Author Archives: 365 days of marriage

Unknown's avatar

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 3261 – How I Got $621.96 In Free Flights And Am Going to California For $521.96 And How You Can Too

Posted on by
Reply

Y’ll know I love Southwest. I’ve blogged about them a lot but I wanted to share about a recent experience I had with Southwest and a new experience with Allegiant free travel as well.

Now first, my biggest piece of advice when using a rewards credit card is to know your limits. We use our credit cards like cash and pay them off about once a week or every other week, depending on our income. The cool thing about both credit cards is I can pay off the card before the transactions post. Previous cards I used did not let me do this, maybe this is a newer feature and those cards now offer it, but this is a big feature to me. On some of my previous bookings, I purchased the tickets, then hopped over to pay them off right away. If you don’t think you can control yourself with a credit card (i.e. buy more than you normally would without a credit card), then use it to autopay some bills and keep it in a place where you won’t use it. We pay our cell phone and car insurance through our cards. I had a friend who put a large one time purchase on the card to get the bonus miles and paid it off right away. We use both cards for everything except rent.

Where we travel to in California is not a Southwest airport. That has caused us to do a few creative things like renting a car and driving from Vegas or sucking it up and paying for an expensive flight from Vegas to Fresno. Seriously guys, for a 45-minute flight, you’re looking at roughly $300+. A few years back, a new airline started flying into Fresno and it has made travel there SO much more affordable. That airline is Allegiant. It’s a very “you get what you pay for” and you do pay for what you want. If you’re traveling with checked bags and large carry-ons, it might be a little less affordable (you pay for each piece), but we’ve learned that our backpack and duffle bag work at personal items (i.e. they fit under the front seat). So we’re looking at a $40-80 (+taxes and fees) flight. You have to pay for drinks too (but you do get a free drink if you have the credit card).

On our last holiday trip to California, I signed up for the Allegiant credit card. I got a statement bonus of $50 after only six weeks of using the card. We then earned the signup bonus of 15,000 miles not long after. The cool thing about Allegiant’s miles is they translate miles to dollars (whereas Southwest’s miles fluctuate by the time of year and location). So 15,000 miles is $150 of travel. We used that card exclusively until we earned enough miles that I thought it would cover our next flight, then we went back to Southwest.

While both cards have a yearly fee, Southwest at least gives you 6,000 bonus miles on your anniversary. So a $99 fee that ain’t bad.

So that brings us to yesterday, where I booked flights from BWI to LAS to FAT (and back again). Here’s what my costs would have been for two people:
BWI -> LAS (roundtrip) via Southwest – $983.92
LAS -> FAT (roundtrip) via Allegiant – $160.00
Total cost – $1,143.92

I had enough points to cover Allegiant completely and I had enough points to cover one way on Southwest for each of us. That left me with paying for one way.
Total cost after points – $521.96
Total savings after points – $621.96

Over HALF of my flights were covered. What’s cool is that $521.96 will get me 3x the miles, which I’ll be able to use for later flights. If we end up staying in a hotel during our trip, if I book through Rocketmiles, I can get as little as 1,000 bonus miles.

I wrote a whole post on the ways you can earn miles, so make sure to check that out.

Do you have a Southwest card? Do you love it?

p.s. This photo is from a trip I took to Florida to visit a friend and flew for free and the whole trip only cost $139.99.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Did you like what you read? Here’s some ways you can support us and this blog!
Join our Facebook group, Planning an Epic Road Trip on Any Budget
Join the Journey With The G’s email list (bonus – you get my Epic Road Trip Budget spreadsheet)
Buy my book, Planning an Epic Road Trip on any Budget
Buy my book, Trusting God With 2 Cents: 22 Days To Becoming A Successful Christian Business Owner.
Shop on Amazon (no additional cost to you, this gives us a percentage of what you order).
Check out our resources page.
Subscribe to our YouTube Channel

Day 3260 – Guest Post by My Husband or Advice to Grooms – repost

Posted on by
Reply

As it’s the middle of wedding season, I thought a post about marriage was a good idea! Here’s an oldie but a goodie written by Bret on 6/27/12.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Since this is a blog about marriage and wedding photography, and Bret is a BIG part of both our marriage AND our business, I wanted to start a weekly guest post from him! If you have any questions for him, let me know and I’ll make sure he answers them!

What was the highlight of the last week in your marriage?
I had a couple highlights in my marriage this past week.
The first is that Jen worked out with me at a nearby park. On the way back, we carried each other as part of the workout. To have a wife that I can work out with and puts up with and doesn’t mind being carried with her butt up in the air with a car honking at her, is truly a blessing.

Another highlight has been finding out that there is a chance we may lose some of our income at a time when both of our cars need work done. When we were talking about it, neither of us was really upset, we just automatically said that we will trust in God whatever happens. That was different from my usual response in a situation like that, so it was definitely a highlight.

