It’s been 6 months…how are YOU doing on your resolutions?

Well guys, today is the first day of summer.

(insert mini celebration here)

Yes, I know I live nowhere near the beach, but this photo of my happy little toes in the sand on a mission trip to Myrtle beach in 2008 makes me think of Summer. Plus, it make me happy, and Summer=happy, right?

Here’s another photo from that trip, just because.

And another picture from that summer trip to the beach, this time with my lovely sister. Isn’t it clear how much we love each other? And how much we love summer?!

Are you still celebrating summer with me looking at these pictures? I bet you are!

Disclaimer: This is my Hubs. He doesn’t really look like himself here, but it’s him. And that is not a real tattoo. Just FYI.

Hubs and I are going to celebrate tonight by heading out to a gourmet hot dog restaurant. Beacause like happiness, hot dogs also=summer.

It’s a small thing, but a rare treat because we don’t usually eat out during the week. In fact, we don’t usually eat out at all. It’s part of the “we’re-poor-so-we-try-to-save-as-much-money-as-possible” financial plan that we’re on.

Anyway, I also wanted to celebrate today with a long run, but I’ve been slacking on my morning time management a far as working out is concerned and I have now waited entirely too long and it is approximately 130 degrees outside right now and thus, too hot to run.

(Ok, fine. It’s not 130 degrees outside, but when I’m running in the middle of the day, on the hills around our apartment, in the sun, because there’s no shade, then, yes, I sweat the same amount as I would if it was 130 degrees. So, to avoid becoming dehydrated after approximately 4/10 of a mile, I’ll just stay inside and workout in the air conditioning, with the only fan we own pointed directly at me turned all the way up to full blast.)

Anyway, none of this has anything to do with what I wanted to talk to you about: our resolutions. It’s time for a mid-year checkpoint! Ready? Of course not, because reading my mid-year checkpoint will make you think about how you’re doing on your resolutions, and if you are anything like me, you probably still have some work to do, huh?

Well, let me spare you the pain and suffering of a failed resolution pity-party and let you share my pain and suffering at our failed resolutions.

Ok, I’m kidding. We aren’t failing, but there is a little room for improvement.

Here we go.

In case you forgot, our resolutions are discussed here and here. (What? You don’t have our newlywed resolutions memorized? Shame on you.) (Not.)

1. Take a weekly walk together. Every week. Hubs hates to go on walks, so this will be tougher for him than me. UPDATE: We go on walks occasionally, about every 2-3 weeks I’d say. We do try to do at least one physical activity together each week though, sometimes two or three. Soccer, frisbee, playing catch, even tennis this week, so I think we’re doing okay on this one. I’ll keep working on it though.

2. Vacuum more. This should be easier with my new Oreck! UPDATE: I have vacuumed more since I’ve had the Oreck than I did before I had it. Still not like weekly or even every other week, though. I could definitely have cleaner floors. Again, I’ll work on it.

3. Work on portion control at meals, even when eating out and dishing up bowls of ice cream…we both need to work on this, as we both love to eat and can get carried away easily. UPDATE: We are doing MUCH better about this! Still, there’s room for improvement and we sometimes give in and pig out when we really want to, but on a daily basis, our meals are much more manageable. And I cook less “special” meals all the time now that I’m working more, so that helps too.

4. Buy a house. I realize this is a tough one, but it’s top on Hubs’ list. Wish us luck! UPDATE: Big news people. BIG NEWS. This is the announcement you’ve all been waiting for: We bought a house! Wooooohoooo! After looking through more than 300 houses online and touring 20 or more in person, one failed offer, and lots of frustration and driving around checking our potential areas, we have found a home that we love and can’t wait to move into. It’s not finalized yet, but we’re very much hoping to close in a couple weeks if everything goes according to plan. And we are overjoyed at spending the next several years, maybe even the next 10-15 years there, or longer! Yup, we love it that much! Let the painting, scraping, sanding, and celebrating begin!

(Photos to come later!)

5. Write at least five things that are just for me. I can worry about what to use them for later, if anything. UPDATE: I have written zero things so far that were just for me. I mean, lots of things I’ve enjoyed writing, but none without a real purpose. I have lots of ideas but not enough inspiration. I’m trying. But I’ve got a ways to go. Yikes

6. Run more races. I’d love to do another half…maybe a full 26.2? I’m young now, and my knees and ankles and hips will only get worse, right? I only ran 1 or 2 in 2011, and they were fun, so I’m ready for more. UPDATE: I ran another half! And it was awesome! I also did the Warrior Dash with Hubs and we’re doing the Color Run in a few weeks. I plan to sign up for some fall stuff, too, but no plans for sure yet. I’d love to do a full marathon, but I’m thinking I need to be training better before I take that on. Still, this one is a success so far.

