She thinks butter belongs in the fridge; he thinks it’s fine sitting out. We air both sides of a domestic disagreement – and ask you to deliver a verdict
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My boyfriend insists on keeping butter in the ‘pantry’. To me it’s strange and unhygienic
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From married comedians to polyamorous players, if it’s insights from couples you want, well there’s a podcast for that
Couples’ podcasts are very much not for everybody. If they lean a little too far one way, they’re overbearing and smug; too far in the other direction and they become unbearably tense psychodramas. The safest place for you to start is probably Shagged. Married. Annoyed, hosted by married comedians Chris and Rosie Ramsey. A weekly unstructured chat, Shagged. Married. Annoyed is relentlessly lighthearted and unchallenging – and as such, actually very pleasant to listen to. One potential criticism is that the Ramseys do sound like they’re aggressively trying to turn their marriage into a brand. So if that’s not your sort of thing, stop reading now.
Continue reading...Since June last year I(28f) have been working with my friend to help grow her(36f) business. She always treated (and paid) me as an equal partner, and we had tons of fun together.
As we rolled out a new version of our offering this past month, I was planning on having a sit down and officialize my partnership in the business.
A couple of months ago though, she hired a “business coach”, and things started to change a lot. I disagree with several strategies he suggests, and my friend’s behavior towards me changed.
She’s micromanaging what I do/don’t do and the last drop was that she “cut my pay” by almost 5 fold because “she needs to start treating this as a real business”. She did that by taking me to a sit down dinner and had a whole speech prepared, which undoubtedly came straight from the “coach”, who I later learned is getting paid “thousands of dollars month”.
I was in such disbelief and did not have the confidence to say anything so just kept going. I know I need to leave if I wanna preserve the friendship long term, but I’m sad to leave the project behind AND don’t know how to start this awkward conversation.
What would you do?
TL;DR: Friend no longer treats me as a business partner and I need advice on how to quit
I (21F) am 9 months pregnant, due date is in mid March. Been with my boyfriend (29M) for a year now, we just celebrated our one year anniversary on Valentine’s Day last week.
In my prior relationships I’ve always been very clingy, very physically close and affectionate to my partners. I started off this way with my bf but as time went on he let me know that wasn’t his thing. It eventually became a problem bc I just didn’t know how to not be affectionate, and it severely annoyed him as that’s not the way he enjoys to be loved. So I stopped, and for awhile I stopped almost entirely. It just makes me feel so sad and empty inside. Whenever I look at him and want to express my affection for him, but can’t bc I know he won’t enjoy it like how I would, kills me.
He almost broke up with me on February 9th, 5 days before our one year anniversary/Valentine’s Day. He said even though he loves me deeply, he felt he jumped into a commitment with me too soon and he doesn’t feel happy bc he hasn’t been able to focus on fixing himself as he was intending to do when he first moved to this area in 2020. He made it clear that he could still keep his commitment to our unborn son as a father without being committed to me, but that he’d always love me and treat me as family forever since we’ll have that permanent bond through our son.
I cried on the phone when he said that to me; we were both at work when this phone conversation took place. Later in the day when I was at my second job, he came in and said, “fuck everything I said, I love you and want to make this work” then proceeded to hug and kiss me in front of everyone.
He told me that bc I’m the mother of his child, he likely will fall deeper in love with me seeing me become the mother my son needs me to be. That seeing me grow in that way and becoming parents together (he already has 2 kids of his own) will grow our bond stronger. But what if it doesn’t? I worry that maybe it could make us grow further apart, bc I know it does that to some couples.
Also another thing to note is that our sex life has suffered since we learned I was pregnant. He said it makes him feel too weird, he feels like he’d be hurting the baby, etc. so the last time we were intimate was New Year’s Day. That’s another part of me that I feel has died, bc before this I was openly very expressive and in tune with my sexuality. Now I can’t even remember how it felt to be that way.
TL;DR - I (21F) am pregnant with my bf’s (29M) baby boy. I’ve had to severely decrease how physically affectionate I am with him since he doesn’t enjoy that. He almost broke up with me 5 days before our anniversary/V-Day, but then decided not to. We haven’t had sex since Jan. 1st, and I feel between having to suppress my sexuality and my desire for physical affection, that I’ve killed a part of myself for him.
so on valentine’s day i met up with this guy on bumble and we had a lot of fun and ended up hooking up at his place and i spent the night. later that day he texted me about some game we both play. then on wednesday i asked him if he still wanted to meet thursday because we originally were supposed to meet up that day before hanging out monday. he said “i’d rather do another day, maybe next week” and i replied ok”
but now i’m feeling like i really wanna hook up but i don’t wanna go through the whole process of finding someone on the app and making sure they aren’t a killer or something.
should i ask him if he would be down to come over tonight or if i could go to his place (if it’s not weird inviting yourself to someone’s house) or should i just see if he reaches out later in the week since he said “maybe next week” but i kinda want to today so i’m not sure if it would be wrong to ask. or does it seem like it was a one time thing for him?
tldr; hooked up with a guy on monday and want to hook up again but not sure if i should ask him or find someone else
Rhys, 34, touring magician, meets Kate, 26, fintech executive
Rhys on Kate
What were you hoping for?
A lovely evening, getting to know someone, good food, great company.
