Marriage: We are now Second Years

Warning: Don’t read this if you have a weak stomach when it comes to sappy shenanigans.

To my husband of one year,

I love you.  Would you just look at this?  Can you believe it’s been a year?  It’s surreal, right?  Just like our wedding day.  You know, there were times that I thought the wedding would never get here, and now it’s a year since.

I will always love reminiscing about that day.  About getting ready in the church with my bridesmaids.  Mary Beth and Ashley helping me with my makeup.  Mallory putting together a dismissal soundtrack for me at the last minute.  Feeling so uncomfortable in front of the camera.  Seeing my dad for the first time in my dress.  Having the women of my life come in to see me before things got started.  Sharing our first journal entries with each other on opposite sides of the wall.  My eyes filling with tears when Jessa told me how you started to cry during that time.  Passing you my ring.  Seeing our precious flower girls and ring bearers.  Becoming downright giddy as the time drew nearer.  Jumping up and down in my big dress because I wanted the ceremony to get started.  Hearing Return of the King and the Tangled soundtrack playing while waiting in the hall.  Having Margo and my bridesmaids praying over me before I walked down the aisle.  Peeking around the corner and waving to people.  Hearing Legends of the Fall start to play as our bridal party entered the sanctuary.  Gripping my dad’s arm as we prepared to meet you.

Seeing you.  Walking towards you.  Seeing you stand on the sides of your feet, balling up your fists, and attempting to hold back tears.  Excitedly putting your ring on your finger and saying our vows.  Having you kiss me as my husband for the first time.

I wish that I had carried my own camera with me that day, so that I could have captured moments I saw throughout the day.  To see my point of view again.

At this time a year ago, we were settling into our reception, probably getting ready to listen to Jeremy and Katie’s toasts.  I nestled into your arm as we listened and thought, “This is right where I belong.”

And then we danced the night away, and I couldn’t keep my eyes off of you and your mad dance moves.  (Throughout this year of wedded bliss, I have endlessly enjoyed watching you dance around the apartment- in case you wonder if I still notice your moves.  I think each time you dance, I love you a little more.)  

I think it was during your mother-son dance when Jacob came to sit by me.  He asked me what I was most looking forward to about being married.  My answer was, “Not having to say goodbye anymore.”  Long distance was rough.  I hated it.  But then I think it helped us get to where we needed to be.

What about this year?  Well, dear husband, I’ve loved it.  I’m so glad we were able to start it off with a spectacular week in Cancun.  (When can we go back?)  Knowing that we were heading into a potentially tough year, with you in school, and me, looking for work, it was fantastic to start it off with a short time of sheer bliss and nothing encroaching on our time together.

I can see why people say the first year is the hardest.  How many times did we realize we had silly expectations for what this was going to be like?  Ok, it was probably more this girl that you married, who had the silly expectations.  However, if that’s the hardest, then I think we’re golden.

Jered, I’ve loved waking up to your morning breath, trying to make decent food for you to eat, being a team, not having to say goodbye to you, watching you succeed in your studies, seeing you get your first “adult” job, finding what you want to do with your life, renting dollar movies for dates, learning the ins and outs of the city with you, starting a completely new life at your side, talking about the future, hearing you improve on the harmonica, spending holidays with you, making and filling our first stockings together, going to sleep with your blasted fan blowing in my face, and so much more.

I can’t wait to see what this next year will bring.  It’s exciting, no?  I mean, look at how much has changed this year.  Who knows where we will be a year from now.  I’m excited to find out.

 I have so much more to tell you, husband.  So much more to thank you for.  So much more to dream about.  My scattered brain will have to put it into writing some other time.

I hope my letter didn’t embarrass you too much.  If it did… too bad.  Occupational hazard of being my husband.  

So, until next time you are on the receiving end of my writing, I love you.  Thank you for a wonderfully memorable first year.

Love,

Aimee

Diary of a Lazy Girl

Dear friend,

I have found myself being less productive this week.  I have also found a number of excuses for my laziness.

Excuse 1: I don't have the money to spend on projects yet.

Excuse 2: I was sick on Tuesday. (I feel this one is pretty valid.)

Excuse 3: The sun wasn't out in the afternoon, so it made a great day to watch a movie.

Excuse 4: I'm recuperating from Tuesday.

Excuse 5: Jered worked days, so I slept in and didn't miss any time with him.

Anyway- you get the idea.  Lame.

