The Best Marriage Advice

Earlier this week I came across an article on The Nest titled The Best Marriage Advice We've Ever Gotten. A must read in my opinion!! Below are the main points from the article. I hope you will find this useful!!

1. Fight fair. No name-calling and no cheap shots. It took a few years for us to get the hang of this, but we finally got it. We drive each other crazy sometimes but really working to disagree nicely has kept our household pretty darn happy.

2. Share the same bed. Chris’ grandparents Ned and Suzy swore that the key to a happy marriage is sleeping together. Easy advice to follow…unless you have a partner who snores. I do, so I wear ear plugs (and occasionally kick him out to the couch in the middle of the night)…

3. Make your sex life a priority. Thankfully this is the one thing on this list that we haven’t discussed with the fam. (I would have died of embarrassment during that convo!) But we work really hard to break out of inevitable ruts and keep things hot.

4. Start a family when you want to. The baby pressure started pretty much the day we got married. But my mom urged me to ignore it and wait until the time was right for us. We listened–and spent 7 years checking off the items on our pre-baby bucket list.

5. You don’t have to have kids. My mom actually said these words. She knew Chris and I were constantly debating about the kid issue–and she wanted to let us know that she would support our decision either way.

6. Laugh a lot. This was one of my grandparent’s rules. I’m a high-strung, type A pain in the a*s. Chris is laid back and funny. It’s easy to laugh with him…and be happy together when we’re laughing.

7. Talk, really talk, often. This is actually something I learned from a therapist once. If something bothers me about him (or vice versa), we try to address it fast–before it becomes a deal breaker.

8. Keep your money separate. This one isn’t right for everyone–but it was right for us. We split bills down the middle and spend whatever is left however we want to. I’m not annoyed by his pricey hockey tickets, he’s not annoyed by my shoe habit (as long as I keep part of my collection at work to help minimize clutter!).

9. Respect his point of view. During our wedding toast my grandfather joked, “Chris, you always knew you were marrying Miss. Right–you just didn’t realize that her middle name is Always.” I took his message to heart–and I work hard to see Chris’ POV (even when I know I’m right).

 

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What to Buy Next

Well now that all my walls are painted I am noticing how bad the ceilings look! I used to think people were exaggerating when they would say things like “owning a house is a never ending project,” but I am beginning to think they were right!

My list of things to do and buy for the house keeps growing and I am not very good about prioritizing! I would prefer to buy what I want most, not what is most practical or needed! I would really like to buy furniture for the deck so we can have a few summer parties, but we also need a new sofa.

The sofa we have now is really comfortable – it’s like sitting on a cloud – but it is a hand-me-down sofa from my sister that she got used from a friend. So it is pretty worn! Plus the feathers keep coming out of the cushions and are getting all over the house! I’ve had this sofa for about 4 years and I think it is time for an update!

This is the one I want! It's from ikea so it's not too expensive!

 

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Happy Monday

Happy Monday everyone! I hope you had a fabulous weekend and are ready for another week! Make it a good one!!

 

 

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Weekend Update

I learned something about myself this weekend… I hate painting!! It’s not as bad if it is a small area or a piece of furniture but when it is a whole room I find it unbearable!! I don’t remember it being so bad when we bought the house, but I guess I was so excited about moving into our first home I didn’t notice how miserable it was! I somehow managed to suck it up and do two coats over the weekend. It took forever but I got it done! Well, I got the first part done. I still have to do the trim and the stripes but the biggest part is done!!

My mom also came over this weekend to do the first coat on our kitchen floors. That was going great until I asked if she had gotten her phone out of the room before she started painting…. She hadn’t!! We now have a footprint in the paint! Haha I’m sure it will get covered when she does the second coat!

I absolutely love the white floors! It just makes the room so much brighter and it feels more open! I really want to paint all the floors but Ben is not too wild about that idea (for now.) Hopefully I can convince him to let me do it!!

 

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Weekend Plans

I am super excited about my plans for this weekend... I am finally going to paint the dining room!! Not the most exciting plans but I am looking forward it!! It is something that really needs to be done and I really don't like looking at the unpainted walls!

Looks bad, I know!!! I have had plenty of time to think about how to paint this room and I have decided on.....

 

Yellow and white stripes!!! I can't wait to see how it turns out! I will post photos when it is all done!!

 

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Happy Monday

Happy Monday everyone!!

 

 

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Family Trip!!!

Sorry for the lack of posts recently. Last week was our family vacation to Turks and Caicos and I have been having a hard time getting back to reality. I always have a hard time adjusting back to normal life after a week of total relaxation! We had a wonderful time on vacation and exploring a new island…. I still prefer St. John but it was a great trip!

Things weren’t looking to good when we went to get our rental car for the week…. A blue minivan. Not just a normal minivan, a minivan unlike any I had ever seen before. Ben referred to it as the Mystery Machine!

Everything changed when we saw the house! It was amazing! I absolutely loved everything about it… the open floor plan, the furniture, the appliances, even the security system was amazing! The doors didn’t have keys, just codes to lock and unlock them!

I am pretty proud of myself for stepping out of my box on this trip. I ate raw conch, pulled a conch out of its shell with my hands, and kayaked with sharks… I didn’t actually know there were sharks in the water at the time!! When it swam under us, Ben told me it was a really big fish (it was a baby shark)!! Haha he knew I would have flipped out!!

Number one place on the island is definitely Da Conch Shack. Most amazing conch fritters and rum punch I have ever had!! They actually get the conch from right in front of the restaurant. You can watch the employees bring the them in from the water and they even sell the shells after they are cleaned! It was a really fun place!

Another place we really enjoyed was Grill Rouge at the Grace Bay Club. We ended up eating there twice and the second night we ran into a girl we went to high school with who was there on her honeymoon… Small world!! The Infinity Bar is also at Grace Bay Club and Libba kept saying she wanted to go there for a drink. It is the longest bar in the Caribbean, stretching 90 feet “across Grace Bay Blub to the shores of Grace Bay Beach” accounting to the website. Sounds pretty cool right?! Sadly it does not go to the water, or the beach. It’s pretty much just a long table in an outdoor bar/restaurant. Good drinks but not as exciting as we were expecting! However, The Lounge was really nice. Same drinks but better set up! Top photos are from infinity bar, the bottom from the lounge!!

We did a day on a boat and it was probably the best day of the whole trip! The two guys who ran the boat were awesome and they made it fun for all of us there! The first spot they took us was the reef. It is actually the third largest barrier reef in the world! Then they look us to find some conchs! Once we had about five, they took us to a small island, let us pick three and then showed us how to prepare them… That is where I ate the raw conch!

I think the little ones had a great time!! They both loved playing in the sand. Hollis and Bill took Lawson with them in the kayaks to go to Iguana Island. It is this small island across the channel from our house that is home to tons of iguanas!!

Overall we had a great time!!

 

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