Background

Saturday, April 12, 2014

Our 5th Wedding Anniversary

This week my husband, Phil, and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary. I don't know about you, but hitting five years is kind of a huge milestone. So we wanted to do something seriously special to celebrate. And I think it turned out pretty darn magical.

Phil still had to work yesterday, but I was surprised by the delivery of this beautiful flower bouquet while he was gone. He sure knew how to start the day off right!


When he got home, we decided to try out a new recipe and had cheesy chicken enchiladas (I highly recommend it; you can find the recipe here), along with Martinelli's sparkling apple juice and strawberry cheesecake. The whole meal was so delicious and filling!

For the evening's activity, I bought us tickets to the season opening game of the Sacramento River Cats (Sacramento's minor league baseball team) vs. the Salt Lake Bees. Traffic was horribly insane. What should have been a 20-minute drive to the ballpark took us almost an hour. But, we caught sight of this, which made us laugh:


I should know by now that everything is bigger here than in little old Idaho, but the baseball stadium blew us away. It was huge, not something we were expecting for a minor league team.


The game started out slow, but got really exciting as it went on. First of all, I surprised Phil with this during the fourth inning:


The Salt Lake Bees are a really good team, but they were kind of violent! At one point, their catcher couldn't find a dropped ball, so instead of asking, he just tackled the River Cats batter to the ground, assuming that he was hiding it from him. In another inning, when the Bees were up to bat, their batter hit the ball so hard that the swing literally shattered the bat in half (which then flew all the way to the third base). I have never seen such things before in my life!

The River Cats were behind throughout the whole game up until the eighth inning. And, what happened was just purely awesome. All of the bases were loaded, and the River Cats batter hit the first (and only) home run of the night, sending the team ahead of the Bees 7-6. The crowd went wild! People were jumping up and down, screaming and clapping, and giving strangers hugs and high fives - Phil even got a couple of those! I don't think I have ever seen such an enthusiastic crowd. We ended up winning the game! To add to the celebration, there was a firework show afterward.

Phil and I had a blast - and it was definitely a memorable anniversary. And to make things even better, we are going to San Francisco next weekend, which we are excited for. I love you, Phil! I can't believe how quickly the time has flown by! I'm looking forward to the many adventures that still await us.

Wednesday, March 26, 2014

I'm Not a Desperate Housewife

My honey and I have gone (or currently going) through a lot of firsts this year. He finally graduated from Idaho State University with a Bachelor's degree in computer science. This was an eight-year endeavor (he kept changing his major), so when he finally was handed his diploma in December, we were pretty freaked out because that meant we were finally growing up. Thankfully, he had a job waiting for him after graduation, so we didn't need to stress about that too much. Only that his first professional gig was in California, which meant we had to make our first big move away from family and friends. To top it off, we found out I was pregnant with our first child, which made the move that much more difficult. Hey, when it rains, it pours, right?

Honey and I have been married for almost five years now, and throughout our marriage thus far, I was the one who primarily supported the two of us financially while he was in school. We had agreed early on in our marriage that when he was done with school, we would reverse the roles - he would be the breadwinner and I would take care of the home. Finally that day had come. At first I tried to fight it, but Honey convinced me it would be best to get used to it now because I wanted to be a stay-at-home mama anyway.

We packed up as much as we could fit in our Hyundai Sonata and left for California. It was definitely a transition (bigger population, more diverse culture, etc.), but we settled in pretty quickly. At first being a housewife felt like a much-needed vacation. Going from working full time to nada will do that to you. But, it also made me start acting very lazy, so nothing around the house was getting done. I would just lay in bed all day and play on the Internet. And, when you do that all day, you start feeling bored and unfulfilled, which can really make a negative impact.

After a month of this sloth, I had had enough. I'm an adult with a baby on the way, I have to set up positive habits now! I thrive with structure - I love research, lists and schedules. So, I decided to make a daily schedule to encourage myself to get up and make the most of my day while Honey was at work. It has helped me immensely, and I encourage others to try it out themselves if they feel they are in the same rut. Take a look:

When I wake up:
  • Have Breakfast
  • Exercise
  • Shower
  • Get dressed for the day (even if you're staying at home, dress like you're ready to go out the door any minute - it helps you stay motivated)
  • Relax for an hour online (get emails, Facebook, Pinterest out of the way, etc. That's really all you need in a day)
  • Open the blinds and let the sunshine in (I read in an article how this also keeps you motivated - and it really does help!)
  • Prepare lunch for Honey and myself (he comes home for his lunch break)
  • Set aside distractions (especially the laptop and phone) and focus on spending time with Honey during lunch
  • Do the dishes after he leaves
  • Tidy up the rest of the apartment 
  • Do something for yourself. This could be anything from reading a book to watching a movie to working on a hobby - just something that makes you happy.
When Honey gets home for the day, we do the following together:
  • Take out the trash/recycling
  • Check the mail
  • Work on laundry (I still struggle doing this by myself, it's my least favorite chore)
  • Make dinner
  • Spend the rest of the evening together doing whatever
  • Bedtime
I know this will change once we have our baby, but for now it works for us. I'm always open for suggestions though! How do you keep yourself sane if you're a housewife? Please comment below!