After the Warrior Dash. We were mud-dy! Wowza. But it was fun!

7. Finish reading 8 books that I ALREADY own and have squished into our bookshelf. I’m terrible about buying new books instead of reading ones I already own but haven’t read. UPDATE: I’ve read 2 books on my bookshelf, but I have to be honest and say I’d already read one of them before, so technically, only one of those counts toward this goal. I have another two started, but they are slow going right now. I’m finally caught up on the mountain of newspapers, though, and the magazines are becoming more manageable as well, so hopefully, some progress will begin there soon.

8. Use more coupons and take advantage of price matching. I also need to do a better job of keeping track of how much we spend and save. UPDATE: Success! Last night was our best night yet, saving about 25.5% of our total bill at our weekly grocery trip. I know because Hubs records it all in a spreadsheet for us to keep track of everything. The way we do it is to only buy things we would buy anyway, but use coupons and price matching when possible. So far this year, we’ve saved close to $200 just by taking the time to do this each week before we head to the store. Woo hoo!

9. Find a church home where we really feel connected to. I miss the fellowship I’ve been so used to my whole life. We need to be surrounded by people encouraging us in our walk. UPDATE: Well, we began regularly attending a church up north by our apartment, even feeling comfortable enough there to begin tithing, but now that we’re moving south, this process will start all over again I guess, which is sad. I’m not devastated though, because I’m not sure the church up here ever felt like “home” as much as a “temporary home,” kind of like our apartment. So, to be continued here.

10. Go on another road trip. There’s something so special about traveling with the one you love, and we love the sense of exploring that comes with driving around on our own. Our honeymoon was some of the most fun we’ve ever had and we’re committed to doing this together again as often as we can. UPDATE: Unfortunately, and yet happily, buying our house and doing some renovation work on it will take up a large portion of our traveling budget for this year, so there probably won’t be a big roadtrip unless I find a great job soon. We’re making ends meet and have taken some smaller trips on weekends so far, something we plan to continue, but we’re not sure we’ll have the budget for a week-long awesome trip like our honeymoon last year. Still, I think it still counts if we go anywhere on a roadtrip, as the resolution didn’t specify length, and because we’re so happy about our house that it’s hard to consider this a failed resolution.

Roadtrips give you excuses to eat at great restaurants inside giant malls, like the Mall of America, where we were here, and drink giant, fun drinks full of fruit and rum. Yum.

Ok, your turn now. I think we’re doing pretty well, all things considered. What about you? How are you doing so far? Any advice for my resolutions? And what are you doing to celebrate Summer? Hot dogs? The beach? Tell me about it, really. I’d love to hear from you!

Working girl blues

Well, as you guys know, I’m now working only from home every day. And I’m actually staying pretty busy, and making as much as I was during my internship days. (Still not as steady and secure as a “real” full time job, but I’m enjoying my time. Mostly. I’m certainly learning a bunch of things through this time though.

Here’s my list of the best and biggest lessons I’ve learned since going to work in our apartment.

1. People don’t think that I’m actually working. It’s not all that fun to explain that, yes, I’m actually working during the day so I can’t talk on Facebook, chat on the phone, or watch TV all day if I want to get anything done. Plus, I’ve learned that I often have to re-convince myself that I’m not unemployed right now. I’m self-employed.

2. Managing my time is harder now than ever before. I find myself feeling guilty if I don’t have time to clean the kitchen or fold and put away all the laundry while Hubs is away at work. Why? I wouldn’t feel bad about not doing those things if I was sitting at a desk at an office all day? I need to remember that working from home is just that…working.

3. It’s true that our surroundings influence our work. I’m often not inspired enough by the walls in our mostly plain apartment. Don’t get me wrong. I love it here, but I also think I do better work when my environment feels fresh. I spend way too much time in the living/dining room to have it feel very fresh and inspiring when I sit down to write.

4. Twitter, Facebook, and even email are time-sucking traps. I think you all know what I mean there, right?

5. I NEED a good desk and a good chair…like yesterday. I’m already noticing my neck and back feel tight and uncomfortable after a few minutes of working on my computer. I used to be able to sit for hours with my computer on my lap. Now, my head and eyes start to ache much sooner. Sitting on the couch may feel good on my tushie, but the rest of my body suffers. Ouch. At the same time, sitting on the hard, bar-height dining room table hurts my tush and hips, while my neck and shoulders feel more relaxed. Good grief!

