Suzanne and Simon discuss using your power as a couple to do good in the world, and Simon begrudgingly shares some food while covering the romantic gestures for this episode.
Suzanne and Simon discuss using your power as a couple to do good in the world, and Simon begrudgingly shares some food while covering the romantic gestures for this episode.
In this episode, we find out how to use the power of love for good and Simon begrudgingly share some food.
Simon:Welcome to the romantic things podcast. I'm Simon Davison,
Suzanne:And this is Suzanne Davison.
Simon:Let's start off, uh, with the status of the app. We are one bug away from completion at this point.
Suzanne:Yay.
Simon:Yay.
Suzanne:<laugh>
Simon:Yes. Uh, we have one, uh, rogue notification that won't disappear, uh, when it's read. So, um, we have that to resolve, so I'm confident that by the next podcast, the app will be live
Suzanne:Fingers crossed
Simon:Fingers crossed. Yeah. So yeah, so that's, that's fantastic news.
Suzanne:So let me, let's start off with the question. So how can a couple's love change the world for the better?
Simon:Well, as they say, two heads are better than one working as a couple. There's no limit to what you can achieve. If you put your mind in your heart to something, some couples have a clear goal of what they intend to influence the world for the better others, us included need some more suggestions for inspiration. Yeah.
Suzanne:That's for sure. Right? Absolutely. We need help.<laugh>
Simon:So for me, uh, charities are the best place for couples to start their good deed find charities, you both support and start looking for their volunteering opportunities.
Suzanne:Are there a few, I mean, how many,
Simon:Um, there are, I mean, I've got a, a selection of four for us to look at here, but I, I think the best thing for you to do is look around, uh, you know, do Google search for something that's in, you know, inspirational to the peer review and then
Suzanne:Yeah. For both of
Simon:Us. Yeah, absolutely. Um, and, and go from there, if you're able to and would like to, you can always use a monetary donation too, you know, and decide how best to support the charity together. Um, so here are some certain charities from the romantic things out that you might be interested in there's vow to end child marriage. Um, this organization is trying to ensure that child marriage is outlawed and works to support children impacted by this horrible practice to find out more, you can go to http://vowtoendchildmarriage.org That's htttp://vowtoendchildmarriage.org.
Suzanne:VW vow. Exactly VW.
Simon:Then there's flying for a rescue. This one's, um, uh, close to, to my heart. I'm a big fan of furry people. So yeah, this charity arranges flights for critters away from counties that euthanize to ones that do not, um, they've been doing this for years and have saved thousands of animals.
Suzanne:Yeah, this was a good one. Yeah.
Simon:Yeah. So for more information you can find out, uh, more at flyingfur.org, that's http://flyingfur.org then, uh, I guess this one's, uh, more for the couples there's yeah, exactly. There's a service called or a group called wish upon a wedding that allows you to help fund a wedding for couples who are down on their luck, they've suffered a tragedy or something else. That's stopped them from being able to get married. I like this one, a lot. The idea of helping out another pair of lovers appeals to me, a great deal to find out more. You can go to http://wishuponawedding.org. That's http://wishuponawedding.org.
Suzanne:Like wish upon a star, but wish upon a wedding. exactly.org.
Simon:Exactly. And then if you're into couples, you might well be into children. And for the last, uh, charity that I think is worth looking at as a couple, um, is called the birthday party project and the birthday party project has been giving disadvantaged children, the birthday parties they deserve for years now, they've been many people below the poverty line at the moment. And I think this one's important.
Suzanne:Yeah, definitely. I mean, all four of'em are really great things that you can think about to do together. And so I think that, you know, you went out there and found four great ones.
Simon:Yeah. And like I say, there are more in the app. Um, I think there are 10 in total in the app. Um, and there are all good services and, um, uh, what's the word I'm looking for?
Suzanne:Oh, good organizations,
Simon:Organizations, yeah. That are, uh, uh, suited to looking after these people and, and doing something that you, you wouldn't be able to do on your own, but with their help, you're able to do some good. Yeah. Um, and the URL for that particular service is http://thebirthdaypartyproject.org, http://thebirthdaypartyproject.org.
Suzanne:Yeah. I like that. They all end in org. Yes. So you kind of know that they're all legit.<laugh> exactly.
Simon:Yeah, yeah. No scams there, so, okay. So let's move on to, um, this episode's romantic gestures. Um, and what I've been doing this week, this one was a little bit more complicated because, uh, you were out of town for, for some of this. So let's start with number one. And this one is a tough one for me, because for as long as I can remember, I have never shared my food with anybody at all. Because if it's on my plate, it's for me.