I haven't been a complete bum though...

I reorganized our cupboards after using our dishwasher for the first time on our new dishes and introducing them to the kitchen.  I rearranged things because I'm very indecisive.  I vacuumed.  I tried to organize the bathroom closet.  I ironed a bunch of Jered's work shirts.

I made a delicious dinner Monday night... Jered even said so, and he said this time he meant it.

 

Well, I don't have a great deal to share with you today.  We did have a nice, albeit, short time with my family this weekend.  And they spoiled us, as per usual. 

I was also able to bring several of our wedding gifts back that we hadn't had the opportunity to use yet.  (See our lovely dishes above?  And our real set of silverware?)  That was exciting for this girl.

I don't know about you, but I feel as though this letter is quite disjointed.  It may or may not be due to the fact that I can't seem to make my eyes focus on the computer screen at the moment.  And so, I think I will take my leave for now.  It's time to watch the "particular proclivity for pyrotechnics."

Later,

Aim

Contentment

Hi!

Gosh- I can't believe it's after 6 already!  This day has flown by.  We are officially renters of our apartment.  Signed about a billion papers first thing this morning.  Then- there's nothing that can make you feel worse about your workout accomplishments than working out with a Flinkman boy.  Jered went jogging with me today.  Booo.  "I'm so out of shape," he says and then runs way faster than me and just goes on forever without stopping.

So how am I spending my afternoon without him?  Well, first I danced and sang unashamedly in my closet while I picked out my clothes for the weekend.  I had to put Blurred Lines on repeat a couple times.  (I also have to mention that I liked it waaay before it got so popular.)

I just came across this beauty too.  Obviously, I had to share it.  Please enjoy how adorable my husband was.  I don't get these car serenades as often now.  He's a serious grown up these days.  Well, I guess I get harmonica songs now...  Anyway, enjoy!

Ok, as warned about, here are more pictures.  Everything's coming along slowly, but surely.  Moving around alot trying to find the best set ups.

 

Those were my projects last night.  Looking forward to putting a futon in the spare room and dressing up everything a little after deciding on colors and what we want in each room...

You know, the message on Sunday was all about being content with what God has given you at this very moment.  It really is unbelievable- the speed at which we go from being thrilled, to "how can we improve this?"  

I'm a little bit stuck in the middle, I think.  I am still completely thrilled with what we have right now, but at the same time, I am constantly planning what we should put on our "save up for" list, what we need to do to make it look better in here, and what things we need to get.  That thought process can be enervating. 

The silly thing is that my favorite moments since we've been here so far, have been the moments when we're getting ready to go to bed and have stayed up later than normal just talking.  In the dark.  In those moments, it's just the two of us.  We can't see any of our belongings.  We can't see the bare walls, or the hand-me-down pieces we have.  

It's just the relationship God's cultivated in us.  In those moments, when I'm talking with my husband, just enjoying his thoughts, my vitality is restored.  My love for him grows stronger, and I find more peace with what we have.  (Not that I'm not more than happy with what we have right now- I am so in love with our place.  I just know that we both have that tendency to dream about what comes next.)

And all of that is not to say that I won't continue to pester you with apartment updates.  Sorry- you're not getting out of it that easily!

Well, I should get packing...  Jered and I are pulling a late night drive tonight!  Here's hoping we have a little less exciting adventure than last Saturday!

Bye!

Aim

Ready to Rest

Good evening, dear friend.

Whew! What a day.  Jered and I woke up early to pick up our new furniture.  Then we had to unload it.  I didn't mention that part to you earlier...

Remember when I told you how it would be best for us if we had other guys to help us move?  How we would have that FRIENDS "pivot" moment, followed by the "SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP!" moment? Well, today, it was just Jered and me bringing the couches into the apartment...  I think the good thing was that we both knew it could potentially get ugly.

Before we started to take the couch out of the vehicle, I took my husband by the arm, told him I loved him, and gave him a kiss.  We weren't halfway up the stairs, and I was audibly losing control of my temper.  Fast.

Luckily, I'm blessed with a patient husband.  Luckily, on our second trip up the stairs with the love seat, a neighbor happened to be walking down the hall, and although I don't think he spoke much English, if any, he stepped right up and took my place, leaving me to open the doors for them.  I think that man might have been an angel! Haha. 

I'm relieved to tell you that Jered and I are still happily married after getting the furniture in place.

