Love At 3rd Sight…

WEDDED MISS SAYS…

This is my story of why every girl should tear up her tear stained, never ending checklist in the search for her ‘ideal’ life partner!
I did the classic thing of meeting my husband through a mutual friend, but let me tell you now it was not love at first sight! More like 3rd….

We met on a night out with our mutual friend, when I gate crashed their boys night due to single life boredom!
He seemed alright but there was no instant love at first sight malarky we just got on like mates, plus it was my final year & I really had had enough of stupid men fucking things up for me so I was on a boyfriend break!

So we met again a few weeks later on a similar night out & both ended up crashing at our mates – no not shagging! just me sleeping on the small sofa & my hubby- to- be being a gentleman by sleeping on the large one! Nice.
In the bright harsh light of Sunday morning I awoke to the delightful sight of him stumbling to the toilet in his pants. It was at this very moment that I thought  ‘I would never date a man who wore such awful boxer shorts & clearly doesn’t care that he is wandering around in front of me in such minging pants;how rude.’ Apparently my checklist consisted of trendy pants! Shallow but true.
But if you’re truely honest with yourself, doesn’t your list contain some equally ridiculous & meaningless checkpoints?

After this rather harsh observation of the man i would marry 4years down the line, I soon got to know him a whole lot better. In October on a farewell do for a friend we ended up snogging all night in a bar & consequently had our first date the following week at Sinatras in Nottingham. Things developed & I fell madly & deeply in love with that same man I said I’d never date. 4 years on we had the most amazing Wedding day, promising to always remember the way we loved each other that day, for the rest of our lives.

I know how easy it is to dismiss the man who has some apparently glaring imperfections in the search for your prince charming but remember that prince charming comes in many forms. Are you really so perfect that you believe in a perfect partner? 
My gorgeous hubby still wears crap pants but I fancy him more than ever & that’s because true love embraces all of a person & makes us realise that some things (laughter, friendship, support, respect…) outweigh even bad under garments!

MISS INDEPENDENT SAYS Might As Well Face It, I’m Addicted To Love…

I have been single for nearly 2 years now; yes there have been short lived affairs during my romantic dry spell, but nothing to write home about (well only on this blog) I am a sucker for love songs, rom coms and celebrities forming unlikely couples, which means I am constantly pulling a Lady GaGa and finding myself caught in a bad romance.

Some may say I am a drama queen, and when it comes to love I 100% agree with that accusation, but who wants a boring love life? Not me; I am after one filled with passion, randomness and tons of fun. Yes, I know I am not a Disney Princess or a TOWIE cast member (Mark Wright: call me…) but the thought of being in a boring stale relationship scares me more than being an eternally single lady.

So does my warped view of the romantic world constantly set me up for a fall into imminent heart break? I am guilty of judging a book by its cover, and have been in the same situation as Wedded Miss, where I hone in on the aspects of my potential mate that I do not like and somehow use them as reasons to put myself off them. It can be the way they laugh, those horrid loafers they decide to wear on a date or the fact that they resemble an Uncle at a wedding when they hit the dance floor.

Where does this idea of thinking stem from? I think it’s a mixture of having the notion of Prince Charming hammered into my mind from a young age; with the Prince being tall, dark, handsome and perfect, and also because I strive for perfection in everything I do. The way I see it is, there are a million and one things in life that will never be perfect, but I want my man and relationship to be one of them. But what’s perfect to me will not be perfect to Wedded Miss, so I set my own barrier of awesomeness and have a strict policy on who I let through.

I think my attitude has improved though, as if you line up all the men I have dated each one is clearly different from the other; I definitely don’t have a type. I mean would you go on holiday to the same resort every year? Or choose the same meal at a restaurant? Some may say yes, but until I reach the Saga Cruise age I will continue to let variety be my spice of life.

 

Make Up Shake Up! Fluttery Gets You Everywhere…

Benefit They’re Real!