Suzanne:Yeah. Simon doesn't share food. Simon doesn't share food. Yeah. Not, he doesn't show share FA either, but he doesn't share food. I
Simon:Definitely don't share fur. And I definitely don't share food either.<laugh> yeah. Uh, kinda like Joey from friends, uh, Simon doesn't share food, the fir this romantic thing. The first one that we're gonna talk about is when you're at a restaurant and food tastes great. Be sure to offer your partner a taste of the food. So, yeah. So I've actually been sharing some of my food for the first time. And it's, this one's hard for me cuz I don't,
Suzanne:It shouldn't be hard
Simon:To share food. I know, I know it really shouldn't be this hard, but what can I say? The, the I'm I'm I'm, I'm a fat man at heart and I like my food. I, I like, I like eating. I don't like the idea of sharing my
Suzanne:Food. You also like sugar. I do. And I would never get you notice what food now listen to what food he shared. It didn't have anything to do with sugar.
Simon:Uh, no, all savory items.<laugh> um, but so we've, we've shared a few things, but there's, there's a sandwich at a, at a, at a, at a cafe that we go to quite often. Um, and we've split that and I'm okay. That that's that's uh, I think that's basically my entry. That's my gateway into sharing food,
Suzanne:Splitting meals guys. Yeah. Splitting meals. He's not sharing food. He's splitting meals.<laugh> right.
Simon:But it's, that's the same thing. Isn't it? That's, that's some of my food going to you that's sharing.
Suzanne:Yeah. Okay. Sharing, sharing, sharing, sharing. Yep. For sure.
Simon:So I'm sharing I'm I'm I'm I'm being good.
Suzanne:You're you are being good. Thank you for, thank you for trying. Exactly.
Simon:So yeah, so this, this thing is obviously free, but it's one on the effort scale.
Suzanne:Um, it's probably 10 on the,
Simon:I think that's, that's closer to five outta five for, for that one for me, but, but I have been doing it. So for you knowing that this is something that I have a hard time with, how do you think I'm doing with this?
Suzanne:Yeah. You're you're you're do you never shared food? We could never even go and split things. So this is a step in the right direction. Okay. Well, yeah. Thank you.
Simon:<laugh> okay. Uh, number two together, do something to help out a fellow human being, and this is free, but it is four on an effort, four out five on the effort scale. So yeah, so this, this one, uh, it, it says four out of five on the effort scale, but in this case I actually didn't find this one to be as much effort for, for us cuz it was kind of, uh,
Suzanne:We're pretty giving
Simon:Uh, well not only there, but it's it's it. If, if it was something I was using, then it would be a problem. Yeah. So, so we have a friend, um, as, as, as you are all aware, the supply chain issues, gas prices are crazy,
Suzanne:Especially out here in California. Yeah. I mean, I think we we're over$6. Yeah.
Simon:Uh, things are expensive. Uh, and we have, uh, we have two we're lucky enough to have two electric cars and have just recently been put in a position where we were also working from home. So we have two cars, electric cars at home that are not being used very much. Um, and we have a friend who's, um, been using a GA, they have a gasoline vehicle and we wanted to help them out and give them an opportunity to save a little bit of cash. So I've uh, let them borrow my car. Yeah. Um, for, for the past couple of weeks and yeah, this, like I say, this was this, this was no effort whatsoever for me.
Suzanne:So I'm, it hasn't even changed how we, I mean, at all, like we, we don't need the extra car right now for sure.
Simon:Yeah. We try to help out where we can. Um, and I think it's something, uh, important for other couples to do too. Um, if you've got an opportunity and you can help somebody out, then I think it's your duty to help them
Suzanne:Out. Yeah. Agreed.
Simon:Yeah. So, okay. Well let's move on to number three.
Suzanne:One was actually an activity<laugh>
Simon:Yeah. Um, yeah. So number three is melts of wax and make some candles together. Uh, two out of five on the cost and two out of five for effort.
Suzanne:You gotta be quick. There is, there is some
Simon:<laugh>. Yeah. There's some timing and it's definitely, uh, you've gotta be Johnny on the spot once things get to temperature.
Suzanne:Yeah. When yeah,
Simon:For sure. But, uh, yeah, this was, I mean, for me, whenever we do an activity together, I'm always a little bit worried cuz I tend to get a bit short tempered when things don't go by way
Suzanne:Kind of thing. Oh, oh Mr. Patience. Yeah. Oh yeah.
Simon:Mm-hmm<affirmative> yeah. So<laugh> so I was a little bit worried about this one. Um, but I, I think we survived this one without having any arguments.