What about you? Have you ever worked from home? How did you adjust? 

Towel trouble

There are five hand towels in our bathroom. Why? Because we have a big towel rack and a little towel holder than would look naked with no towel on them.

Last night while we were brushing our teeth, I took that opportunity to explain to Hubs about which towels in there that I use for different things, and thus, which ones I didn’t want him to use to dry his hands after he washes them. For instance, on the big towel rack, the white one with the gray stripes is for my face, the orange one is to dry my hair when I get out of the shower, and the pretty white one with the monogram? Well, that one we don’t use because it’s just too pretty and white.

Hubs was fine with all these things, of course, because he said he didn’t use those towels at all.

I assumed that meant he used one of the two that hang on the small rack near the sinks.

Nope.

He took that opportunity, right after he took a big swig of mouthwash, to tell me that he uses my bath towel. to dry his hands all the time.

Not his bath towel.

My bath towel.

What a fun surprise that was!

And when the look on my face surprised him and made him laugh? The mouthful of mouthwash came right out of his nose.

And all over the countertop and mirror.

So I sent him to the kitchen to get  a paper towel to clean it up.

Which he did, without much complaining.

Because he’s a pretty smart guy, and a really great husband and roommate.

And I love him for those reasons.

But, if I wasn’t there, I’m sure he would have used my bath towel again.

The 10 Best Things About Being a Newlywed

I’ve had some time to think about marriage recently, and I’ve compiled a list that I thought was important enough to share with all of you. Ready? Let’s go.

(Note: This list is not at all intended to be taken totally seriously, unless of course, you are a newlywed, or can remember being one, and thus, you can remember the complicated sense of annoyed-joy that goes along with many of these “bests.”)

(Another note. If written sarcasm gives you trouble, and it does for a lot of us, then here’s a hint: most of this is written with the sarcastic undertones of a writer who has had an incredibly frustrating day, and yet is trying desperately to cling to the optimistic, happy bursts of energy that get me through each day.)

1. It’s awesome how poor newlyweds are! I love that the most extravagant splurge we make each week is deciding which low-to-moderately-priced restaurant we want to eat at for the one meal each week that we budget not eating at home for. This makes it incredibly easy to explore all the coolest and hippest places in this great big city that we call home.

2. Hand-me-down furniture matches so well! Luckily, my style is pretty eclectic so I actually like a lot of the pieces we’re slowly starting to collect. However, Hubs isn’t so lucky. He typically likes things more sleek and modern. Not something that’s easy to find at thrift shops, garage sales, and in our parents’ basements.

3. Sharing a bathroom for the first time with a member of the opposite sex isn’t at all awkward! We live in a one bedroom apartment with one bathroom. There’s not a lot of sound-proofing, or smell-proofing, that goes along with a situation like that. Oh, and there’s long hairs on nearly every surface in there, no matter how often I try to clean them up. I’m sure Hubs is wondering how there’s still any hair left on my head after I’ve shed all over everything for the past year.

4. Sleeping in the same bed with someone for the first time after 20+ years of not sharing the covers is such an easy adjustment to make! You guys that have been married for a bunch of years don’t fight over the sheets, talk in your sleep, kick each other in the shins, accidentally put an elbow in someone’s ear or eye in the middle of the night, or blow morning breath in each others’ faces often enough. You should try doing all those things again. It will really help rekindle the romance in your lives, I’m sure of it. It also helps you be super sweet to each other when a fight breaks out after a bad night’s sleep.

5. People expect us to start having kids any day now, which is awesome. I love dreaming about the future, but I also like sleeping through the night and not spending hundreds of dollars on diapers every month. See numbers 1 and 4 if you need clarification on those two things again.

6. We get to experience a whole bunch of new things all the time that make us grumpy. When you’ve only lived together a short time, it’s easy to always find new ways to annoy each other. We’re learning how to avoid these things, but there are bound to be plenty of more new fights before we’ve “had them all.”

7. It’s acceptable to be lovely-dovey in public. Nothing says “I love you,” like a bold pat on the tushie or a big kiss while waiting in line at the grocery store.

8. Almost all of our photos are professionally taken, so they look great. We don’t have any kids so almost all of our photo frames are full of pictures of us. Most of those were taken on our wedding day. They are beautiful, but I wonder how long it’s acceptable to only display photos of our wedding in our home.

