Damn Friends!

Today, I would like to say a very Happy Anniversary to two of our friends, Kelly & Kevin. I would like to say to them to have a great day, and here's to many more great days, months and years to come.

However. I will NOT be wishing or saying any of these things, because it is thanks to these two that I am in the current predicament in which I find myself.

You see, seven years ago, Kevin and Kelly got married. At this point, I didn't know who they were. I'd never met them, never heard of them, didn't know they existed. Kellie, however, did. She knew them, she was good friends with them, and she was at their wedding day.

I was not. I was not present. I was at home, alone, pondering my friend Kellie, a girl I hadn't seen since she broke my heart as a teenager, and had only recently started talking to once again earlier that year. The weekend before, I had stayed with my friend Mand, along with Jennifer, Becky and Lynzi. We had a boozy weekend of laughs, gaming, piss taking and after a few drinks, a slightly inebriated Moi told the four slightly inebriated girlies that I was pining for my friend Kellie.

"Text her how you feel" they said. "It'll be fun" they said. I played it cool. Well, drunk-cool. I told my friend Kellie that I missed her and that she should be up at Mands with me.

Cooooool ;)

But anyway. The weekend of the wedding.

Kellie is at the wedding. She's with Kerry (Kevin-the-grooms-sister) who is the equivalent of that little red fellow that sits on her shoulder telling you "What's the harm in just on more drink" in the same way that Kellie is the equivalent of that little red fellow on her shoulder...

We've kept in touch throughout the day. And as the evening wore on, Kellie got drunker and drunker. And she started being more and more open and honest in her texts.

It was about midnight that she admitted she too liked me in THAT way. Because of the wedding, however, she was staying at the hotel til Sunday, had to recover and get over the inevitable hangover... So we agreed to meet up Monday at the pub (?!) to have a talk.

Monday 9th June 2008, we agreed we should start dating, see what happens.

So thanks to Kevin and Kelly, with side-help from Mand, Jennifer, Lynzi and Becky, I find myself where I am today. Two days away from our "Together Eight Years" anniversary. A week away from our "Married Two Years" anniversary. Oh yeah, and there's the whole "Tadpole Will Pop Out This Week" thing too.

Damn people interfering with other peoples lives! Look what you did!!

Four Years...

Four years ago today, I was a nervous wreck. I had spent the weekend texting my very-good-friend-that-I-was-actually-having-feelings-for-but-didn't-know-how-to-say-anything.

That weekend, I was home alone, while my very-good-friend-that-I-was-actually-having-feelings-for-but-didn't-know-how-to-say-anything had been at a wedding. Thanks to the joys of her being a little tipsy - and me having been tipsy a couple of weeks beforehand at the home of The Posh One, and making things a little obvious how I felt, she had been making things a little more obvious that perhaps - just maybe - it wasn't me just thinking these things.

So, we agreed to meet up one very hot, sunny Monday, have a drink and a chat.

And that we did. We sat and chatted, and despite knowing it was a very important, life-altering conversation, I was such a wreck throughout it, I cannot remember any of that conversation. Clearly it was traumatic.

I DO remember the aftermath, however. We walked to the pub, had a couple of drinks, and when we left the pub, we were holding hands.

I had gained a girlfriend. Go me.

Four years later, that girlfriend now lives with me, now carried the title of Fiancée, and I get to call her mine every day, as well as calling her Kellie.

Granted, had various friends had their way, our anniversary date would have been a damn-sight sooner. See, everyone could see I liked her. And everyone could see she liked me. And when all these people pointed out this fact to either of us, it was a case of "Pfft don't be silly, we're just friends"

We met up regularly, we had lunch or coffee regularly, she came here, I went there - I stayed over there a few times and she fed me!! But neither of us could see anything other than just hanging out as friends.

Which to SOME, it was a great big pile of hilarity.

But, despite all that, and despite Kellie knowing of all my baggage, all my physical problems, knowing what I am like (ie, an arse), she still agreed to be my girlfriend.

And today, we've been together for four years. Aww.

Happy Anniversary, my Kellie. I love you lots.

Side-note: I should also add, that on this day four years ago, after sitting in the pub garden talking, I received a bastard of a sunburn on my face. So on this day four years ago, I not only gained a girlfriends, but also a sunburn!

A Year...

So, today is an important date in my calendar. Today - 12th September - is the day that Kellie and myself became officially engaged.

Awww...

As I write this, its only JUST gone midnight, and Kellie is snuggled up beside me snoring quietly, fast asleep. This time last year, I didn't know that the day would end with me getting a marriage proposition. In writing no less. Yes folks, for those that are new here, or those that aren't but live under a rock, Kellie proposed to me.

For those of you wanting a recap on the mush, or to read it afresh, then you can read last years announcement post by Clicking Here!



But I digress. This last year has seen us go through some big changes, most notably, Kellie, Dom and Molly moving in with Jaysen, Tam and myself. Plus we've booked the wedding too. And this week, there is hopefully ANOTHER big change in the pipeworks, but that's another post entirely...

No, she's not preggers... I know at least half of you jumped to that conclusion.

AGAIN.

Kellie & Co have been here for nine months now (No, she's NOT preggers!) and today, Kellie decided that - despite us both being in lots if pain - we'd change the living room around. Again. Change number six, I believe. And wouldn't you know it, its back to how I had arranged it the day before she moved in...

Women...

