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 3191 – Benefits Of Being A Minimalist – repost with updates

Posted on April 6, 2018 by 365 days of marriage

We currently doing more purging of our things. Last night, I spent most of the evening going through my old wedding photography folders, recycling and shredding documents. It was so nostalgic looking through all the paperwork. Rereading notes from clients and reliving that time in my life. I also went through our two bookshelves and found even more to give away or recycle. I have to say, I keep looking over at the bookshelves because it feels SO good to see them clean and straightened.

One benefit of minimalism is that I know what we own, I know that we love what we own, and I know that we use what we own.

While, it doesn’t take ten minutes to clean up now – mostly because we don’t have a dishwasher in our current place, it’s still fast to clean up.

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originally posted 7/23/16
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I love living a minimalist life. It was one of those things that came out of nowhere but it makes complete sense for our lives. In the last few days, two experiences stood out that made me want to write this post.

First, the apartment was a little messy and impeding my ability to work. It was still morning and I wanted to get to work. So I set a timing for 10 minutes. In TEN minutes I cleaned the apartment. Not a “shoved everything into a box or a drawer” cleaned but actually straightened up. Since we have so little, everything has a place and it’s easy to get it there.

Second, I was able to spend about 3 hours last night finishing a book. I read about half of the book in pretty much one sitting. Now, this is more a time freedom thing, but I think it still goes along with our minimalist life. Because my responsibilities are light in the home and in life too really and I can carve out time on a Friday night to finish a book. It is amazing freedom.

What about you? Are you living a minimalist life? Even if it’s just one aspect of your life. What are the benefits you’ve found?

This is the book I finished last night. Great story by the way, I can’t wait to get the next book. This guy also write The Grimm Sisters series.

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Day 3190 – Read A Road Map Day

Posted on April 5, 2018 by 365 days of marriage

I personally absolutely love physical maps. I try to not get too comfortable with the technology of the GPS (even though I do LOVE Waze). One thing we do for our real estate investing business, is drive in different areas. It helps to keep track of where we’ve been, so we purchased a map of Baltimore County and Baltimore City and we highlight where we’ve been. It’s been such much fun using a physical map again!

Can you read a road map? Do you prefer a physical map or a digital one?

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Day 3189 – A Dangerous Addition To The Neighborhood – Krispy Kreme

Posted on April 4, 2018 by 365 days of marriage

Yesterday, a brand new Krispy Kreme opened in our neighborhood. We had thought about waiting in line for the opening (and a chance at being first) but ended up staying in bed. This turned out to be a good call because the first person in line arrived at 9:45 the night before.

After I picked up Bret from school, at the last minute, he mentioned going by. I, of course, agreed.

What we found was mayhem. Well, at least a very packed store. If you’re familiar with the layout of a Krispy Kreme, the line stretched from the cash registers, past the packing station, along the conveyor belt, down the hallway to the bathroom, and looped back along the conveyor belt. At first we thought, is this really worth it? But in the time it took to think it out, we were already committed. All told, we probably waited about 20 minutes, not bad considering the line.

Oh baby, those doughnuts were hot and delicious. I’m curious to see how we’ll fair with our favorite doughnuts so close. There were a lot of outlets and seats, so we may have found a new place to work.

We may or may not have eaten 9 out of 12 of these guys before we left…

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Day 3188 – Is It Time To Camp Yet? – or – The First Camping Trip Of The Year – or – The Gaitans Versus Nature – repost

Posted on April 3, 2018 by 365 days of marriage

I posted this two years ago today. I can’t wait to camp this year but this was a good reminder to wait until you know the weather to book a local camping trip. 🙂

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Originally posted 4/3/16
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A month ago, we booked a camping trip for opening weekend at our favorite campground down the street from our home. It was also the last weekend of Bret’s spring break. It was a perfect plan! We got a little nervous as the day approached when we looked at the weather, but knew if we could just get the tent set up before the rain, we’d be fine. It was spotty rain. No worries. As we packed up the car, we started to sweat…it was pretty warm on Friday! “This is great! What great weather!” When we drove over, only 30 minutes after check-in, the weather was absolutely beautiful. We got the tent up, bought our firewood and settled in for reading, chatting and fire watching. It was magical.

A few hours later, the storm started rolling in. Would the storm foil all our plans???

Thankfully, it wasn’t much rain, and it was just beautiful. We had a thunderstorm looking one way, a rainbow another and a beautiful sunset the other way.

We put our dinner on the fire and then….the rain….

We huddled in the tent and checked our dinner periodically. Our favorite camping meal are these amazing apple chicken sausages roasted on tin foil over the fire. Mmmmm, SO good. Sadly, nature won this round. Our sausages while somewhat tasty, were missing the crispy, roasted taste.

We slept well in our little home. The soft, morning rain was a delightful way to wake up. Thank you nature!

But what if nature tries to foil our plans again?

Nahhhh, this is going to be a great day!