9. Almost all recipes require a special trip to the store because we don’t have a built-up pantry. I love finding awesome recipes I want to make that night and then realizing we don’t have like half of the ingredients!

10. None of these other things really matter that much because marriage is a journey that I’m happy to be on with my best friend. Yes, we fight, and yes we have some unfortunate moments. But, overall, I’d say that we’ve learned more than we ever planned to, and love each other more now than we did before. We’re patient, most of the time, and happy, almost all of the time, too, so there’s really nothing to complain about.

And about the other nine items on my list? We’ll get through them. But if you have advice, we’d love to hear it!

Life happens…

Hi all,

Did you miss me?

Have you noticed my absence lately? Have you wondered where I was? Why I wasn’t blogging all about our newlywed life?

(If you didn’t miss me, notice my absence, or wonder why I wasn’t blogging, be a dear and not tell it to my face, okay? Okay.)

Anyway, the reason I wasn’t blogging about our newlywed life was because I was simply too busy being a newlywed wife!

Things have been hectic and wonderfully busy in our little corner of the world lately.

We have housing developments and job developments all in the works. We’ve been to weddings and showers and parties dinners out with friends.

Here’s the gift I made my sister for her graduation party. She now has her doctorate of physical therapy!

We’ve been trying to keep up on cleaning the apartment and stocking the fridge while hunting for bargains at local garage sales.

Heck, we even took home a free kitten from a flea market to live happily ever after with my parents on the farm last weekend.

Our cute little tabby cat we got from the flea market for my parents. He stands out from all the black and gray long-hairs my parents have at their farm!

And we’ve been cooking at home together more than we ever did before.

These veggies and potatoes are Hubs’ new favorite. He can’t get enough! And I think they are pretty good, too. Add in pan-seared chicken and some grilled zucchini and yellow squash? That was a dinner for a king!

We were also healing. From our sunburns. Ouch. And ick. (We’re now both in the peeling stage, and I’m reminded even more often how different girls are from boys in that regard. While I’m disgusted at the way Hubs peels off flakes of skin, he’s excited and amused. Yuck, yuck, yuck. Good thing I love him!)

I guess the main thing we have been doing is settling in.

We’ve been married almost 11 months now and that means we’ve also been living in the city, together, for almost a year. (I can hardly believe that!) And with this, I am learning, comes the slow realization that this is home. This is our new normal. This is where we live.

I guess part of the reason I didn’t feel really “at home” in the city before now is because we just weren’t that busy. We weren’t really making a life for ourselves up here. It always felt as if we were visiting, or playing at living here.

All that’s changing though, and I find myself feeling both excited and sad about it at the same time.

I’m happy that we’re finally settling in. I’m sad that it means I’m settling in away from family and friends that are still so dear to me but that now live 2 or more hours away.

I know things change and can’t stay the same, but I’m finding myself both sad and sometimes homesick as well as overwhelmed with the joy I feel at being married to my best friend and amazed by the blessing it is to live together and make this life for ourselves.

So that’s what I’ve been doing–living and loving. What about you? What’s new with you? Any new developments, realizations, or adjustments in your neck of the woods?

Friday’s Food for Thought: Rules for Marriage

I found this online this morning and it made me think about what sort of rules we have in our marriage. Things like asking for forgiveness after we mess up, remembering to communicate well, and never ever ever threatening to leave.

We’re still very new to this marriage stuff, even though it’s been almost 11 months now, but we’re learning what works for us.

Every marriage is different, of course, so I’m sure your rules are different. Care to share?

What’s some rules you live by in your marriage? What have you learned to always do…or never do?

Burn, baby burn…

This weekend, we had a great time relaxing with family and friends. We also enjoyed soaking up some Vitamin D…but…we may have soaked up a little too much.

We’re both burnt.

Yuck.

And ouch.

Ouch.

Ouch.

Did I say Ouch already?

Hubs says his armpits are the worst, since we laid on our backs with our arms out above our heads. My chest is the worst. You know that spot in the middle that rubs when you’re wearing a bra?

(Sorry to any male readers, but all the ladies out there who’ve ever had a little too much sun while wearing a bikini know exactly what I’m talking about.)

And now we’re both a little grumpy and salty.

He’s in pain. I get it. But I am, too. We’re both alternating back and forth between being doting and being annoyed at each other.

Still, it was a great weekend.

So, what about you? What was your worst burn? How do you get over it faster? How do you cope with a whiny spouse, whether it’s you or your hubs? Or the missus?

A garage sale philosophy

Do you guys think you know me pretty well?

