James and I recently started going to a young adult bible study, and it's been really fun but it's also called me out on my lifestyle like....a lot. What am I being called out for? Well I tend to overdo it sometimes with scheduling our social lives. I always have something planned whether it be friends coming over, going out, or planning a trip. We're always doing something! And that's not always a bad thing, but recently it's become a bit overwhelming. I found out the other day that James feels that he has little to no control over his free time because I'm always filling it and that made me feel so bad! But he's right, I think since the summer began there've been few weeks where we've had more than 1 evening off and we're starting to get burnt out. I've always known life is a balancing act but I didn't realize how much our schedules related to our mental health. But boy does it.
The Friend Struggle
During my scholastic career I have made many friends both long term and short term. It's easy to make friends when you are going to school with kids your age and even easier in college when you are basically living with them! I went to college in 2014 and made some of my closest friends that first week of freshman year. Since then I have stuck with my tight knit friend group (quality over quantity right?) and we all stuck around the Northshore area after graduation so I didn't have to worry about branching out yet.
No More Bread
So James and I are going to attempt our no bread diet for the next 30 days. The plan? To cut out all bread, pasta, and try to reduce as many heavy carbs as we can. Will it be difficult? Absolutely. Will we accomplish it? I honestly don't know!
Anniversary Dinner: A Review
So Monday was my 6 month wedding anniversary! Which I know is not a huge deal but it was still fun to celebrate as it also happened to be our 4 year dating anniversary! So instead of going all out on Valentine's Day, we went out to a nice dinner. And because of a very generous Christmas present in the form of a gift card we were able to eat at a very swanky restaurant.
An Open Letter to my Husband
First let me start off by saying "WE'RE MARRIED!!!" I know I say that like once a day but I still cannot get over it! Who knew that on February 17th, 2016 two college kids with a budding romance would get married?! I certainly didn't. Meeting you that night, was 100% love at first sight.
Cat’s Got My Heart
So there is a member of my family I don't talk about very much on here and that is my cat Crookshanks! Before James and I even got married we knew we wanted to get a pet to share, but being young and nervous about caring for another living creature we decided to wait. Our time frame? 6 months into our marriage! How long did we actually make it? 5 weeks...so we're not the most patient people, sorry, not sorry. Adopting our sweet 20 pound orange cat was one of the best decisions we've made as a married couple!
Two Houses Down, On The Right
I get it, after marriage we're supposed to cleave to our significant others and leave behind our old lives as daughters, sons, brothers, and sisters. But that doesn't mean it isn't hard! After the wedding in August, I packed up my apartment, said goodbye to my best friends, a steady job, and my family and moved up to New York. Now I don't regret this decision but it still hurts to be so far away from my loved ones and I think that's okay.
Mourning
It's been almost 5 months of married life and although I love it, I know that James and I do miss parts of our lives from before the wedding and living together. This post is basically talking about how it's ok to be married and mourn your old life, it happens to everyone and it doesn't stop at getting married. It happens to new parents and it happens whenever change occurs. We always look back at these moments in our lives and think "I had it so good then." We almost romanticize the old because we are putting away the bad memories and moments that occurred without considering that both the good and bad happen whether it be the past, the present, or the future.
It’s the Little Things
Before James and I were married, I was excite about the wedding and living together and Before James and I were married, I was excited about the wedding and living together and having a kid. Real big picture stuff, you know? And the wedding was cool and living together has been going pretty well but over the last 4 months instead of looking at the journey of where we're headed, I find I'm enjoying the smaller moments in our life.
A(rleo) to Z Cooking
I grew up in a family where my dad cooked and boy did he cook well! We ate all sorts of things from all over the world and it really made my brother and I appreciate other cultures in a deeper way. Although I'm not gonna lie, we definitely didn't appreciate eating all of this different stuff when we were kids. The only thing about eating all of this wonderful food though is that my Dad loved to cook so much that he wanted to do a lot of it and we didn't get to learn too much about what he was doing. Appreciate the passion though Dad! You made so many killer dishes! The lack of practice didn't seem like it would affect me at the time, Dad did his cooking thing and the rest of the family did our setting the table and getting ready to eat thing. It wasn't until I got out of college in 2017 that I realized my cooking skills were very much so lacking. I was finding myself limited to salads, chicken nuggets and fries, and a twist on my favorite polish dish: Goลฤ bki, or stuffed cabbage, only I never stuffed it, I just cooked all the ingredients together. I was fine with eating these things as a bachelorette, I didn't have to worry about anyone else's taste buds and it made for cheap groceries.
A Field Guide to Marrying Young 