As the day winded down, we cooked our dinner. These sausages cooked completely. Take that nature!

Here is where I will say, don’t mess with nature. The forecast was calling for cold temperatures (there was a freeze warning) and wind (there was a wind warning). It called for about mid 30’s and a 24 mph wind. We thought, hey, let’s try it! But we’ll pack up everything but the tent in case we need to make a quick getaway. We were in the habit of packing up everything because of the rain anyways. We had just put out the fire, packed up and locked the car, about to settle into reading and going to sleep in the tent. It was pretty much one of those things straight from the movies where you zip the tent closed and the wind starts to howl. We look at each other with trepidation….”well?”….I decided to put some of the extra books in the car and get a feel for the situation. I stood outside looking at the branches swaying, listening for things falling and weighing options. Bret joined me and after a big gust, we decided to call it. In about 15 minutes we had quickly cleaned up our tent. Shoving things anywhere. We had an armful of wood left (you have to purchase wood there, you can’t bring in your own) and decided to drive around and see if anyone was up who wanted it. We found a group and they were very appreciative…even offered us sodas and hot dogs….if we weren’t fearing for our lives, we may have made new friends. We shouted off a “nah, we’re right down the road!” thank you and continued our escape.

Nature was not in the mood to let us go. As we turned a corner, we saw that our path was completely blocked! I put the car in park as Bret charged in to do battle. He hefted the branch (the width of his arm no less) to the side of the road, protecting fellow humans in the fight. He gave it a further toss for good measure. We slowly continued our journey through the minefield that the road was becoming. Branches fallen, sticks, rocks, thorns (not cool Robert Frost!) As we neared the exit and main road, we breathed a little easier. We merged on to the main road and started the long commute home…

*5 minutes later*

We safely park at home and start to carry things inside. In a last ditch effort, nature threw all the wind and rain it could as we unloaded. Not wanting to feel as though we wasted our money, we continued our camping trip.

We even had a fire all night, right next to our tent.

It sure was nice waking up in the ~~great outdoors~~ warm living room and having a cup of coffee by the ~~fire~~ laptop.

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Day 3187 – Children’s Book Day – or – The Best Children’s Books I’ve Read

Posted on April 2, 2018 by 365 days of marriage

Last year, I read 300 books. 200 of those books were Children’s Picture books. I’ve had some people say those didn’t really count. But I have to say, I was moved to joy, laughter, and deep thinking after many of those “books that didn’t count.” Today is Children’s Book Day, so I wanted to share some of the best children’s books I’ve read recently.

All of these links are Amazon Affiliate links. That means if you purchase the book or something else on Amazon after you click on the link, I will get a small percentage. If you’ve been here a while, you know I only ever share links to products, books, etc. that I have personally read, used, and believe in.

Brontorina by James Howe – A brontosaurus doing ballet is reason enough to read a book, and part of the reason I grabbed this one. But what I found was a story that encouraged chasing your dream, encouraging others to chase their dream, and not putting anyone in a box.

Bad Day at Riverbend by Chris Van Allsburg – As a kid, I loved Two Bad Ants, also written by Chris. I sought out his other books and found this one. It was such a different story line than any other kid’s book I’d read before. This was a really fun read.

Mother Bruce by Ryan Higgins – I love the books that turn what you expect an animal to do and be into something completely different. I especially loved that Bruce ate organic. I am now a super big fan of this series and read each new book when it comes out.

Dragons Love Tacos by Adam Rubin – This was so delightfully fun. I laughed very very hard reading this one. I mean, how can you not enjoy a book about dragons who love tacos?

Great, Now We’ve Got Barbarians! by Jason Carter Eaton – I picked up this book for the title alone. What I found was a very comical result of a messy room. This is a great book if your kids are having trouble cleaning up.

Blue Sky White Stars by Sarvinder Naberhaus – I am very patriotic about my US of A. This book was such a great reflection of this great country and I loved all of the elements that came together. There were a few books in my stack of children’s recommends that moved me to tears, this was one of them.

Rosie Revere, Engineer by Andrea Beaty – When I first picked up this book, I read the title as Reverse Engineer. Since I’m all about systems, it sounded perfect. Upon reading, I realized my mistake, but I found something better. This book was a great reminder about creating things, failure, and the drive to continue on. This is great for little inventors.

What Children’s Book do you recommend?

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365daysofmarriage

Simplicity in Marriage, Christianity, Travel, Business, Life

Author Archives: 365 days of marriage

About 365 days of marriage

Day 3191 – Benefits Of Being A Minimalist – repost with updates

Day 3190 – Read A Road Map Day

Day 3189 – A Dangerous Addition To The Neighborhood – Krispy Kreme

Day 3188 – Is It Time To Camp Yet? – or – The First Camping Trip Of The Year – or – The Gaitans Versus Nature – repost

Day 3187 – Children’s Book Day – or – The Best Children’s Books I’ve Read