Did you learn something new about marriage and/or your wife?
I learned something about myself and my marriage a few days ago. I have been so blessed with a dad that is an example of a husband that I want to be. Jen and I are coming up on 3 years of marriage, and she mentioned that the first and fifth are supposed to be the hardest. I remembered someone saying that Jen and I have had, to paraphrase, an easy marriage so far. I was thinking about how my dad has always told me, despite the situation he was in, that he is commanded to love and stay with my mom. What I’m saying is, and this is kind of an assumption, that he did not go through the situation and grow in love, and is now able to say that he truly loves her, or now knows they can make it through thick and thin, or that he has enough experience now to say he will not leave her. I believe he has had his mind made since he said “I do”. And that is how I feel. For my part, I meant “till death do us part” unless for reasons of infidelity and Jen and I have discussed this. Some may say, “yeah but you don’t know the future. You or she could change.” I can’t make Jen love me, but I can choose to love her and stay with her, despite the situation. Surely some people really can mean it. I really do believe that love is a choice. I hope I do not sound conceited. On the contrary, I feel our marriage must be harder for Jen, than it is for me. I don’t know how she puts up with me sometimes.

What’s your advice to grooms this week?
Every time someone asks me how long we have been married, and I tell them, they are like, “oh, you’re still newlyweds”, and make some comment like I haven’t hit the real marriage yet, or like I’m still in for some rough waters, or they try to tell me how women are, or make a comment that shows they believe divorce is an option. And I’m like, don’t condemn me. Why would I even want to talk to someone about marriage, who believes divorce is an option? I want to talk to people who will support not me, not my wife, not even our happiness, but our marriage. I want someone like my dad who will tell me, “It doesn’t matter if you are poor, or unhappy, or if you think they got ugly, you made a promise to them and God. You are supposed to stay with and love your wife.” The world always tells us to do what makes us happy. But God’s way is actually the opposite. It tells us we must die to self, love our wives as Christ loves the church, giving himself for her. So what is my advice? Don’t even let divorce be part of your vocabulary.

Bret’s quote of the week:
I heard this somewhere: Marriage is not only intended to make us happy, but to make us holy.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Did you like what you read? Here’s some ways you can support us and this blog!
Join our Facebook group, Planning an Epic Road Trip on Any Budget
Join the Journey With The G’s email list (bonus – you get my Epic Road Trip Budget spreadsheet)
Buy my book, Planning an Epic Road Trip on any Budget
Buy my book, Trusting God With 2 Cents: 22 Days To Becoming A Successful Christian Business Owner.
Shop on Amazon (no additional cost to you, this gives us a percentage of what you order).
Check out our resources page.
Subscribe to our YouTube Channel

Day 3259 – Thoughts On Addiction, Mental Illness, And Society

Posted on by
Reply

I want to start this by saying I have never been diagnosed with depression, alcoholism, or a mental illness by a professional (lol, or a non-professional, come to think of it). But I think that my life experiences have given me some room to speak about these things.

Reading a post on Facebook, made me want to share some of my thoughts. I loved how the author compared how our society is totally ok talking about cancer but not the brain. The full post is definitely worth a read.

I never really paid attention to how the media portrayed alcoholics, addiction, mental illness, etc, until I got sober. Even I didn’t think I had been an alcoholic until AFTER I hopped on the wagon. The alcoholics portrayed in shows and movies were living on the street or coming back to the hospital again and again to get more meds. They never looked like me. When the leads in the show or the movie drank, it tended to be glorified. Even when they get drunk, it’s seen as fun or a way to blow off steam. Yet, without my beer goggles, I can count how many glasses they drink. I can see how binge drinking or their “functional alcoholism” majorly shakes up their lives.

As I’ve spent a good deal of the last few years working on my own personal growth, I’ve read a lot about taking care of yourself and how so many things impact our lives. I know for me, if I don’t get 7-8+ hours of sleep, I am much more susceptible to discouragement, beating myself up, poor work, and a decrease in creativity and productivity. There have been several times where nothing was getting done, I was exhausted, but I kept putting off a nap. “It’s fine, I can handle this” but I really couldn’t. Every time I’ve taken a nap when I’m lacking sleep, it makes a difference.

I also have recognized that even things that don’t seem like a big deal, have huge implications. Facebook is a big drain on my brain and my mood. There is so much negativity. Even if I’m only on Facebook for a few minutes, if I’m looking at my full feed, later I’m irritable or down. I have to take care of myself and severely limit my time on Facebook to work-related things or looking at things that build me up, not down.

I think a good comparison (which I am absolutely not the first to make) of mental health, specifically depression, is a migraine. If you’ve never had a migraine, you have no idea the debilitating power it can have over a person. To folks who haven’t had one, it’s just a headache…”just take a pill, you’ll be fine.” But to those of us who have experienced it, we know it exists in a category all its own. I think depression is the same. I do think there is a mental/chemical aspect to it, to a certain extent genetic as well as due to environmental influences. But if you haven’t experienced depression, it’s easy to think “just be happy! Think of all the things you have! You don’t have anything to be sad about!” But again, those of us who have experienced it know it’s not that simple. I do also believe we can have some control over it. But I think at the end of the day, it’s something to talk about, to try and understand.