 By Wedded Miss: Lauren P

First off you need to know I am especially obsessed with finding the ‘perfect’ mascara.  I want the longest, thickest, blackest lashes possible.  I have been searching for a mascara to fill these requirements for a very long time!

 Falsies don’t interest me – they are far too much hassle and take far too much effort to put on.  I cannot for the life of me get them to look as glamorous and sexy as some of my beautiful friends seem to, so mascara is the only option for moi!

 I always have at least 3 mascaras on the go at once trying to get the wide eyed look for day and night but it just never seems to quite satisfy my need for luscious lashes!

 So when I tried Benefits new mascara They’re Real! I was almost jumping for joy in my little ‘getting ready’ room!  I have to say its amaze!

I have no idea how it works or what is different about this mascara to other brands but it works. It really works. My eyelashes finally look long and dark just like falsies but in only one stroke of a brush.  Fan-bloody-tastic!

 It is slightly pricey at £18.50 if, like me, you are used to paying £6 ish.  But it is well worth it, especially if you can go to Boots and use your Advantage card for a few sneaky points!  If one thing in your make up bag is worth paying a few extra quid for it has to be mascara – it’s all about framing your eyes ladies!

 

The Demise of Marriage

WEDDED MISS SAYS…    

Ah celebrity marriage – the figment of everyone’s imagination!

 Reflecting on the breakup of Katy Perry and Russell Brand this is how it makes me feel.  Sad as it is for the couple it is hardly a surprise – is it?

 To me, getting married is a pretty big deal, you are making a huge commitment to one person for the rest of your days, possibly changing your name, spending a fortune, more than likely on one day, and doing it in front of your most precious people.  This day is all about you and your partner, about how much you love each other and promising to make the effort to stay together with the hopes of sharing each moment together.

 I don’t mean to be negative, but for celebrities it seems to be just a way to make more money and get more ‘air-time’.  It’s as if getting married doesn’t really mean anything anymore because after all, you can just get a divorce if things get a bit difficult.

 In terms of Katy and Russell they did appear to rush into things – I mean surely after 6 months you are still in a honeymoon phase?!It is highly unlikely you have encountered any ‘issues’ or bumps in the road you have to deal with as a couple.  I wouldn’t recommend getting married straight away to anyone, celebrity or otherwise.  It’s a big undertaking and although it can seem romantic and exciting to plan out your nuptuals – it is actually a legally binding state.  Do people conveniently forget this??

 There is always the typical celeb excuses for marriage breakdown – work schedules, travel, irreconcilable differences (whatever that means), not spending time in the same country/city/house/room!  But I see this as totally irresponsible.  I mean, really? Did your life suddenly completely change when you got a ring on your finger? Because surely you knew your lifestyle before you wed.  You knew you travelled a lot with work and had a hectic schedule and were in the public eye etc.  If you think marriage is going to change anything or make life easier you are not mature enough to go into a legally binding partnership.

 All couples face challenges and difficulties in the course of their relationship, that’s life, but if you aren’t prepared to put in time, effort and patience to sort things out you are never going to be in a long-term relationship. Fact.

 I know this generation wants everything now, now, now but this is not how relationships work and never will be.

 Celebrities live in a different reality to the rest of us but this does not (as much as they might like) make them super human – they still have to be human to make things work. This is one thing you can’t just throw money at and hope for the best, things will finally collapse in the end without any effort. Yep even your shockingly bad marriage; cough cough, Mr Giggs, money won’t keep them around forever.

 MISS INDEPENDENT SAYS… 

As a little girl I grew up with the idea that there is a Prince Charming out there for every girl, and he will always save the day no matter how tough times get. Now aged 27, I realise that this is just a tale of the fairy variety, yet I still believe in true love and that there is someone out there who will stand by you through pretty much everything.

