We sneak pizza into movies...

We {Tom and I} are a theaters worst nightmare.

Movie theaters are RIDICULOUSLY expensive.

So expensive that a few years ago I decided to Boycott going to the movies

to fight the system and encourage them to lower the prices...

However that was unsuccessful...

since I was the only one taking part in the boycott.

Anyways...

You can literally go bankrupt on one night at the movies.

Or instead of going to the movies, you could spend the day at an amusement park

and spend about the same amount of money.

My point...it's expensive...

And our way of fighting the system is less dramatic that a Boycott.

Before we leave for the movies we empty out my small backpack.

We head over to Marks and Spencer once we get to town and we get

two diet cokes, one water, and some sour cream and onion pringles.

And some grapes if we're feeling really crazy.

But last night we decided to forget the grapes

and leave room for some dinner instead.

Sneaking dinner into the movies...we're basically evil geniuses.

A few weeks ago we saw two guys that had snuck in Burritos from

the Burrito place that's right next to the Theater.

It inspired us.

So last night we got 3 pizza slices from a pizza slice place.

And a Burrito from the burrito place.

Placed it all in my bag along with the other snacks

we had gotten from M&S and headed into the movies.

On top of that, we had won a free large popcorn

from a game we played at the theater the previous week.

We were stocked and ready to be stuffed.

So we're seeing Twelve years a slave.

We sit down and chow down.

The preview stuff starts but the screen is black.

After a few minutes people start leaving to go tell the staff.

At one point the lights come up and a woman walks to the front of the theater.

We assume she is there to make sure the movie starts 

but we notice her eyeing us a little to intently.

We freeze in our tracks...or our bites and I ask Tom if we'd been caught.

We just sit there frozen in terror for about 30 seconds

and then the film starts and she leaves.

pheewww

And we're back to stuffing our faces.

The movie, Twelve years a slave...was a bit traumatic...

I cried, like a baby, more than once.

And i swear Tom shed a tear or two as well.

Even though he denies it ;)

Also...throughout the movie I kept saying to myself..

"Gosh, I wonder how long he was away from his family"

Then...{SPOILER ALERT} When he's reunited with them

and his kids are grown i'm shocked that it was that long.

Then I remember the title of the movie...12 years...and i feel real dumb ;)

Great movie, amazing acting, but totally sad!!

And it makes you hate 19th century white people, at least the baddies.

There were some goodies back then to :)

We started the night out by going on the Liverpool Ferris Wheel.

It was great, we had a coupon and it was only £6.00 for the both of us.

It was nice, but a little terrifying.

So we had a great night out and now you know

we're movie theater villains ;)

If they ever start checking bags then we're going

to slowly back away and go eat our snacks elsewhere haha

150,000 + { A BIG Thanks }

When I started blogging last January

I thought that my mom and maybe a few other

family members would keep up with the happenings of this blog.

But I am so so happy that it has expanded beyond just

family and i've gone on to create something that i'm really proud of.

And seeing that it's been viewed over 150,000 times

is just mind blowing...

That may not be a big number to many people

but i think it's such a cool milestone.

Some days {like today} I question why i'm blogging.

Even though I have around 1,000 sweet comments,

those 2 or 3 rude comments can ruin this whole experience.

I got one of those today.

Just a rude anonymous person.

It's frustrating that people feel the need to be mean

and be anonymous at the same time.

I won't waste my time on those people.

And I won't publish their thoughts.

But I'm glad I blog, it makes me happy.

I've really learned to enjoy writing over the past year

and it's even better because I get to write about 

some pretty exciting stuff.

I love this blog and I love all of you

wonderful people who have helped make it

as great as I think it is over the past year.

I look forward to another year or couple of years

of blogging about the happenings of Tomily ;)

Thanks for following along.

You guys rock!!

Life lately

I have nothing to blog about...

That's crazy right?? I'm on the adventure of a lifetime...

How can it be possible to have notthinngg to say???

Well...this exciting and amazing adventure

with my hottie hot Tom...comes with some downtime.

As it should.

Because if we were going going going all the time

we'd be exhausted and very broke.

