Tag: marriage

2021: Third Quarter Goals Recap

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I’m having a really hard time believing that it’s officially fourth quarter. Fall used to be my favorite season but now it marks the beginning of our “busy season” and I always want to rush to the new year. This year I want to really stop and enjoy myself instead of rushing through the rest of the year.

Before I set my goals for fourth quarter, here’s a quick recap of my Q3 goals.

  1. Be kind to myself. When I’m going through something hard I tend to be really hard on myself too. I’ve noticed this especially when it comes job. I’m never good enough or doing enough. I’ve been trying really hard to be kind to myself and give myself grace. I feel like I did okay at this but I want to still focus on doing better at it.
  2. Setup health appointments. This has been such a fun goal that I set for myself. I’ve been poked and prodded so much this last quarter with even more to come. But I feel good knowing that I’m taking steps in the right direction for my health.
  3. Spend time with friends and family. I didn’t do great at this to be perfectly honest. I did spend some time with family but I’ve realized that I don’t really have any friends to spend time with and that’s been weird to figure out. I do have friends but we don’t live close so it’s hard to spend time together. I have been trying to check in with them more at least!
  4. Celebrate 10 years with Brett. We had a nice long weekend in a nearby beach town to celebrate our anniversary. It’s still hard to not see Brett the majority of the week due to our work schedules but I’m hopeful that will change soon!
  5. Read 3 books. I read several books and it was so nice! I go through phases of not reading much and then phases of reading constantly. There’s something so relaxing to me to be able to spend a few minutes each day reading a book and getting my mind off of the real world. Have you read any good books lately? I need some recommendations for Q4!

I’m currently working on my goals for Q4 and should have them posted soon. I keep looking back at my old posts and I’m really glad that I’ve captured so many of these quarterly goals. It’s easy to sit back and think that I haven’t really accomplished anything over the past few years but these posts remind me of just how far I have come.

Hope you have a great weekend!

Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash

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Our 10 Year Anniversary

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I remember the day I first starting talking to Brett like it was just yesterday. I was at my friend’s house after a marching band rehearsal when another friend said she wanted to introduce me to a guy she knew. She gave him my number and we talked constantly for days before meeting for our first date. I’m sure people thought I was crazy at the time but here we are a decade later.

I was 17 when we first started dating and was so immature even though I thought I had it all figured out. I wanted a partner who I could have a life with. I wanted someone to put me first and to be there when I needed someone. Brett became one of the most stable people in my life. He introduced me to his family and friends, came to my band concerts, and took me on so many dates. Looking back now on all of our highs and lows I’m proud of us and how far we have come.

This past year has probably been one of the hardest for us. We work different schedules and don’t get to spend much time together which is really hard for me. I miss eating dinner with him, going for walks, and watching tv together. I miss telling him goodnight before I go to bed. I hate sleeping alone and hate kissing his head goodbye in the morning because I don’t want to wake him up after he gets home from work late.

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We’ve had another big challenge this year that hit us pretty hard and we’ve had to work together to figure out our next steps. We had big plans this year and started to lose hope that we’d ever reach our goals. We’ve blamed each other when it’s no ones fault, we’ve had to pick each other up when one of us loses faith, and we’ve had to become even stronger in our relationship to make it through all of these challenges.

10 years is a very long time to be with someone. Brett has loved me on some of the hardest days of my life and has never given up on me. This year he has held me while I’ve fallen apart and then picked me up and put me back together again. He does this not because I’m not strong enough to put myself together alone, but because he cares about me and takes care of me when I need it.

Our marriage isn’t perfect but four years ago we vowed to never give up on each other. I can’t wait to see what the next 10 years bring!

Also, since I know this is super confusing, Brett and I started dating on August 19th, 2011 and got married on August 19th, 2017. So today marks our 4th year of marriage but our 10th year together. I’m pretty happy our anniversary dates ended up like this because it’s easy to remember and celebrate both!

2021: Third Quarter Goals

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I’m a little late with my third quarter goals but I still wanted to get them posted. I tried to be really intentional with these ones because life has been a bit of a struggle lately and sometimes the smallest things feel unbelievably hard.

I think blogging has been so hard lately because this has always been a space where I feel comfortable to share and be vulnerable but right now I don’t feel ready to share everything going on in my life so writing posts feels a bit fake. Blogging has never been about the views for me and I’ve been brutally honest about where I’m at in life. I want to get back to being comfortable sharing but that might take me a bit of time. Thanks for sticking with me!

Here are a few goals for Q3:

  1. Be kind to myself. Sometimes I feel like I’m at war with myself to do better and be better when I really just need to take a break. I want to practice self-care and be kind to myself as I walk through this stage of my life.
  2. Setup health appointments. I go to the Neurologist this week for a checkup but I need to find a new primary care doctor since mine moved away. My SIL recommended one so I want to make an appointment. This doctor was the one who helped advocate for her during her infertility journey so I think it would be a good place to start.
  3. Spend time with friends and family. Now that we’ve pretty much gone back to almost normal after the pandemic I want to make sure I’m catching up with friends and family. I haven’t spent enough time with my grandparents lately and I know I’ve been slacking in the friendship department. I want to prioritize my relationships this quarter.
  4. Celebrate 10 years with Brett. The past few months have been hard because Brett and I haven’t been able to spend much time together. I want to make sure we set aside time to celebrate our 10 year anniversary!
  5. Read 3 books. I used to also say that I wanted to read 3 books and write reviews but that probably won’t happen. I’ve really been enjoying reading lately though and finally read Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens. I’ve already passed the book onto a friend because it was so good and I wanted to make sure she read it too.

