The Windy City

Where  do I even begin?! Too many things have been keeping us busy lately and the last time I posted was 23192849347 days ago.

Well, I guess I’ll start with the apartment. Between having little money and wanting to waste it on an apartment that we don’t actually own, pretty much everything I’ve done in the apartment was made. Luckily, pinterest doesn’t make this too difficult! For the most part, the apartment was decorated, but I wanted it to be 100% complete, since my parents were going to be coming to visit. I still had finishing touches to put into my bathroom, the entire extra bedroom to decorate and organize, the kitchen to repaint (I didn’t like the color I painted it before), and I wanted to add some sort of shelving unit to the living room to add hide all the cords from the electronic equipment.

In my bathroom, I wanted to put something on the back of the toilet, so it didn’t look so boring. I found a rusty silver tray at Goodwill for $0.25 and polished it with a recipe I got off pinterest and made a feau mercury glass vase out of a vase. Lastly, I made a jewelry wall out of mismatched frames from Goodwill that I added decorative knobs and scrapbook paper to. With that, the bathroom was complete for just a few dollars! It always amazes me what I can find at Goodwill!

The extra bedroom was the room I dreaded doing the most because when we first moved in and were unpacking, everything we didn’t have a place for, we just chunked into the extra bedroom. In a tiny room, we had crammed both mine and Michael’s desks from college, 3 bookshelves, and a ton of misc stuff like Michael’s beloved mini fridge (which he has not once even plugged in, and yet truly believes he needs lol), and his guitars and amps. Although I wanted an actual style in the room, I was definitely not about to add more painting to the to-do list, so I decided to try to stick with a natural feel in the room, and add some bold curtains.

I decided we needed to add a little storage in the room, considering all 3 bookshelves were completely packed with books. Since we don’t have much money to spend on décor that Michael couldn’t care less about, I got plain and cheap plywood from home depot and aged it using a stain I found on pinterest out of vinegar and steel wool. The wood came out looking very naturally aged; I love it! After waiting a few days for Michael to find some time between studying to put them up, I got tired of being patient and decided to put the metal brackets on myself. I was so proud of myself for using Michael’s power tools to accomplish something again! Unfortunately, I didn’t realize that the brackets have to be attached to the wall before being attached to the shelves. Oops! Michael ended up having to take them all off, and redo everything the right way.

Plywood before the stain

TA DA!

As far as the book shelves go, I went through all the books and made Michael throw away every text book he no longer uses or will ever even open again. This eliminated the need for all 3. I decided I wanted to keep one tall and one short bookshelf. I painted the short one a navyish blue, threw the other short one out, and since the tall one was pretty ugly, I painted it and moved it into the living room, so I could buy a more natural looking tall bookshelf that would better fit the feel I was going for. Next, I made some curtains out of a gorgeous fabric I found that was 75% off! Thank goodness too, because linen fabric is really pricey! The room is still slightly crowded, but we both use our desks and we need the bookshelves, so this will just have to do.

Not the best pic, but the background in the fabric is a dark blue

 There's not too much on the shelves at this point, obviously. I'll have to see what treasures I can find on my next trip to Goodwill

The new blue bookshelf. The coloring is way off, but you get the gist

The shelf I added also did a good job of covering up our cords and when my parents came, they brought me the painting my best friend, Lauren, painted me for my birthday. It fits into the room perfectly and makes it feel more modern, which I love because I could only make it so contemporary, when the flooring is brown shag carpet lol. I’ve also been maintaining my little herb garden, which is seemingly doing well. It’s so nice to not have to buy fresh herbs every week!

Our visit with my parents was a lot of fun and my Grandma and little cousin, Kristyn, were also able to come! Over their visit, we stayed at a condo in Minnesota and drove to Chicago a couple of the days. On the first day in Chicago, we went to the Museum of Science and Industry, which is the largest museum in the US. It was pretty interesting…but museums aren’t really my thing. I still had a good time just being around family, though, and afterwards we went out for Chicago style Pizza! It was so delish! I really didn’t think I would like it a lot, but I absolutely loved it!

