Signe and Trevor

We’re all about America today with two posts radically different from each other and radically awesome photo shoots all the way from the U S of A! First up is this steam punk style love shoot by Lindsay Docherty Photography It’s so much fun and Signe (a jewellery designer at Signe Rose Designs ) has so many lovely things to say that I am delighted to kick off a beautiful Saturday with their story!

“We met in University in the Fall of 1998. I hadn’t dated anyone in a year and a half and really wasn’t interested in starting anything. I was very focused on school at the time. However, one evening, a friend invited this guy from her class over to our mild mannered pajama party and I was instantly charmed by him. He entered the room rolling on the floor laughing with all sincerity. He was unlike anyone I’d ever met; uninhibited; full of life; extremely upbeat and a genuine heart of gold. All things, I’m certain, that I wanted to surround myself with at all times as I sometimes forget to carry them around with me on my own. Trevor, brings out a side of me that I appreciate more and more every day. He helps take those negative tendencies I have to show me how to look at them from a different perspective. It is a lot harder sometimes but so much more worth it in the end.”

“After deliberating over whether to make a move after a few weeks of hanging out and getting to know each other, I finally devised a plan that surely would not fail. I would ask for math tutoring, of course! The funny part is that he got really excited that someone asked him for math help and went out and bought a little white board and everything. I, on the other hand, had no interest in math at the time (I know…sad). I was all dressed up, hair done, make-up, and then I had to learn math! And he had a friend in the room that didn’t leave till midnight or something ridiculous. At the end of the evening, just as I was about to go, I finally got up the nerve to tell him that what I really came for was a hug (yes, just a hug, people), at which point he leapt into my arms and we proceeded to hug for the next four hours. It was awesome!”

“About a week later, I still wasn’t sure where we stood, so I decided to invite him to a dance. 40’s swing dancing was big on the scene back then and dances were held almost every weekend. I told him that a bunch of the girls on my floor were going and we needed partners to dance with so I was wondering if he would come and bring some of his friends along. His response was something like this, “Um, I don’t think my friends know how to dance.” In my head I thought, “Ok, strike one, must think of something clever…”, so I said, “That’s ok, they have free lessons before the dance. You don’t need to know anything beforehand. They should come anyway. It will be fun.” He replied, “Uh…..I think…my friends…are afraid of girls”. “Oh”, I thought to myself, “not much I can do about that.” My last ditch effort was to just pin him in a corner, “well you’re still coming right?”. At which point he says, “Uh….yeah?”

We actually did go and had such a good time that after he suggested that we take a ballroom class the following semester together. At this point I knew he was a keeper 🙂 We’ve been doing swing dancing off and on ever since.”

“I actually encouraged Trevor to study abroad in Japan only 7 months into our dating relationship because he had never traveled outside the states. We only saw each other for one day in the next year. Coming back together was much harder than being apart in my opinion because you have both grown and changed but at different paces and now you have to basically start your relationship from the beginning again. It is next to impossible to just pick up where you left off and expect things to be the way they were. It definitely took a lot of work but it was well worth it. And now I have a husband that loves and appreciates travel as much as I do. Double plus win!!

We were married May 25th, 2002 in an old renovated movie theatre in Port Townsend, WA, USA. ”

“We lived in San Jose, CA, USA for about 2 years but we both lost our jobs in 2002/2003 due to the Tech collapse. At that time we decided to apply for teaching jobs in Japan and we wound up living there, in a remote mountain village, for 4 years. Our last year there, we met a fellow teacher from Philadelphia, PA, USA, who convinced Trevor to come back with him and work for him as his first employee at his new IT company. We decided to try it out and that’s how we ended up where we are today. Trevor has since moved on and is making his programming degree work for him. He is really enjoying what he’s doing.”

“We have had a lot of adventures together and truly enjoy each others company. There are times when we have arguments like any other couple, but I think the key that helps us to survive as long as we have is that even during an argument we are listening to each other and allowing the other person time to speak and be heard. We always try to be open to new ideas and recognize that neither one of us is perfectly right all the time from the get go. We try to call each other out when we notice one or the other is being mean or rude to the other for no reason because it doesn’t help to get anything accomplished. We won’t start a discussion like that. Apologize when appropriate and more importantly, shower each other with love and affection. You never know if you could lose your partner tomorrow. It’s horrible to think, but would you want your last words to them to be a dumb fight you had? The more love you give, the more you receive and it really makes all the difference. ”

“The final thing I have to say is that It appears we have just discovered we will be celebrating a belated 10th wedding anniversary with the birth of our first child in late July this year! We delayed it for a long time due to my concerns about my Epilepsy, but the doctors gave the go ahead. We have been trying for about a year and just got the good news. We are both very excited and look forward to sharing the news with friends and family :)”