Married Weekends

People always said your social life would completely change after you get married. They said your priorities will change because there are two people, two schedules and two groups of friends to consider now. Translation, you will stop going out and partying on the weekends as much because you'd rather be an old married couple. This is totally true but, I think people should change this warning to: your social life will completely change when you become a homeowner. 

Seriously, we bought our house at the end of August and it is all I think and talk about. Our weekends are consumed with home projects, trips to the home improvement stores, pinning about home updates and projects, cleaning the house and conversations about the house. We don't like to stay out late partying on Fridays and Saturdays because we would rather not be hungover so we can be productive the next day (though, maybe that's a little bit of adulthood coming out). Clothes shopping has fallen to the wayside because I'd rather spend that money on end tables. We are obsessed and we love it.

This weekend was no different. It was the prefect mix of old married couple and homeowners. 

First, on Friday night we went to a uber romantic dinner at one of our favorite spots near our house, Sawmill Taproom. It's really just a sports bar, but they have Hell Yes Ma'am on draft year round, so always a winner. They do have spectacular burgers and sweet potato tots as well. To be honest though, we mainly go for the beer. 

yep, we sat fireside at Sawmill. telling you, uber classy.

Second, we are trying to decide on an all over paint color for the living rooms, hallways, and kitchen. I painted the kitchen and dining room about two weeks after we moved in and made a clutch decision on the colors. BIG MISTAKE. I love the dining room color but loathe the kitchen color. I wanted a light grey and it looks lavender in our kitchen. Yes, I got the samples and tested them on the walls and even questioned it before I chose. That will not happen again. We currently have five different color samples on the walls literally all over our house (15 places to be exact). I am going to get this right this time. I digress, so we spent a bit of time picking a favorite. We both have the same favorite but want to give it just a little more time before running out and purchasing five gallons. 

swatches.all.over.the.house.

Third, we are working on updating the downstairs guest bedroom. I have so many big ideas for this room and can't wait to see them come to life (hopefully). We are in a bit of a time crunch on this room though because my older brother just got a new job in Raleigh and will be staying with us part of the week so he won't be commuting from Wilmington everyday. I really want most of it finished before he starts staying here next week. Yeah...we will see how that pans out. 

current state of our downstairs guest bedroom. disaster. 

Fourth, Jared spent a lot of money time working on his bike Saturday. I love that he has found this as a little hobby of his. He is just too adorable working out in the garage with the bike all in pieces trying to make it just right. He officially got it working so now we can start riding all the fabulous greenways and trails we have around our house. 

Fifth, we went to see a six o'clock movie on  Saturday night. I know, so wild of us. We saw American Sniper. It was truly AMAZING. Bradley Cooper deserves all kinds of awards for that performance.

Sixth, ended our Saturday evening with Friends in bed. We have all the DVDs but having all the episodes and seasons on Netflix makes it so much easier. So, we decided to watch it from the beginning, again.

Toss in a run, lunch with mom and her boyfriend, a trip to the grocery store, me working urgent care Sunday and Jared cleaning the house Sunday (yes he does that and I absolutely love it!) and you have our weekend wrapped in a bow.

I'm sorry, but does it get much better? I love the time we get to spend just the two of us having quality time and making the house we bought into our home. I also throughly enjoy every single minute of being the old lame married couple sometimes. Though, won't lie, I love a good night out dancing and gossiping with my girlfriends.  

Side note: I am running again, YAY! 

My sister in law got me a fitbit for Christmas and I am fully addicted to tracking my sleep and obsessed with getting 10,000 steps per day. 

Jared's 29th Birthday Bash!

We celebrated Jared's last birthday of his twenties [pour one out for all the homies] last weekend and it was a very Jared party. 

His actual birthday was on January 7th, a Wednesday, so we couldn't really do anything to crazy. All he requested for the day was homemade chili as his meal and to relax after dinner for the night. He really is such a simple and easy to please guy. I love it! 

chili for the birthday boy. his mom's recipe, of course! 

 We topped off the night with the best dessert around, cupcakes and cheap champagne. I'm telling y'all, easy to please. 

Gigi's triple chocolate chip and banana pudding for the win.  