So, there you have it. I've not been murdered yet, despite the future Mrs Daniel English being readily mocked on here (click the KELLIE label on the right there...) which just proves that love really is blind. Or she's just biding her time before snapping.

Happy Engagement Anniversary my gorgeous Kellie. I love you very very much, even if I am a complete and utter butt-munch to you very occasionally...

Location : 23-63 Long Riding, Basildon, Essex SS14 1,
Posted from my HTC Desire HD, so apologies for typos and Everett formatting ;)

Dates & Memory...

It has to be said that some people have a better memory than others.  Some people are able to memorise some data but not other stuff.  Some people can remember dates, others can't.

I am good with conversations, and I am good with dates (for the most part!).  Phone numbers I suck at.  Making arrangements to be in places by a certain time is a bugbear of mine too - if you say "Be there for 9" then nine it is.  Not five past.

But I digress.

Last night, what with the boys being back at school today, Kellie and Myself were making the packed lunch boxes ready for the morning.  As is usually the case, we were gassing about whatever popped to mind, and for some reason, the date sprang into my head.  A brief *whirr-click-clank* and I realised that next week is the anniversary of us getting engaged.

For those of you that don't remember, the date was the 12th September.  That is the crucial date in question.  You should also consider the fact that Kellie asked Me to marry HER.

Me: Wow, we've been engaged a year next week!
Kellie: .... Blimey, that went fast.

Now, I will interrupt here to point out that that was indeed a pause before she spoke.  Straight away, my whirring-clanking brain spits out the answer "She doesn't know the date" so I figured I would test her...

Because, after all, I am a bastard.

Me: You do remember the date, don't you dear?
Kellie: ... Yes (again, a pause)
Me: So, out of interest, what date WAS it baby?
Kellie: ...
Me: Go on, give it a try!
Kellie: Er... the 6th?
Me: (Now acting the wounded, hurt party) No baby, not the sixth...
Kellie: The 9th?
Me: No baby.
Kellie: The 7th? 10th? 11th?
Me: (by now I am peeing my pants with laughter and struggling to make the sodding sandwich)
Kellie: Oooooh I don't know! The 20th?!
Me: No baby...
Kellie: 21st? 22nd? 23rd? 24th? 25th? 26th? 13th? 14th?
Me: (I am now in stitches, especially as she completely MISSED the 12th... It's all I can do to wheeze no through the belly laughs)
Kellie: 15th? 16th? 17th? 18th? 19th?
Me: (The sandwiches can now wait.  She's listed all but five days of the month, and each time she asks, her voice goes up one octave till she's almost at the points where only dogs can answer her.)
Kellie: Ooooh I don't know! Don't you dare blog this!

By the time I could breath, I did eventually give her the date, but holy cows pants my face was aching.  The most amusing part was, had she said from the second guess "I can't remember!" there wouldn't be a blog post.  Piss-taking, maybe, but not a whole post.

No doubt, I will get in trouble when she gets in from work - assuming she sees that I've posted.  no doubt once she does, my eye-cream will accidentally get jabbed into my retina as she applies it.  But none the less, this will remain for prosperity.

To give her her dues, however - see, I AM fair - she remembers her home phone number from when she was 10, she remembers peoples postcodes from random points in history, and she remembers the occasional thing.

Bless my Kellie.

Three Years of Awwww

Edit: Stupid Blogger... I set the scheduled post to appear on the morning of the 9th, but it did post. After checking, it was set to Americanised date, so instead of 9/6/2011 being the 9th of June as is normal, it decided I meant the 6th of September...  So anyways:

Today is the anniversary of Kellie and myself being together for three years!  Yes folks, this time three years ago, I had spent the weekend previously up in Poshville with Posh Totty, Mr Posh, Posh Jnr, Jennifer, Lynzi and Becky, while on the Saturday, Kellie had been at Kelly & Kevins wedding with Kerry.  My time in Poshville was spent texting her, and her time at the wedding was spent texting me.

I was getting considerable stick from the Poshville group because being me, I didn't know what to do or say.  My theory was that she would eventually realise.  However, I think the considerable amount of Jack Daniels helped me be a little more "obvious" than I would have been otherwise.

On Sunday 8th, I text Kellie and while I can't remember what was said (fear does that) we decided we'd meet up on Monday, go for a drink and have "a chat" about "us".

I was crapping my underpants a little nervous but I went to Kellies, and then we headed to the pub around the corner.  My main resounding memory was that it was hot.  Bloody hot. I was pretty glad of it to be honest, as I was red-faced and everything.  We sat outside, JD & Coke in hand, and I think we spoke.  I can't remember what was said, but the end result after over an hour of the sun baking my skin was sunburn, and Kellie walking me to the bus stop.

And we were holding hands.

I'd like to say the journey to that point was easy, smooth and bump-free, but as people will tell you, I was a nervous wreck when I realised I liked her.  Late night texts, chatting to people on MSN, emails... I was completely clueless what body language meant what, what certain phrases might have meant, was that song put on intentionally...

Three years later, and I'm still never certain if I am doing or saying the right thing, yet the rings on our fingers suggest that I am doing something correctly. We're living together, which means the wrong feet I've put forwards haven't been completely erroneous.

So, my Kellie, thank you for being with me, even if it took you a little longer than the rest of the world to catch on... Thank you for understanding me (mostly, anyway) and thank you for being with me through everything.

I love you very very much, and hopefully the next two years fly past to our wedding day.

Don't know WHAT she sees in me...

With love, my beautiful Kellie
xxx