We were in a tornado lol

Our second day in Chicago, I really wanted to go to the aquarium, but we didn’t think we’d have time to go there and the Navy Pier, so we decided to go to the Blank Park Zoo instead and then went to the pier. I really liked the zoo- especially the Polar Bear! It was the first time I’ve seen one in person! The Navy Pier was pretty neat too, and the water was super blue and gorgeous. I was really surprised! There wasn’t too much to do there, though. We walked all the way around it, stopped at a couple shops for souvenirs, and got some fried dough for a snack…OMG SOOO GOOD!!! I was obviously not even attempting to stick to my healthy eating plan for the entire week! Oh yah, did I mention we went to Flub A Dub Chubs, a hole-in-the wall hotdog place. I figured while we were there, I might as well try a real Chicago dog! Let’s just say it was well worth the long walk from our parking spot a few blocks away!

Other than Chicago, we hung out at the condo, went swimming, horseback riding, put-put golfing, and played enough games to get my fix for a while! Kristyn and I also did quite a bit of cooking. Apparently she doesn’t do too much of it at home hahahah, if you catch my drift ;). One night we decided to make a recipe I found on pinterest called Apple Candy Pie to surprise everyone. After a very long time of standing in the kitchen and a few cooking lessons for Kristyn, our masterpiece was complete. Oh my gosh, it was worth all the work- definitely one of the best desserts I have ever had!

 Kristyn was working so hard ;)

After a fun week with the family, I was dreading the ending. It’s easy to get used to being around family again. After everyone left, the apartment felt so empty. Michael could tell I was a little down and gave me my anniversary gift right away. Fishing poles and supplies!!! He knows me so well! We ended up having a really fun fishing date, even if we didn’t actually catch anything. Gizmo also has a blast running like a crazy dog up and down the bank, through the wooded areas. I had to give him a bath the moment we got home, to make sure he didn’t get into poison ivy or ticks!

After the weekend of relaxing, it was back to work for me, while Michael stays home (he’s on summer break). I have to say, it is the most amazing thing ever to come home every day to a spotless apartment and flowers every now and then! As a wife who works, I can’t imagine anything I could appreciate more than a man willing to do the dishes and keep the apartment tidy so I can come home and relax in the evenings. I will certainly miss this when he goes back to school lol!

We’ve also been on a big health kick since our Chicago trip. We put away all chips, cookies, etc. and have been eating very healthy with tons of fresh fruit and veggies. We’ve also been biking pretty often and running every evening. Michael goes on super long bike rides every day while I’m at work! I’m so proud of his hard work! Our goal is to be looking great by the time we go on my work trip to the Ozarks and our cruise with the Moffett’s, which are both in July.

As for work, everything has been great! My sales have been good, and I qualified for the annual summer trip, and also got a great opportunity to work with telemarketers to help set my appointments. Only a few people at the office got this chance, so I was so psyched when I found out! It gives me a lot of confidence in my growth so far. I know I still have lots to learn, but when I look back on my past couple of months, I’m just amazed at how much I’ve learned.  I know I can make it in the business; I just have to make it through the first year!

Well that’s pretty much all for now! I'm gonna be on blog overload since i've been slacking so bad and missed a lot of events. Sending love from Iowa!

"Success is a Journey, not a Destination"

Well, there's  lots for me to be excited about right now. Since we got here, life has been a constant struggle to find contentment. We don't have family here, the weather was pretty miserable for a good long time, we haven't made close friends, Iowa is seriously THE most boring, lame place I've ever been, and I see Michael less (even though I'm living with him for the first time) than I ever have before. We basically had to remind ourselves everyday that this is going to be the most taxing part of our lives, emotionally, mentally, and financially, but also that one day it will all be worth it. In my mind, though, I kept wondering at what point is too much when it comes to planning for the future...do we sacrifice basically all happiness now to be happy in the future? I mean, there's really no guarantee that we're both going to be here in 5 years. Yes, ideally, we will be haha, but you really just never know.

After starting my new job though, and seeing all the new endeavors my friends are engaging in, I've become inspired. I'm 23, I have an entire life to think about and experience; this is an exciting time! One of my best friends, Lauren, Just recently left her job at a marketing agency to persue a full time career in photography. http://www.laurenmoffettphoto.com/  As you can see from her website, she's amazing! Lauren and I have been best friends since the 7th grade and I watched her grow from taking senior portraits in her house for friends to this. I know her business will flourish and she'll be able to capture people's dreams through her beautiful pictures. My brother and sister-in-law, Aubra, are also taking on a new adventure! They've wanted to open up a wedding venue for a long time now and they are now taking the steps necessary to make it into a reality. Aubra is going to be moving to San Antonio for the Summer to work at the venue that Michael and I were married at, in order to learn the wedding planning/catering business. Afterward, they're moving to Austin, where they'll lay out the floorplans to their dream. Then there's my other best friend, Bethany, who is just finishing up her school as a radiology technician and has recently landed a job in a local hospital, where she's actually getting to work with patients after 5 years of training.