So this week we will be catching up on some...

"stuff that's not that much fun"

For example, today we're doing laundry.

And cleaning up a little.

And going to the gym.

Tomorrow we're doing more laundry...

cleaning up some more...

and going to the gym...

We currently live a VERY exciting life ;)

...

In other news... 

{ok so maybe i have more to say than i thought}

I had a little baby breakdown the other day.

Tom asked me what i wanted for dinner and I burst into tears.

Total girl move.

I was feeling lots of emotions all at once.

It started that morning when i was reading about

ways to get your significant other from their country

to your country so that they can not only stay there for a while

but also work while they are there...

Work being the main word there.

In order to have any chance of making

our being together longer and more permanent 

then we HAVE to have enough money in the bank.

In my research i found that

the visa process is really expensive and complicated.

work visas

woof :/

It bummed me out.

Tom and I have decided...or at least i think we have...

that the next time we have a long stay together

we both need to be working so we can save money.

So we're going to start looking into that more...

It could involve school, we're not sure yet...

We're hoping to have something planned before i leave in the Summer.

Long distance is a real downer sometimes

but i wouldn't trade it for anything in the world.

I mean loooook at these faces ;)

It will be an interesting and tough road but we'll make it :)

hope you're all having a great week!!

On Wednesdays we....go to the movies!!

Every Wednesday there is a pretty magical

thing that happens in town.

It's called orange Wednesday.

And it means buy one get one free

movie tickets and buy one get one free

pizza at pizza express.

And since we're trying to be good and save our money

we have decided that for the next few weeks

Orange Wednesday would be our 

weekly splurge until we've saved up a bit more ;)

So Tom and I headed to town yesterday

for dinner and a movie.

We had some seriously yummy pizza at pizza express

and then went to see Monuments Men.

It was a pretty good film.

I thought it was lacking a bit

but overall we both really liked it.

As is customary, Tom and I snuck snacks into

the movies because I'm not paying for theater snacks.

We had two diet cokes, some Pringles, our own store bought popcorn

and we also had some delicious green grapes.

Basically the most random snacks ever.

We made up a story about how we got the grapes in the movie theater.

There were these grape men selling grapes in the lobby...

their name's were Mark and Spencer ;)

Before the movie starts there is this game that comes on the screen

that links up to the theater app on your iphone.

You answer movie questions and then at the end

if you got them all right then you win a free large popcorn.

And of course we got them all right.

So now we've got a nice free popcorn to look forward to next week ;)

We skipped a workout yesterday so we're headed to the gym tonight!!

Hope you're al having a good week.

-EM

Trainer Tom

Soooooo we joined a Gym.

I never really thought we'd join a gym while I was here,

but hey, i think it's great, and it feels great too!

It was pretty cheap.

£15 a month/no contract.

Hollaa!!

The gym is really nice.

It has views over looking Albert Dock.

Which is great for when you feel like you're dying,

because you can just look out the big windows and smile.

And then go back to dying.

We're both really excited about this place.

It's right by Tom's work so it's easy

for me to go to town and meet him after

he's done with work for a little more work/out.

Our first day at the gym was a little awkward.

Having to get used to a new place while all of these

really fit people including really scary looking trainers walk around.

To get into the gym you have to enter this little pod.

You input your code and one side of the door opens.

Then it closes around you and you're literally standing in this

futuristic looking pod until the other side opens up.

There is three levels to the gym and each level has

the same breathtaking view of the town.

I'm so glad we joined a gym because

we're going to feel so much better because of it.

And it's just a pretty cool place to workout.

Except for this one section on the second floor.

Tom and I walked around this corner and it was this room

that was full of strength machines and men...like big muscly men.

We turned around and I stated that I didn't like that room.

Tom said it scared him ;)

Now let's just talk about Tom for a second.

He gets a little intense while we work out.

He's like my unofficial trainer.

"RUN Emily, RUUUNNN"

"Pedal, don't stop PEDALING"

"Don't let the weight hit the bar"

blah dee blah dee blaahhh

Sometimes i just want to punch him...

because i love him....you know...

It's all out of love ;)

The gym as a whole is great.

