About 365 days of marriage

I started this blog in April of 2011. At the time, Bret and I were wedding photographers and it was a way to share how marriage is more about the day to day and so much more than the wedding day itself. For about 5 years, I blogged about the joys and sorrows of the Christian walk, marriage, work, family and friends. I’ve blogged every day since a few weeks after I started. In May of 2015, we photographed our last wedding. Now, I have become passionate about simplicity, particularly in marriage, Christianity, business, travel and life. For a number of reasons, we have become minimalists. I’ve found that having simplicity makes life so much deeper, refreshing and joyful. I hope that this blog will help others see the benefits of living simply.

Day 2401 – Sometimes, My Husband Is Not Perfect

Posted on February 6, 2016 by 365 days of marriage

If you’ve read this blog any amount of time or if you know Bret and I in person, it might seem like I think he’s just the greatest and can do no wrong. While this is true about 99.5% of the time (ok, minus the “do no wrong” part….he’s not perfect), there is that 0.5% of the time when he royally screws up. I want to pull back the curtain on our marriage and tell you about two recent experiences.

Last night, I spent about 2 hours shopping at various grocery stores. I’ve been trying really hard to not go crazy with junk food. After the snow storm and the gallons of soda and energy drinks as well as pounds and pounds of snacks and treats…I’ve been wanting to stay more strict in what I eat. I felt quite proud of myself after walking through the ENTIRE Wal-Mart bakery section and NOT getting anything. Oh. So. Proud. In a moment of weakness, I grabbed a Mt. Dew and a King Sized Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup. Four glorious cups. Two for me and two for Bret. My mouth drooled with anticipation.

After everything was put away in the cabinets and fridge, I settled in front of my computer to eat some of the snacks. I only got TWO bags of snack foods….that’s a LOT less than normal. Again, super proud of myself. Bret was playing video games, so we had our backs to each other. After eating about half of each bag, I was ready for some sweet treats. Here is how our conversation went.

Me: ::walks around apartment….searching…:: Bret, where are the Reese’s?
Bret: ::looooooooong pause::….I….ate…..them….all…
Me: What? Really?! You never eat everything! You always ask before you eat the last one!
Bret: I’m so sorry. 😦

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I jokingly stayed mad at him and this morning, gave him a very hard time. After every request, I would remind him of his downfall – can you make some coffee? It’s the least you can do after eating all of the Reese’s. Can you come give me a hug? I mean, you did eat all the Reese’s.

As we were laughing about this, he did express genuine sorrow about the situation. This is NOT like him at all. This is the guy who gives me the first of everything, saves the last of everything. Does almost all of the dishes. This is NOT like him. We were reminded of another time Bret did something out of character. To be fair, this did happen while he was asleep.

For some reason, I was very cold one night. Maybe I didn’t wear a sweatshirt to bed or we had the heat off or a combination of both. I was in the “I’m too cold to even get up and put on a sweatshirt” zone. I turn towards Bret and notice he has ALL of the covers. I have just a portion of one blanket. I’m about to fix the blankets when I see my dear husband’s face. Friends, he had the cutest smile on his face. Like some content kid.

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I didn’t have the heart to fix them. So I suffered.

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But both stories still give us a LOT of laughs. 🙂

* Editor’s note – the pictures above are recreations.

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Day 2400 – Holy Smokes, That’s A Lot Of Days!

Posted on February 5, 2016 by 365 days of marriage

As we near our 9 year “met ya” anniversary, I’m also wowed by the number of days we’ve been married! Friends, take time to celebrate big anniversaries, like years together….but also celebrate the little anniversaries, like days together. Even if it’s just a “I’m thankful for one more day with you, spouse.”

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Day 2399 – #tbt post – Day 1302 – Even When Your Car Decides To Shut Down While Driving, Give Thanks

Posted on February 4, 2016 by 365 days of marriage

I posted this on February 2nd of 2013, almost 3 years ago…

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Tonight, I had intentions of visiting the store for Superbowl snacks and groceries. I was also going to try and find some purple hair dye. I know, I know. SILLY to look for the DAY BEFORE the Superbowl. But, I was going to do it.

Not 9 minutes from home, my car died. Like, power failure, all indicators went down. I was actually at a pretty safe spot to pull over and no one was behind me. I sat there for about 45 minutes waiting for Bret to pick me up and looking up what the heck it could be.

I was obviously bummed and kicking myself. It’s been acting a little funny….but still running ok. I was due for an oil change and intended to go either yesterday or the day before. As you know, I’ve been feeling a little under the weather and didn’t get the chance to go. What was great was my dear husband didn’t make me feel worse by making a big deal about picking me up or going to the store OR that I didn’t get the work done. (But I really didn’t think it was THAT bad). Instead, he (several times) said, dude, calm down and offered a fist bump. To say my husband has grown in the past few years is an understatement.

After the store, on the last hill of the drive home, we struggled. Started to slide in the snow. Thankfully, we were in the truck and it’s great in the snow…but it still struggled.

It hit me that if I had been driving my car around in this, I wouldn’t have gotten up the hill. I would have been going the other direction on our home road….and it’s worse on the other route. If it was just me, I would have driven to several stores looking for the hair dye. The snow would have been worse. I could have gotten in a very serious accident and done even more damage to the car. As I realized this I was just overwhelmed by God’s grace in all situations. Sometimes what looks like a bad situation is actually the best thing that could have happened to you.

“Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” 1 Thessalonians 5:18

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Let’s also remember when something really cool happened, car wise!

Day 2398 – Sometimes It’s Ok To Talk To Strangers – or – Marriage Champions

Posted on February 3, 2016 by 365 days of marriage

Yesterday, I had a really funny and cool conversation.

I had been reading and eating lunch at Dunkin’ Donuts (surprise, surprise) and was walking out when an older couple stopped me and made a comment about me having a lot of keys. Here’s roughly how it went:

Old guy: That’s a lot of keys!
Old gal: Oh honey, leave her alone.
Me: It’s not as bad at it looks. These three are for this, these two are for this, this is for that, these are my grocery cards and this one…well, I’m not sure what this one is for…
Old guy: Probably an old boyfriend!
Me: Not a chance. I’ve been married for 6…almost 7 years and we were together for 2 beforehand. *chuckle* not an old boyfriend key.
Old gal: You don’t look old enough to be married for that long! You look 18.
Me: I know.
Old guy: How long do you think we’ve been married?
Me: Well…let’s see, should I be polite and super under guess?
Old guy: No, guess away!
Me: At least 30 years.
Old guy: 60 years this year!
Me: WOW! *high fives both of them*
Old gal: I’ve been stuck with him for a while!

I can’t remember the last little bits, but they said goodbye by saying good luck. It was so awesome to meet a couple married for so long like that. These are the people we should be championing. These are the ones to look up to. The fact that they were still joking around with each other was just awesome.

So have you talked to any strangers today?

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Day 2397 – Magic Can Be Found In Many Places

Posted on February 2, 2016 by 365 days of marriage

We started our morning a little later than we hoped. As we were walking….rushing…down the sidewalk, I almost slipped on ice…and our car was covered in frost and ice. Oy, come on morning, we’re running late! But as we went to start scraping, we noticed this amazing design on the top of the car. It gave us pause and Bret asked me to take a picture of it.

Did you find any magic today?

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