I love T because | ILTB

Yes, this is a post about love and what makes me love Tom so much.

Mush, gush and all of the in-betweens.

I suggest that you play this fab song while reading this post.

It's so so so so good!!!

Ahem..

I LOVE TOM BECAUSE...

-He appreciates my love of snacking

-He will sing at the tip top of his lungs in the car while on a road trip

-He's throwing me a pre-birthday birthday since we'll be gone on my actual birthday

-He believes in me

-He keeps me grounded when some of my ideas are totally crazy

-He wants me to succeed in everything I do

-He will blow me a kiss no matter the circumstance, and he'll also catch them.

(Tom was in the middle of the lake on our giant green turtle floatie

when I blew him a giant kiss from about 300 yards away

He not only received the kiss but he bobbed and weaved 

on that floatie as if following the kisses trail until

it smacked him right on the kisser)

-He has an incredibly kind heart

-He likes to challenge me athletically

-He couldn't imagine being away from me for a few 

months and bought me a plane ticket last November to come see him.

-When he makes wishes they're always about being together

-He's absolutely hilarious but also quite shy in new situations

-He's British and has an an accent ;) duh

-He's always making sure that I'm doing good, that I'm happy

-He appreciates my silly side

-He loves food

-He's worked so hard to make this long distance relationship happen

-He's a gentleman

-He knows good music

-He holds my hand all of the time

-He's cultural

-He loves to travel to new and old places

-He takes me to new places

-He surprises me everyday

-He makes me laugh like no one else

-He is so so nice

-He dances when I dance, even though we are terrible ;)

-He loves adventuring with me

-He loves getting lost with me

-He loves being with me

-He loves me, and I love him

Annnndddd there's so many other reasons I love him
but I think you get the idea ;)

Tom is now taking me for my pre birthday breakfast!!
Hope you are all having a great day!
:)

The 4 state road trip

Last Wednesday my family packed up three cars

and headed up to Arkansas to move my little brother

into his first year at College.

I kind of thought I would be more needed since

my brother was going to my alma mater but that wasn't the case.

He settled into College life pretty easily.

A lot easier than I did.

So he was good, didn't really need us

so we took it upon ourselves to get out and about

and turn our weekend into a mini adventure.

While mom and dad stuck around campus

Tom and I went off on our own.

The first day we did actually stick around campus for a bit.
I showed Tom all of the spots where I used to skype him.
We "met" while I was in school so most of our
relationship in the first year happened for me, at my school.
So it was fun to take him around and reminisce a bit.

We then spent the evening in Little Rock
just beebopping around town.

We ate at ZaZa's which might just be the yummiest pizza place on earth.
They also have some serious gelato that would make any Italian proud.

We ended the night at the State Capitol.
We parked illegally in a congressman spot and ran
all over that place taking silly selfies and a jumping around like kids...
We're rebels, what can I say. Ha!

The following day was spent in Heber Springs, AR.

If you live in Arkansas I would highly suggest Heber.

The lake is picturesque and if you're brave there

are even some pretty crazy cliffs to jump from.

Tom was brave I was not.

Actually I've done it before, but once was enough ;)

If you want to see Tom cliff jump just go look on my instagram.

We evvveeennn bought a little/huge turtle floatie from walmart

because I'm a weirdo and i'm a little/totally terrified to swim in lakes

or oceans or rivers or any body of water where my feeties don't touch the ground.

It's a serious fear...I have open water anxiety attacks.

Did I mention we're off to the BIG OCEAN next week? eep..

The following day we drooovvveee for what felt like forever.
We went to Tennessee and Mississippi.
To be fair those states are extremely close ;)

We went to Corky's in Memphis and it was DEVINE!!!!!!!!!!!
Oh man i can't even, it's so freaking good!!

After lunch we headed to Mississippi.

Once in Mississippi we stopped at a Wendy's for a drink.
Walked around on Mississippi soil and then headed back to TN.
OBVIOUSLY we didn't really see what Mississippi had to offer
but Tom did step foot in the state and that's what matters ;)

We drove past Graceland, saw nothing but crazed Elvis fans...
Then found ourselves on Beale street for about an hour.

Let's just say you will find just about every type of person on Beale Street.
It's a very diverse place ;)

We had such a great time on the trip but we're happy to be back in Texas.

You know how they say "travel together as a couple to see if you really love each other"
Ok I don't think that's what they say exactly but it's the same concept.

Tom and I are apparently SO in love and are doing quite well on our adventures.
It's true though, we are SO in love, and road trips where we spend six hours in a car
consist of big laughs, games, good music, windows down and even story time.

Tom is reading a book right now and he read to me on the drive home.
I'm not going to lie, the book was pretty terrible but Toms voice was not.
I hear him talk so often that his accent only phases me occasionally.

