Creating Sparks That Last & All Things Relationships

Date Night Arguments and How to Prevent Them It’s Date Night. Finally! The stars have aligned with your schedules, the sitter, the kids’ activities.  You can finally spend some quality time with your spouse away from the house. https://unsplash.com/@claybanks It’s been ages since you spent any "alone time" together.  You've missed your partner.  In fact, you have longed for uninterrupted time when you can connect and feel close.  Time when there is time and space to feel like you did at the beginning of the relationship. Time together is what inspired the other parts of your joint life.  You know that you need relaxed and enjoyable time together or you will lose the spark.  You already feel too much like ships passing in the night.  You need to break free from feeling like roommates. You’ve been imagining the date all week.  You’ve pictured having fun, connecting, and being affectionate.  You are looking forward to being able to relax and foc...

Micro Tourism: Is there value to be found in it? https://unsplash.com/@kylejglenn This will be my last blogpost for a while, and for very good reason. I am celebrating two huge milestone birthdays with loved ones over the next couple of months. Both my mom and father-in-law will be visiting us for 3 months from overseas. This is our first post-covid-lockdown gathering, so we are all tremendously excited. Fear not, I am leaving you in capable hands as I have lined up some incredible articles for you from guest bloggers I am well acquainted with. You will hear from Confidence Coach and Business Wing Woman, Rebecca Laidlaw who talks us through self-care and balancing the social media scroll. Appropriately named as 'soulhappysuccess' you will find her wise advice at the link:  soulhappysuccess Look out for her article next Friday, 29 July 2022. In May this year, I interviewed Couples' Relationship Coach, Cheri Timko on Instagram. You can find our chat here:  Relationship Habits...

Q & A  Friday  Recently, I put a question to readers on my social media, asking what they wanted to know about relationships and/or personal growth. The two go hand-in-hand in my opinion. If you'd like to contribute to this post for next week's blog, click here:   Your Burning Questions Answered Are you growing apart or tightening your connection? https://unsplash.com/@joshhild Reader Question #1 How do we know when to call it quits? Every relationship has its ups and downs. It has to. For growth. You cannot grow in a stalemate standoff where conversation doesn't enter that 'difficult' realm. If you enter into a relationship with a growth mindset it is inevitable that you will come up against resistance in your endeavour to understand yourself, and your partner, better. Because stepping out of situations that are comfortable, makes us feel insecure and if your partner is unsure of stepping onto new territory with you, you will feel restricted in your growth and ...

3 Month Book Birthday, That Is (And my sister 👸 [not 3 months]) It's been a monumental week in the life of EN ROUTE. She passed her 3-month mark as a self-published memoir, which, incidentally, means that Amazon no longer feels the need to prop her up for visibility. So, in real terms, she's passed to the next level of independence as a self-published book! Hooray for EN ROUTE 🎉🥳 Book Blast: As is fitting for any birthday party, we celebrated in style. She had a blast! No really, a real BOOK BLAST! Duffy the Writer published a beautiful Book Blast for EN ROUTE.  You can read it at the link:  Book Blast for EN ROUTE by Duffy the Writer Or the short version here:  Shortened Book Blast Mother's Day Giveaway Another huge celebration for EN ROUTE was a giveaway for Mother's Day and I couldn't have asked for a more deserving winner! This mum literally took time out of her busy #mumlife while her daughters were sleeping, to read EN ROUTE. That's a true Mother's ...

 5 Tips for a Loving Relationship 5 Tips for a Loving Relationship Often we know what we're supposed to do to make our relationship work, but we don't know how. In the video link above, I've outlined some really easy tips you can do today to make a positive difference in your relationship. The video is just 45 seconds long, so in no time at all you'll have the relationship tricks that you need for a loving partnership, right at your fingertips. Or if you'd prefer to read the notes, click  Real Relationship Tips that Work . For a lighthearted look at positive ways to impact your relationships, I'll be offering my dating diaries eBook for free for a few days from 6 March 2022 . It's a quick read that you can enjoy together, as a couple, or by yourself if you're looking for ways to improve your relationship dynamics. Here's the link, but remember it's only free for a few days from 6 March 2022:  Creating Sparks that Last eBook The time zones are a...

🎁 Happy Relationships and a Merry Christmas Image credit @KatieAzi My gift to you this holiday season, is one of happier times with your loved ones. I have a giveaway for you; a booklet of Date Year Ideas for you to use at your leisure. Completely free, no strings attached, a giveaway of pure loving intention. The date ideas are fun and relaxed and can be used in any relationship you wish to deepen. Healthy relationships cover all aspects of our lives, so you can quite easily adapt my date ideas to your friendships, family relationships or partnerships.  Your style, your way.   I have included a page for each month of the year with some ideas for you to think about. But, this is YOUR date year, YOUR way. You can change them up, add your own or include anything that gets you closer to understanding the person you are with in that moment. Your free booklet is at the link below: Date Year Ideas Image credit @OlesiaHnatkevych Have fun and do share your own date ideas with me in t...

 5 Tips for a Loving Relationship https://unsplash.com/@k_yasser Here are my 5 tried and tested truth bombs that work! Listen with your eyes!             Making and maintaining eye contact - without staring like a stalker! - shows your genuine interest and makes the person who is talking to you, feel heard and acknowledged.   Make time for each other              And make it meaningful. Instead of just going on a picnic, out for dinner or for a walk or hike, do something special to mark the occasion. Perhaps a quiet dance at home before dinner, or a favourite pillow/cushion for the picnic - get creative! This shows the other person that you truly want to  be with them. Do something just for them            To make someone feel valued, do something that you might not enjoy but you know they do. It could be a movie of their choice but not particularly your taste, or mayb...

How to fix dating shortfalls Image credit Tyler Nix via Unsplash The 3 Dating Tendencies Quite honestly, I think all relationships have a combination of Logan's 3 dating tendencies. The trick is to juggle each of them in equal measure. The Romanticizer: The reality is that there are no perfect relationships. Period. We have to accept that there are ups and downs in every single relationship on earth. Once we can accept that fact, it is easier to move towards improving the quality of our interactions without striving for perfection. The Maximizer: Whether it's you or your partner who has unrealistic expectations of the other, it's important to state your boundaries. That is the secret sauce to maintaining integrity in your relationships. Respectful boundaries deserve respect. The Hesitater: If your self-doubt is based on either of the above tendencies, you need to look at your 'why'. Once you appreciate your personality for its strengths you will have a deeper unders...

The Way to a Man’s Heart Image credit to Unsplash by Raissa Lara Lütolf Armed with a glass of velvety smooth Merlot and James with an ice cold beer we joined the hustle of talking, laughing guests standing around bar tables with our behinds perched on wire barstools. While it was fun to blend in with the loud and raucous customers around us, James and I longed for a space to sit comfortably where we could talk to each other instead of shouting at each other, albeit kindly. “Should we find somewhere else to have dinner?” James yelled at me. “Sure,” I screamed back into his ear. So much fun. Leaving the warmth of those cozy blankets behind, James and I headed for a restaurant with a water view on Darling Harbour. One of our favourites is Bungalow 8 and to our delight, they had revamped their eatery into private booth spaces.  Ours was particularly intimate with a sign that implored, “Please, no sledding.” Let me emphasize that the courtyard in question was no more than a two metre sq...