Why We Work

I knew right away that Nick and I would have something special. I just felt it. It was different from any of the past relationships that I had been in. I had been in love before but there was always something missing. When I first got to know Nick I knew that I had found it. That something missing.

It's not like our relationship is perfect. Far from it. We definitely don't always see eye to eye and we are both extremely stubborn and that can be difficult. But the reality is, we just get each other.

We share everything. I mean everything. He doesn't always like that part of the deal. I'm always stealing his shirts to sleep in. They just fit perfectly, and no, I can't go buy my own because that's not the same. We share our goals, our plans, and a vision for the future of our family. We share many of the same values and beliefs. We share a need to constantly be moving forward. Growing, learning, building.

We balance each other out. I tend to have a pretty relaxed attitude about things. I can generally keep pretty calm, especially when he gets worked up or frustrated about something. Some might call it lackadaisical, I like to call it going with the flow. Nick is more regimented and disciplined. Each of these qualities are good for the other one. He keeps me in check, and I tell him when he needs to calm the F down.

We like being together. I mean.. it can't get more basic than that. The person that you marry should probably someone that you generally like being around... all. the. time. I look forward to weekends the most when I know that it's just going to be the two of us. Even if it's a weekend full of projects, cleaning, and errand running. Those are the best weekends. And that's real life.

We've only been married a year and half or so, so I'm not going to even pretend like I know anything about what makes a marriage last. But I do know what I need out of a relationship in order to be successful in it. In general we are good at communicating with each other. That aspect can always be improved upon though. We agreed early on to try our best to never let issues fester.  I struggle with this one because I don't like to nag. And I don't really like to be told what to do either so I'm a work in progress on this one.

We never ever say unkind things to each other out of anger. This is a big one. I truly believe that if you say something hurtful on purpose, you can't ever take that hurt back. You can apologize and you can move past it but it's hard to forget about it. There are some things you just can't take back. ever.

If we start to bicker, especially if it's about something stupid {it's always about something stupid} we will both go off and do something on our own. I'm not talking leave the house, I'm talking go into the other room and fold laundry or watch TV and leave each other alone for a little bit. That's all it takes. Neither of us are "escalators" and thank God for that.

We love each other. This doesn't need an explanation. We just do.


I'm a day late, but I'm linking up with The Daily Tay for this fun little love fest.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Grading my 2014 Goals

I wrote this post at the beginning of January and completely forgot to post it. Now that we are a month into the new year let's see where I stand with the goals I set for myself when I was feeling inspired and ambitious.

 

I've never been one for new years resolutions. I've always avoided the gym for the first couple months of the year. I refuse to be lumped into the mass of people that only work out because of their new year resolution and just end up taking up machines at the gym so they can slowly walk and watch tv at the same time. Major pet peeve.

 

- Try to cut out processed meats. Specifically deli meats. My plan is to start cooking a whole chicken once every week or two to cut up/shred for lunch meat on salads and sandwiches. This is going to take some extra planning and preparation on my part but I think we will be both be better off for it. Adios sodium. This is actually happening.. or has happened at least two times so far this last month. So far I am a big fan of having fresh chicken in my fridge to snack on and for salads and pitas at lunch. Nick takes a big Tupperware full with him to work to put on his sandwiches. So far, so good.

 

- Start working out together at least a couple times a week. I love the idea of doing regular work outs with my hubs. It's hard not to fall into a routine of eating dinner and then sitting on the couch to watch a few shows. But, I want to at least do this a few days a week. Once it warms up again I also want to start playing tennis at least once a week at the tennis courts in our community. This has happened once twice. I made him to a Jillian Michaels video with me and it absolutely kicked both our butts. We like different work out music so I'm not sure if this is going to turn into a habit. I am listening to my girl B Spears Work Bitch on repeat, and he prefers 80's throw backs that just don't pump be up. Sorry husband.

- Find our permanent church and attend services on some kind of regular basis. We always go on Easter & Christmas no matter what but right now I feel like that's just not enough. I want to invest myself into my church home and really start building a relationship with a church family. We have a couple that we want to try out before we make the move from the church that Nick grew up in. I'm excited about this one! Also, a check mark on my 30 by 30. So far no movement on this one but we did talk about it the other night. I'm going to put a date on the calendar just to make sure we make it once before Easter. One step closer...