My afternoon solo has gone by much more quickly today.  I started it off with looking up some color schemes for the apartment.  As I said, the green on the couches isn't really my favorite look- especially with bright red pillows.  Well, obviously, pillows are a little easier to replace than the color of the couches, so I started looking for color schemes with the dark green in them.  I found these on pinterest:

 

What do you think?  I'm not sure which one I like best, but I can say that I was a little more excited about the color when I found these.  I would say the couches are closest to the green in the bottom sample, but I still think the other schemes could work with them...

So, as I mentioned before, we were planning on moving that reddish couch to the bedroom for reading.  It was a great idea- I'm lounging comfortably on it at this very moment.  So then I started looking for color schemes for our room that would include a dark reddish/rust color.  I was really pleased to find some of these looks on pinterest:

The color in the bottom sample is almost exactly the same as the couch.  I wonder if I'd be able to use red with that color?  I love the light blue/teal in there too.  I like the splash of cool in such a warm scheme.  I like the idea of having the red to spice it up a bit...

Ok- so that's all for apartment talk today.

I found a great route to do my sprinting intervals today.  It's the first time I've tried them off the treadmill.  I used my phone's stopwatch as my timer, and I think I was actually able to push myself harder than I do on the treadmill.  I was surprised because I always felt like I needed the treadmill to keep me going, but I think that not feeling like I was in an enclosed space allowed me to go full out in my sprints.

Afterwards, I made a bee line to the pool before going home.  Woo- it was chilly!  But it sure cooled off my legs in a hurry.

This evening I enjoyed getting out and going to a church picnic!  It was nice to meet some new people and to spend time with Molly, and Jake, and Nate. 

Oh- I lied.  About the apartment talk, that is.  I just rearranged our room so that there's space for the couch.  I was worried it would be too cramped now, but it still feels quite spacious.  I also went through the spare room and organized and cleared up the room.  I'll have some photos for you later.  

Well, I am nursing a headache now.  I've downed two large water bottles in the last hour or so, and as a last resort, had to take an Excedrin to try and knock it out.  Probably won't be able to sleep tonight.  I promise, even if I'm awake all night, I will not write a third letter today!  I promise to at least wait until tomorrow.

Now I'm going to grab a small snack and wait for Jered to get home.  (You should have seen him when he left for work... That boy cleans up real nice! Enter wolf whistle here.)

Good night!

Aim

New Addition

Hey there!

Check out our new steal! 

 

We got the couch, love seat, coffee table, and the throw pillows for $125!  Can you believe it?  Jered found them yesterday on craigslist, and I spent the afternoon frantically trying to work things out so we could get them before someone else.  

The couches are super comfortable, although the color is not my favorite.  And the pillows are going to get changed out.  Not big on the Christmas colors.  But, that's just me being picky.  

Anyway- Jered will make fun of me for posting this so soon, especially since he hasn't even returned the vehicle we borrowed to pick them up yet.  (Thanks Bob and Cheryl!!!)  I just had to share because I'm so, so, so excited about it- probably the best deal I've ever gotten on anything.

Hope you're having as great a day as we are!

Aim

Just a Little Housekeeping

Hello again.

I'm sitting in the quiet of our new home.  Getting used to the different noises.  We no longer hear the Red Line approach and take off every few minutes now.  The sound of sirens is something I think we've only heard once since we've been here, rather than every half hour or so.

Instead I hear new creaks and groans in the woodwork.  I hear the breeze or fans rustling the blinds in our living room.  I hear (and see) one of the light bulbs flickering... I should have Jered take a look at that.  I hear the central air kick on and off.

As a rule, I don't like to sit in silence.  Especially when I'm home alone.  Especially when it's a home I'm not quite used to.  But right now, it's pretty relaxing. 

Well, do you remember when I first got hitched and was totally intolerable because of how much I wrote and gushed about my wonderful, new husband?  I have a feeling that's how I will be with this apartment now.  Sorry.  You're going to be hearing about it alot I fear...

Today was "scrubbing down the bathroom and kitchen day."  I don't think I told you, but when Jered and I first visited the apartment- it was appalling.  I mean, we were excited because it was huge, we needed a place to live, and we liked the set up.  But it was appalling.  I mean, the people who lived here before us must have had zero pride in their home.  And they certainly must not have had moms and grandmas that taught them the ins and outs of cleaning.

