Especially, if you have children. You have to get out monthly and be human together. Not parents, humans. The people you are deep down inside underneath the baby spew, yoga pants, football games, practices, and recitals. Leave all that shit at the door and go out like two kids about to wreck the town. TIP: Can't afford a babysitter and dinner? (Who can anymore?) Order takeout and have a picnic in the yard, set the patio table with candles or make a carpet picnic and play music.

5. Be Independent. There is more to life than each other. It's unhealthy for one half of the partnership to live only through the other. Both of you need friends, events, and hobbies outside of your marriage. No one likes to be smothered. TIP: At least once a month go out independently with friends, retail therapy, a walk...

6. It's Not Supposed To Be Onesided. It's not fair for one half of the partnership to be in charge of dealing with all the crappy stuff. No friggin' way should only one person always cook, clean, change diapers, drop off, pickup, control the TV, wake up early with the kids on the weekend... Nothing brings on resentment faster. Write out everything it takes to keep the ship sailing smooth and work together to share the responsibilities. Both of you deserve to sit down at the end of the day.

7. Say, I love you and makeout, every day.  Love and affection are such an integral part of marriage. Every single day take at least a moment to appreciate each other and your relationship.  Tell your partner in life, I love you. Look into each others eyes and reconnect. Makeout. Be there in the moment with each other. Let everything else fades away. Because, in the end, that's one of the magical things about your partner, when you're together, the world melts away.


How do you keep the marriage fresh? Were you surprised about the huge amount of stress children put on the happiest of marriages? Me too. I've written many articles over the years about the ups and downs of marriage here.






Date Night On A Dime And Why There's NO Excuse To Ditch it!

** I'm partnering with the Chicago-based food and alcohol delivery search engine, Bootler to talk about how important date night is, and how my husband and I have found a cost and time effective way to make it work! All opinions are my own.




Over the last four years not having a babysitter for our son, my husband and I have struggled very hard with finding meaningful time alone. Which has taken its toll on our marriage, Big Time. I know it's the same for many of my married friends with young children--you have a baby then kind of fall into this world of putting the child before yourself and everyone else around you. 

It's been about a year since both my husband and I admitted that we were really crap at making time for each other. We started trying to plan a date night and spend 15 minutes every night walking outside talking on the front porch. 

We did great at the nightly outside talks but sucked at finding a babysitter for date night. So, we found a way to do the next best thing, have a date night in! 

Here's how it works: 

1. While my husband does bath time,  I prepare the dining table outside on our front porch. Tablecloth, candles, water, and fresh flowers from my garden. 
2. After bathtime, I go upstairs and finish the job-- get the little guy to sleep- While I'm doing that, my husband runs out to get the food. By the time he gets back, I have our son to sleep, throw on a cute outfit then we meet at our rendezvous point. 
3. When I arrive, the food is plated and candles lit. it's amazing.
4. We sit in the comfort of our home, eating and drinking And enjoying each other. #Bliss

The only rule we have about our date night is that each time we choose a new place to eat we have been wanting to try. It's almost like we are going out and trying new places every month, just not at the place. Which, it turns out is way more fun because we get to stay home and have a bottle of wine or two, and talk and laugh and not worry about paying the babysitter or getting home to take the babysitter home on time.

Since we've been doing this, it's been amazing to see how many different great places there are to eat in our city. Using a Food Delivery Search Engine like Chicago-based Bootler, that gives customers the ability to compare and choose the fastest, cheapest or all around best food delivery service is an awesome way to eat something different every date night. It's easy to fall into the same old' same old' rut, so make it a rule to eat something different every time you order out!. My favorite thing about Bootler is they provide both food and booze delivery!






  • Chicago Based Only. NYC coming in the fall, with other major cities to follow!  (Don't worry there's hope)
  • Order food + alcohol. (Alcohol comes from a delivery service called ‘Saucey.’)
  • Launching a mobile app in September
  • Use “Saucey” to receive $10 off your alcohol order
  • Use “Bootler” to receive $10 off your food order from Postmates

I can't recommend enough setting a third Friday or Saturday of the month, where you and your partner know to wear the kids out because you have a date that night! Whether it's on the porch, in the backyard, or by a window that's open, set a special date ready table.

The week leading up to the date, make a solid no-backing-out plan. Pick out a movie, a TV show or game to play and any new restaurants you want to try. Send sweet text messages and emails about the upcoming date.  Or in other words, ignite your spark early so its a bonfire of love by date night! 

Date night is so incredibly important, and the date night at home is so incredibly easy. Do this