Okay so maybe I haven't been doing all that well but nothing has completely fallen off yet so I don't feel that bad.





Friday Brain Dump

I haven't had much to write about lately. Not much to share, or anything particularly special to say. Usually our weekends are packed full of trips and we hardly ever get a chance to be home two weekends in a row, much less an entire month of weekends in a row! It has been nice and I feel relaxed. February is going to be a whole lot of the same and I'm looking forward to it.

January has felt like an extremely long month and I'm ready for it to be over. I had a wonderful birthday week. Like, maybe one of the best birthdays that I've had in a really long time. My cute friend Jeanette and her hubby-to-be came to visit for my birthday party and brought their new baby Ludo. Teddy was beside himself with glee to have another furry baby to play with and Cubby tried to beat him up. Cubby is 10 pounds... Ludo is a full sized German Shepherd. Someone has a big ego in our house, and for once it's not me! ha!

We finally started some projects and it feels like our house has been turned upside down. I got excited and started painting our room last week... we were shocked and disappointed to find that the gray we had very carefully chosen turned lavender once it got on the walls. A purple room wasn't going to fly with this husband of mine and I had to spend two days at the paint counter at Dunn Edwards. Luckily my job comes with a hefty industry discount, otherwise my misadventures in painting over the weekend might have completely drained our bank accounts. We ended up with the perfect shade of gray and we are both happy as can be. {By the way... is it gray, or is it grey? wtf}

The master bedroom still isn't finished but we are slowly getting closer and I can't wait to share some photos once we are completely done. I have seriously been waiting for this forever.

Since our bedroom was already torn to pieces we decided... why not rip up the kitchen too? We've been waiting for almost 4 years to redo the kitchen and finally pulled the trigger. We met with the crew we were hiring on Friday and picked out our granite the next day. I'm calling this whole venture Operation Grown Up Kitchen. I am so excited for everything to be done but we are only about half way there. You can find me up to my elbows in grout and tile dust for the next couple weeks.

Ok so I have some other random thoughts I want to talk about for a minute.

• I don't know why I even give the tiniest little shit about this... but I was seriously pissed when they revealed the identities of Daft Punk yesterday on GMA. Someone followed them through the airport and took a picture when the TSA made them take their Darth Vader helmets off. I'm not even any kind of fan of this band at all, and I'm laughing at myself for even writing this right now. But really?
• The two minute standing ovation for Cory Remsburg during the State of the Union this week made me cry like a little baby. Every little thing has been making me cry lately but that was seriously touching. I've been avoiding watching the new Budweiser commercial all week because I know what's-a-comin.
• Our family plays a little Bachelor/Bachelorette game similar to fantasy football. My #1 pick was Nikki and I'm already starting to regret it. It's still early to say but I don't think she's going to win after all. I love Chelsie. I think she is so cute and goofy, and is it just me or does she look a little bit like Kristen Bell? She's somewhere in my line up too but I don't think she'll win. My vote is for Andi at this point, even though she's not going to win me any money.
• I've pretty much gained 10 pounds since our wedding, officially making me the heaviest that I've ever been. I always played sports and inadvertently kept weight off my whole life until now. Turns out sitting at a desk for 8ish hours a day doesn't do great things for your core. I've been trying to work out, but all of our projects going on it's been hard to get into a real routine. Operation Grown Up Kitchen is about to turn into Operation Holy Moly.

Happy happy Friday!!

Five on Friday

Happy Friday, indeed! The first full work week after the holidays is always the hardest. My schedule between mid December and New Years went a little like this.. work a day here.. take a few days off... work a half day.. enjoy the weekend... work one or two days.. take a few days off. Amazing. That is my idea of a good time. 

I'm linking up with April, Christina, & Co  today for my favorite post of all, on my favorite day of all!

::One::
I do love getting back to our normal routine. It feels good to get reorganized and check some long pending items off of my To Do list. Also, I got my new planner and that just makes me happy. I have confessed before that I am a calendarholic. It's almost absurd how many calendars I use. I use iCal on my phone, a planner, an Outlook calendar in my work email, a desk calendar, and a white board calendar on our fridge. I don't know why I feel like all of these are necessary but I do. Yes, I keep all of the same dates, appointments, meal plants, meetings, etc. on all of the calendars.

