Tim and Olive's Blog

It’s our tradition to have pasta on Valentine’s Day. No, it’s not because we think Italian food is particularly romantic (although it is delicious). Nor are we trying to imitate that scene in “Lady and the Tramp.” It’s a tradition we’ve adopted because of what happened our very first Valentine’s Day as a dating couple. Read More

[This is an excerpt from our book Fight With Me: How We Learned to be Married, which you can purchase on Amazon or get free on our blog]

The summer before our daughter was born, Olive and I had a chance to work on a painting together. It was the first time we had done this. We had visited Whiffen Spit near Victoria, BC and were delighted with its breathtaking view. Inspired by what we saw, we bought a large, 3 feet by 4 feet canvas and set to work.
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From all of us at timandolive.com (a.k.a. Tim and Olive… and Allie too), Happy Chinese New Year! Check out the video greeting we made.
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You would think that since my husband and I speak the same language, it would be fairly easy to understand each other. Somehow that is not the case.
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[“Courage Is” is a guest post series of readers sharing their personal stories of courage and what it means to live courageously. This our friend ProdigalJ’s story.]

Weddings are something I love and dread. I love them, because I get to celebrate my close friends. They are so meaningful for me that for a special few, I’ve even cried (manly) tears during the ceremony. However, when the parties are over and we’re done celebrating ‘togetherness,’ it’s hard to not feel like I need to be with someone in order to be “whole.” As if being single isn’t enough, and that somehow I’m incomplete.
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This year we are starting a new guest post series about courage. What is courage? What does it look like? What does it feel like? How does one live with courage? Starting today and all throughout this year, we are collecting stories about courage from you, our readers. Olive and I will share a few stories of our own as well.

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Cheers,
Tim and Olive
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A baby learning to walk is like a small drunk zombie. Allie took her first few steps a week before turning 13 months. It took her about 4 weeks to master the art of walking, and we’ve enjoyed watching her progress. She stumbles around like she is drunk, and walks while stretching her arms out for balance (like a zombie). It’s the cutest thing to watch. Here’s a short video I put together of her progression over the last 4 weeks.
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I’m going to be candid with you today. I’m going to write about real sex. Call me naive, but when I got married, I did not know much about sex. I grew up in a conservative church where we were taught that sex was reserved for marriage only. I believed that (and still believe the best sex is within marriage), so I tried not to think about it and decided I’d keep my virginity until I got married. Actually, I was pretty afraid of my sexuality in general. Which meant I had a lot to learn when I finally became a wife.
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I can’t begin to count the number of times Tim has saved my life. Not in any dramatic fashion, mind you. He hasn’t pushed me out of the path of a speeding train, or plunged into a freezing river to rescue my unconscious body. Although, he probably dreams of being my hero in that way. Still, he has saved my life. He’s done it in more daily, subtle, almost mundane ways.
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