If you haven’t heard of the 5 Love Languages before, it’s time you took the test. It may seem simplistic to break love down into five different messages, but it can really help understand how your partner shows their love. It also works with your family members and friends too.

The 5 love languages are:

1. Words of affirmation
2. Acts of service
3. Receiving gifts
4. Quality time
5. Physical touch

She Said…

Created by anthropologist Dr Gary Chapman, this simple system could totally transform your relationship. We all think we express love in an obvious way, but it might not be the case. You might say “I love you” with a hug, where as your partner might say it with a gift.

And if you’re waiting for that hug to say ‘I love you’ and all you get is a present, you might think something is missing.

We both took the test and here are our results.

My scores are:

10 Quality Time
7 Words of Affirmation
6 Physical Touch
4 Acts of Service
3 Receiving Gifts

The highest individual score you could have is 12, so Quality Time rates really highly for me. It’s important for me to make time for my partner and for my friends and those I love. I like to actually spend time with my friends and family and that’s what I appreciate most back from them as well.

I do wonder how my relationship with Jim has changed my love languages. His number one score is Quality Time as well and I think I’ve learned that time is the best gift you can give someone from Jim.

Growing up my dad would give me a lot of gifts, but it was because he didn’t have a lot of time. He was always busy with work. He replaced time with gifts, and while I appreciated the sentiment, I always appreciated any moment with him more.

I think I’ve taken that relationship into my adulthood now, and while I love finding and giving a really great gift, I appreciate more going out of my way to spend time with someone and to tell them what they mean to me.

What if your love languages don’t match?

I think our relationship has been much smoother sailing because we both speak the same love languages. Our top three are the same, though in a slightly different order, so we can both recognise the same love messages with each other.

If you are in a relationship where Acts of Service is the number one for your partner and you’re waiting for time or words, it can feel really frustrating.

Understanding that your partner shows their love through different acts can take the pressure off you waiting to hear the words. A conversation with them to remind them to say it or to hug you more often is helpful. Understanding that the small things they do for you every day say I love you is so valuable.

It can really transform your relationship when you can recognise the signs of love from each other and speak each other’s language. Maybe if your number one is Words of Affirmation, you don’t need to say it as often to your partner, but rather show them and do something for them so they’ll understand that you love them.

You can click here to find out what your love language is and we’d love to know if you match with your partner – or do you speak totally different love languages? How does that work in your relationship?

He Said…

Trying to make sense of how your partner feels on a day-to-day basis is like trying to look for a hay-shaped needle in a labyrinth of haystacks. So having a way to simplify and explain what makes our hearts tick is incredibly valuable.

But coming from a linguistics background, the idea of having a language that your heart responds to resonated even more with me.

Mrs Romance first put me onto this test when we were on a road trip in the USA. I usually don’t have the patience for this kind of personality test – though I have been guilty of doing those ones in Cosmo in the past! But she had me as a captive participant.

What came out at the end surprised us both.

As we pulled into our motel on Interstate 1, we examined my results of the Love Languages test. I’ve since done the test again and the results were the same.

Results are measured with a ceiling score of 12 and you get to see where all 5 love languages fall in your profile.

My love language scores are:

Quality Time (11)
Physical Touch (9)
Words of Affirmation (5)
Receiving Gifts (3)
Acts of Service (2)

Mrs Romance thought that because I’m a writer and love things like grammar and English so much that my love language would be Words of Affirmation. But I think Quality Time has been important to me ever since I heard my grandfather say:

the biggest compliment you can give anyone is your time.

And that’s really stuck with me. It’s interesting because Mrs R’s top love language is Quality Time too, so I wonder if this is one of the reasons how we can spend so much of our day together without killing each other!

Now it’s your turn. Try the test – it only takes about 10 minutes and it’s free. You also get your results emailed to you, which is great because I forgot to write mine down! Let us know what your alpha love language is and if it was what your were expecting!

Images by Mr & Mrs Romance.

The post He Said She Said – What’s your Love Language? appeared first on Mr and Mrs Romance.

On top of that, the strangeness and cruelty of the political world, and the passing of some of the planet’s most influential popular artists have made 2016 a much-maligned year.

Personally, 2016 has been a bit of a mixed bag for Mrs Romance and myself. However, it certainly hasn’t proffered the rotten fruit that many have bitten into these past 12 months.

For us the worst part about this year was it took so bloody long to get going. From a travel perspective alone, it seemed like we’d never go anywhere. But with 12 of our top 20 posts being travel related this year, I guess we made up for the slow start in the end.

Trips to Thailand, Malaysia, Borneo and the UK – not to mention a multitude of domestic travel around Australia – have filled this year with some amazing stories we’ll never forget.

So as a parting gesture to 2016 – be it a thumbs-up or a middle finger – here’s our final post of the year: our top 20 posts of 2016.

Our top posts of 2016

20. Vivid Sydney 2016 – our pick of what to do and what to see

Every year, in the middle of the Sydney winter when the nights are at their longest and darkest, the Harbour City springs into light.

The Vivid Festival has been running for over 7 years now and is a celebration of light, artistry, ideas and music. It’s interactive, it’s entertaining, it’s inspiring and it’s educational.

At number 20 of our most popular posts for the year, we look at what’s good to see and do in this year’s festival. It’s also a bit of a shout out for my first public speaking gig!

Check out our top tips for Vivid plus some amazing photography of the lights by Mrs Romance.

19. How to take photos from a plane window

Thanks to most airlines lifting their paranoid ban on electronic devices being used onboard, you can now feel more relaxed about taking advantage of the window seat you’ve scored.

However, if you really want your wing shot to look its best, there are few tricks to master first. Here are our top tips on how to take a great photo from a plane window.

Here are our tips on how to take photos from your plane window!

18. Our 24-hour guide to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

It’s funny – Mrs Romance and I have been to KL many times in the past, but this is the first time we’ve stepped outside the airport terminal. Wow! We’ve missed out on so much!

Here’s our first-timer’s essential guide to Kuala Lumpur when you’ve only got 24 hours to explore. It’s a tremendous city with a fascinating blend of cultures, some amazing food and spectacular sights.

Here’s our essential guide to Kuala Lumpur for first-timers.

17. Gluten free macadamia shortbread cookies

I’m always on the lookout for new gluten-free recipes to try, so when I found this one that uses macadamias – Australia’s truly delicious native nut – I couldn’t wait.

I’ve had to since stop making them however. We were just getting too fat!

This is a really easy recipe and the results are always so delicious, you’ll find you just can’t stop eating them.

Here’s our recipe for these amazing gluten-free macadamia shortbread cookies!

16. Anyone for a Tumut? Our latest (and greatest) craft beer discovery

Sydney Craft Beer Week is an amazing festival in the heart of October – a month famed for its beer. Whilst exploring this fun beer fest, I came across this tiny brewery that’s making what I will stand up and say is the best beer I’ve had.

Tumut River Brewing Company – from the tiny town in the New South Wales countryside – makes a range of beer. But their Squealing Pig APA is absolutely insanely tasty.

Check out this new brewery we love!

15. How to save money when you’re travelling

Let’s face it, travelling is an expensive pastime. Everything costs money – accommodation, food, transport, entrance fees, tours, police bribes… just kidding. But travel does cost a lot.

We’ve come up with some top tips on how you can save money when you’re travelling to try and mitigate the expense of your passion: seeing the world.

Here are our tips on how to save money when you’re travelling.

14. 11 Sydney harbourside cafés locals love

Sydney Harbour is definitely the city’s biggest and most beautiful asset. Couple views of the water with some delicious food and drink, and you’ve got the perfect day.

We’ve looked into where you can do this around Sydney and have come up with 11 Sydney cafés that are right on the water.