All of these people are huge influences in my life and such an encouragement to help motivate me to do well while chasing my own dreams. Their pursuits have really made me examine my own abilities to succeed right now. I don't necessarily have to wait for everything. Our life isn't just going to start on the day Michael graduates and we move somewhere else. Life has already started and this is just part of the journey. Making sure to take full advantage of the only Summer Michael will have off in his entire podiatry program, we've decided we're definitely going to go on vacation. The plan is a tropical destination of some sort with Lauren and Dylan, but we’re not positive yet… I don't know how much money we'll have or how extravagant it will be, but I'm not waiting for life to begin anymore. I want to make his very last Summer awesome!

On the phone a couple weeks ago, Bethany started talking about how free we are, and she's right; we have jobs to support ourselves, no kids, and enough ambition to fulfill a lifetime of goals. So, I'm realizing now that just because we're working hard and are definitely limited on our resources for having fun, to some extent, this is still one of the best times of our lives. Instead of having the responsibility of taking care of kids, we can just spend our time imagining how wonderfully perfect and cute they will be. Instead of dealing with the mortgage of our first house and car payments, we talk about how massive our kitchen and backyard will be in our dream home, or how awesome Michael's completely restored '69 Cutlass is gonna be. There's much to be said about the ability to dream!

 Anyway, moving past my self-motivating rant... Michael and I were able to enjoy a lot of time together over his Spring Break! Since the weather was actually pretty nice, we started the break off by feeding the geese at a pond near our house. They weren’t too interesting, though. We also took Gizmo to the Gray’s Lake almost every day. It’s really perfect ‘cause it’s so close by and dog friendly. One day we decided to have a picnic out there and flew one of the kites I bought Michael back in college. For the picnic, I made Red Lobster copycat cheddar bay biscuits (which btw, tasted identical to the real thing), salad with olive garden copycat dressing (which also tasted exactly like the real thing), antipasto kabobs, strawberry shortcake, and strawberry-wine slushes. It was so nice to just relax with him anda yummy meal!

Since SB came to an end, Michael has been back to his typical busy schedule. He spends all night at the library, so I usually see him just when he comes home to lay down with me until I fall asleep and then returns to studying. For our first Easter, we weren’t able to do anything too exciting because Michael’s so busy, but since I was missing my family so much, he tried to make it as fun as possible and took part the Easter traditions I’m used to. I had fun dying easter eggs, but Michael didn’t last too long lol. Usually, every year I have an easter egg dying contest with my cousins and we spend hours decorating them as elaborately as possible. Michael wasn’t as enthusiastic- he may have lasted 20 minuts. He put all of his in one color and was basically through. That’s okay, he tried and I appreciated it haha! We also got each other Easter baskets. Mine was filled with lots of my favorite easter candy,  but Michael told me he didn’t need a bunch of junk food, so in his basket he got a new polo to wear to the church, warhead popsicles, guitar picks, beef jerky, a cookies n cream chocolate bunny(that’s his fav. Candy bar), jelly bellys, and peeps. I also tried to make his basket a little more manly and less gay by putting it all in a spongebob bucket and the plastic eggs that I put the jelly beans in were shaped like baseballs. Though we missed out on the big family easter egg hunt and feast that I’m used to, we did go to Cracker Barrel for lunch, so we could get some good close-to home cooked food. It was a great first Easter!

As for work…it has been absolutely amazing and really opened a lot of doors for me! I cannot even begin to explain how much more confidence it’s given me. For the first time ever, I have an adult job with good pay, but more than that- I get people’s trust and respect. When I go to a person’s house for an appointment, they listen to me and acknowledge that I know what I’m talking about. It’s such an awesome feeling! I really am so thankful to have a job I love, and I even really like all of my co-workers. We’ve been out with them a couple times now and had a lot of fun! I'm seriously really excited to go to work everyday; it's a blessing for sure!