Suzanne:Yeah. And our w was straight. That was the big deal.
Simon:You did a great job. Keep that right at the end.
Suzanne:Yeah. And we reused just so we actually did. So we had gotten a, uh, Christmas gift of a D candle. So cuz our last name is Davidson. And so we reused that candle holder to make this new candle in.
Simon:Yeah. We're gonna stop buying new candles. We're just gonna start
Suzanne:Rema making our, making
Simon:Our own
Suzanne:Candles. And then you can add your own fragrance I guess. Yeah. And we put some kind of romantic,
Simon:Essential
Suzanne:Oil, essential oil in it because you know, it's romantic things. So exactly. We were, we did good.
Simon:Yeah. We, we should, we should light that.
Suzanne:Yeah, we should light it, but we, you said I had to finish my other candle before I could light this
Simon:One. We should, we
Suzanne:Should, oh, we also have a thing is if you bring one thing into the house, you have to remove something<laugh> so
Simon:Yeah. What could I say? I'm a little bit anal<laugh>
Suzanne:For sure.
Simon:Okay. Number four together in spirit, even when you're apart, this is uh, free and zero effort.
Suzanne:Um, and this one definitely happened this week cuz I was out of the country.
Simon:Yeah. So what were you up to?
Suzanne:Uh, I was, where was I? Yeah, I was in El Salvador for work, um, a beautiful country. I had never been there and uh, the people are amazing. Um, it was just, the food was amazing. They really tried to feed us every two hours, so oh really all the local cuisines. So it was, it was really good.
Simon:Excellent. So yeah. So while you're apart, um, I wanted to make sure that I was in contact with you, but not annoying you kind of thing. So that was a hard balance to strike. But I think, I, I think I did a pretty good job of letting you know that I was there for you and thinking of you, but
Suzanne:You did because I was a little nervous. This was my first, uh, foreign country or not foreign first, uh, out of the country trip since COVID right. And so I was kind of anxious about, uh, flying in customs again and you know, we just haven't done it in a while. It just seems weird. And you said you're gonna be going to a new country, seeing a new city, uh, enjoy it and that you were very supportive. So thank you.
Simon:Good, good. I'm glad. Okay. And number five was one of our history things. Um, this case, um, it's a, uh, piece of romantic history that just to kind of make me aware and get me in the mood. Um, and in this case, the history is about the hanging gardens of Babylon, which is a free thing. And zero effort. Have you heard of the hanging gardens of Babylon?
Suzanne:I, I think I've heard of it, but I don't necessarily know the background.
Simon:Got it. So, so the hanging gardens of Babylon were one of the seven ancient wonders of the world. Um, nobody's ever seen any evidence of the hang gardens of Babylon because it sounds quite fantastic for what we know, but, um, the great pyramid is one of the ancient history, uh, ancient wonders of the world. Yeah, for sure. And the hanging gardens of Babylon, uh, were built in Persia, uh, by a guy called Neesa. Um, and he had a wife called EUS who was from the Northwestern part of Persia, which was nice and lush and had loads of trees and stuff. Um, but where he came from, it was more arid. So to make his wife happy and to give her something that she could be comfortable with, he built this huge area of platforms of gardens and trees, lush greenery, all in the middle of the desert. And it was said to be so amazing that it was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. Wow. Um, so yeah, so it's a, a great story of what, what love can do if you're motivated enough. And ne ezer is, uh, in his, his love for tu is definitely a great example of that. So,
Suzanne:Oh, that's really cool. Yeah. Yeah. I did not know that, but now I do. Exactly. Yeah.
Simon:Okay. What were your thoughts on the romantic things for this week? What was, uh, what was, did start with, what was a flat? What, what, what fell flat? What was good?
Suzanne:Um, I, I don't know. I mean, these things were pretty, like a lot of them were free and$0. Yeah. So, I mean, I don't think anything really fell flat. I think. Good. My favorite one, um, would have to be how supportive you were when I was traveling. Okay. Um, because that, for me, I was, you know, anxious and nervous and you were very there for me, so cool.
Simon:Okay. Let's get to hear. Okay. Well I think people should try some of the things we've talked about in this episode.
Suzanne:Yeah. Let's do, let's give the, um, organizations again. So bow and child, marriage.org, uh, flying fur.org, wish upon a wedding.org and the birthday party, project.org.
Simon:Exactly. Thank you. So yeah. Have a, try some of these things, um, give us an email and let, let us know how things go at romantic things. App gmail.com. And don't forget to share your experience of the show, um, and let people know what you think about us
Suzanne:And don't forget to be romantic.