The added bonus to the ones we’ve found is only locals tend to know about them, so they’ve got a great authentic vibe to them too.

Here are the Sydney harbourside cafés you should really check out!

13. Into the wild – our essential guide to Sabah, the best of Borneo

Borneo, with its dark jungles, wild mountains and equatorial tropical beaches, sounds like a strange, remote, exotic place. And it definitely is that.

But it’s also full of natural beauty, friendly people, fascinating history and indigenous tribes and animals you won’t find anywhere else in the world.

Here’s our essential guide to the Sabah – a state of Malaysia in Borneo’s north.

12. What’s it really like to fly AirAsia?

AirAsia has had mixed reviews over the years, but amongst all its bad reports, we look at what it’s really like onboard.

Check out what our flights to and from Kuala Lumpur and subsequent flights to Thailand were like, and find out how you can really make one of the biggest budget airline’s booking systems really work for you.

Here’s our review of flying AirAsia!

11. 5 things you must do in Venice, Italy

Venice truly is one of the world’s most beautiful cities. There’s no over hype and the images you see of Venice in films and in photos is exactly how it looks in real life.

But there’s also more to do in this most romantic city than just St Mark’s Square or the Rialto Bridge. Here are our top 5 favourite things to do in the City of Water.

Here are our top tips for things you’ve got to do in Venice, Italy.

Here come the top 10!

10. 9 easy Sydney weekend getaways

Your 10th most favourite post of 2016 is how you can get out of Sydney for the weekend. There are so many beautiful places just outside the city limits, escaping the busy streets and skyscrapers of Sydney is quick and easy.

We’ve listed our 9 favourite places to get away from the hustle and bustle, and we’ve included distances and travel time to help.

Here are our top 9 places to hide away from the busy crazy of the city.

9. 9 places to escape winter when you haven’t saved for a holiday

People are often surprised when the Aussie winter hits by how cold and miserable it is – especially in Sydney and Melbourne.

But even if you haven’t got a pot of cash ready to splash on a winter escape, there’s always a way round it. We worked with Cheap Flights, who have a huge amount of travel data at their disposal, to work out the most affordable destinations from all of Australia’s main airports over the winter.

The results were really very interesting.

8. That time I ate raw vegan food in Bondi and liked it

Even though my mum was vegetarian and even vegan for a long time as I was growing up, I still love eating meat. So when Mrs Romance and I headed to a new raw vegan restaurant for dinner, I wasn’t too sure if I was going to enjoy it.

I was surprised to find that the food from The Plant Gallery in Bondi was absolutely delicious and so filling. The food was so well crafted, and so clever, a lot of the time we didn’t even notice it was raw or vegan.

Sadly, this restaurant has since closed its doors for the last time a month or two ago. Maybe even Bondi wasn’t ready for something like this.

Here’s what we ate at this amazing raw vegan restaurant.

7. The cruise that’s not a cruise – our voyage on the National Geographic Orion

Mrs Romance and I aren’t much into the cruise scene. But when we got the opportunity to sail around the Kimberley in the wild northwest of Australia onboard a National Geographic exploration ship, we didn’t think twice.

With a team of Nat Geo naturalists, biologists, geologists and scientists on the ship – plus a Nat Geo photographer, videographer and documentary maker – this was more educational than relaxing.

Every day we headed out on inflatable Zodiac tenders to different sites of natural curiosity – it was absolutely amazing. Check out the video we made for the trip in the post. Sums things up pretty well.

Check out what we did and what we saw on this amazing voyage here.

6. Our top 7 things to do in Byron Bay, NSW

Byron Bay is mainland Australia’s most easterly point. With that title comes some other intriguing features that make this beautiful part of New South Wales a magnet for visitors from all walks of life.

We were only here for a few days, but in that time we covered a lot. From mind body and spirit retreats to kayak trips to get up close and interactive with humpback whales, there’s so much to do here.

Plus the food in Byron is something else. Another post we wrote shortly after this one is about the best things to eat in Byron too. In fact if you look further down this list of top posts, you’ll find it!

But if you want to know why so many people – about 1.7 million a year – visit the Cape Byron region, here are our top 7 reasons.

5. How to have your scone and eat it – where to stay and where to eat in Scone, NSW

We love visiting the little country towns in regional Australia. Every single one has its own identity and its own curiosities.

The little town of Scone, New South Wales doesn’t seem like it’s got much going on when you first pull up. Then you start noticing all the horse stuff everywhere.

And for good reason. It turns out Scone is in fact the horse capital of Australia. More than that, it’s actually the 2nd biggest horse stud town in the world! Of course there’s more to Scone than horses, though they do play a big part.

With the help of our friend Lauren, who’s a Scone local, we’ve put together a run-down of the best places to stay and to eat in this pretty little country town. Funnily enough though, I never saw an actual scone for sale anywhere…

But here’s how to have your Scone and eat it too!

4. 7 cool Sydney bars that are also romantic

The Sydney bar scene is so strong at the moment. It’s amazing how many cool little spots there are dotted about the city.

The trouble is they can sometimes be a bit too cool. If you’re looking for somewhere with a bit of edge but that’s appropriate for a date or romantic tipple, it gets a bit trickier.

We’ve put together a list of 7 Sydney bars that are cool but also romantic. Places you won’t have to drink your cocktail from a traffic cone or eat your dinner off a garden spade. Much better.

Check out these cool hot Sydney bars here!

And into the top 3!

3. 7 best things to eat in Byron Bay, NSW

As we mentioned earlier in post number 6 (7 top things to do in Byron Bay), the Cape Byron region is fantastically popular with a whole range of visitors.

This area used to be full of people seeking an alternative lifestyle – hippies if you like. As they’ve either grown up, moved away or been diluted with non-hippy folk, the food scene here has developed into a fascinating, attainable blend of sustainability and fine dining.

It’s a beautiful balance that works so well – especially here where natural beauty abounds in such prosperity.

Here are our favourite eats in Byron Bay – your 3rd most favourite post to read in 2016 and one of our favourite ones to put together!

2. Australia-themed cocktails for Australia Day

Mrs Romance and I knew we were writing to a bunch of boozehounds, but when we discovered that our number 2 most popular post for 2016 was a cocktail recipe piece, all we could do was shrug.

It makes perfect sense though: we write about things we love for people who share our passions. So of course alcohol was going to feature in the top few posts. Last year there were about 5 alcohol related articles in the top 20!

The cocktails in this list aren’t just for Australia Day – they’re for any time of year. But as we made them all with Australian spirits and mixers, we thought it’d be a good time to tell you about them.

These cocktails are not only delicious, they help support the little Aussie distilleries scattered far and wide across this huge island continent (or is it a landmass?). In fact, in this post we wrote a while back you can see how isolated some of these distilleries are.

Check out our three favourite cocktails we’ve come up with that make the most of these beautiful Aussie spirits!

And our number 1 post from 2016 is…

1. How to ace your perfect breakfast equation

The good news is we really really enjoyed writing this post. And seeing how everyone really got into it as well made us so happy.

Working out what your perfect breakfast equation is starts with your coffee and toast ‘numbers’. How do you like your caffeine and how dark do you have your toast?

Of course, if you don’t drink coffee and you’re gluten intolerant, you might struggle with this one, but what started off as just having a bit of fun ended up being our most popular post of 2016!

I think the video we made also helped – I watched it back when I got the stats back on the top 20 posts and some more good news: I was quite impressed with our handiwork!

We hope you’ve had fun looking through this year’s highlights – they’ve certainly been fun to make. Let’s all hope that 2017 isn’t just better than ’16 – let’s hope it’s a whole shitload better. I’m sure it will be.

Here’s to a beautiful Christmas, a sensational New Year and the best 365 days of your life.