As for life as a wife, everything is going great! I still make basically every one of my meals from pinterest so I can find lots of dishes Michael and I both like, and I think we’ve enjoyed that. I made greek chicken gyros for the first time in my life a couple days ago and we both loved them! They have a sauce made primarily from cucumbers and greek yogurt, so it’s definitely a different taste from what Michael is used to, but he ended up really liking him. H'se generally really hard to please when it comes to anything outside of a basic meat-and-potatoes dish, but this was definitely a big hit! The tomato and pepper seeds that I mentioned planting grew really well…for a while. Then the cold weather came back and I had to keep the sprouts inside. Since we get so little sunlight in the apartment, they all ended up dying. I am happy to report, though, that the green beans are still growing like crazy! I’ve also been growing celery from the bottom of some celery that I bought at the store. I got the idea on pinterest, where else?! I dream of the day we own a house and can plant veggie and flower gardens! I definitely miss having a backyard, where my friends could come over and we could hang out around the firepit. Actually, I just miss being able to be outdoors as all. It's still pretty cold here...yuck!

Outside of school, Michael has picked up another hobby- biking. He bought a bike a few weeks ago after a couple weeks of shopping around, and has been riding to school and back. He loves it! He looked like a kid on Christmas morning, when the bike arrived. He really couldn’t have been more excited. It’s nice to see him so happy about something since he doesn’t get much time for anything other than studying! I’ll be getting a bike here in the near future too. We also are pleased to report that we finally went to eat at a local place called Fong's Pizza. Everyone I've met since moving here has told us about this place and we just never made it there, until now. It was definitely worth the rave! So it’s history is that it was a Chinese restaurant and when a pizza company bought it out, one of the stipulations of the sale was that the new owners keep an Asian flair. So now when you go, you can get all kinds of Asian appetizers and the pizzas are really weird flavors/toppings like Kung Pow Chicken Pizza! We got the Crab Rangoon Pizza because I’ve been told about that specific pizza about a million times. Oh my gosh, it was so delicious and unique!

Crab Rangoon Pizza! It had crispy wonton strips, green onions, and a sweet chile sauce on top

We're also excited to have my parents, one of my grandmas, and my little cousin, Kristyn, coming to visit at the end of May. At first they were just going to come visit here, but they ended up getting a condo outside of Chicago, so we're going to stay there with them for a few days. So, in preparation for their visit, I'll be doing a few more things to the apartment and we've also had to find a place to board Gizmo... what an ordeal! All the places here book up really fast and are also super expensive (rightfully so, considering half of them are probably nicer than some hotels for humans). Anyway, we finally found a place that was moderately priced, still really nice and allows us to watch him through an online video, but they require a prescreening meeting to make sure he is friendly with other dogs.

When I took him, the lady asked me lots of questions about his temperament and I told her how he loves to play with other dogs, so she brought a wienie dog in the room to meet Gizmo. The dog had barely even stepped into the room when Gizmo jumped off my lap and was growling and snapping at the dog, while cornering it! Omg, I was mortified! The lady told me the wienie dog is usually really dominant and another dog might be better, so she went and got another dog and Gizmo did the exact same thing. Just as I was thinking "where is he going to stay?!", the lady had the idea that maybe he is just being protective of me and she took Gizmo to another room, separate from me, that had a bunch of dogs for him to meet. Turns out he did super great without me and immediately started playing with them all. Just to be sure of his protective instincts, the lady brought Gizmo, and one of the dogs that he was playing with, back into the room with me and he automatically started trying to attack it. It was so wierd! The lady said he would be perfectly fine, since I wouldn't be there with him, and they accepted him, Yay! I guess I didn't realize how much of a little mama's boy I have hehe :)

Other than that, Michael and I have been keeping close tabs on our Spurs and are psyched to get to continue watching them dominate as they enter the playoffs! Watching the Spurs always reminds me of the Summer after my sophmore year of high school (the year they won the championship!), when we watched almost every Spurs game together, along with our TOBC friends. It's so fun to think back to those years, and to the time that Michael first started liking me :) In fact, if we hadn't had the old fashioned soda bar at our wedding, we would have had a Spurs groom cake. Anyway, even though we don't have friends here who we can share in the excitement of the Spurs victories, it's nice to have eachother, along with the memories to remind us of where we came from. that’s all for now! Sorry this post was about a million words long- it’s been so long since I last posted! I won’t wait so long next time!