What The Walking Dead and Taylor Swift have to do with being a newlywed

Today Aaron and I have been married for three months. It seems like much longer in the best way possible!! I am looking forward to many, many more months and years, and also enjoying where we are right now.

If you have been following my '31 days of newlywed life' posts, you've noticed that I missed a day and half. But let me explain.

Part of newlywed life that I've learned over and over again is to be self-less. (Really that is a lesson for all of life, but I'll briefly explain how it pertains to newlywed life and ours in particular this weekend). These past three months I have learned (in huge doses) that part of being married is being self-less. 

 My own self wants to be at all the Sounders games with Aaron. And if I can't go, then I want Aaron to stay home and watch them with me. My own self wants to watch Gossip Girl just a little more than it wants to watch The Walking Dead. And my own self definitely wants to listen to Taylor Swift... a lot more than my own self gets to. My self wants to be with Aaron all the time and not share him with middle school students. Or high school students. Do you see how this is sounding ridiculous? 

Obviously no one is that selfish. Or maybe they are. But in being a newlywed, I learning to give up what I want in order to be a better wife. There are times where I have to completely give up something in order to meet a need we have (think shopping for clothes and/or crafts vs. paying extra on our student debt to pay it down faster) and times when we compromise so that Aaron and I are both happy, like listening to Jack Johnson instead of T-Swift in the car.

This weekend was another full weekend. I'll spare you the boring details, but I chose to spend the free time I had with Aaron instead of keeping up with my blogging. If that makes me a bad blogger and a failure at the 31 day challenge, so be it. I'm trying to be an awesome wife first.

Nail polish, sister wives and praying for a snow day: Five on Friday

I am really loving these Five on Friday posts. They give me a chance to talk about 5 little things that I may not want to write an entire post about. Ya know?

So since I'm also doing the 31 days of newlywed life challenge, my five this week will pertain to my newlywed life. 

[ONE]

One of my favorite things is having freshly painted nails. One of Aaron's least favorite things is when I have freshly painted nails. He absolutely hates the smell. I mean, who loves it? I just deal with it because I love my nails to be painted. But while he is at work, I painted my nails a beautiful shade of red. I'll wash my hands 26 times before I see him this afternoon, and I'm sure the first thing he'll do is crinkle his nose and ask if I painted my nails. I'm sorry honey!

[TWO]

I've spent the past 10 months (since we got engaged) praying for a snow day this coming winter. First, because I love snow. And second because the thought of staying home snuggled up with my husband, venturing out only for coffee, sounds amazing. So I was as surprised and anyone when school was cancelled on Monday due to a short-lived power outage!
 We spent the morning sleeping in, then running errands in comfy clothes. We even went out to a little diner for a late, late breakfast. It was perfect. But I'm still praying for snow!

[THREE]

Yesterday was not my best day. Thursdays are CRAZY for us. We've got about 14 different things going on at any given moment. And none of them are together. After nannying and school and work and school board meetings and bible study, we got home to a mess of a house. I didn't even realize that our bed was covered in two loads of laundry. I planned on taking a picture and posting it of all of our laundry piled on the couch, showing my defeat. But I didn't. Does laundry multiply on its own?

[FOUR]

One of my favorite things about being Aaron's wife is being able to support him and his band at different games and such. Tonight is his school's homecoming game, and I am pretty excited about going and watching them play. I graduated from the school he teaches at (waaay before he started teaching!) and the band was NEVER as cool as it is now. The pep band alone is 90 kids strong. 90?! In our tiny town? It is crazy.

[FIVE]

I've been watching Sister Wives today while cleaning and blogging, and this show continues to blow my mind. Even more so now that I am married. The wives are continually saying, "I just struggle with jealously and I need to get past it." And I keep thinking, "Of course you do! Is it not obvious why?" It is one of those shows that I can't watch, but can't not watch. It fascinates me. Anyone else?

So go on and read some other five on Friday posts, and HAPPY FRIDAY!

Unintentionally injuring my husband

I don't know if anyone else has had this problem, but in the first 3 months of marriage I have managed to elbow, kick, scratch and poke my poor husband so many times I've lost count. I also cut the side of his head while cutting his hair. Seriously, I just poked him in the face while talking about my blog post. And when I got home from nannying, I scratched his face. Hard. Completely on accident. 