See you again in 2017

Jim & Christina xxx

What were your high (or low) lights of 2016? Which was your favourite post out of this year’s top 20? Tell us in the comments!

Images by Mrs Romance using an OM-D EM5 mark II Olympus camera.

The post Our top 20 posts of 2016 – which one’s your favourite? appeared first on Mr and Mrs Romance.

He Said:

Fake it till you make it.

She Said:

Nothing beats the feel of the real.

What’s more, he says:

I’ve never had a real tree at Christmas apart from when Mrs Romance and I have spent the festive season at her family home.

Her family always used to get a real tree, which and it was kind of strange for me. The needles drop and go everywhere, it smells kind of funny and the real ones are actually a lot harder to decorate than the fake ones.

Also, my mum, who’s a bit of an environmentalist, has always thought it was cruel to cut a tree down just for Christmas (even thought they’re usually farmed especially for this time of year) and I think my dad likes the idea of saving money just buying one fake tree that would last forever!

Probably because it’s all I’ve ever known, having an artificial tree is as much a part of Christmas as turkey and mince pies.

The same way people get nostalgic about having a real Christmas tree – the smell, the needles on the floor, the process of going out to choose your tree – my memories of Christmas always start with Dad stomping about and clambering up into the attic each year to lug the Christmas box down with the tree inside. Then Mum and I spending time together decorating the tree.

Mrs Romance and I have always had an artificial Christmas trees at home, though I don’t think she really enjoyed it in the past. I get the feeling she was just doing it to make me feel better.

However, we’ve recently upgraded to a beautiful Monterey Pine tree from Balsam Hill. It’s easily the most realistic tree we’ve ever had and I reckon this is the first year that Mrs Romance won’t mind not having a real one.

This tree looks amazing and was surprisingly easy to set up. All of its branches are hinged, so there’s not as much pulling a bending to do, and the lights are integral to the tree with the power coupling going through the trunk. This means there’s more time (and patience) available after you’ve put up the tree to focus on the decorations!

Check out Balsam Hill’s superb range of incredibly realistic trees here.

We were really surprised at how good our tree looked when we’d put it up. And it even comes with a couple of sets of gloves and its own storage bag for after Christmas.

Hopefully all this will have changed Mrs Romance’s view of having an artificial tree from now on!

And another thing, she says:

The choice between a real or fake Christmas tree for me is a geographical decision.

Growing up we always had a real tree. My birthday is a week before Christmas and it became a tradition that we’d go on 18th December and get our real Christmas tree.

I used to love getting in the car with Dad and driving down and picking the tree, bringing it home and decorating it on my birthday. The smell of a real tree takes me right back to my childhood.

As I got older, I realised the problem with having a real tree is that you can only have it up for a week before Christmas. You see in Australia, it’s just too hot to keep a real tree alive for longer than that – and still have it look good on Christmas day, that is.

My excitement for Christmas has grown even stronger as I get older. So when it came time for Jim and I to get our first Christmas tree together, I hit the shops early and got a fake tree so I could put it up as soon as possible.

A couple of years ago we were in America in December and that took Christmas to a whole new level. The real trees there are completely different to the real trees we get in Australia. I’m in love with American real Christmas trees and I wish we could have them here. But until we can, I’m pretty happy with a fake Christmas tree.

This year’s new tree is an upgrade and it has the most incredible lights in it, which makes me very happy. I waited until December to put it up but I think I might start a little bit earlier next year, now that I’ve got this perfect tree at home.

Or maybe we’ll do Christmas in July at our place?

What do you go for: a fake Christmas tree or a real one? Tell us in the comments!

Our beautiful tree is courtesy of Balsam Hill.

The post He Said, She Said: do you get a real or fake Christmas tree? appeared first on Mr and Mrs Romance.

Christmas has to be one of the weirdest times of year in our calendar. It’s always so busy, everyone gets totally overwhelmed with planning, the shops are nuts, stress is high – Mrs Romance absolutely loves it!

The downside to all this mayhem is that your relationship can tend to take a bit of a back seat in the process.

This is why it’s even more important to take a bit of time out to spend with your other half. Sometimes, when it’s all getting too much, a day – or even an afternoon away from it all can work as a great reset.

To drop the pressure and to lower ourselves into the Christmas spirit gently, Mrs Romance and I have a list of our top 7 Christmas date ideas to keep it ‘Ho ho ho!’ and not ‘Oh, no no!’

7 Christmas date ideas

1. Get decorating

Work together to put your Christmas tree up. I know this can be the source of irritation, but if you both work out who’s doing what before you start, it can be a lot of fun. Crack a bottle of wine and get decorating!

If you invest in a high quality artificial tree, the amount of effort needed to assemble and decorate the tree is massively reduced. We have a beautiful tree from Balsam Hill that even has the tree lights built in.

You should definitely check out the range these guys have.

It’s well worth investing in a tree like this that looks amazingly realistic and that’s simple and quick to get up. Then you can focus on the more fun part of hanging extra decorations with a glass of wine and your beloved.

If you have kids, working with them to decorate the tree is so much part of Christmas, but let’s be honest, kids aren’t that good at it. I know I certainly wasn’t! Getting another tree the whole family can put together will reduce frustrations and your kids’ FOMO.

Image from kohl_photographer via Flickr.

2. Look into the light

There’s always a street in your neighbourhood that’s got well and truly into the Christmas spirit and the power grid is working overtime to cope.

Visions spring to mind of the National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation when Chevy Chase plugs in the lights covering his house!

Hold hands, enjoy the lights and get into the romance of Christmas.

By the way, when you do go to see the lights, check to see if the houses have put out a gratuity tin. If they have, drop some money in. It’s what Christmas is about and these lights cost money to power. If you like the display, remember to pay.

3. Christmas flicks

Nothing says Christmas more than a Christmas movie. They don’t have to be films with Santa in them, which can be a bit creepy to be honest, but they’re usually set around Christmas.

Break out some wine and cheese, and settle in for a movie date night at home.

Movies Mrs Romance and I love watching around Christmas are ones like Home Alone, Die Hard, Love Actually, Elf, Gremlins, Bad Santa (though don’t let the kids see!) and weirdly enough the first Star Wars – though I think it was just always on over Christmas when I was a kid.

Do you have a favourite Christmas movie? Tell us at the end of this post.

4. Christmas cocktails

There’s always room for a little drink or two at Christmas! But why not make a special one for your loved one? If they have a favourite spirit, look up a cocktail that uses it. Obviously think whether your partner will like the cocktail too.

There are so many ideas out there, but having a drink you both enjoy that you can make specific to this time of year will add that bit of romance back into Christmas.

We’ve written a lot of cocktail recipes here on Mr & Mrs Romance – we’ve even written an ebook (you can buy it here by the way!) and just recently we even wrote specifically about our favourite Christmas cocktails. Check them out for a bit of inspiration.

5. Volunteering

It might sound a bit cheesy but Christmas is the time to give back. What better way to do that than to volunteer.

Doing this together with your other half will give you both a sense of connection and accomplishment. It’s also just a nice thing to do.

If you’re not sure where to start, think about wrapping or delivering Christmas presents for kids in underprivileged situations or shelters. The Smith Family does amazing work like this and Christmas is an especially busy time for them. Check out what you can do with the Smith Family here.

There are plenty of other volunteering opportunities around Christmas wherever you are. In Australia, think AusHarvest, the Salvation Army or even helping out at your local soup kitchen is an awesome way of giving back, and getting the warm and fuzzies going.

6. Bake Christmas cookies or even an early Christmas dinner for 2

Nothing wrong with a bit of extra sweetness at (and before) Christmas. Why not bake your beloved their favourite cookies? As it turns out, Mrs Romance and I both have our own signature biscuits that the other absolutely loves.