When Jered and I first saw the apartment after our move, it looked brand new!  Everything was bright and cheerful looking, and we were thrilled.  (Still are, but stick with me.)  At second glance, the Grandma Cris in me saw the things they missed. 

So today, I spent an hour in our bathroom, scrubbing down walls, dusting the woodwork, cleaning the crevices and corners they missed.  Then, I did the same thing in the kitchen.

I will forever have a debt of gratitude to my family for instilling in me decent standards of cleanliness in my home.  Don't get me wrong- I hate dusting.  And I get a little messy sometimes with my clothes. Remember THIS?

But!  I want my bathroom and my kitchen clean.  I don't think I'm a clean freak at all, and Katie and Jered will probably back me up on that, but gooooolly- you would have been just astounded at what I was still able to wipe off those walls.  Whew!

Well, just thought I'd share my little update.  That's all. Ha.

Aim

Our New Crib

Hi friend.

I sure do hope you weren't thinking baby crib.  Sorry to disappoint- this is just our version of MTV's show. Ha.

Well, I waited for morning so that I would have more natural light for the pictures, but I'm still not happy with them because they look too dark and yellowish.  In real life- our apartment is nice and bright.  So, just picture it that way, k?  Also- I've found that taking pictures of a room is hard because it just doesn't fit in my camera's scope, but here we go anyway.  Ready for the tour??

Welcome to our new home!

 

This is what you see when you first come in the door.  Please wipe your feet, and don't mind the boxes that need to be taken to the dumpster.

Make yourself comfortable!  Watch a flick or choose a book, and relax on our love seat.  (This will probably end up in a reading corner in our bedroom.)

What's that?  You need a snack?  Well, by all means, make your way over to our kitchen!  (Yes- that is the griddle you see... Someone made pancakes for breakfast!)

 

We now have more cabinet space than we know what to do with.  Still trying to decide where all those paintings will go... 

 

Ashley, this microwave stand works great for our coffee caddy now!  It also adds some more counter space if we need it.  Mom, those crates I got from Grandma's basement fit perfectly in here to keep everything together. 

See that?!  A BRAND-SPANKIN' NEW DISHWASHER.  This might be Jered's very favorite thing about our new home.

They also put in a brand new microwave and flattop stove!

 

We also have some very nice additions to our fridge already.  Precious, little Lily, and a colored picture from one of my little guys.

 

Ok- come see the rest!  Here's our bathroom.  I don't think the picture depicts how spacious it is compared to our last bathroom...

Oh, and I forgot to mention that they put in all new linoleum and carpet.  So we have pretty floors now.  Ok- here's the "catch-all" room right now.  Pardon our mess.  I am still trying to figure out the best way to store and set up in here.

Katie, Mom and Dad, Beth and Herb, Jeremy and Kelly, Jessa- This will be your room when you come to visit us!  Just, don't all visit at once, or someone will end up in the living room. Much better than our bedroom floor though, right?

Want to see our room?  I thought so.

 

So, it's still looking a little stark everywhere, but keep in mind we came from a itsy-bitsy, teenie-weenie studio.  We have a little acquiring to do, and I don't want to hang up a bunch of stuff before I know where I really want it.

Oh yes- check out this closet.  It's bigger than our last kitchen.  By a lot.  Just fantastic.

 

Eventually, we will have my mirror back on the chest, so that will help a little.

 

And here are a few special, little things around our room for now: 

Our one and only printed wedding photo so far.  (Yes, Beth- someday I will get some for you. Haha)  The bottle from my birthday.  (I plan on turning it into a vase.)  The teacup I won at Myriam's bridal shower. 

 

The music box Jered made for me for our first Christmas together.  A wedding gift from Molly- those are our first dance lyrics on the tree, and our initials hanging in the hearts.  

Well friend, that's about all of it for right now.  Hopefully as the next couple weeks go on, I will have some updated views for you.  I've already made a list of the things Jered and I can bring home after the family reunion this weekend.  For example, our nice dishes and silverware, the new rug I got for our kitchen, some flowers for around the apartment, maybe my mirror, etc.

You know, whenever the boys I nannied for had a new toy, they couldn't wait to show me.  It was the first thing they had to do in the morning.  They were even like that when Mom and Katie first visited them.  They had a mental list of everything they needed to show them.  So, yes, I am exactly like a kid with a new toy- I couldn't wait to show you!

Please come again soon!

Aim