I still remember the day I realized my first love wasn’t perfect. We’d been together for about 2- 1/2 months and decided to go camping for the weekend. I wasn’t much of an outdoorsy person and ended up wearing, like, Keds on our long hike up to the campsite (which really wasn’t a campsite, but more of a clearing in the woods with enough room to pitch a tent). Rather than slow his pace and enjoy the beautiful day with me, my boyfriend laughed at my footwear and sped off, keeping a good ½ mile ahead of me all afternoon. It was then that I realized I loved him, but he hiked too damn fast (and was really kind of a jerk).

Loveyoubut.com celebrates exactly this kind of realization in a relationship. Created by Alex Holder and Ross Neil, the site is a “picture book about the moment in a relationship when you realize you don’t love someone completely, because there is just one little thing that keeps bothering you.” While I’d argue it’s often that one little thing that makes you realize just how unconditionally you do love someone — seriously, if you can love your man despite his hairy back or the loud slurpy sound he makes when he drinks beer, that’s when you know it’s real — the site is totally worth checking out. Filled with funky, hand-drawn portraits and great quips like, “I love you, but you still read articles about Princess Diana,” and “I love you, but you say ‘pacific’ instead of ‘specific’,” loveyoubut.com reminds us that no one is perfect, and sometimes what we don’t like about someone says a lot more about us than it does about the other person.

What’s your “I love you, but” quote? [via Nothing But Bonfires] Keep reading »