I love making Mrs R my gluten-free macadamia salted shortbread biccies – here’s the recipe. Mrs Romance makes a mean set of peanut butter and choc chip cookies that are basically my catnip. Check out her recipe here.

However, if you want to take it a step further, why not make an early Christmas dinner for two? About a week out from Christmas (you don’t want to OD on turkey before the 25th), have Christmas dinner at home with each other. Snuggle down and pretend it’s just the two of you in the whole world.

7. Get out mid-week avoid the Christmas crush

The terrors of Christmas shopping are a known factor that brings a tear to many a stouthearted shopper’s eye. But if you time it right, you can actually make it a fun – even romantic – experience.

Why don’t the both of you take a day off [cough-sickie-cough] and head into the city? Don’t worry if you haven’t got any formal shopping lists, just go out, enjoy the lights and the energy, and have plenty of coffee and/wine breaks.

If you’re a guy and the idea of shopping turns your stomach, maybe it’s just a skill set thing. One of our first series of posts was on how to cope when you go shopping as a couple. I think it might help!

Bonus idea: start a Christmas tradition

Of course, Christmas is full of traditions – stuff our families have probably been doing for generations that we thought was just part of Christmas. In actual fact, they’re possibly just things your family does.

So why not start a fun Christmas tradition of your own? It could be something simple like buying the funniest Christmas tree decoration you can find each year (which is what we do) or even taking each other out to dinner somewhere. Or even playing a particular board game – but only at Christmas time.

If it’s something you can do together to make this time of year even more special and brings the two of you closer together, it’s worth it.

What’s your favourite part of Christmas? Do you do anything romantic at this time of year? Tell us in the comments below.

The post 7 Christmas date ideas appeared first on Mr and Mrs Romance.

Then I started thinking about it and before I knew it we’d got quite a good list together.

We hadn’t thought we’d travelled that much – but then realised we’d been to all 8 states and territories in Australia – some more than once. And all within the space of about 8 months.

We hadn’t thought we’d been all that productive either but then Mrs Romance has just finished her 2nd round of Little Blog Big workshops, she discovered her hardcopy book made the New York Times Best Sellers List, I had my first live TV interview with Sky News and we won a writing competition with Virgin Australia Airlines.

It’s actually been a fantastic year!

As the year starts its final act, we thought we’d leave you with our top 20 posts written in 2015 to mull over.

Amazingly all 20 here are in the top 50 most popular posts of all time, which is incredible when you think that there are pieces here still getting bumper traffic since 2013.

Anyway, we hope you have a lovely Christmas and New Year’s Eve, and we’ll be back in 2016 with some big plans for you.

Don’t worry though; it won’t be complete radio silence. There’s no way we’re going to be off social media over Christmas, so make sure you keep in touch via Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

Top 20 countdown of our most popular posts from 2015

20. Classic Cuban cocktails – the Cuba Libre and the Cubata

Straight from the horse’s mouth, we learnt how to make classic Cuban cocktails from our friend Valeri as we explored Cuba last year.

The famous Cuba Libre and its lesser known but more authentically Cuban brother the Cubata are mainstays in bars throughout the country.

19. 10 tips for driving in California

If you’re thinking of going on a driving holiday in California soon, this is a great post for you.

There are some very odd rules in Cali that don’t exist in many other places – and if you’ve never driven in the States before, this will be a real eye-opener.

In fact, if you have driven in the States before, you might want to check to see if you were doing the right thing!

18. 7 reasons to visit the Fraser Coast

We absolutely love Fraser Island and have been there a few times. It’s the largest sand island in the world and has the most amazingly diverse ecosystem.

The area is also probably the best place in the world for seeing humpbacks with their calves, wild purebred dingos, and some of the most spectacular lakes you’ll ever see.

Check out all 7 of our reasons your should visit the Fraser Coast right now!

17. High tea at the hydro majestic hotel

Recently refurbished and reopened after years of stagnating into disrepair, the beautifully elegant and historic Hydro Majestic Hotel in the Blue Mountains is amazing.

It looks out over the valley and offers one of the best high teas you’ll find in Sydney. Well worth checking out.

16. 48 hours in Orange

Over the last couple of years we’ve really taken a liking to regional Australia.

The town of Orange – about 4 hours’ drive northwest of Sydney – is packed full of great wineries, restaurants and country hospitality.

Our whirlwind guide to 48 hours in Orange will give you a crash course in what’s available. We love it here.

15. Where to stay in Tulum – Casa de las Olas

Late last year, we found ourselves in one of the most idyllic places on earth. Tulum in southeastern Mexico is absolutely divine.

To make it even better, we stayed in an amazing eco-hotel called Casa de las Olas – House of the Waves. It’s right on the beach, only has suites, the food is incredible and there’s even a resident dachshund!

This place is absolute travel heaven.

14. Our top 10 burger list of all time

This is still a work in progress but you’ve got to publish it at some point, haven’t you?

At the moment, these are still my top 10 favourite burgers of all time, but things change, right? For certain, the top spot hasn’t changed.

Please don’t judge me as you realise as you read that I’ve eaten all of these burgers… and more besides!

13. What’s the food in Cuba really like?

It’s so funny when we see things like Cuban sandwiches and Cuban slow-cooked smoked pulled pork… Cubans just don’t have the resources or facilities to make dishes like this.

A lot of the things we see that are billed as Cuban are either renamed Mexican dishes or things that have come from Cubans who managed to move to the States.

12. How to use the city as your office

We love being able to work mobile. And as more and more people are able to make many places their office, we thought we’d detail what we look for when we’re hunting for a new workspace.

We used the newly renovated MLC food court in Sydney’s CBD as a case study to illustrate what a place needs to be a viable environment for us to work in.

11. How did you meet? The story of Mr and Mrs Romance

We’re really excited that this story has made it into this list. We love talking to people about how they met their partner. It’s always so interesting.

How Did You Meet is a seedling series where we intend to speak to lots of people about their stories on the blog. We thought we’d lead by example, so here’s our story of how we met and fell in love.

Here come the top 10!

10. How to choose a beer

Beer. I love it. It’s great. But I didn’t always love it. Beer is an acquired taste. If you’re not sure what to expect or what beer you should order, it’s very likely you’ll get a bad one and be put off for life.

That makes me sad.

So here’s my guide to help you choose the right beer for you. For more advanced beer drinkers, I hope you find my insights into the types of beer and my recommendations inspiring!

9. Is Cuba safe? 7 street scams to look out for

Whilst in Cuba last year, we did come across a few street scams, it’s true. But we’d also heard a lot about how dangerous Cuba was before we arrived.

We thought this was the perfect opportunity to explore whether Cuba really is as dangerous as people say and what to expect when you’re there.

8. Pork’d – never regret a rasher decision

An inspired short-term collaborative project between celebrity chef Luke Nguyen and my good friend Mick Bain, owner of what I consider to be the best pub in Sydney.

Pork’d sources local meat from sustainable, ethical pig farmers to make some of the most delicious food you’ll find.

As an update to this post, we’ve recently learnt that Pork’d will no longer be operating from its premises in Surry Hills anymore. As it was a short-term lease, Mick has decided to take to the streets and is in the process of making this piggy’s house out of food truck.

That’s right, folks. Pork’d has gone mobile!

7. Dos and don’ts of the cellar door

After an amazing day spent with the Scarboroughs – a family who’ve been making excellent wine in the Hunter Valley for two generations, we thought we’d ask them for some guidance on what people should and shouldn’t be doing when they’re at the cellar door.

Here’s some insider intell on how to behave when you’re on a wine tasting spree. It’s really interesting.

6. By sea and by road – the ultimate Tasmanian driving holiday

This year we were lucky enough to work with Spirit of Tasmania checking out their new renovations to the 2 ships that run between Port Melbourne, Victoria and Devonport, Tasmania.