We are loving it and i'm loving that

it gives me another place to go when 

Tom is in work ;)

We're off to the movies tonight.

It's Orange Wednesday.

Buy one get one free movie ticket

and buy one get one free pizza at pizza express ;)

Don't mind if i do!!

-Em

London Day 2 | Waterlogue App

The second day we were in London was

a pretty perfect day.

First of all it was Valentines Day!

Which means that we were exxxtraaa mushy.

It was such a fun day, strolling hand in hand through London.

We didn't give each other gifts this year

mostly because we were each others gifts...

We got to spend the day together in person,

what more could we want??

We celebrated the day by taking London by storm.

We didn't see the entire city but we got close.

Let's just say our dogs were barkin' by the end of the day!!

Sooooooooooo much walking...

We woke up Friday morning and headed for Notting Hill.

We saw Portobello road market and had a little snack at 

a cute little place called Talk House in Notting Hill.

It was cute and delicious!!

Then we headed to a little road called Baker Street... You know, Where Sherlock lives!!

We Watch Sherlock on BBC and well...we were geeking out quite a bit!!

It was also raining...like all day long.

Which wasn't surprising....i mean it's London not Sunny LA.

So we broke out the umbrellas and got our shoes and socks sopping wet.

It was worth it ;)

The rest of the day was spent visiting the sites.

We saw Buckingham Palace

Which is also where Tom met his squirrel friend Bucky.

Check out my instagram for that video ;)

Big Ben

Tower Bridge

Parliament

Westminster (From afar)

Trafalgar Square

Oxford Street

Piccadilly Circus

and more...

We were all over the place.

We had a simple lunch and ate dinner

out at this place called Garfunkel's..

We bought some souvenirs before dinner

and took them into the restaurant with us.

It wasn't until we were about to get off the Underground

to go in for the night that we realized we had left

the souvenirs behind, so we made a trip back 

to the restaurant to claim our gifties.

We were both so tired, getting a little cranky (me)

and ready for bed but we couldn't leave £20 of souvs behind ;)

We rescued the gifts and got a good night sleep 

before heading back to Liverpool Saturday morning.

All in all London was a fabulous trip.

We got to see just about everything we wanted to see.

And we got to do it together which made it even better ;)

...

Now i'm posting some of the pictures we took

while in London but there's 2 of each picture.

That's because i just found out about this App called

Waterlogue and i'm obsessed.

I'm seriously considering printing out some of these pictures

and framing them because they are just that stunning!

 

I hope you're all having a great Tuesday!

I'm watching my little P bear today and for the rest of the week.

We also joined a Gym yesterday...so that's happening...

Oh and check out this photo...

It's a polaroid we took that didn't develop till 3 shots later.

It has the two of us...plus another image of me with my other

pictures hand on my shoulder {Thought it was a ghost at first}

and you can faintly see buckingham palace in there...

So strange but pretty hilarious ;)

Have a great day everyone!!

-Em

London day one | Who needs sleep anyway??

It was 12:30am thursday morning when we

left Toms house and headed to London.

You may be thinking...

12:30am??? Really guys??

What on earth are you kids thinking??

One of the easiest and quickest ways to travel in the UK is by train,

but sadly it's not always the cheapest way...

£125 for two round trip train tickets

or...

£50 for two round trip bus tickets

We chose the bus!

£75 of savings is enough

for me to choose bus over train.

Especially when we travel on a budget.

So the bus service we used was Megabus.

They get glowing reviews from us just for the fact

that they were very on time and fairly comfy for bus travel.

Our bus was leaving at 2:30am

so we did what any sleepy couple would

do to pass the time...

We hit up BK.

And it was delicious!

We got on our Bus and settled in for the night.

We got into London at 8am and let me just say...

London...at rush hour...around a popular tube station...

is pretty freaking terrifying.

We were almost separated...then almost run over...

We were planning on getting the tube to where we were staying

but figured we'd let rush hour die down first so we headed out for some breakfast.

We just found a cute little cafe and got some yummy breakfast

before we braved the tube station again.

The Tube is amazing.

There really should be one in every city.