::Two::
My sweet mama got me a pretty pink Fitbit for my birthday and I am loving it! I got the Zip that just clips right onto my bra, or pants, or whatever, and I have completely forgotten that I even have it on. I've been logging my meals, calories, and water intake and checking my phone like a fiend for updates on how many steps I've taken so far. I almost met the 10,000 steps per day goal on Wednesday without even getting a workout in!

::Three::
We finally got a new fridge! If you would have told my college self how exciting new appliances are I would have laughed at you. I guess this means we are real grown ups now. We got a pretty new Kenmore this week and I am seriously in love. We are retiring our old fridge, formerly Nick's parents old fridge, to his sister. Adios old rusty!  This is the first step for our kitchen renovation that we have in the works. Up next, we are replacing our old blue counters with pretty new granite, refinishing our cabinets and putting in new wood floors throughout the house.

::Four::
It's almost my birthday! I love Christmas & Thanksgiving, but my birthday is definitely my favorite holiday of all. And yes, I do consider it a holiday. Nick asked what I wanted for my birthday and I told him, a real birthday party! A party with cupcakes and pretty pink drinks and streamers and birthday hats and fun napkins. I am super excited to spend my favorite day with all of my favorite friends.

::Five:: 

Back to my calendars. Nick and I have been talking about being intentional with our calendar this year. It seems like almost every month last year we were booked solid every weekend. This left no time for spontaneous dates or for stuff with friends that wasn't planned ahead of time.With all of the projects we have coming up I am really looking forward to spending so much time at home.

Happy HAPPY Friday! 

2013 Wrap Up

This year has been a special one.

 It's hard to believe that we just celebrated our 2nd New Years as a married couple and the fourth anniversary of when we started dating. Crazy how time flies!

 New Years is always an emotional time for me. Emotional in a nostalgic, look at us, here we are kind of way. I always get a little choked up right around the time the ball drops.

 

2013 hasn't been especially exciting but it has been one of the most comfortable, consistent years that I've had in my whole life and I don't think I've ever been so happy or so content. Ever.

 

Also? I am anticipating that 2013 will be our last full year without kids. At least we are hoping and praying that it is. I want more than anything to be holding a little bundle {or at least be baking one} as we ring in 2015.

 

My FIL has a New Years tradition that I love. Every year on new years day we sit around and he writes down every memorable moment from the past year. I love talking about each memory with the family and everyone helps to think of things to write down. He writes everything down in a tattered little note book that he's had for years. When we're all done he reads the entire list out loud. I've only been a part of this family for the last few years so I've only been able to be a part of this fun tradition for a little while but it's one of my favorites.

 

I want to start the same tradition with our little family and what better place to do it than on this little  bloggy of mine?  So, what did we do this last year...
{most of these photos are duplicates from past posts or Insta} 

: : January : :

We celebrated New Years at the family cabin in Arnold, visited my parents, and celebrated my 26th birthday in Arcata with friends.

 

: : February : :

We brought Teddy home and celebrated Valentines with our annual crab and champagne picnic on the floor in our bedroom.

 

: : March : :

Celebrated our first Easter as married people with church and champagne brunch.

 

: : April : :

I finished my first certification for work, we did our annual tailgate for the A's home opener, joined our first and favorite wine clubs, saw Lady A at Shoreline, and spent the weekend as tourists in San Francisco with friends.

: : May : :

My mom came to visit for Mother's day and my mom and I hosted my sister's bridal shower back at home. We spent most of the spring and summer enjoying our season tickets at the O.Co. watching the A's.

 

: : June : :

I took a short vacation with my mom to San Diego to watch my friend preform in Les Miserables, and we celebrated Father's Day at our favorite winery for their annual club member's BBQ. We traveled up to Oregon for my sister & BIL's wedding and Nick turned 28 that same day! We celebrated Nick's birthday a week late with a trip to Napa.

 

: : July : :

We spent 4th of July weekend on the houseboat at Lake Don Pedro, took a family camping trip to Bullard's Bar and saw John Mayer.

 

: : August : :
We took a family vacation to Maui for 8 glorious days.

 

: : September : :
We harvested the vineyards a little earlier than normal, closed escrow on our refinance and I officially became a homeowner, celebrated our 1st Anniversary in Napa with a hot air balloon ride, and Teddy had surgery on his poor little head.