The ships are a million times better and our onward exploration of Tasmania had us aching to get back there for more. It’s such a beautiful island.

Here’s our ultimate guide to a Tasmanian driving holiday – something everyone should experience once!

5. 7 wineries you must visit in Orange

As I mentioned earlier, Orange is one of our absolute favourite regional Australian towns. It’s so lovely here.

It might well have something to do with all the wineries they’ve got here. These guys produce some of the very best cold-climate high-altitude wine in the country.

Here’s our top 7 list of wineries you should visit when you’re in Orange. Not only do they all have amazing wine for you to taste, the people here are all so friendly.

4. Essential guide to Tulum

Tulum on the Caribbean coastline of Mexico is one of those places that has to be visited to be believed. Packed full of Mayan ruins and history, hemmed in against the land’s end by Mexican jungle, this outpost of leave-me-alone tourism is about to go mad.

It recently made it onto a big Trip Advisor round-up list of places to visit, so if you want to see this place before things go south, get there soon. And take our essential guide to Tulum with you. We put it together with the help of Tulum local Marion from Home in Tulum.

And into the top 3!

3. 15 Hunter Valley wineries only locals know about

The Hunter Valley is a spectacular place to explore wine. But there are so many wineries scattered about the rolling hills, valleys and mountains of this ancient region, it’s hard to know where to start.

With the help of the Scarborough family, who own and run Scarborough Wine Co in Pokolbin, we’ve put together a local’s love list of wineries not many people would have heard of. Or if they have, they might not know much about.

Check out our Hunter Valley winery list straight from those who know.

2. The best way to see Cuba – Cuban Adventures

I think by now you’ve got the idea that we love Cuba. Love it! We’ve always wanted to go, so that love has always been there.

But actually being there and having such an amazing cultural and exploratory experience there has really cemented it for us.

The small group tour we went on (and we’re not usually big fans of tour groups) was brilliant. Really small, really personal – we’ve actually stayed friends with some of the group and have met up since our trip – it made our time in this fascinating country even more memorable.

Check out what we did, where we went and how we did it. It really was the trip of our lifetime.

And our number one post from 2015 is…

1. American road trip: San Diego to Las Vegas… the long way

From the moment we left San Diego to the second we hit the Strip, our road trip through 3 states over 5 days and through countless towns, deserts and other weird places, was amazing.

Obviously there are quicker ways of getting from San Diego to Las Vegas. You can drive there in 5 hours if you want. You can fly that trip in just over an hour.

But who wants to do that?

Not us. We went the long way round. And oh my god was it worth it.

Here’s our full itinerary, places we stayed, things we did deliciousness we ate. I must be honest – I’m not surprised this post was popular this year. I loved writing it, Mrs Romance loved putting together and editing the images for it and of course we both loved living it!

We hope you have enjoyed our top 20 as much as we enjoyed giving it to you. We’re really excited about 2016 and all the things we’ll be doing together.

Have a wonderful Christmas, an exhilarating New Year’s and we’ll see each other again in the coming leap year.

Jim and Christina xx

What were your highlights of 2015. We’d love to hear them. Tell us in the comments.

Images by Mr and Mrs Romance using Olympus OM-D E-M range mirrorless cameras.

The post Our top 20 posts of 2015 appeared first on Mr and Mrs Romance.

Poor Mrs Romance is still struggling along with her broken toe. She’s got such a busy month ahead. In the next three weeks, she’s got trips to two different states in Australia and an international flight a bit later on.

She’s got braiding bars, blogging classes and speaking duties at conferences coming out of her ears.

As for me, I’m very busy too – filling up my time with unquantifiable procrastination and staring blankly into space. I’m exhausted already!

We’re out for lunch with Lien from UltimateBrows.com. She always takes us to great places for a feed. This time we’re in Kingsford on the Anzac Parade. It’s a little place called Chinese Dumplings and Noodle House and is well worth a visit.

Now don’t expect silver service – or even a hello when you walk in – but aside from the ‘low key’ service, the food is not only affordable but mouthwatering. Their crispy deep fried tofu is excellent. We also tuck into some of their combination pan fried dumplings and one of their handmade noodle dishes.

I’m out in the oldest part of Sydney tonight. The Rocks is an interesting part of time, full of convict and pioneer history… and pubs!

But it’s to the Russell Hotel that I’m heading for. It’s been standing here since around 1780 and was first used as an infirmary for newly arrived convicts. It’s also one of the most haunted places in the country.

And it’s this place’s ghostly history that brings me here… or more precisely, it’s brought some very rare whisky here that I’m looking forward to trying.

William Grant has produced two ‘ghosted’ blend from two distilleries in Scotland that no longer exist. It’s making me thirsty just writing it down!

The Bar downstairs at the Russell – The Push – is very cool. They’ve been open a year or two now but if feels like this place has been going for much longer.

All the brass fixtures, exposed brick and nautical paraphernalia give the bar a lovely feel. It fits so well with what The Rocks represents in Sydney’s and Australia’s history.

Upstairs in Room 8 – the most haunted part of the hotel – we’re trying these two beautiful blended whiskies.

Room 8 is notorious for the spirit of a sailor that resides at the foot of the bed. The wardrobe is known to rattle and shake in the dead of night, and doors slam without anyone or anything doing it.

But the only spirits I’m interested in at this point are the ones in these bottles. Saved from extinct Scottish distilleries, William Grant have recreated, reblended and rebranded them to represent what has been preserved so beautifully. Of course, these wonderful drinks come at a price.

The darker whisky – the one at the back – has been matured in sherry barrels and has a beautiful sweet flavour. From May this year, The Cruinnich will be available at Dan Murphy’s for $180 each. There are only 4900 bottles available.

The lighter one at the front is even more special. Matured for 26 years, the Ghosted Reserve is oaky and smooth, and very drinkable indeed.

There are only 300 bottles of this stuff in the country and it’s in shops as we speak, so if you’re after this very special whisky, get a move on. It is a price though – it retails at $650 a bottle!

We’re drooling over our memories of the States today. In San Francisco, we discovered this masterpiece. It’s called ‘totchos’ and appears to be the missing link of pub food, bridging the gap between chips and natchos.

Check out what we’ve got to say about totchos – nachos made from – wait for it – tater tots!

Our mate Steph from LipstickAndCake.com has also done a recipe for them that takes the totchos concept to a different level!

Mrs Romance is off to Queensland today. To Fraser Island in fact.

We’ve talked about Fraser Island a few times before here, but this time, she’s going there to learn how to four-wheel-drive and how to ride a jet ski! Yes, I’m extraordinarily jealous, thanks for asking.

Mrs R’s not on Fraser long before the beauty of the island reveals itself. How about this sunset? Amazing, isn’t it?

Fraser Island is an incredible place. It’s the world’s largest sand island and has some fascinating, unique features. Its interior’s covered in freshwater lakes, one of the main roads is the beach, there’s an old shipwreck you can walk around – there’s even a miniature rainforest! Definitely a place to visit.

And then this morning, Mrs R spots this! I don’t think I’ve ever seen where a rainbow starts and ends. And if you look closely, you can see it’s actually a double rainbow.

For your interest, here are a couple of our older posts about Fraser Island:

48 hours on Fraser Island – what to do and where to go.

Fine dining on Fraser Island.

Fraser Island scenic flight.

Today – while Mrs Romance is enjoying the sun and sand of Fraser Island – I’m checking out Barilla’s new gluten free pasta range. I’ve heard good things but have yet to try it out. I’m a bit sceptical, but let’s see.

Under the watchful eye and simple instructions of this guy Andrea Tranchero – an Italian chef with 25 years’ experience in Michelin-starred restaurants – we should be able to finish with something edible. I hope!

