January 2015

New years are the best. The beginning of a new year is a great time to evaluate where you are and where you want to be, how you're going to get there, and start anew.

Needless to say, I've made some "goals" for this year. I want to get involved in service. I want to be more forgiving to myself and others. Let myself be more loving. Get healthier. There are a bunch but, overall, I just want to improve. There is always room for improvement!

I'm still in school and I hope to graduate this year with an AS in Criminal Justice. It's not going too well so far, but I'm trying. I'm happy to say that I'm signed up for volunteer training at a local shelter for women and children victims of domestic violence and sexual assault.

Stephen's only goal is to do well in school. He's doing well in most other areas of life. He has a job working 30 hours a week. He makes pretty decent money. He's a fantastic person. He's also taking 6 credits at the university. He's much happier with school because he's finally changed his major from Computer Programming to History Education.

While he won't earn as much money with this major, he'll be doing something he actually cares about. The subject matter seems to come more easily to him, so that's a cherry on top! I'm really proud of him for doing something he's interested in and something that will make him happy.

As for everything else, we want to be sealed to each other this year. We're really getting antsy for a child. Not that it can happen soon, but it's fun to think about!

December 2014

December was one of those refining months. It was a very hard month emotionally, but there were good times to be had.

This was our first Christmas in our own apartment, so I got to decorate!

Purple tree, pink lights, pink butterflies, purple wrapping paper.

Stephen got a few presents, but I think his favorite is this shirt I finally got him.

Miskatonic university is a fictitious establishment from the books of pulp horror author; H.P. Lovecraft. Stephen is almost obsessed with his works, and he's wanted this shirt for forever!

We're still trying to figure out holidays as a married couple. Of course we spent the majority of this Christmas together and it was awesome, but the day got older and we had presents to give. I decided to go to my family's house and Stephen went to his. It didn't last long because the weather was crazy! It was snowing so badly that, soon after I made it to my parents' apartment, most of us decided to drive home before the roads got worse. And we missed each other so much! It was basically the loneliest 2 hours I've spent since we were married. We both agreed to never do that again. We'll see what happens next year.

The next day, we celebrated our 2 year anniversary! I woke up with the very-recognizable symptoms of a UTI. I get them all the time. In fact, I was waaaay overdue for one. And, even though I only had one that year, it was predictable that it would happen on the day of our anniversary. They did the usual testing and, of course, confirmed my suspicions.

It wasn't so bad because it reminded me of our wedding vows. In sickness and in health. And these sort of things always happen to us. But that doesn't mean awesome things don't happen too! When I was making the hotel reservation, I noted what we were celebrating (mainly so they'd put us in a room away from other guests). Well, when we checked in, they congratulated us and apparently gave us an upgraded room free-of-charge!

Free lounge room, basically!

We wanted to make a tradition of going out to eat, getting a regular hotel room, and eating at Wendys the next morning. We did that on our wedding night, we did that for our first anniversary, and we did it for the second but, after talking it over the next day, we decided that we don't really like hotel rooms. We used to, but I think when we have a perfectly good apartment, there is no reason for a hotel room. It's foreign, the comfort of the bed is always a toss-up, and we have cable and privacy at home. Hotels are basically obsolete now. We're excited to try something new next year. Maybe a cruise? I wish! 

After all is said and done, I'm so happy 2014 is over. It was a terrible year for me. Stephen liked it. He says he "grew a lot and made a lot of important discoveries". Aw!