But as he was reading I just got to sit there and listen to his voice
and basically have a girly freak out moment because I snagged a British guy. ;)

The trip was perfect, all trips with him are perfect!!

We've only got a few more days before palm trees and crystal clear water become our view.
We leave for the Caribbean on Monday and we'll be there for two whole weeks!!
It's going to be such a blast and It will be so good to see Toms family again!!

This week we've just been chill.
We're a pretty active pair so we've been out playing basketball and tennis quite a bit
but for the most part we're lazing it up big time.

Last night we went to see Dawn of the Planet of the apes.
I mean I've never had a fear of a monkey uprising until now.
Those monkeys, or at least one of them specifically is freaking terrifying.
I was basically in movie theater fetal position the whole time.
Also it was not funny..AT ALL..I didn't laugh once..........
It was a really good movie, but I really needed to have a little
laugh in-between the scary monkey fighting.
So now I'm traumatized for life.
FOR LIFE!!

aheemm..
Today we're going to go down to the river for another kayak adventure.
Or mayyybbeee standing paddle board..not sure yet :)

OH and tomorrow is my "Birthday".
It's not really my birthday until September 4th
but since i'll be in the caribbean on my birthday Tom
is treating me to an entire day doing everything that I want to do.
[I mean obviously all I want for my birthday is to be with him and well that's happening so..]
But if he wants to throw in some food and shopping, who am I to say no ;)

Hope you're all having a great week.
I'm going to try really hard to blog more so that future posts
aren't as long as this one ;)

I should also add that this is my 400th post.
Talk about dedication ;)
woohoo!!

If you were wondering..

Arkansas has been soo good to us.

Tennessee and Mississippi have also been good to us.

We hit up three states over the weekend.

Tom is basically American now...or at least southern ;)

We've been having a blast
and eating way way way too much.

I'll post more of an update monday

with some great stories from this road trip.

But for now you can follow the fun on instagram.

emily_hopefulwandering

:)

Let's go on a date

Dates are high up there on my love it list.

I love going on dates with Tom.

I used to hate going on dates.

First dates/worst dates.

I once cried on the way to a date before I picked up the guy...

I was feeling so awkward about it that it literally gave me a pre date panic attack.

But now that i'm with Tom I love dates.

I love going to new places with him and having new experiences together.

When we're apart our dates are limited to skype.

When we're together the skies the limit.

Especially in Texas!

When we were in Liverpool we didn't get quite as many options

because Tom doesn't drive and we always used Public Transport.

PT limits you quite a bit unless you want to spend money on trains and planes...

Which we normally didn't.

But in Texas we've got more ground to cover, literally.

I have a car and can drive so we are all over the place.

Yesterday was a great date day.

We were thinking about going to Six Flags

but that didn't work out so we decided to check out what

the Fort Worth area had to offer.

We decided to go down to the Trinity River and go Kayaking.

If you live in the Fort Worth area and are needing date ideas you

should definitely jump on this one.

Backwoods PaddleSports at Panther Island Rentals

We show up at Panther Island and see the area where they rent out the boats.

Renting a Kayak, Canoe or Standing Paddle Board is so easy and inexpensive.

We got a Tandem Kayak for $15 for an hour.

An hour was long enough for us so it ended up being super affordable.

We had so much fun going down the river in the Kayak.

We even saw some turtles and a gator that turned out to be a log ;)

It's definitely something we'll go back and do again.

After the river we headed over to the StockYards.

We had some lunch and did a little souvenir shopping.

We ate at Risky's, the cheaper one ;)

It was so delicious, definitely a pit stop if you're ever in the area.

Tom loves Fried Catfish, and the StockYards doesn't disappoint!

Later in the evening we decided to have a simple picnic for dinner.

Tom bought me the prettiest blanket in the stockyards and I couldn't wait

to use it as a cozy picnic blanket.

We decided to order pizza and take it to the park and have a pizza picnic.

Or as I like to call it a Piznic.

Genius and delicious!!

We have a pretty large park and one of my favorite amenities that it offers

is the fully lit baseball field that is in use pretty much every night of the summer.

We put down our blanket and pizza and plates and drinks and

watched the game that was being played.

Tom wanted to go play with them so bad.

He said stuff like "I've never played baseball but I know I'd be so good at it." ;)

We really just had such a good day yesterday, and every day really :)

Dates don't have to be super expensive or crazy creative to be fun.

Just go down to the river or order a pizza and eat it at the park.

Dates are meant to be fun not money draining.

Hope this gave some of you a few new date ideas.

And if you're in the FW area I would hit up the Trinity River before

they close up shop for the fall and winter months :)

We are taking my little brother up to school today.