I agree that celebrities live in a completely different world to us in terms of time and money, but when it comes to falling in love they don’t possess the secret to a happy relationship, and are still susceptible to break ups, affairs and troubled times. So when I heard the news that Katy and Russell were set to divorce, I was genuinely shocked, which may leave many laughing at my naivety but I seriously thought they would last the distance leaving other celebrity couples looking weak in comparison. The way in which they met, and how they were passionately in love with each other showed me the type of relationship I wanted, as stupid as that may seem to a lot of people.

Being a single girl, and one who has never truly felt the security of a trusting long term relationship, I obviously look at the world with rose tinted spectacles and don’t really look at the effects that my actions may have on the future. So when Katy and Russell were married after 6 months of knowing each other, it only served to reinforce the idea that true love really does exist and that it can strike you down when you least expect it.

The normal realms of dating bore the hell out of me; the first date, the texting, the waiting for him to call, playing hard to get, staying over after so many dates, the rule of how many dates before you have sex, not going away together until at least a few months: BORING! As I am a ‘live in the moment’ kind of girl, who believes that you can meet people who you just click with straight away and on a level which doesn’t compare to anything else you have ever experienced with anyone else.

Yes, celebrities do take the piss when it comes to marriage, and the recent 72 day waste of time that Kim Kardashian put everyone through was laughable, but perhaps she really is an insecure woman and at the time she thought she was doing something which she truly thought would last; we will just never know.

Relationships do take hard work, and bailing when things get tough; especially during a marriage, does nothing but make a mockery out of such a beautiful union.  We will never really know what goes on behind closed doors, but the break-up of any couple is a sad time, no matter how much money or fame you possess.

Wedded Miss & Miss Independent

Welcome to Hitched & Ditched, the relationship blog with a difference. We are Lauren Parsons & Kelly Holgate, two similar minded women living completely different lives, who came together over a mutual lust of all things love, life and laughter. Lauren recently got married, and Kelly is a single lady putting her hands up proudly for all to see.

One is newly hitched, and the other is forever being ditched. Join us as we look at life from a single and married point of view; giving our own unique perspective every step of the way, with some fashion, beauty and brute honesty thrown in to boot.

              

Blushing Bride

Hi my name is Lauren and I have a confession to make; I’m a beauty product addict,or as my husband likes to say, I’m ‘an advertisers dream’! I’m obsessed with make up and trying out new beauty products, if I see something advertised in a magazine or on the TV, I want them – I want to see if it makes me prettier, more A list, more sexy, more AMAZING!

Me... Mrs Parsons!

I absolutely love buying new make up and am obsessed with trying out different products to make my eyelashes longer, my cheeks rosier, my nails fancier, my lips fuller, my skin smoother, my pores smaller, and the list goes on….Sometimes they work, sometimes they don’t! But at least I know I’ve tried them.

Our tiny bathroom and my slightly larger dressing room are treasure troves of face creams, make up, fake tan, fake eyelashes, an array of brushes, hair sprays, a range of gorgeous perfumes, a rainbow of nail polishes, a few straighteners, crimpers, curlers, (am I the only one who can’t make up my mind re curls versus poker straight??),  oh, and mirrors! I’ve got powders, creams, liquids, mousses, glosses – everything imaginable!

Just a small sample of my make up collection

My Mum always wore make-up and I remember her with eyeliner and lipstick as her make-up staples.  I was never really allowed to wear a great deal of make-up when I was growing up but as a young adult, when my skin went red and patchy, I was trying everything to find something to cover it up.  Although it turned out to be something that was cured by the Doctor I think that this is where the obsession started. From there it has blossomed into a creative hobby and something I love doing and experimenting with.

Leopard print... not just for Kat Slater

 Every lunch break I have I’m down at Boots or Superdrug looking for the latest product fix to change my life – or my eyelashes or my hair – and I just cannot get enough of it! So, I’ve decided to share my journey through beauty addiction with you and maybe you’ll find your perfect product,or at least enjoy the ramblings of a girl clearly obsessed with all things beauty!

For me, it’s all in the joy of finding something new and fabulous to help make me look and feel totally fabulous when I head out my front door to face the world….bring it on! Enjoy the journey!