It reminded me of how much i loved the Metro in Paris.

We found where we were staying fairly easy.

I was not all that pleased with our choice.

They didn't have free wifi

The bed was very uncomfortable and there was only one pillow

AND on Saturday when we left breakfast wasn't until 8:00

which is unheard of in the Hotel breakfast world

so we missed out on our breakfast which left

us hungry and irritable...

But it was in an AMAZING location..

the only redeeming factor ;)

We were right next to Kensington Gardens | Hyde Park.

And right next to Notting Hill...

I couldn't have been happier with the location.

After we dropped off our bags we walked

through Kensington Gardens.

Saw Kensington Palace and oh yea

tried to find Kate and George mulling around

but we were unsuccessful...

We also tried to rent bikes...

This would be one of Tom's greatest

dissapointments on our trip...

He paid £4 to rent two bikes from

this long bike machine thing...

Mine worked so i had a bike...

his never worked...

the code never got him a bike :(

So we took turns riding the bike

through the gardens ;)

Then we turned it in at the end and were

 done with bikes for a while ;)

We navigated ourselves very successfully to

the Natural History Museum of London.

It was HUGE!

I mean it was Louvre huge...took us about 2 hours

to quickly walk through it...

But it was also pretty awesome.

Like really awesome, we both really enjoyed it!!

After that we walked over to the Victoria and Albert Museum

just so we could sit in the AMAZING Cafe!!

But also because the V&A is pretty gorgeous in itself!!

It's so gorgeous, it makes me so happy

just thinking about it!

We got a little snack and then went

to Lunch at a Boulangerie we found while

roaming through the streets.

We passed a Paul, which is a favorite of mine

from when I studied in Paris, but it looked a little busy.

So instead we went to this sandwich place around the corner.

It was a little too fancy for Toms liking but i thought it was cute.

Lots of light and natural wood and the smell of coffee and bread.

I was pretty happy with the choice.

After lunch we were exausted so we headed back for a little nap

and we had to get ready for our west end show.

Two good lookin kids right there ;)

So now it's about 5:30.

We get ready and leave around 6:45.

We're running a little late...

Our show starts at 8:00 and we still need dinner.

So we head over to where the show is......

or where we thought the show was.....

We were wrong...we were lost...we were running late.

Instead we were over by Billy Elliot when we needed to be by Stomp.

Billy Elliot is by Victoria Station.

Stomp is by Trafalgar Square.

If you know the London map then you know we were

quite a ways away from where we needed to be.

The options...tube...bus or a taxi cab.

Knowing we'd be late on a tube or bus

we opted for the cab and got to

Stomp about 10 minutes before it started.

The theater, was not what i expected it to be.

It was very very small, and very very cool!!!

It was so personal, it felt like you could just jump on stage with them.

I've seen stomp before but Tom hadn't.

It was even better than the first time I saw it.

Such a fun show.

Occasionally i'd look over at Tom

and if it was a quieter moment he'd be trying to fall asleep.

The same thing happened to me towards the end.

I was losing the stay awake battle.

But you can't blame us too much, we were real sleepy.

After the show we got some dinner since we missed

getting it before the show started.

We found ourselves at this fun, lively little italian place

with actual italians arguing in the kitchen..

It was really hilarious and really good.

So now we're full and sleepy,

headed to the tube expecting a smooth ride

back towards Kensington so we could go to sleep

but the tube was anything but smooth...

It was actually pretty nasty.

That's because we spotted this couple in a corner on our car

and they were going for it...not even caring who saw.

There was tugging, grinding, kissing, groping....

In public...on public transportation.

It was like a watching a terrible movie but

I couldn't look away because I was just so

in awe of what they were doing...in public.

Finally we got to our stop, but they got off too...

so then we watched them make out and fondle 

each other going up the escalator....

I...being the dorky person that I am just

started giggling uncontrollably out loud at their

Disgusting act of PDA.

I mean it was just too much...

They ended up walking to our next tube stop

and we watched them continue to eat each others faces off.

They missed both opportunities to get the tube there

so i'm thinking they just stopped caring about anything else going on.

It still makes me queasy thinking about it...

