Two Months of Marriage.

As of tomorrow, I will have been married for two entire months!

Except for the fact that it’s February, and there is no 29^th. 

So no technical anniversary this month.  Totally not fair, February.  Totally not fair.  

Anyway, in the spirit of being married and such, I thought I’d write a post about the things I’ve learned in two months of marriage.

1. Your life pre-marriage does not end. 

This can be one of the bad things about a wedding.  In the words of one of my bridesmaids, “If you’re not careful, in can turn into sort of a funeral.”  While my wedding was no funeral, I was worried that because I was getting married that nothing would be the same anymore.  The morning of my wedding, I had a panic attack saying goodbye to my dog because I felt like I was never going to see him again.  {If you’ve read my blog at all, you know I am obsessed with my dog.}

Fast forward two months and I’ve already visited him several times.  The same with the rest of the things in my life.

My old room is still there.

My family is still the same and we are still just as close.

I still talk to my friends.

My life did not end, it just expanded.  I added a wonderful new part, but that doesn’t mean everything pre-wedding went away.

2.  Your differences do not magically go away.

I am the polar opposite of my husband.  He is in medschool to be a doctor.  I want to be a writer.  That pretty much says it all.  He can stay up late studying and run on five hours of sleep and a cup of coffee.  I can not.  He is incredibly outgoing and I am forever introverted. 

The list of our differences go on and on, and for some reason I thought that once we got married, all of those would somehow merge into all of these awesome things that we had in common. 

They did not.

If you are different before you get married, you will be different after you get married.  Not that this is a bad thing.  I happen to think that being different is a wonderful thing.  Opposites attract and all of that, right?  It just takes a little extra work, but what doesn’t?

3. You will not transform into Martha Stewart.

This one is kind of a bummer.  My mom is the most domestic person I know, so I thought that surely once I got married, I would magically inherit all of that.

False.

My house is still not unpacked.

When I clean, you can’t even tell the next day.

I’ve ruined many a dinner already.

But you know what?  I'm learning.

And I’m having a heck of a good time doing so.

4.  You are still your own person.

I am still me.  I still want the same things I did before I walked down the aisle.  I still want to chase after my dream of being a writer.  I still want to make a difference in the world.  Getting married did not mean I had to give up those dreams.  It meant that I live with someone who supports my dreams everyday, and I get to do the same for him.  Yes, we are growing as a couple.  But I’m still growing as a person, too.

I love being married.  I love eating dinner with my best friend every night.  I love getting to laugh with him everyday, knowing I get to do this for the rest of my life.  It’s a really, really cool feeling.

Marriage has already been really hard.  It has already been really great.  It has already taught me so much about myself.  I can’t imagine how much I will have learned by next year, or five years from now, or in twenty years.  But for now, I’m loving it.  I’m enjoying everyday of this amazing gift God has given to me.

It really is wonderful.  

xo, 
Chels

Celebrate today.

I love Valentine's day.
and Thanksgiving.
and Easter.
and Christmas.
and fall.
and anything I can decorate for, listen to music for, and celebrate.
I love celebrating.  When first starts to feel even a little bit like Fall, I'm telling you, my soul starts rejoicing.  Apples and pumpkin and scarecrows start to take over everything in my life, and I absolutely love it.  And don't even get me started on Christmas--if I could bottle and sell the feeling that I get when Christmas music starts, I would make billions.

I think I love these times so much because I love celebrating.  God made my heart in such a way that the list of things that make me happier than the seasons of celebrating holidays is an extremely short one.

During any holiday, I feel so alive.
and happy.
and sentimental.
and like everything I'm doing is making a memory.

For some reason, I was thinking on this today, and had this thought.

celebrate today. 

Monday or Friday.

Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter.

celebrate every day. 

We truly have so much to be thankful for, and so much to celebrate.  If you disagree, go outside.  Is it balmy and warm in a way that puts your soul at peace?  Is it so cold that you have to catch your breath, reminding you that you are alive?  It's worth celebrating.  What about the way the grass feels under your feet?  That is one of my favorite things in the world.  It's worth celebrating.

Now, you're probably not going to decorate your house and throw a party for the way that the grass feels under your feet (Unless that's your thing.  If so, please, be my guest.) That's not really what I'm getting at.  I guess what I'm getting at is that we should live with a sense of celebration.  Of happiness.  Of expecting good things from the day, because dangit, it's a good day.
Because it's beautiful outside.
Because the creator of the universe call us His own.
Because we are alive, and that is a gift.

Celebrate today.  Make some cupcakes.  Listen to your favorite song.  Wear something fantastic.  And remember that being alive is a marvelous thing.