With Mrs Romance not here, I was a bit apprehensive at being here on my own, but I shouldn’t have worried. Almost like she’s waiting for me to arrive is Kimba from KimbaLikes.com and her awesome son ‘Boyo’. It looks like this is going to be a very fun cooking session indeed!

Our first job is to peel and devein these monstrous green tiger prawns. For some reason this takes us ages and everyone’s started eating while we’re still cooking!

It’s worth the wait though. We’ve made a kind of pasta risotto – called pasta risottato – using Barilla’s gluten free elbow pasta. The prawns are cut into bite-size pieces, we add broccoli and some Barilla ricotta sauce (also gluten free of course!). The result is really delicious. Barilla seem to have really nailed gf pasta.

We also have a go at making chicken pesto spaghetti, which tastes great but doesn’t look quite as good as this one.

And while I’m suffering, sweating and slaving over my student stove, Mrs R is having a lovely time. This, dear friends, is Lake McKenzie. It’s the most famous of all the freshwater lakes on Fraser Island because of its spectacularly clear blue water. It was named after the logging company that was based there… but who cares about that. Just look at that water!

Mrs Romance is cutting it up on Fraser Island learning how to off-road with Dave from the Australian Offroad Academy. Wonder if this is the start of a new rally driving passion?

On the other hand, perhaps four-wheel-driving isn’t going to be Mrs R’s new favourite hobby. Nope, jetskiing is. She’s absolutely in love with these things!

Thanks to Larry from Aquavue, it looks like we’re going to be looking for a place to park one of these bad boys in the near future. Not that I’m complaining of course.

Good evening and good night from Queensland! Is there a better way to end a day on the world’s biggest sand island? I don’t think so. Just wish I was there, that’s all. See you back at Romance HQ soon, Mrs R! x

 How was your week? What were your highlights? Tell us in the comments!

Images by Mr and Mrs Romance via Instagram: @MrAndMrsRomance, @HairRomance, @Christina.Butcher – Mrs R’s Insta account and @AngryBastard of course!

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As this is the first in our series of How Did You Meet?, we thought it would be only right to go first and tell you our story. It’s a pretty good one.

Let’s just say if you’re not a big believer in destiny, then this might not sit well with you.

We met in Sydney during the 2000 Olympics. I was busy backpacking round Australia on a gap year and Mrs Romance was at the start of her university career.

How on earth we had time to meet still bewilders me. But here’s the whole story:

Mr Romance:

So how did you… we meet?

Mrs Romance:

I’m pretty sure I remember Leonie [Mrs R’s best mate from school] talking about you when I asked her how work had gone one Saturday – the first day you came into the shop.

Mr R:

I’d met Leonie when I’d popped my head in where she was working because I couldn’t believe a place like this could exist.

Mrs R:

She worked in a place called Thirst for Life. It was a shop that sold 42 kinds of water and had a fountain in it. I think one of my favourites was the French slimming water with low sodium, or maybe those fruit-infused waters that we used to think were hangover cures – very funny.

Mr R:

I lived about 5 doors down – in Paddington – and had to see what was going on there. I couldn’t believe it – I thought it was my housemate pulling my leg when they told me about it. But there you go.

Mrs R:

But the day we actually met, I was hanging with Leonie making sure she wasn’t falling asleep at work, and I remember you just popped in on your way home. I remember thinking you were cute and you made me laugh, and it was just… funny.

You invited us to a party – a house party at your place. We did intend to go but for some reason we weren’t really nearby and we missed your party.

But I thought I’m going to invite you to my Olympics party.

So when the opening ceremony was on I remember making sure to get Leonie to invite you.

I just remember you had a cheeky smile, you made me laugh, and you were like… sort of the best moment in the water shop all day!

I’d been hanging out there all day, just waiting for you to just walk in I guess.

I remember being so excited when you came to my Olympics party – and those two weeks afterwards were just… there was just such a buzz. It was like New Years Eve in the city every night of the week.

It was just so much fun.

And then there was that time we got hit by lightning, which was like a week after we’d met – after we’d started going out. That was incredible.

And I remember my friend from work teasing me about us being serious, and I was like ‘oh, I don’t know’ we were too young to think it was going to be serious. And maybe that’s how we made it all happen.

Well, it looks like your friend from work was right, Mrs Romance. And since September 15th 2000 – it’s easy to find out when we first started going out thanks to the Olympics. That’s a long time.

I should add that my travel plans were supposed to take me on to New Zealand, Fiji and then the States after leaving Sydney. I was planning on spending Christmas and New Year in the South Island of NZ.

However, I pushed my visa and flights to their very limits so I could stay in Sydney with Mrs Romance as long as I possibly could. I ended up spending 2 nights in NZ, 5 nights in Fiji and about 2 hours in LA before landing back in the UK.

I then spent the next 30 days complaining and redistributing my debts so I could come back to Sydney straight away. It cost me a fortune, but it was more than worth it. How could I let someone like her go when we’d only just met?

I always find it astonishing that two people who will have walked past, met, talked to and looked at literally millions of individuals – for them to find each other in that ocean of possibilities… it makes no sense. It makes the most beautiful pile of no sense at all!

We hope you enjoyed reading about how we met. We’ll be posting new stories in this series regularly. If you want to make sure you don’t miss the next installment, sign up to our newsletter, which comes out every Friday.

Photos of us by the lovely Steph of Lipstick & Cake

The post So, how did you meet? The story of Mr & Mrs Romance appeared first on Mr and Mrs Romance.

Winter’s really set in here in Sydney now. I mean it’s no European winter – I remember reading about a place in far-eastern Russia called Chukotka where it goes to -49dC – but still, a low of 7dC is cold enough to chill your nose.

It’s the one time of year that us Sydneysiders can legitimately get our coats on and do some proper winter fashion… as long as we don’t have to walk too far. It gets a bit embarrassing when you start to sweat in the middle of winter!

Some people say that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Perhaps it is, but I reckon the most important meal of the week is the week’s first lunch. I strongly believe if you have a bad lunch on a Monday, your week’s destined for misery. Or maybe I just dwell on things too much.

Anyway, I’ve hit gold again this afternoon with another spectacular effort by the good people of Little Vienna. This Vienna Club sandwich has put me in a good mood for the rest of the day, if not the week!

Tonight, Mrs Romance is doing her thing at Stevie English Hair. This is her first Braid Bar of the year so far and is a sell-out event! I love the look on the little girl’s face on the left. How hard is she concentrating?!

If you want to know when the next Braid Bar will be, where you’ll be able to learn how to braid from the best in the business, keep your eyes pealed on Hair Romance‘s site for details. Don’t worry, you won’t have to remove your head to attend these classes. Mrs Romance is simply demonstrating on a block!

Pretty exciting today – I get to share another one of Mrs Romance’s desserts with you all. This one is the mocha choc mousse she makes to look like a cappuccino and it’s spot on!

The recipe for her delicious coffee chocolate mousse is right here.

Today we gave a shout-out to the most audaciously spectacular Carly from Smaggle.com. She’s incredibly funny and talented, and if you haven’t already, you should definitely go and see what she’s up to. Her blog’s amazing.

And this is what I’m talking about! Carly and Mr Smaggle stayed round ours last week and look at the lovely note they left us in our shower. I bought the Aqua Notes waterproof notepad for Mrs Romance a couple of Christmases ago because she was complaining about forgetting ideas she’d had in the shower.

Now the notepad is only used for evil! By the way, Carly was very concerned with her ‘street’ choice of how to spell ‘testicles’. I just thought it was the adjective form – like ‘tactical’. Anyway, her excellent drawing more than makes up for it I think!