Aaron and I in Mexico with his (our) family when we got engaged. Before I became an accidental husband puncher.

Maybe it is because we're often in such close proximity to each other. Or maybe I'm just a terrible wife. (Totally kidding, I hope!) This cannot be normal!

So, on record, on the internet, I just want to say that I love my husband dearly. He is incredible for putting up with me. And I have never elbowed him on purpose. I promise.

Newlywed Life: Day Two

I've been joking a lot recently about the fact that I'm a stay at home wife. But that is only to keep myself from being upset about not working. For the past six years, I have been working multiple jobs. And for the past year and a half, I've also been a full-time student. You can imagine how weird it felt when the non-profit I worked for dissolved itself.

It would be wonderful if I didn't need to work and could just focus on school. But that is not our reality. So while I've been looking for a new job, our house has been pretty much perfect. I have all this extra time, so our floors get swept daily. And the bed gets made every morning. And there is never any laundry out. AND I've decorated for fall. I'm not sure how that's all going to go when I'm working again... :)

I'm also trying to make things as easy for Aaron at home as possible. Obviously cleaning, because I love to do it and I hate messes... but also with organizing, meal planning, grocery shopping and other random things that just have to get done. He works beyond hard. Even when I am working, so I like having the extra time to make things easier for him.

We've also both picked up some odd jobs in the meantime. I nanny for a family friend once a week, and pick up any other babysitting jobs that are offered as often as I can. Aaron refs soccer on the weekends, and we spend most all of our time at home doing things that don't cost money.

God has completely provided everything we need in this last month of my stay-at-home-wife-life. I am eagerly awaiting what He has planned for me next, and know His timing on a job will be better than what I can do for myself. Until then... I have to go switch over the laundry! ;)

 

31 days of newlywed life: day one.

I decided to join up with a cool 31 days of blogging project via Nesting Place. Bloggers choose a topic and blog about it each day for the month of October. 31 days! There are literally thousands of topics going on out in the blogging world, so it took me some time to figure out what I really wanted to write about.

You know, something that won't get boring for me to write about. Something that won't make me have to do 31 different DIY projects (people doing this, more power to ya!). But also something that is interesting for you, the reader. So, I chose to blog about newlywed life. Because it is my life right now. And I won't be for long... because how long can you really be considered a newlywed? 6 months? A year? I don't know... so I'm jumping on this now.

This is me and my husband on the real day one of our married life adventure. Smiling and happy and pretty (and handsome). We're still that way, just not as fancy. ;)

I think I'll start off this first post with a little list. Because I love lists. And I almost did a 31 days of lists post. Maybe I'll save that for next time. Anyway, a list.

Five Things That Changed When I Got Married

1. I started a real budget. And actually, we started it part-way into our engagement, because paying for a wedding starts to merge your incomes. Anyway, serious, down-to-the-penny budgeting is the best thing ever. It doesn't mean that I don't spend money on fun things, but with student loans for both of us and the dream of someday owning a home on a teacher's salary, we get giddy about budgeting. And saving. And paying off debt. 

2. I get way more sleep. Before we were married, Aaron and I did not live together. So each night after work I'd go to his house, or he'd come to mine and we would hang out until 10:30pm. That was our cut-off time. Then we'd say goodbye and go home to shower, make the next day's lunch and unwind before going to sleep. NOW we have so much more time together! We can get things together and get ready for bed together, and sleep much better and much more! 

3. I waste much less food. I am not a huge fan of leftovers. Some things I love, but not much. Aaron is the opposite, so we waste very, very little food. I like this.

4. I have more laundry. Yes, that is obvious. But when it was just me, I hated doing such small loads of laundry when I needed clothes. That is absolutely never the problem anymore.

5. I am more prayerful and observant of God's hand in our lives and marriage. I love having what God says to me be confirmed through Him speaking to Aaron as well. I am able to put to practice patience and asking forgiveness and grace on a daily basis. Not because of anything either of us does purposefully, but just because living in such close quarters with someone you love is hard. And fun. And stretching. In the best possible ways.