I hope you are all doing really well! I’m going to try to catch up on some of the blog posts I’ve missed.

Do you have any goals this quarter?

Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash

Best Laid Plans

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I’ve always had plans.

I wanted to graduate from college in four years, get a job, get married, buy a house, adopt a dog, and have a baby or two.

Life has a way of reminding you that you can’t control it. You can’t plan for what’s going to happen no matter how hard you try or how badly you want it. Even though I’m a planner I know that life isn’t going to go according to plan and my best laid plans will be thrown back in my face.

Even though I can’t control life making these plans still makes me feel like I have some control. When I feel anxious I make a list. Writing down the thoughts that are racing through my head helps me to feel like I’m in control. That’s how I feel about life too. I can’t control it but making these plans and lists makes me feel like I have a bit of control over the situation.

Right now I’m in a phase of my life where I am constantly reminded that I’m not in control. I have to have faith that there’s a plan for me that’s greater than the one I am wanting. I have to be patient and know that my time is coming.

I had a carefully laid plan for this year. I still have hope that it will be a good year it just won’t be what I had planned and that’s okay too.

Are you a planner? Are you usually able to stick to the plans that you make?

Photo by That’s Her Business on Unsplash

A Beer Review From a Non-Beer Drinker

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My husband, Brett, has a blog and a YouTube where he talks about a variety of things like weather, air shows, roller coasters, and beer. His YouTube is mostly beer reviews but we’ve had a lot of fun coming up with ideas and setting up a little studio in our house for him to film. The studio is still a work in progress. We went to Ikea a couple of weeks ago and now I’m working on getting things setup. I’m excited for him to have a space to film soon!

A few weeks ago we had nothing to do so I joined his for a review video. I’m usually behind the camera and I don’t like beer so this was new for me. Check out the video if you want to see my awkward faces and to see our super cute dachshund-mix, Oscar!

I love supporting Brett on this little adventure of his. He has the personality to be a good YouTuber in my opinion.

Do you like beer? Do you watch YouTube? What kind of videos do you like?

Feel free to subscribe to Brett’s channel. We filmed a video at Ikea that will be up soon too!

2021: First Quarter Goals

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I started setting quarterly goals in 2017 instead of a “New Years Resolution” and I’ve really loved it! Instead of setting goals for the whole year in January I set goals every quarter. This keeps me motivated to get things done and also feels more realistic for my lifestyle.

2021 is the first year that I don’t have all planned out. We don’t have any travel plans due to Covid and I’m not really sure what else will happen this year. So setting my goals for the first quarter feels a bit strange but I’m hoping that this will be a nice challenge and will be good to look back on for years to come.

Here are my 2021 Q1 goals:

  • Work-Life Balance: The end of 2020 was killer for me at work. I worked 50+ hours per week and had zero boundaries when it came to phone calls, e-mails, and meetings. I am in the middle of training two new hires and I get a new intern to mentor in a couple of weeks so I know that things won’t slow down but I need to be better about creating a balance and not over-extending myself. Right now my work-life balance isn’t healthy and I can’t continue working this way.
  • House Projects: Probably the most exciting thing that we have planned for 2021 are some house projects. Our main goal is to see if it’s possible to add a bathroom and walk-in closet to our second story. We live in a Cape Cod style house so the second floor is a converted attic with sloped ceilings. It’s a huge space but right now it’s just a guest room. We’d love to turn the second floor into a master suite so we will see what the contractor quotes us. We’d also like to re-do our kitchen and mud room floors and maybe splurge on new kitchen appliances.
  • Blogging: I took another blogging break at the end of 2021 because work was killing me and I couldn’t spend anymore time on my computer to write a blog post. I’d love to be able to post 2-3 times per week but we will see how realistic that becomes with my work schedule. I also failed at reading and commenting on posts so I want to be better about that because one of my favorite things about blogging is reading other blogger’s posts and it’s just not the same without that.
  • Monthly Date Nights: My husband, Brett, works nights Tuesday-Saturday so we don’t see each other that much and it’s been hard to schedule quality time together. One of my favorite things that came from being quarantined was our monthly date nights and I want to keep that up. I genuinely enjoy spending time with Brett and it’s really great for our marriage to have that time scheduled each month.
  • Health: There are so many things I want to say about this goal but I’ll keep it pretty generic. This is the first year that I can remember where I’m not setting a goal to lose weight or am starting a new diet. I’ve struggled with body image forever it seems and restricting myself to a specific diet has been really unhealthly. This year I want to focus on taking care of myself which means eating healthy most of the time, practicing self-care, and prioritizing the things that make me happy. Hopefully keeping this simple will work better for me and I won’t feel so bad when I “fail”.