Today on Mr & Mrs Romance, I explain how I managed to shoot lightning from my camera phone. Now, I’m aware that sounds like I have some kind of electrical fault with my handset, but you know what I mean. Anyway It’s surprisingly easy to do and I think the results are pretty effective.

Obviously if you want to get those amazingly HD results you see in galleries, you’ll need a DSLR camera, open aperture photography skills, a tripod and heaps of patience… and I don’t have any of those things so I’m happy with what I can do on my iPhone!

Here’s the how-to on shooting lightning on your phone.

Mrs Romance is going all Augustus Gloop tonight.  She’s at Max Brenner’s chocolate bar on Broadway. How good does this chocolate martini look?

Don’t get stuck in the pipes, Mrs R!

My mind’s a bit drifty today. It must be because of today’s post on this place: Ikatan Balinese Day Spa in the Sunshine Coast, Qld. This place is just so amazingly peaceful, working here must be awesome.

My hour-long body massage was bloody awesome, and I’d recommend it to anyone… even though you are expected to wear what amounts to a hairnet on your happy parts. Anyway, here’s my full account of Ikatan Balinese Day Spa – paradise in paradise.

So this is about as exciting as it gets: Mrs Romance’s book, which is doing well in the States and the UK, is being released in Australia and New Zealand! It’s not out till September, but as the author, she gets a pre-release copy.

So very proud of her!

This morning, we’re in Balmain to ‘do brunch’ with a couple of great friends of ours up from Melbourne for the weekend. We chose Kazbah on Darling Street because it’s so different to most cafes in Sydney. Its Middle-Eastern/North African food and atmosphere is so contagious and the food is always so good too.

Watch this space for our review of this little Sydney gem. Oh and this plate of excellence is my potato and fetta cake (about 6cm thick!) topped with creme fraiche and smoked salmon, garnished with pickles and onion marmalade. Yum!

Tonight we’re out at our friends’ engagement party at the Dolphin in Surry Hills. It’s so good to see them so happy – what a lovely night!

We’ve still got quinoa left over from a slow-cooked lamb dinner I made the other day. It’s one of my favourite recipes to cook (and one of Mrs R’s favourites to eat!) but we always seem to have left over quinoa.

And what’s the best thing to do with 2 cups of leftover cooked quinoa? Easy: make gluten-free granola! So this is the result of a Sunday morning’s work. There’s about another 20 bowls’ worth in a container of course!

I’ll be putting this recipe up on site at some point in the week, so keep reading to find out how to make your own low-sugar, gluten-free delicious granola.

And that’s our week. It’s been a pretty good one really. I mean, lots of food, fun and good news – you can’t really get much better than that, can you?!

What have you been up to? What’s your opinion on those weird pants they make you wear when you’re getting a massage? Do you like granola? Tell us everything in the comments!

Images by Mr and Mrs Romance via Instagram: @MrAndMrsRomance, @HairRomance and of course @AngryBastard!

The post A Braid Bar, a book and a bowl-a granola appeared first on Mr and Mrs Romance.

Back in January I shared this list on Hair Romance inspired by Styling You and Meet Me at Mike’s. Sam at The Annoyed Thyroid also updated her list for the mid-year point and I thought it was a great way to mark how 2014 is going for us.

By the way, we wrote our lists separately and just combined them for this post. I love how similar some of our responses are, and how random others are.

Making…

Mr: Mrs Romance breakfast when she’s not expecting it.
Mrs: More travel plans. Trying to tick some places off my bucket list.

Cooking…

Mr: On gas!
Mrs: My peanut butter choc chip cookies, and getting ready for a dinner party this Saturday night.

Drinking…

Mr: new Australian craft gins.
Mrs: Gin cocktails and making sure our fridge is stocked with champagne.

Reading…

Mr: Game of Thrones obsessively.
Mrs: Renegade collective magazine, Xero for Dummies and lots of blogs.

Wanting…

Mr: George R R Martin to hurry the hell up and finish writing Game of Thrones!
Mrs: The weather to warm up a little. I’m no good at winter. Even the mild Sydney winters are too cold for me.

Looking…

Mr: Forward to the next half of 2014!
Mrs: Forward to some big adventures ahead.

Playing…

Mr: The beer pundit with some amazing Australian craft beers recently!
Mrs: Around with my camera and trying to teach myself to take better still life / food photos.

Deciding…

Mr: Where our next travel destination will be…
Mrs: To listen to my body more, and take it a bit easier.

Wishing…

Mr: There were more hours in the day and that Red Bull did an intravenous version.
Mrs: Australia had made it past the group stage in the World Cup.

Enjoying…

Mr: Instagram!
Mrs: Life. Things are pretty good right now.

Waiting…

Mr: For the Sydney winter because the summer was so hot – now I’m cold, so I’m waiting for the summer again!
Mrs: For peony season.

Liking…

Mr: How Katrina from TheOrganisedHousewife.com.au dealt with her cybersquatting incident.
Mrs: Fat Mum Slim’s new Little Moments app. I think it may get us playing Photo A Day again.

Wondering…

Mr: If bellybutton fluff and pocket fluff are the same thing and where it all comes from.
Mrs: Where the first half of 2014 went!

Loving…

Mr: Working with Christina on Mr & Mrs Romance.
Mrs: That my friend just became a mum. It has been a very long journey. I cried when I saw the message that she had a baby girl.

Pondering…

Mr: Aforementioned bellybutton fluff.
Mrs: Some new goals for 2014 and beyond.

Considering…

Mr: A new ebook idea.
Mrs: Moving house…I love our place but considering a change.

Watching…

Mr: House of Cards and Orange is the New Black… and lots of great shows actually.
Mrs: Orange is the new black.

Hoping…

Mr: To finish writing my first fiction novel this year.
Mrs: That our new blog design will take shape soon.

Marvelling…

Mr: Mrs Romance’s genius every single day.
Mrs: How much fun it is to work together.

Needing…

Mr: More sleep – especially after this World Cup – but knowing I probably won’t get it!
Mrs: To get organised, and maybe hire someone to work with us on a few projects. It’s time to admit I need some help.

Smelling…

Mr: Those peanut butter choc chip cookies coming out of the oven! Thank you, Mrs Romance!
Mrs: The salty air during our weekend at the beach.

Wearing…

Mr: My new beard – pretty sure Mrs R still thinks of it as a surrogate pet.
Mrs: Stripes, stripes and more stripes. Note to self, buy some clothes that aren’t striped!

Following…

Mr: Mrs Romance around shops – it’s an art form!
Mrs: The World Cup.

Noticing…

Mr: how much Mrs Romance likes getting flowers. Always surprises me!
Mrs: The little things that Mr R does for me, like warming up my side of the bed, and really appreciating them.

Knowing…

Mr: The rest of this year’s going to be effin’ awesome!
Mrs: That the best is yet to come.

Thinking…

Mr: About last year’s trip to the States and all the food that’s been making my bathroom scales unhappy ever since!
Mrs: About friends overseas, and hoping to visit them soon.

Feeling…

Mr: So proud of Mrs Romance when her hardcopy book cracked the US and UK markets and then got picked up by Murdock Publishing for Australia! Incredible!
Mrs: Excited about the second half of 2014.

Admiring…

Mr: My amazing wife as she constantly breaks new ground in the hair industry with Hair Romance.
Mrs: Friends taking big chances and following their dreams.

Sorting…

Mr: Out our editorial calendar.
Mrs: Our house out. I’m on a mission to de-clutter everything.

Buying…

Mr: Flights up to Brisbane to spend this Australia Day with my brother – and visiting Nikki from Styling You in her new house! Time to buy tickets for a return trip.
Mrs: New shoes. That part of my wardrobe does not need de-cluttering

Getting…

Mr: Published on ProBlogger!
Mrs: Up early for stair runs, though I have missed a few weeks lately.