Tom get's to see Arkansas and Tennessee, two new states.

So if you need us, that's where we'll be.

ALSO I got a haircut the other day.

Chopped off 6 inches.

I was a bit terrified buuutttt.....

I looovvvvvveeeeeee it!!

Love, love, loovveee it!

My long hair was just getting a bit too long and stringy and gross.

Plus the hair lady told me how damaged it was and hair shamed me

the entire time she was cutting my hair...

Yes it was also very damaged..I get it!!

So chop chop went the hair and it's just so nice!

I hope you're all having a great day and an even better week.

I can't wait to update you all on our adventures in a few new states!!

Emily

One week of Texas

This time last week I was in Houston

eagerly awaiting the arrival of my main man.

Tom has now been in Texas for one week.

This actually brings his total time in Texas up to one month.

He's got a ways to go before he catches my 5 months in England ;)

We've been having such a great time, as usual.

Saturday night we went out with my sister and her husband

and we all went Rock Climbing.

Tom wasn't so sure about this because he doesn't mesh well with heights.

But he soared up those walls like a machine.

I mean I have little to no upper arm strength

and I wasn't using my legs like I was meant to 

so my time on the wall was short lived.

I mostly kept flinging myself off the wall when it got too hard

and as a result giving myself major wedgies.

But Tom was doing amazing considering his fear

and well it just made me so proud of him. :)

Then yesterday we went to Church where Tom was loved on by

numerous Church ladies who just love him so much.

It was reaalllyyy cute haha.

Last night we went to dinner at this place called Smash Burger.

I've only been there twice and it's so delicious.

It's like a simple burger place but I loved it and so did Tom.

They had a black bean avocado burger for him and his veggieness ;)

We were meant to be heading home after dinner but

I made a little looooop for Downtown Fort Worth.

Downtown Fort Worth has really grown so much in the past few years.

We strolled through the downtown scene and had some Jamba Juice

and saw a family of raccoons by the water gardens and then called it a night ;)

Our first week back together in Texas has been amazing.

We've already managed to do some much in a short amount

of time and we've got so much more to look forward to.

For example, this week we're driving up to Arkansas 

to drop my brother off at College.

We'll be in Arkansas for a few days but we'll

be doing a few little day trips as well.

Memphis is on this list as well as Heber Springs.

I'm also pretty excited to show Tom around my Alma Mater! :)

Today I think we'll keep things simple.

Tomorrow I'm thinking Six Flags...Maybe.

If you're not already following me on instagram and 

you want to be following me on instagram just go ahead and do it ;)

Instagram - emily_hopefulwandering is the name!!

Hope you are all having a wonderful day!

:)

Tomily Updates :) Week 1

Having Tom back in Texas and just back in general

has been so so so wonderful!!

I mean I obviously like/love the guy.

I don't hide the feels.

He's the best!!

So We've been busy ever since he got here

which is why it's been a little extra quiet around these parts.

On Tuesday we just decided to hang around the house.

We both needed a little R&R after the Houston trip.

Especially Tom, I mean he had a trip to Canada that we didn't foresee ;)

Tom LOVES the heat.

102 degrees doesn't scare him.

Which is good for him but bad for me.

Listen, A/C is a magical gift that should not be wasted.

While Tom thinks the sun and it's death rays are a magical gift..

So we've been going outside quite a lot, more than i'm used to.

But even though it's hotter than the sun outside

we've been having lots of fun.

We play Tennis, Basketball, soccer/football and we throw the frisbee around.

So we are being quite active which is a shocker to my lazy body.

Wednesday Tom went with me to a dentist appointment.

I was supposed to get a cap for my root canal area but it wasn't ready

and blah blah...I was just happy Tom was there...

I think all of the sweet women who work in the office

were also happy that Tom was there ;)

They know all about him.

I swear, that dentist office is worse than a ladies salon!! :)

After the Dentist and a Target run (obvi)

we went and played some miniature golf.

We capped the day off with a trip to Rosa's.

This was Toms first Rosa's experience and it's

pretty easy to say he loved it!!

The burrito folding concentration is no joke people!! ;)

On Thursday we went to Hurricane Harbor

which is our Six Flags water park in Arlington.

We got there as soon as it opened and we stayed till it closed.

We both got some sun and had a blast!!

I love water parks, i think they're so fun, especially in this heat.

I however am not so fond of those slide rides.

I will ride any roller coaster you want me to get on

but these slides just look straight up dangerous.

We rode almost all of them but you know, i was silently terrified..

Actually no, I wasn't silent, I let the people know how scared 

I was with my screams of pure terror..Ha!

It was so much fun though.

We even saw an identical couple.