Celebrate.

xoxo, 

Chels

Snapshot Saturday

I hope every single one of you had a lovely Valentine's day!  I'm married to a med student who happened to have a giant exam the day after v-day, so Valentine's day has been postponed.
I am taking this to mean that I get to leave my Valentine's decorations up a week longer.

I was having a little bit of a rough week before last.
Getting married and moving to a new town where you don't know anyone is hard, guys.
Because I was having a rough day, I decided to go to a craft store.
Bad call.
I cried in the craft store.
For the past almost year, I've done wedding crafts with my mom literally almost every single day.

So I call my mom and tell her I miss doing crafts with her, and ever the amazing person that she is, the next week she comes and visits me and brings the entire contents of her craft room with her.

We had the BEST day ever.  We crafted.  Ate at food trucks.  Had our first real Whole Foods experience {hello, heaven.}

It was wonderful.

We made this little gem, which is hanging over my bed.

I'm currently trying to find reasons why it should last beyond February, because I'm a little bit in love with it. 

We watch every episode of The Great American Food Truck Race. 

We pick our favorite teams and cheer for them and discuss their food. 

It happens to be illegal to have a food truck where we live, however my new town is overflowing with them. 

so, we were just a little excited. 

Our first trip to Whole Foods--look how healthy we are!

This was our first real experience with Whole Foods.  

{I never want to go to Publix again}

It was wonderful, and we decided that it made us feel like we were on Top chef. 

Always a plus, people.

On Sunday, my wonderful friend meg drove up and we went on an adventure to a GORGEOUS park for a bridal session.  {yes, a month after my wedding.  I see no problem with this.}

Here are some of my favorites.   Do yourself a favor and go like her facebook page and you can see all of them.

{are those trees not the most amazing thing?!}

If you're in the area, look her up here.  She is amazingly fun to work with and offers the best prices I've ever seen.  Of course she does wedding photos, but she also does lovey shoots and amazing "just you" shoots.  And lets be honest, everyone feels pretty when they're having their own personal photo shoot. 

So do something nice for yourself and call her, I promise you'll have an amazing time doing it!

Last but not least, let me leave you with this little treasure. 

This was a good morning text I got yesterday. 

Yes, that's my dog sitting on the couch with my dad. 

Yes, he is wearing a hat.

That is all. 

{just chillin'}

Have a lovely weekend, friends!

xoxo, 

Chels

Happy February!

We're officially one full month into two-thousand and thirteen.  Am I the only one who feels like this is crazy?!

We were on our honeymoon on January 1st, so I didn't do my usual planning, dreaming, and goal outlining that normally accompanies the first day of a new year.  However, as much as I love list making and journaling and all that goes along with making new year resolutions, there was no way I could let that pass me by.  While the beginning of the year certainly is not the only time to make changes or set goals, it definitely has a feeling of newness and motivation that can be hard to come by, so I didn't want to miss out.

While I love resolutions, for me they have the tendency to fall apart a few weeks after I make them, leaving me feeling guilty rather than actually accomplishing anything.  I tend to start out trying to make a few resolutions and end up trying to revamp my whole entire life, which inevitably ends in failure.  This year, I decided to make a list of aspirations rather than resolutions.  I sat down with my journal and a cup of coffee and asked--how do I want to live in 2013?  I came up with a list of aspirations for myself.  A list of what I am aspiring to do, the person I am aspiring to be.  Here's what I came up with:

WRITE.
write more.  blog.  actually finish projects.  research writing.  read about writing.  write about writing.  write everyday.  write when I feel like it, and even more importantly, write when I don't feel like it.  chase after my writing dreams like I have no reason not to.  because really, I don't.

LIVE.
live each day to the fullest.  adventure daily.  really, truly experience life. squeeze every single day for all that it is worth.

LOVE.
let every single thing I do be completely saturated in love.

BE ORGANIZED.
I love organization.  I love planners.  I love lists.  and somehow, regardless of all these things, I am completely and utterly unorganized in many areas of my life.  this year, I will try to be better.  I will prioritize and plan.

BE THE BEST WIFE.
I want my husband to feel like the luckiest guy in the world every time he thinks of me.

CREATE.
dream.  make.  craft.  write.  blog.  live each day full of creativity, and create things that make me happy.


BE MYSELF.
be one hundred percent me, one hundred percent of the time.  be exactly who I want to be.  I am enough.

BECOME A BETTER ME. 

don't strive to change myself, but rather to better the self that I already am.  be healthier, both physically and spiritually. 

Eight little things that define how I want to live in 2013.  I've made them pretty and put them where I can see them everyday so that I will constantly be reminded of what I want to get out of this year.  

What about you?  What aspirations or goals have you set for yourself in 2013?

"The only person you should try to be better than, 

is the person you were yesterday."

xo, 

chelsea