Bookmarking…

Mr: All of Steph from LipstickAndCake.com’s recipes. Drool!
Mrs: Lots of inspiration on Pinterest.

Disliking…

Mr: Lots of things: Jamie Oliver, signs using ‘everyday’ when they mean ‘every day’, people not looking when they walk out of shops and bumping into me, a strange low subsonic rumble from nearby road works that wakes me up every morning… and being a ranter.
Mrs: The state of my inbox. Also disliking how much time I have to spend on emails.

Opening…

Mr: My birthday scotch! Thank you, Mrs Romance. X
Mrs: Champagne bottles!

Giggling…

Mr: At Smaggle.com’s daily dose of comic genius… and this pic below
Mrs: At Mr R’s jokes. I know I’ve heard a lot of them before but he still manages to come up with new ones to make me laugh.

Want to play along? Here’s a blank list for you to copy and paste. Maybe you’d like to answer just one or two in the comments below?

Making:
Cooking:
Drinking:
Reading:
Wanting:
Looking:
Playing:
Deciding:
Wishing:
Enjoying:
Waiting:
Liking:
Wondering:
Loving:
Pondering:
Considering:
Watching:
Hoping:
Marvelling:
Needing:
Smelling:
Wearing:
Following:
Noticing:
Knowing:
Thinking:
Feeling:
Admiring:
Sorting:
Buying:
Getting:
Bookmarking:
Disliking:
Opening:
Giggling:

The post 2014 – The halfway point appeared first on Mr and Mrs Romance.

I always measure my TV guilty pleasure by what I end up watching when I come home late from the pub. When all I want is to slump in front of the telly, not think about anything and just be entertained.

I most often go for the funny shows, though Mrs Romance tends to lean towards more drama-packed programmes.

Here are the shows we both love and rely on when we don’t really want to talk to each other for a while. Funny enough, the following series also all feature in our day-to-day conversations; we quote them, refer to them and have fun identifying when our lives show even the tiniest similarity to them.

We can’t recommend these shows enough – purely for their entertainment value.

They’re babysitters for grownups!

Blackadder

This Rowan Atkinson classic is our favourite show to put on if we’re both in the kitchen. The scripts are so well-written you don’t need to see the show to appreciate it. Especially when you’ve seen it as many times as we have!

Our favourite is Blackadder the Third – mostly because Hugh Laurie, who plays the Prince Regent, is so brilliant. He’s the furthest cry from House here than he’s ever been! If you haven’t seen Blackadder before, go buy it immediately. It’s awesome!

The Mighty Boosh

Another British comedy, this one’s so far off the wall it’s just a faint speck on the horizon. Starring Noel Fielding and Julian Barratt, the three series of The Boosh begin in a weird zoo called the Zooniverse, where they visit monkey hell, explore the Arctic and fight Jack Frost with some slap base and have a boxing match with a killer kangaroo.

It’s mad, hilarious and perfect when you’ve had a few. Mrs Romance got me the box set for Christmas as few years ago. We watched the whole lot with my mate Anton on New Year’s Day with huge hangovers and the air-con pumping. Perfect!

30 Rock

Tina Fey is at her very best in this awesome sit-com series based on the writers, actors and staff of a live TV show. It’s funny, weird and the characters are so cleverly scripted. Fey’s boss Jack Donaghy, an unscrupulous power-mad business genius, is played by the surprisingly good Alec Baldwin.

It takes a few episodes to get into this show (and we recommend going from the first season) but it’s well worth the commitment.

Flight of the Conchords

This brilliant comedy out of New Zealand follows the life and non-starting music career of two feckless but talented singer-songwriters and their naïve band manager – who is also deputy cultural attaché to the NZ Consulate.

The show’s brilliant, and the songs that they weave into the plot are so funny – and this is coming from someone who has grown to despise musicals over the years!

Young Ones

An absolute classic, this show saw the start of the comedy careers of Adrian Edmondson, Rik Mayall and Ben Elton. Gross, hilarious, outrageous and completely ridiculous, the story’s all about a student house where four ‘friends’ live in discord.

The hippy, the lefty virgin, the punk and the villain, they live out the lives of youth in ‘80s Britain in two series of violent, unwashed lunacy.

Friends

This American classic gets replayed on TV so often, it must be the most aired show in history by now. As you probably know, it’s the story of six friends living in Manhattan. You might not know that every episode of the final season of Friends cost more than an entire season of Game of Thrones!

Did you also know that the word ‘friends’ is mentioned at least once in every episode of the ten-season show?

Apart from these classics, there are a few shows Mrs Romance and I prefer to watch separately. These are our true guilty pleasures… though I’ve got a feeling I’m going to be judged a little more harshly for my choices than she is!

Mr Romance’s guilty pleasures

Supernatural

This was first introduced to me by Mrs R’s best mate. She said she loved it because it was so bad. I had to agree with her. But in spite of how bad it was, I kept watching. Now I’m hooked. Mrs R loves to make fun of me because it features two brothers who – by her own admission – are good looking.

In the show, the two brothers roam the States hunting evil supernatural beings and saving people from grisly fates. It’s very silly, regularly funny and awesome escapism.

Father Ted

I love this show! It’s so funny and so irreverent (excuse the almost pun), I just wish it had gone on longer than just three series, but sadly Dermot Morgan (Father Ted) died of a heart attack, which ended the show.

It’s all about three Irish priests who live on Craggy Island and have to deal with the island’s surreal inhabitants. Father Ted aspires to fame and fortune, Father Dougal is a simpleton and Father Jack is a debauched old drunk. I love Father Jack: his lines are generally ‘DRINK’, ‘GIRLS’, ‘ARSE’ and ‘FECK’ – but delivered perfectly!

Ripper Street

My sister sent me the DVD set of this English show for Christmas and it’s bloody good! Set in East London during the aftermath of Jack the Ripper, the detective inspector and his division face the countless dangers of keeping the peace in notorious Whitechapel.

It’s vivid, beautifully set and very watchable.

Mrs Romance’s guilty pleasures

Mrs Romance loves these shows… for some reason! She admits that her televisual choices are quite one-dimensional, but then who can blame her?!

Girls

Mrs Romance says: “A modern Sex and the City about four 25-year-old women going through their quarter-life crises. The characters are grittier and more complex than SATC, and easier to connect with.”

Favourite character: Jessa for her gorgeous hair and wardrobe, and her bohemian cool girl attitude.

Gossip Girl

Mrs Romance says: “Pure escapism. Incredibly well-dressed wealthy Upper East Side teenagers play out typical high school dramas. Gossip Girl is a bitchy blog which knows everyone’s secrets but under the cover of anonymity.”

Favourite character: Serena for her hair and wardrobe, and Chuck for being cute and getting all the cool lines.

Claim to fame: I did see Penn Badgley getting very drunk while I was in New York!

True Blood

Mrs Romance says: “Super cheesy vampire drama series where ‘true blood’ is like the methadone to help vamps integrate into the general populous. Made worth watching for all the hot guys in it and who like to take their clothes off quite a bit. Love that there’s an Aussie in the cast – got to support local talent!”

Favourite character: Eric for having the best lines and for being rather easy on the eye.

As I’ve mentioned before, we love TV and we watch quite a bit while we work. It’s a pretty bad habit, we know. But it does mean we get through quite a few shows.

Do you have any recommendations of TV shows you love? What about any shows you know you shouldn’t be watching – do you have any guilty TV pleasures? Tell us in the comments!

Here are our top 5 popular TV shows that keep us at home (and that aren’t too embarrassing to admit to!)

The post 12 TV shows you must watch – and our separate guilty on-screen pleasures appeared first on Mr and Mrs Romance.