The real celebration came the Saturday after Jared's actual birthday. I asked Jared a few weeks prior to what he wanted to do for it and he responded with, "no bar and in bed at a reasonable hour" (or something similar to that, so practical, that man). He was dead set on the no bar thing, so we decided to have people over to our house during the day and early evening for burgers, games, football, and beer (of course). I truly think we stuffed the majority of Jared's favorite things in one day! Only missed smokin' a pig and the beach. 

Austin, the man who brings his own giant mug to a party.

love these ladies and love that they came to celebrate my guy. not loving my five-head an chunky sweater arm though. 

can't celebrate this amazing man enough. lucky to have spent the past seven birthdays with him. 

ah yes, our downstairs living room was turned into a college frat room in a matter of minutes. Complete with live guitar playing, songs about sorority girls, and beer pong. I think our hand-me-down futon brought the spirit. 

Jared's birthday would not be complete without video games. where they all got their butts kicked by a girl! 

Happy 29th Birth Year to my fabulous husband! I can't wait to see what this year will bring for him! Also, can't wait to get plans going for his big 3-0 next year! If his 29th is any indication, it will be one hell of a rager. Just kidding, I am in charge of the next birthday, sorry in advanced Jared.

Playing Catch Up.

So...I lied. I was gone again for a couple months. Oops. 

But, new year, new start? 

My timehop app informed that two years ago I started this little blog which is so crazy. I am determined to stick with it. 

One big life change since last time, I had my last day at the Moses Cone ED the day before Thanksgiving.  A bitter sweet moment for me. I am so thankful to no longer be commuting nearly 1.5 hours to work and to be working normal hours. However, I miss the people I worked with so very much and I have to admit, I miss the crazy patients and stories! But, I also know I needed the change. I was losing sight of why I became a nurse in the first place. I was becoming one of those stereotypical ER nurses and I didn't like it. Elizabeth of course surprised me (even after I asked her repeatedly not to) with a going away pizza party, which also included popcorn and cucumbers (my favorite meals in nursing school) and a gigantic poster/card signed by most of co-workers. I am so surprised I didn't completely break down in tears leaving. 

In catching up, we missed the holiday posts. They were pretty similar to last year. 

Thanksgiving

We hosted again this year at our house in Raleigh. James, Matthew and my mom came from Wilmington and Jakie, Jared's cousin, came from Maryland. It was fun and stressful having it at our house again and I love the tradition we are creating. I look forward to many more Thanksgivings where people come to us for a change :) 

Jared and Jakie got handy and fixed up the kegerator we were given! oh yes, beer on tap in our garage.

Christmas

We did our usual quick trip to Texas. We flew out at 5am Sunday before Christmas and were back 10am in Wilmington Christmas morning to be with my mom and brother. The trip to Texas is never long enough, but we certainly pack in as much as we can while we are there. We spent more time with the cousins this year. We got to see Jared's best friends since middle school! I swear when those guys get together is it like not a day has passed. We also caught up with Gwyn and Neil who moved to Houston a couple months ago. It was a whirlwind as usual but I wouldn't change it for anything. 

seriously, the prairie is so gorgeous! 

I am so lucky to have a sister in law and best friend in one :) 

Then is was off to Wilmington, starting with our before the butt crack of dawn flight to make it home in time for breakfast casserole. So worth it! 

Can I throw in here that in the mix of traveling I got a text from Virginia around 8 am (in the Charlotte airport) declaring that Thomas had FINALLY proposed at 6 am Christmas morning. Totally made our traveling home that much better! 

self timer on the iPhone is so genius. 

mom made legit fondue for Christmas dinner! 

celebrating VA and Thomas engagement & an NC State bowl game win at Banks! 

I love getting to celebrate with both sides of our families for Christmas. It really is such a special time. I just can't imagine what we are going to do when we have little ones of our own. I was having anxiety watching all the parents in the airport with their rugrats during such a hectic time. I don't know if I will ever be poised enough to handle that. 

Speaking of babies, BIG NEWS, our friends, Bunn and Paula, had their precious baby girl on January 9th! She really is royalty, she shares the same birthday at the Kate Middleton. She is so beautiful already and I am thrilled I will get to watch her grow. I am also excited to see our first close friends become parents. 

I am still in shock that we are now in this phase of our lives. It seems like yesterday we were playing beer pong in a someones college apartment. Now we are engaged, married and some are having babies (while some just have baby fever). It is pure craziness I tell you, but I love every minute of it