The guy had Tom's shorts on and

the girl had my Target Romper.

They looked nice.

They could have been long lost couple friends. 

Oh well..

Ok and finally I have to tell you a funny story from last night.

We went to play Tennis last night around 9:30pm.

We get there and we're just rallying until Tom

starts jumping around randomly with a disgusted look on his face.

I was confused at what he was so visibly upset by so I 

jog over to him to see what's the matter.

Tom starts pointing all over the court and say's

something like "THEY'RE EVERYWHERE!!!!!"

So I look around and I see a few crickets and grasshoppers.

Tom has never encountered this species of bug ;)

And they jumped up and hit him in the leg and flew

at his face one too many times and Tom just cracked.

I mean I went in for a hug to try and calm him

and he jumped away from me telling me that we can't

stand still or they will jump on us, moving around is key!!

At this point i was laughing so hard

because Tom was just jumping and bouncing all over the court

trying to avoid any type of conflict with these bugs.

We decided to end the game early to leave

and Tom ran over to me, asked for my keys and

then straight up abandoned me and went to the car ;)

He now thinks i'm crazy that i'm terrified of spiders

but not terrified of the "Disgusting jumping bugs."

So night tennis may be put on hold for a little while ;)

We're really having such an amazing time.

I'm so happy he's here and he's so happy he's here.

I love how we just pick up where we left off.

He's just the greatest and I can't wait to see what

the next couple of weeks have to offer! :)

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!!

Oh hey, Tom is here!!!

Monday emotions before/during/after picking up tom!!

Starting at 9am

Sleepy

excited

excited

excited

12:00pm

nervous

ready

excited

1:00pm 

(This is when my flight tracker APP told me he had landed in Houston)

a little sleepy

excited

Oh is that him?? No

ahhhhhh

excited

2:30pm

where is he?

Hmmm shouldn't he be here by now??

Oh is that him...nope..

Wait...TOM...nope...

3:30pm

Ok something is wrong

this is so weird...

Wait her flight landed at 2??

Toms flight landed before hers, why is she already out??

WHERE IS TOM???

4:00pm

Does ANYONE work here??

Anyone at all?? HELLOO?????

Where are the information desk people??

My BF is being held hostage behind your gate!

Don't cry Emily, keep it together!!!

I haven't eaten all day...

*Hands start shaking*

*lips start quivering*

Tears almost escape my eyes...

4:15

Me "Oh hello do you work here?"

Man "No"

Me "Oh well do you know anyone who works here?"
Man "No, i'm sorry, what's going on maybe i can help?"

Me "Ok my boyfriend landed like 100 hours ago and

he's not out yet and i'm just freaking out a little/a lot"

Man "What airline is he on?"

Me "KLM"

Man "Oh it was diverted to Canada for some reason,

but it landed here about an hour ago so he should be out soon"

"THANK YOU SO MUCH"

4:30

Tom finally emerges from the other side!!

I then let him explain what happened.

A man on his flight had a heart attack mid flight :(

They used a defibrillator on him and had to land in Canada

so they could get him some much needed help!

We don't know how he's doing but we hope that he's doing much better! :)

What you need to learn from my experience

is that you should not rely on apps...instead look

at the airport screens with flight info on them.

Had I done that I would have actually sat down

rather than stand on my tiptoes for 4 hours looking through

the sliding doors to see if it was Tom coming or not ;)

So the end to this story is that Tom is here!!!

He's been here for a full day and we've just had a blast!

I'm so happy we're back on the same continent ;)

We also got to see some really good friends of mine from College while we were in Houston.

I was able to stay with them overnight so I could be well rested to see Tom ;)

It was all a bit dramatic picking Tom up but after I collected him all was good :)

I'm so happy he's here, i'll be a smiling fool for the next 6 weeks ;)

Hope you're all having a great week!!!

The British are coming (Again)

My title really should say...

TOM IS COMING AHHHHH!!!!!!

Tomorrow I'll be heading down to Houston to

retrieve someone very special..and something very special!! :)

Tom will be here Monday afternoon

and i'm just so excited!!!

He's also carting around precious cargo
that is my British sour cherries...It's a sweet
and i'm having serious withdrawals!!

If you want to follow me on instagram

that will probably be the best way to 

keep up with the happenings of tomily

for a few days until I can get it up on the blog ;)

emily_hopefulwandering = Instagram

eeep!!

I'm so so soooo ready!!!

There won't be any Galavanting off in Scotland or Italy

but we will do some adventuring in Galveston which Tom

calls the Venice of Texas ;)

So it's basically going to be a blast!

girly siiiiiggghhhh

:) :) :) :) :)

Be sure to keep up with us on Instagram!!

Have a great weekend!

Emily