My First 7 Quick Takes Friday

I sincerely hope I'm doing this right...

--- 1 ---

It is official. I start work Monday. It's kind of funny because this is a business office and I'm not used to things organized, cleaned, and professional. I'm used to runny noses, papers all over the desk, and funny pictures hung up everywhere. I'm used to teaching. However, I am excited to get some new experience. It should be a fun adventure. And, on top of that, it'll only be for a few months because it's a seasonal position so that's even more exciting. 

--- 2 ---

We move into our new apartment next Saturday! I could not be more excited... and neither could Paul. We are both ready to be in an apartment and NOT in a hotel room anymore. I think we have had enough of hotel rooms for at least the next 10 years... although those pillows are comfy! 

Anyways, this weekend will be a time of massive organization, donating of clothes, and finally, packing everything for the quick move so that we don't waste too much of our Labor Day weekend... although that'll probably end up happening. :P 

--- 3 ---

I'm so excited about future plans. Stuff that I can't share yet, but way way... WAY exciting. Hopefully our plans work out, and I'm praying that God is in this and will continue to be present in our ever changing lives.

--- 4 ---

My in-laws are awesome. They helped Paul move out of his Texas apartment, trucked our stuff to and fro, and unpacked and stored it for a month and a half. Also, they have been hosting us every weekend and making us feel so at home. They've taken us to baseball games, plays, family farms, ice cream, and have just been so great. The whole family is wonderful and I'm so lucky to be included. I know we won't be able to visit every weekend after we move into our new place, but it'll be nice to return and spend time with them at least once or maybe twice a month.

We were treated to a Cardinals game where we were 4 rows up from the opposing team's dugout. Pretty neat!

 

 My awesome brothers and sister -inlaws. 

They took us to get ice cream that night.

 

Pops and his sons... they are so cool. They took us to see "The King and I."

 This is my sister-in-law. She and I have gotten pretty close and she is CRAZY... just what I need. No family member should be completely sane. 

I needed to get a picture in with my mother-in-law. She is so patient, gentle and kind. She is one of the holiest women I know and I feel lucky to have her as my mother-in-law. Here she is with Paul... yes, he likes to pose in weird ways.

--- 5 ---

I miss my family. But that is not news. Over the last 5 years, I have gotten extremely close with my oldest sister. We never got to spend time together when I was younger and so when I went off to college, she was one of the reasons I went out of state. She lived close to the school I went to and I even lived with her and her beautiful family for a while. I really miss spending time with her and her family. I'm pretty sure that Paul does, too, because the last 6 months of our engagement, Paul spent at least two evenings a week at their house, spending time with the family. It'll be so so nice to see them, and everyone at Christmas time. I also cannot wait to see my parents and hopefully they will be able  to come visit before Christmas time. I'm sure I've already said this, but I've never seen two people more in love and I can't be happier to call them my mom and dad.

My lovely parents last Christmas 

--- 6 ---

It's time to talk about marriage. It's not hard to realize that without prayer, there is little hope for a marriage to last until you two are in rocking chairs asking each other when the kids will be home from school when, in reality, they've been out of the house for twenty some-odd years. My parents have been married for almost 41 years now. When you ask them how, it's no surprise that they say that they've kept God as the center. It's amazing how many of our own arguments/disagreements have been settled through prayer. We are newlyweds and we are still learning how to live with each other, but praying the rosary at least twice a week (honestly, it should be every day) and giving up our argumentative attitudes to God has been so helpful and rewarding; sometimes we can't even remember the disagreement... okay, those are the times we fight over the remote control :P. It's not always perfect (duh), but it's a wonderful feeling to know that even God is present when we disagree and He will be with us through it all.

Right after our wedding and on our way to the reception... or are we?

--- 7 ---

Thinking back a month to our wedding day, I can't help but laugh... and this is why: There is a very yummy popcorn place right by our house which happens to be right by the chapel in which we were married. Well, right after the wedding we took pictures and this took about 45 minutes. I was so hungry because I really hadn't eaten anything because I had to fit in my dress. So I beg Paul and my dad to stop at this little popcorn shop and buy a bag of kettle corn (by the way, this place has the weirdest, but "awesome-est" popcorn flavors... not just kettle corn). So we make the turn and realize everyone is following us. They think we are going straight to the reception. Long story short, that popcorn shop got some good business that day, and I got some good popcorn ;)

POPCORN!

Funny Things

I've been spending every weekend with my in-laws and they are really big into YouTube videos. So here are some videos they showed me. They are a bit random, but I laughed. I hope you enjoy, and if you don't, don't judge me :P

Rowan Akinson has been a big hit in this household. So so funny!! Anyways, I hope you liked them :) God Bless you all and I hope you have a wonderful weekend.

Compromises

Well, I won't lie, I haven't been feeling writer-happy for a couple of weeks now. I sat down last Friday wanting to write about newlywed life and how it's a bit different from what I expected... and then I realized that I really didn't know what I expected. I guess I had a picture of myself sitting in front of the couch one evening drinking a glass of red wine while organizing papers that were spread all around the living room floor, and him sitting on the couch watching ESPN and making side jokes about the players or their coaches. Yeah, okay, maybe I had a small expectation of what it would be like.

As of these past couple of weeks, things have been far from that picture. For one thing, we up and moved to a city where we know no people, have no house/apartment, and we live out of suitcases in a hotel room. The good news is that he is making new friends with his new job and we are just 2 hours away from his family, we signed the lease for a beautiful 2 bedroom and 2 bathroom apartment, and we  are staying in the best hotel in the city. Things are not so bad and I always have to remind myself when I start to picture that little scene I expected before. The apartment will be ready at the end of August so we won't stay here forever. I won't be teaching in the fall BUT I will be getting certification real soon so maybe I'll have a chance to pick up a mid-year teaching job in the winter time.

There was also another realization I had about married life. We've been going long distance for a while that it was a bit of a culture shock seeing him everyday again. Not only that, but him being the last person I saw at night (every night) and the first person in the morning (every morning) has been a new feeling. My expectations were that I thought our habits and quirks would mesh together once we lived in the same place. Everything we did, our routines and our "ways" from when we were single would just magically synchronize in one wonderfully perfect day after day after day.

Hahahahahahahahahaha... yeah, no.

I don't snooze my alarm. I really never got into that habit of waking up a half an hour after the first alarm rang. I've never snoozed an alarm more than 2 times. This man, my husband, whom I love dearly snoozes every 5 minutes from 6:15 to 6:45. THAT'S 6 TIMES!!!

He is a very thorough cleaner-man. He is scared to death of spiders and has been ever since our first lease fell through because of brown recluse sightings in the apartment. He is also extremely paranoid of finding them in clothes, shoes, showers and drawers. I, on the other hand, am a bit forgetful and maybe a bit messy, too. I wish I could say I was all domestic and cleaning-friendly, but I went to college without ever doing my own laundry before leaving my parent's house and never knowing how to cook and really clean properly. See? He's been irked a bit by my habits, too :P

Soooo, what do you do when you don't know how to live together, yet? You compromise! He snoozes twice every morning (maybe three times) and I try to be as consciously neat as I can be. He gets annoyed at my computer, iPod, phone, and kindle usage time and so I don't use them as much when he's around. I get annoyed at his lame jokes... haha, just kidding. They are lame but I still like them ;)

Anyways, that's what I have learned as a newlywed. Compromises are so important, and also acceptance for when compromising isn't the best. We have our weird and annoying habits, but those are what make us US and I can't be more happy. :)