 

: : October : :

We tailgated for the A's playoffs game against the Tigers, took a trip to visit my parents, and had a Halloween party with Nick's parents and their wine club.

 

: : November : :

My sister made a surprise visit to the Bay Area to celebrate her birthday, Mom's birthday and early Thanksgiving. We took a much needed trip alone to the family cabin in Arnold to rest and rejuvenate before the holidays, celebrated Thanksgiving in Napa, and went to Nick's 10 year High School reunion.

 

: : December : :

We celebrated Christmas with family and thanked God for our blessings. I am so thankful for everything that 2013 brought us. We are looking forward to getting started on some major home improvement projects and some exciting changes for our family. I have a feeling that 2014 is going to be amazing.

 

Merry Merry Christmas!

We had the most wonderful Christmas! I think this year was the best one yet.

Nick and I both took Christmas Eve off so our vacation started Monday night {Christmas Eve Eve}. I picked him up from his company holiday party and we packed the dogs in the car and drove around our neighborhood to look at Christmas lights.

Our crazy neighbor!
via

When we got home I made a cozy bed on the living room floor for our Christmas tree sleep over. We snuggled in bed with The Santa Clause on my laptop and had the coziest sleep ever!

 

 

 Christmas Eve morning we woke up and had coffee in bed and opened our stockings. We started a tradition a few years ago of just getting each other stockings when we were broke new homeowners. It kind of stuck and has become one of my favorite parts of Christmas.

 

 

We packed all of our presents into the car and headed to the in-loves for pre-church happy hour. Because, I don't care what you say, singing at church is always more fun after a cocktail. We went to the 4:00 Children's Mass which I love and then Christmas Eve dinner on the harbor.

 

Via

We went home to play Christmas Rummy {another favorite family tradition} and didn't go to bed until 2:00.

 

We woke up late on Christmas morning for Portuguese sausage and presents. The rest of the family came over in the afternoon and we ate and drank the day away and ended the night with annual M family charades.

Our favorite littles!

All of the girls

 

Friday was back to work for a half day and then we loaded up more presents into the car for a quick 5 hour drive to see my family in Mt. Shasta. There is usually tons of snow this time of year, but this year there was hardly any. Instead, every lake is frozen over solid. It was so nice to get to spend a belated Christmas weekend with both of my parents and my sister & brother in law. We just love them all so much!

 

The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer...

Is singing loud for all to hear!

 

Or...

 

Spending $100 {look away husband!} to send a pretty Christmas card to everyone you love.

 

Christmas cards. There are few things I love more than Christmas cards. When I was growing up my parents sent the kind of Christmas card where they would write a two page letter about every single thing each family member had done that year. My mom would say things like "Camille likes to climb up on the roof and read books. {I did love doing that} She can read an entire Box Car Children book in one sitting!" and I would die of embarrassment. Then they would attach some family photos that they had taken when we were on a hike somewhere. My bangs would be entirely too fluffy or crooked and I would probably be wearing pants that didn't quite reach the tops of my shoes.

 

I have been impatiently waiting to send my own Christmas cards for like..  years. The year we got engaged we didn't send one because our Save the Dates went out in January and it was too close to Christmas to send both. The year we got married our thank you cards went out in November and it was too close again to send a Christmas card. Both of those were covered in engagement photos and wedding photos and we figured that if we sent people one more picture of us they were going to unfriend us forever.

 

Each year our fridge has been covered in other people's Christmas cards. This is my favorite thing in the whole world. I love seeing our friends chubby babies, pets, and smiling faces all December long. I love opening Christmas card mail. So, I was particularly excited knowing that this year was finally my year to send a Christmas card along with everyone else. Or so I thought...

 

{Here is where I'm going to complain.} I don't know if it's because Thanksgiving was a week late, giving us one less week between Holidays for Christmasy types of things {ahem... like sending me my Christmas card} or maybe everyone actually did unfriend us after receiving too many photos in the mail. Either way we have so far received 2 cards this year. Two. One is from our mortgage agent. The other from Nick's dentist. I won't lie, I'm a little sad about it.

 

Either way I am in love with how our {first!!} card turned out and I will hope for more cards next year.

 

Merry almost Christmas friends!!