Well that was fun.. so here's another!

First Christmas

Since we aren't incredibly established and aren't yet pulling in the 7 figures we will be we decided to set a $100 budget for Christmas presents for each other. This way we could have some money to go stay in Jackson Hole or PC for a couple nights and snowboard, be romantic, etc. Well I'm convinced we will get better at sticking to budgets but we had already spent more than that by the time Black Friday rolled around. We got some great deals, but embarrassingly spent way over our allotted budget. (in our defense we are building up the things we own from the ground up)- (or from the bottom to the top). 

It was all worth it in the end to look at our beautiful, puny Christmas tree-complete with 6 ornaments. It made me even happier to put our Black Friday findings under it and our new wrapping paper beside it. 

Our four room apartment is really great. We decorated every square inch of it (read: I decorated every square inch of it). When I say four room apt it makes it sound a lot bigger. Notice I didn't say four bedroom apt. Jokes on you. Unless you've seen it. And in that case-joke on everyone, involved. 

Another thought: I think we need a puppy to dress up in Santa clothes. My sister and I took my family's dog, Mars, to Petco looking for outfits and Mars pooped right when we walked in out of pure excitement. I want to spread that kind of excitement. 

Love, sweet Love

Marriage

It's interesting that when you get married you become a lot more aware of your actions. It used to be that I could come home from a long (or short) day of school and just watch Netflix or, on the productive occasion, paint, write, read; etc-but mostly watch Netflix. My responsibilities did more than double when Todd and I got married, they quadrupled. I don't know how it happened but we rarely have any spare time and (honestly)I constantly feel like I'm not doing enough. Part of this is because of how close we are to our parents (which is wonderful) and part of it is probably just real life. I'm learning and I have a long way to go. 

Another adjustment that everyone warned me about: online shopping- and really just shopping in general. Thankfully my husband is pretty good about this, and lets me get most everything I ask for, within reason. He was not very good, understandably?, about a certain green dress I bought before our wedding from Emerson Fry for 400 bones. You only get married once though right! I intended to wear it for our engagements that we intended to do in Murfreesboro, TN, but intentions alone could not create engagement photos.. the dress became slightly worthless aaaaand after some tears we traded it in for a $400 sweater instead!

It is literally the best thing I could have ever hoped for being married to this guy. He is hard working, mostly patient, creative, more handsome than Thor AND he's even learning to laugh at my jokes.

One of my favorite things to do when we lived in Tennessee was to read the notes that Todd would write on the iPad when we he was out knocking in Nashville for Vivint, and I was back at the apartments in the Boro. For a while he didn't know that back when I was in school I had synced my iPad to my iPhone so everything was shared. He would write motivational things to help him stay driven or details he needed to remember about individuals, but he would also write different thoughts he would have throughout the day (something he did on his own phone before we moved to TN). It was the best insight into what he was thinking because he isn't always a huge sharer. One of my favorites was: "Make a joke about who the boss is," apparently a technique he would use with people on the doors. Sometimes I'm a big bully of a wife and still look at what he has written periodically. One of the more recent entries was before we had bought our Honda CRV and we still had my old Civic. He wrote I'm going to take this Civic from the bottom to the top. He must have been listening to rap music, but the message was just so positive and optimistic I died when I read it.

One of my most favorite things about Todd though is his ability to produce endless one-liners and make life a little lighter. Most of them are dirty but a few of them are funny things he doesn't even really realize he says. Like the other day I told him "you're just a bully babe" to which he responded "you're just so sensitive, like a piece of Kobe steak."

I feel like I'm writing a paper for my second grade class. One of my favorite things to do, one of my favorite things about Todd.. So, in keeping with the flow, to finish I will write one of my favorite things about being married:

I love that whatever is important to me becomes important to him. Yesterday I was outside and he text me to let me know that my shows were going to be on soon (New Girl and The Mindy Project). He listens to me complain, tries to keep up on whatever drama is going on with my friends, and tries to find a way for me to do whatever it is I want to do (instead of just talking about it). 

I hope this wasn't too sappy for you, I'll be better next time :)

The End.