Day one in London was amazing!

Considering we were walking zombies who hadn't really slept

in about 24 hours, we did a good job seeing everything we wanted to see.

London is such a pretty city, i can't wait to go back!

I'll post Day two tomorrow.

Day two was a major sightseeing day,

AND it was Valentines day ;)

So check back tomorrow for more of Tomily in London!!

-Em

How far we've come

I'll start out by saying...London was amazing!!

We had such a great time!!!

But it wasn't the city itself that had me smiling,

it was the guy holding my hand as we 

strolled down the streets of London.

I'll share more about London on Monday.

You'll hear all of the funny stories that we have

about people making babies on the Tube

and some of the mishaps that made

the trip hysterically fun.

But for now i just want to talk about

how far we've come.

We=Tomily

As I was scrolling through some pictures 

on the bus ride back to Liverpool 

I started feeling all mushy inside.

Basically I was one big squishy Emily.

So full of love for this British guy sitting next to me

snoozing against the bus window ;)

I was also amazed at our story.

I'm not trying to sound big headed but our story is

pretty unique and pretty fabulous.

We started out as two 22 year olds perusing the web

and now here we are basically exploring the world together.

Tom has never failed to be just as incredible 

as i always knew him to be when we were just

skyping the days away.

I've known this whole time what an amazing guy he is.

He proves it on a daily basis.

It's so easy with him.

I mean traveling is a true test

of a relationship because

when you miss a bus or a plane or a train

or lose souvenirs or get bad service

or just get on each others nerves

you will see the true person

inside the polite person that you normally see.

But Tom is just the best person to travel with.

In fact he's just the best person in general.

We, as a pair, work exceptionally well together.

Travel is easy, it's fun and carefree...

sure stuff happens..but we're so laid back

that we just laugh and move on.

He's my best friend and this relationship

is one of the best things to happen to me.

I'm so happy and blessed that I get to spend my

days around this great guy who loves me 

and loves exploring with me.

And as I sit here writing this...and looking back at skype pictures,

I realize I'm done with that part of our relationship.

Done as in...I don't want that part back.

I don't want to go back to skyping.

I'm happy with things as they are right now.

In person...

I have a few more months here

before I go back to Texas.

But to be perfectly honest with you,

I'm going to hate having to leave.

These 5 months...as perfect as they are,

are going to take a toll when it's all over.

Because I'll have to go without him for a while

and I just really wish there was a way around that.

Smuggle him over to Texas...

hmmm ok ;)

I can't wait to start exploring more

permanent ways to be together ;)

And i can't wait to share London

stories with you on Monday!

Hope you all have a great weekend!

-Em

London Bound

We're off to London tonight!!!

Tom is in work so i'm

in charge of getting some snacks together

in case we get the early morning bus ride munchies...

Which we totally will...

I can't wait to get to London.

The strike seems to be over, at least that's what i heard

so we won't have an trouble getting to some of the places

that are a little far to walk to.

It's going to be such a perfect couple of days!

I won't have my laptop so i won't blog

again until Saturday.

But you can follow along

on all things Tomily in London

by following me on Instagram

emily_hopefulwandering

...

Yesterday was such a fun day.

Tom was off and i was watching his niece

so that meant we were both watching his niece.

We decided to take P on a walk.

So we found her stroller and started 

getting it set up...or didn't...

It was the toughest stroller to get into.

ahem...Pram...that's what they're called over here.

After fighting it for about 20 minutes we went and got Toms mom.

We failed pretty miserably and P witnessed the whole thing...

Which is why she looked like this once

we got her buckled in...

Poor thing..

But once we got her out and about she loved it.

While we were on P duty Tom got a little package in the mail.

Seriously though....the tiniest package ever ;)

I bought this for him for V day.

It came early and well...i have no patience

so i let him have it.

It's a compass with a note that says "where would I be without you".

It came in the tiniest of boxes that you can personalize

and wrapped in the "small times" newspaper ;)

It's so cute and corny but he loved it!!

So I guess you won't hear

from us on here until this weekend.

I hope you all have a great rest of the week.

Follow my Insta to keep up with us!

-Em