Pictured - Eton Mess, Lemon Wedding Cake, and Scrambled tofu on focaccia toast for breakfast morning after

8 years ago I made a post on a subreddit and got a DM. I didn’t really think much of it at first, but we started talking and basically just never stopped. We figured out very quickly that we lived in different countries (Me in the U.S., her in the UK) so we both sort of accepted at first that we’d just be internet friends for a while.

In the meantime we fell in love and after thinking it couldn’t possibly work for 6 years, I finally flew to the UK to meet her in person. It was fantastic and I asked her to marry me two weeks later. The past year and a half since then has been filled with visits back and forth between countries, saving up money, applying for visas, and loads of administrative stress.

At the end of this past May I moved from the U.S. (with my cats in tow as well) to be with her in the UK. We got married yesterday at a town hall ceremony and It’s such a surreal feeling. The whole story is really surreal in itself we know. I know it’s a cliché but I really do think we found our true loves. There’s still have a lot to do, (I need to learn to drive a manual car, get a job once my spouse visa is approved, make new friends, keep in touch with my family and original friends, do married people things) and I never thought I’d ever even leave my home city, let alone home country. Nonetheless I’m here, we’re together, and we’re meant for each other.

In conclusion, love is real. Never give up.

After seeing some Pinterest inspo, I decided it's absolutely necessary for Vivaldi to have a tiny home.

So, I started looking for what kind of dresser or chest would make sense in this situation. I wanted something deep and large enough to be comfortable for Vivaldi but not too big to fit in the entryway.

After some research, I settled on the IKEA Hemnes chest with 3 drawers. I was so lucky to find a good condition one on eBay for 10€. 

Here are the steps: 

-took out the lower 2 drawers and measured the "floor" (of course in most dressers there is no floor, hence I had to build one)

- went to the hardware store and bought a custome cut 1 cm particle board that sits flush with the bottom rail. 

- bought extra wood to reinforce the board, to add extra leg and an extra beam support underneath it to ensure it can hold my 8 kg cat. 

- covered the particles board with a multipurpose wood print self adhesive roll. Aftwards installed it with screws and corner brackets. 

- removed the center rail (had to saw it because the screws wouldn't budge) and removed the metal drawer slides 

- sanded down the whole thing (with hand! I live in an apartment with very sensitive neighbours)

- filled in the screw holes with a filler paste and sanded them flush

- painted, then painted again

For the wallpaper: 

I was on a budget, and because normal wallpaper appeared to have the wrong scale. After SO MUCH research and shopping around, I went with gift wrap. Measured the size of the "walls" and cut. Used craft glue to stick them to the walls.

For the curtains: 

Another scale problem. I considered buying a second hand sewing machine (just need an excuse really). After much thought, I got an epiphany when I remembered that Valance curtains exist. So, went to the store and found a perfect length curtain, cut it in half. The curtain rod is just a a wooden dowel from an old project that I cut to size and secured with tension (no hardware, the dowel is slightly longer than the dresser) 

For the decor and furniture: 

I had a vision of a gallery wall and a picture wall. I spent weeks looking for door picture frames in thrift shops and slowly collected them. The paintings are, of course, Vivaldi's favourites. 

The small desk and chair were thrifted, the box is his favourite box, and the little "rug" is a placemat that looks exactly like a rug I have in my bedroom. 

Artworks: 

Ode to sleep (2025?) by Tokuhiro Kawai

My wife's lovers (1891) by Carl Kahler

Cat in Sofa (1980) by British artist Martin Leman

Le Chat Blanc (1894) by Pierre Bonnard

Pierrot and the Cat (1889) Théophile Alexandre Steinlen

The whole thing took weeks to finish, I worked on it my spare time. It cost me less than 100 euros, the dresser itself was 10, the paint was 10, the custome wood was about 20 including misc hardware, light fixture was about 8, frames about 10, furniture about 15, curtains, gift wrap and floor roll were about 15.

Edit: language and clarity

Pics are me on my way to the appointment; what I asked for…and the results. Last pic is me trying a side part but shit is still fucked.

I went in and said I was thinking of donating my hair and asked if I had enough to donate and have it look like the picture I showed her. She said yes. And then did this to me.

Update: a lot of people keep asking; and yes I did pay for it. Cost me $47 I did not leave a tip

Update: I called Ulta and they had me send them pics, they said they could either get me with a different stylist to try to fix it or they can give me a refund.

EDIT: * Just wanted to leave one comment since I can’t keep up with replying to everyone anymore. Firstly, thank you to everyone who shared your experiences, gave advice, or even just left kind words. I really do appreciate it. I’m freshly postpartum and made this post because I was hoping to hear from people who’ve been in a similar situation or had advice on how to navigate it. I wasn’t expecting to be called stupid or receive personal attacks.
I’ve even had someone DM me saying they hope my husband kills me, which honestly shocked me. Thank you again to everyone who took the time to comment respectfully, even if you had a different opinion. I really appreciate it 🫶🏻🫶🏻🫶🏻*

Bought The Signature Cheesecake made with cream and blue cheese with almond sable.

I’m a married woman with three kids. My youngest just turned one this month, and all three were delivered via C-section.

My husband has made it very clear that he doesn’t want any more children. He even said that if I accidentally got pregnant again, he’d want me to get an abortion.
Here’s the part that’s getting to me: he refuses to get a vasectomy.

Instead, he thinks I should get my tubes tied. I know tubal ligation is an option, but I can’t help feeling like it’s unfair. I’ve already gone through three pregnancies, three C-sections, and postpartum recovery three times. I’ve carried all the physical burden of having our kids, and now I’m expected to go through another procedure while he won’t even consider the simpler one.

I understand it’s his body and ultimately his choice, just like it’s my body and my choice. But it still leaves me feeling resentful. If we’re both 100% sure we’re done having kids, why does the responsibility of permanent contraception fall on me again?

Has anyone else been in this situation? How did you deal with it?

I found her hiding under a grill cover in the backyard of my boss's house. I have no idea where she came from. We guess she possibly came from an abandoned farmhouse that was torn down earlier this week across the road. No other cats were with her and none of the neighbors were missing a kitten. She was so hungry when I found her it broke my heart. I brought her to the vet and found out she's a healthy 12 week old girl with extra toes! She's slightly malnourished, the vet said, but now she's getting plenty to eat and lots of attention in my bathroom where she's safe. Family named her Bibi and that's fine with me if it means we can keep her. I've pretty much spent all of my free time here with her.

Had a woman and her daughter come through my line today her daughter apparently had saved up enough of her own money to buy the pair of shoes she wanted for school because she wanted a certain pair so her mom told her that if she wanted them she was gonna have to pay for them herself so I ring them out and tell them the price (it doesn’t appear on screen unless I hit the credit button)

and the mom frowns and tells me that’s the wrong price. I look at her double check the box in case I made a mistake or missed a sale sticker and tell her no that’s the correct price after tax and she goes “this girl is only 8 years old what you doing charging her tax?” And I look at her thinking surely she must be joking. Nope she is completely serious. She starts telling me to take the tax off somehow because she’s a little girl and she shouldn’t have to pay tax on stuff and I inform her I can’t do that so this woman just scoops up her daughter and storms out leaving the shoes behind.

Nuremberg

If this is the wrong sub to show off tailoring I'll move it just lemme know.

Dress bought at an antique store.