Yes?

So I shouldn’t need to tell you that I love garage sales, thrift shops, used-clothing stores, and estate sales. But I’m going to tell you anyway.

And, actually, I’d never been to an estate sale before Saturday, but I love them now.

Because, I found this there:

It was love at first sight. Of course.

I didn’t know if we should buy it. It was $10 and that’s usually my limit for impulse, un-needed items…but Hubs convinced me it was okay and that it was something we’d regret not buying later on.

Does it have a place in our apartment? Not quite, but it will have a place in our future home. Whenever we find it.

It still needs a good cleaning, but I’m sure Mr. Clean’s magic eraser will be up for the challenge.

Where did we find this little bargain? At an estate sale less than five minutes from where we live on Saturday morning. Hubs and I had a great time looking for deals at garage sales that morning. Even though I had to drag him out of bed to get there on time.

We stopped at the estate sale on a whim and were so glad we did. I had no idea my life (and my living room for now) had a big yellow step-stool-chair-sized hole in it.

We also found these at the estate sale:

Hubs found these new loves of my life.

He found one chair, it was dirty and a little rusty…but he liked it and convinced me (easily) that the $2 was worth it.) When we were offered a cleaner, matching one from underneath the hind end of the lady taking the money, we jumped on it and made out with our new favorite summer seats.

A little sanding to remove the rust, a coat of silver enamel from my parents’ basement supply of various spray paints, and a good scrub? They are like new and awesome.

I also picked up these cuties:

They are really teal and purple, but you get the idea, right?

Can you believe these were brand new (with tags) for $1?! I’m not one for buying used shoes, but these melted my heart right away.

I also was swept away by these:

These are happy feet. I haven’t decided if I’m going to use the laces or not, what do you think?

Also brand new, and also only $1. Wowza!

And do I care if they used to belong to an old lady somewhere you never wore them? Nope. They’re mine now, and I’ll love them like they deserve to be loved.

I also picked up these fun classics for how much, do you think?

If you guessed 10 cents each, you’d be right, but you didn’t guess that, did you? Because that would have been crazy. (And it was!)

I found the red one online selling for $20. It’s a first edition…

Getting good deals can be addictive…

All in all, it was a very productive way to spend two hours, and less than twenty bucks!

Our whole haul.

I’ll admit that I always feel a little silly walking up to a garage sale since I’ve been on the other side of the folding table hoping everyone who walks up will “please buy my junk, please buy my junk!”

But I soon get over that and settle into the art of looking through trash to find treasures.

What about you? Do you garage sale? What’s the best thing you’ve ever found? What’s your best tip for getting a good deal?

Time flies…

Lately I’ve been feeling that the past year has totally and completely flown by.

Yes, I know that’s something “adults” say. And that the more I say it, the more I sound like my parents, or my grandparents.

But when I think back to last year at this time, when I was newly graduated and planning a wedding. Now we’ve made it almost a year! Holy cow!

There’s so much we haven’t done yet, so much we haven’t learned or seen.

Still, at the same, I can’t help thinking that the months seem to be slowing down and dragging on a little. I keep thinking, “Oh no! We forgot to pay the rent!” But we didn’t forget, it’s just still May…so we don’t have to pay again until June…

And I also think, “Oh my goodness, this week has gone fast! It’s already Friday! There’s still so much I need to do…like laundry!”

Why does my brain have such a hard time adjusting to the weird schedule we’ve fallen into? Why does it feel like time is both flying by and standing still? Why can’t I figure out how to better manage my time at home with Hubs? IT’s like we get sucked into this newlywed time warp and the few hours after dinner and before bed are gone before they begin, thus, no housework gets done.

And then on my day “off,” I’m scrambling to do dishes, uncover all the table surfaces in our tiny apartment that are buried under mail and coats and cloths and newspapers and…shoes? Oh, Hubs!

So, I’m off to have a productive day. What about you? Big plans? Small plans? No plans? Do you feel like life is dragging on or flying by?

Also, please leave a comment or suggestion on yesterday’s post about how to make better, faster week night meals. We can’t have sandwiches all the time. We need some ideas on what’s fast to make and good to take! (In the car that is.) Or what’s SO fast we can eat before we leave!

Advice from you! Best way to make a meal on a weeknight

Ok, so recently, we’ve been doing a lot of quicker, weeknight-type meals. The idea of homemade pizza has come up a few times. As well as the idea of fish that comes canned…besides tuna, and what we can do with it.

Please help! I know you guys are good cooks, so tell me how to make this work!