Sharing about my alcoholism has been one of the greatest things that I’ve done. It has opened up so many doors of conversation and made me think about things differently. But, I can also attest, it’s scary, it’s not the normal thing to do. Then again, I wouldn’t change it for the world. I am so grateful for the experiences I’ve had that have opened my eyes to think about things differently.

It’s a huge topic, way outside the scope of this blog. But I wanted to take a minute to share some of the things I’ve been thinking about…and really, encourage more conversations about it. It’s not easy by any stretch, but it’s worth the work.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Did you like what you read? Here’s some ways you can support us and this blog!
Join our Facebook group, Planning an Epic Road Trip on Any Budget
Join the Journey With The G’s email list (bonus – you get my Epic Road Trip Budget spreadsheet)
Buy my book, Planning an Epic Road Trip on any Budget
Buy my book, Trusting God With 2 Cents: 22 Days To Becoming A Successful Christian Business Owner.
Shop on Amazon (no additional cost to you, this gives us a percentage of what you order).
Check out our resources page.
Subscribe to our YouTube Channel

Day 3258 – The Face I Make When I Post At 5:40 p.m. Instead Of 9 a.m.

Posted on by
Reply

Whew! I was reminded of why I like to post my blogs in the morning today! I had an appointment at 12 and due to the location and timing, I was out of the house pretty much all day. While it was a wonderful day and a great meeting, it reminded me of the importance of actually following my routines!

Future Jen, make sure to post on time!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Did you like what you read? Here’s some ways you can support us and this blog!
Join our Facebook group, Planning an Epic Road Trip on Any Budget
Join the Journey With The G’s email list (bonus – you get my Epic Road Trip Budget spreadsheet)
Buy my book, Planning an Epic Road Trip on any Budget
Buy my book, Trusting God With 2 Cents: 22 Days To Becoming A Successful Christian Business Owner.
Shop on Amazon (no additional cost to you, this gives us a percentage of what you order).
Check out our resources page.
Subscribe to our YouTube Channel

Day 3257 – January Letter Status – or – How Visualizing The Future Helps To Change It

Posted on by
Reply

I told y’all a little bit about my January Letter a while back and I wanted to give an update to show just how powerful this technique can be.

The short description of a January letter is that it’s something you write in January like it’s the end of that year. So I wrote mine on 1/1/18 (and 12/31/17) and it starts with “It’s December 31, 2018.” After that, I listed how the year was going to look “we’ve closed XX deals…I have read XX books…I met the Super Carlin Brothers…etc”

There were a few items (and still are) that I’m not sure if they will actually happen. First was seeing John Williams in concert. I heard he was touring and after my life-changing experience at the Hans Zimmer concert, I knew I had to make it happen. Unfortunately, it was something I kept putting off and the less expensive tickets were gone and the left-over tickets were going for $200-300+. While I do think seeing a film composer is an amazing experience, I didn’t want to spend that much (especially when that amount of money can do a lot better in our real estate business). Another item was “I saw Thrice twice.” A few weeks ago, we could have seen Thrice at a pretty epic festival, but it just didn’t work out. I then realized there was only one more tour date in the US this year. Ugh, well, at least we can go to that one! (It just so happens to be the day after our anniversary, woo hoo anniversary trip!) While a little disappointed I wouldn’t be able to tick that off, I was happy to see them once.

The John Williams Baltimore show is this Wednesday and has been on my calendar for months. A few days back, I thought, let me see if he’s playing a show somewhat nearby that would be a little more within our budget. Dudes. Dudes. Dudes!! The first location I checked was in Massachusetts….in August (before Bret goes back to school)….and is at a venue JUST like Merriweather (where we saw Hans)…AND it was under $30 each!

On the SAME day, I happened upon an announcement….Thrice is putting out a new album and doing a tour this fall!

While I’m not saying that these things will now happen because I wrote this letter. What struck me is that because I have been visualizing this, I look for opportunities to make them happen. How you see the world has a major impact on how your life plays out. If you’re looking for a job and think “there are no jobs out there” it will be much harder for you to find one. If you think “there are plenty of jobs for my specific skill set, there are people who need what I can offer” odds are, you’ll recognize opportunities right under your nose.

It’s been so exciting to see my letter come to life. One of the items – meet The Super Carlin Brothers, will happen in only a few days time! They’re hosting a viewing party of Incredibles 2 and a meet & greet after. I’ve watched so many of their videos and they bring joy to my days, so it will be an honor to meet them in person.

Have you written a January letter?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Did you like what you read? Here’s some ways you can support us and this blog!
Join our Facebook group, Planning an Epic Road Trip on Any Budget
Join the Journey With The G’s email list (bonus – you get my Epic Road Trip Budget spreadsheet)
Buy my book, Planning an Epic Road Trip on any Budget
Buy my book, Trusting God With 2 Cents: 22 Days To Becoming A Successful Christian Business Owner.
Shop on Amazon (no additional cost to you, this gives us a percentage of what you order).
Check out our resources page.
Subscribe to our YouTube Channel