What to buy for people who are hard to buy for: a tutorial

It's coming up to the 10th anniversary of the first date that The Guy and I ever went on.

So cute and young.

Ten years. That seems like a long time and yet not long enough. I feel like we've been together for a long time and also not that long.

Time is weird. Also, now I have to get a gift for him.

I've got a dilemma.

What do I get the guy who doesn't need or want anything?

The Guy's answer? "Truck parts"

I'm not buying trucks parts. Maybe for our "chrome" anniversary. Wait... I just realized 10 years is the tin/aluminum year. Ugh. 

But I've been thinking about our date-iversary and what I want to get The Guy. So, when UncommonGoods contacted me and offered me a chance to review their site and get a bit of money for it so I can buy something, I jumped at the chance. 

What's so good about UncommonGoods?

Well, my favourite thing is in their mission statement. UncommonGoods are "making sustainability a part of every decision we make" and are "working to make UncommonGoods more environmentally friendly, [and] socially responsible."

Honestly, with all the things going on in the world today, I have been trying to make better decisions about my purchase choices. Sustainability, environmentally friendly, and socially responsibility is where I've been focusing.

I'm serious. Read the mission statement.

Presents for the guy who has it all

I got lost in the rabbit hole of awesome gifts for everyone I know, but I focused on gifts that are good for guys and gifts to commemorate anniversaries of all kinds. (I also looked at things for the dog... Monty's been in this relationship too!!)

Alcohol Options

The Guy likes a good beer. He's a bit of a beer aficionado and so I always know that beer is always a good gift for him. When I saw I could narrow down my recommendations to beer related, I was pretty stoked.

I figured I could take one of everything, but these were my two favourites. The Guy has always loved Guinness beer so this kit would be a neat way to explore that. The glass set is a perfect co-gift. Wade likes beer and I like wine!

Irish Stout Beer Brewing Kit and Personalized Tree Trunk Glassware Duo
All photos source UncommonGoods

Travel related gifts

We love to travel all over the place. I swear, if we had all the money in the world, we would never come home. UncommonGoods has some awesome travel themed presents for everyone.

Personalized Anniversary Pushpin World Map and Hand Embroidered City Pillows

I'd love to have a map where we could keep track of all the places we have been and where we want to go. I've also started buying pillow covers respresenting each of our travel destinations, so the hand-made cover would be perfect!

Home decor options

I am always on the lookout for home decor stuff. So, with the great decor options for the home from UncommonGoods, I couldn't resist.

Handmade Rock and Vine Lamp and Kissing Lovers Sculpture

I cannot stand the lamp that is in The Guy's office, so I love the idea of replacing it with this awesome handmade lamp. And what can I say about the statue. It is so beautiful and I can think of all the places it would look perfect in our house.

Now, I will link The Guy to options for me! Anniversary gifts that a woman in your life would love.

The best friends make the best marriages

March 29th -- 9 years ago today, I nervously waited in a local coffee shop to meet a guy I had been chatting with for a few weeks. He had a great sense of humour online, but I was worried that I would be so awkward in our first meeting that things wouldn't go well.

Instead, this incredibly tall man came into my view with a giant grin on his face and we talked like we had been friends for years.

I believe I was a tad infatuated. (Dec 2007. We were so young!)

That was what I was struck by those first months. Not just the excitement of a new relationship, but that we developed a strong friendship so quickly. I didn't want to live a life without his friendship in it. That's how I knew he was it for me.

We have built a life on that friendship. Inside jokes and quick wit, grandiose plans and down to earth futures. We have laughed hard, cried hard, fought hard, and worked hard. (Him more than me on that working thing.)

I think we have become better people because of each other and we continue to challenge each other to the best versions of ourselves.

On our way to The Hip concert. (2015)

Here is to another 9 years and another after that and after that. I am grateful for the richness The Guy has brought into my life. He has been beside me through everything and has met it all with patience and quick wit.

You can't ask for more.

\\

We went back into that coffee shop a few months ago and I ordered my usual "the largest hot chocolate with the most whipped cream". He turned to me and said "You've been ordering that the exact same way since the moment I met you."

I hadn't noticed, but he did.

You gotta love that.

Grateful experience

In an effort to be more present, I am returning to a semi-regular grateful journal. After a year of not posting for personal and other reasons, this is just the best place I can think of to keep track of things.

Here it goes.

It had been pointed out to me that I do things in order to avoid experiencing things. I like to keep busy, but recognize it is often so I do not have to be alone in my own thoughts. This means, I often have my head in a book, my ears filled with music, my eyes filled with TV, and my hands filled with knitting -- often all at the same time -- to avoid. It's very true. When faced with a moment of just me and nothing else, I am bored and impatient for it to be over - likely for fear that, in those three minutes, my emotions may climb out of the neatly sealed box I have in my brain and come to choke the life out of me.

Today I am grateful for the foolish idea that I can still change myself or at least experience something in the moment I am there rather than believing if it didn't go on Facebook it didn't happen.

I am grateful for the chance to sit in my front entry and enjoy the warmth of the morning sun with my dog who is equally bored doing nothing for 4 seconds while I drink my coffee and contemplate the list of things I should do, but don't want to.

Light through yonder railing breaks

I am grateful for texts with my husband, especially knowing it will be 3 more days before I see him for more than the moment in the middle of the night when I wake him up climbing into bed after my shift is done.

I am thankful for my dopey dog who gave me a scare this week by collapsing on the floor only to embarrass me by running and jumping the second the vet looked at him to see if he was dying. I'm grateful he wasn't dying so I could be embarrassed by him doing that thing your car does when it makes noises right up until the moment you take it to the garage.

Dog in green

I am grateful for a counsellor that I'm never sure I'm connecting with until the moment she says something to make me reconsider my existence and realize I'm not doing as well pretending to adult as I think I am, but I might - just might - learn how to be better.

I am grateful for a chance to write again. Maybe I will explore why this last year and a bit was so painful I couldn't put words to the page. However, I am also grateful that I don't necessarily have to.

Welcome back, Bronwyn.