2021 feels different for a number of reasons. I want to take the time this year to work on myself and stop putting my job before anything else in my life. I have to start setting some boundaries or I’ll be completely burnt out before I even turn 30.

2020 taught me some valuable lessons and I hope that I learned enough to make this year different.

Are you setting any goals for 2021?

Photo by Andreea-Maria Juganaru on Unsplash

2020: Third Quarter Goals Recap

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I honestly don’t even know what to say about these goals. I still love writing them because it’s great motivation to not sit on the coach and watch Law & Order SVU every night (not that there’s anything wrong with that). Setting goals just doesn’t feel the same in 2020 for some reason.

Here’s a quick recap of my third quarter goals:

  1. Monthly date night. Yes! Brett and I are making alone time a priority even as things have started to open back up and he’s switched schedules at work (again). I hope monthly date night is something we continue forever.
  2. Spend at least 30 minutes outside per day. I haven’t been great at this. I still enjoy walking the dog and sitting on our back deck but I haven’t made it as much of a priority the past month or so.
  3. Start meal planning again. I have gotten much better at meal planning! I’m mostly using Pinterest to find new recipes. The biggest reason why I’m able to meal plan easily now is because I’m home most days and I love easy crockpot recipes.
  4. Find a new outlet for my anxiety. This didn’t really happen. I’m feeling good most days and am trying to cope the best I can. I’ll continue working on trying to find an outlet to help.
  5. Write down some professional goals. I still have no idea what I’m doing or what I want to do when it comes to my career. I’m trying not to stress about it and am just going with the flow. Our team is working through some major transitions right now and I’m just trying to be as supportive to my teammates as possible.

I’ve already written my final 2020 goals and am ready to take action. This year hasn’t gone the way I originally thought it would but I’m determined to not waste a minute.

Do you have any goals for the rest of 2020?

Photo by Justin Luebke on Unsplash

August 2020 According to my iPhone

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I always look forward to August. It feels like the perfect summer month. This August was pretty perfect. I’m trying really hard to set boundaries and enjoy life outside of work. This month I was able to take 3 days off to celebrate my anniversary with Brett with a little Michigan roadtrip. It was so nice!

How was your month? Do you have any fun plans for September?

Our 3rd Wedding Anniversary

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August 19, 2011 was the day that Brett and I went on our very first date. We went mini golfing and then sat in my car and talked for hours. The rest of the summer we were inseparable. Brett was 19 and I was 17.

On May 30, 2015 Brett proposed in London, England on the very last day of my study abroad adventure.

August 19, 2017 was a day that I will always remember. We planned our wedding for over two years and it was finally time to marry my best friend. We had both graduated from college, gotten jobs, and moved into an apartment. It was time to start the next chapter of our lives together.

In my wedding vows I said that Brett “came into my life at a time when I really needed a friend” and that’s the honest truth. I was so lost when I met Brett and he helped me find myself again. Obviously, I didn’t need a boyfriend to figure out who I was but it was nice to have someone to help encourage me.

Over our three years of marriage and nine total years together we have had so many adventures. We’ve visited seven countries and taken countless road-trips. We have adopted a dog and bought a house. We’ve lived together, apart, and long-distance. It hasn’t been easy but it’s been completely worth it.

Happy Anniversary, Bretten! Here’s to many, many more to come!

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Five on Friday #23

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We made it to Friday! I am so excited that this week is almost over. How was your week?

As always, here are five random things for Friday:

  1. Taylor Swift’s new album Folklore came out last Friday and it’s SO good! She is incredibly talented and I’m in awe of her once again. She created this surprise album during quarantine and it’s amazing! I highly recommend listening to is ASAP. Do you like Taylor Swift? How do you feel about Folklore?
  2. Today is the last day of my class! It’s been a long week and I will be super happy when this is behind me. This is a three year program so I still have two more years of class ahead of me. If you didn’t know, I’m working towards a finance certification.
  3. Now that my class is over I am really looking forward to August! On August 19th Brett and I will celebrate our third wedding anniversary and our ninth anniversary together. We are hoping to do a mini Michigan roadtrip to celebrate! We were actually planning a Europe trip this year but obviously that won’t be happening.
  4. I’ve wanted Air Pods for awhile but I’ve never been able to justify the price so they have just been sitting on my wishlist. The class that I’m taking sent a care package to all of the students since it had to be moved to virtual instead of in-person. The care package had a set of wireless earbuds in it and I’m obsessed with them! Do you have Air Pods? Should I invest in a pair?
  5. The Fall 2020 FabFitFun box spoilers have been released and I’m not that impressed. I have to decide if I want to re-new my membership after this box and I really do think that it’s a great value. Even though I’m not super impressed with the contents of the Fall box I’m pretty sure I will be renewing my membership as an early birthday gift to myself. I love having something to open every quarter! Do you subscribe to  FabFitFun?

Tomorrow I am taking the exam for my class. The exam shouldn’t be terrible since I’m only in my first year so I’m only being tested on the material from this class. Year three is when I’ll sit for the certification exam which will test on all three years worth of material. Wish me luck!

Do you have any plans for this weekend?

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