Recently.... On time!

This past weekend Lina celebrated her 31st birthday. It was a weekend of friends, a bbq, lots of table tennis, and a cozy rainy day indoors. Our friends, Huw and Vaida, came to visit from Wales and Kaziemieras came down from London, and of course we got to see our good Brighton friends as well :) 

We had a windy by tasty BBQ on the beach to start of the celebrations with friends, as usual :) 

And played games and had cake back at the house later on. 

The next morning the sun was shining so we went to the beach to play some proper table tennis before Lina had to go to work. Surprisingly, I was the overall champion :) 

 

When Lina finished work we had a wander around town and went out for dinner.. And there was a street party for a folk and cider festival outside our flat. We got to listen to some good music from both downstairs and from the comfort of our living room :) 

 

There is never a visit without some sort of games :) Craniam in progress!

The bank holiday Monday was a gray and rainy one. We chatted, ate, and even went for some ice cream with Huw, Vaida, and Kazimieras until they left to head back to Wales and London. We then had some down time to watch TV and relax until the evening. 

Then we got to meet our other London friends, Jen and Jo, at a local bar, The Mesmerist, for a catch up. It was so nice to see them in Brighton and we of course had to take advantage of the photo booth!

 

This week we went to dinner and drinks to say goodbye to our friend Sarah who is leaving Brighton and moving to Berlin. It sounds like it will be a really great move for her but we will miss her lots! Sarah is a big reason that we know the people we do in Brighton and has spurred many of our adventures. She is a caring soul who brings people together and she'll continue to share this love now in Berlin!

September is shaping up to be a busy month as well as I'm working some extra shifts and we have a wedding in Lithuania! We're both aching for a bit of down time but are also loving getting to catch up with great friends and using every day to the fullest :)

x Becky

Friendly times

So here's yet another slightly belated post about summertime by the sea :) We were lucky enough to have a visit from our friend Ryan, who is having a European adventure and made a pitstop in Brighton. It was great to get to show him around our home, introduce him to some of our closest Brighton friends, and Lina and Ryan explored the country-side on bicycles. One of our favorite summer-time activities in beach bbqs so we made sure to share this with Ryan! It's also really comforting to get to catch up with someone from back home and chat about shared memories and friends- I forget sometimes how much I miss having those type of connections.

We also went to a pub quiz at the Irish pub downstairs. With the help of Bel and Ella we managed to come in around 4th place! That was definitely the best we've ever done and we were well proud of ourselves :) 

 

We've gotten way caught up in watching The Fosters! I was working on a new piece while indulging in our new love of this show.

Then we celebrated my friend Helen's birthday, complete with cat mask! It was good to get to spend a bit of time with Helen and her lovely friends. 

                      

(forgive the blurriness!)

Summer is winding down but we are still milking whatever we can out of it! It has been a bit cold and rainy the past couple of days which shows us the weather we are in for soon- on one hand it's cozy to spend the day cuddled on the sofa while it's raining outside, on the other hand I'll definitely miss all the outside time and having so much going on.

Coming up next- our canoeing trip! 

x Becky 

Brighton pride!

We celebrated our second pride in Brighton since moving down from London! This year I made a conscious decision to not take part with my work or my volunteering and just enjoy the day with Lina and our friends. We started the day with a bubbly brunch at Bel and Ella's. They had a few friends visiting and it was good to catch up with people we met at their wedding last summer. We then headed down to see the parade. 

After the parade we had a break in the park then headed to the pub. We had some downtime and some lunch and basically chilled out until the evening. 

We spent the evening outside our favorite pub, the Marlborough, at the street party. There was plenty of dancing, some drinking, and chance meetings with friends. We had a great time with Bel and Ella and their friends, Alex and Elysee, who showed us some new Australian dances :) 

Also thought I should include A couple of my snapchats. One of the only negatives was definitely the bathroom line. 

 

Pride always brings up lots of emotions for me and is usually a huge amount of fun. This day didn't disappoint. We are lucky to be living in Brighton which is definitely the most safe and inclusive place I've been so far. The community spirit is stong and the we are lucky to be in our Lgbt+ bubble. It's important to remember the theme of pride, freedom to live, and how difficult it still is for most of the world- including most of the UK and the USA. I'm also not naive enough to believe that there are not issues around homophobia and transphobia in our little inclusive bubble or there are not issues in the local Lgbt+ community itself. I'm just glad for this day to celebrate who we are and come together as a community to stand up for others who continue to be silenced. 

So here was a bit of our pride celebrations this year and I'm blessed to have great people to spend it with :)

X Becky 

The sun is (mostly) shining!

The past few weeks have been characterized by socializing and spending time with friends! Work has been a bit stressful for me so it's been important for me to reconnect and stay connected to positive people in our lives. 

I got to spend a few hours with my friend and former colleague, Helen, and some of our work friends at a pub on the beach. 

We then went for dinner and drinks to celebrate Ella's birthday. She had an abundance of cake!! 

Our art piece made an appearance at Trans* pride! You can see the interactions below! (Ps- we don't know the people in this pictures) it was Brighton's second Trans* pride and I helped out at the Rise (my work's) stall for a couple of hours. I also picked up a shirt! 

We then met our friends Dalia and Giedrius who came to town and gave us a lift up to their place in London. We got to help a bit with their wedding prep, some uno, and some delicious homemade pizza! 

We've had more time with friends with bbqs on the beach and I have been volunteering at the LGBT young persons project as well. 

Also I made another sale on etsy!! This little lion was one of first things I made to sell. Yay! 

I'm sure I missed plenty of other stuff in there but there a bit of a snap shot of our week/s :)

X Becky 

Enjoying summertime

Ok, so I meant to write and finish this post weeks ago now.. But again the summer got away with me! So Instead I'll post this whirlwind of pictures and try to make sure to be better about sharing :) 

Here's a London street smile as I met up for training a few weeks ago.

In the run up to pride there are some great art exhibitions. This was the freedom to live exhibition and every piece was meaningful and interesting. 

Out friend, Sarah, put on a queer mini-festival. The majority of Saturday was taken up with making our collaborative art project with Bel and Ella but we were able to sneak off to visit on the beach as well. 

Then Sunday we unvieled our creative queer rebirth interactive art price :) it was lots of fun to make but not without it's awkward moments :) I sincerely believe it brought us closer together as friends!

Some fun music at the mini festival. 

And had to put these ones in... I love Brighton street art! 

Later that week we spent an evening in the park with Lina's friend, Cat, and some of her friends. Was great to spend some time in the sunshine after work! 

So as these were a couple/ few weeks ago now I promise another installation soon!

X Becky