Apartment #2

Alex got a job with State Farm in Edwardsville (if you're local to that area, I'm sure he would love to give you a quote) and I am in my last year of Dental Hygiene school at SIU-Carbondale. If you're good with geography you would quickly realize that they are about 2 hours apart. So, we are splitting the difference in beautiful Pinckneyville. The town population hovers around 5,000, there is no Wal-Mart or Kroger, no one is ever in a hurry and the average age is 900. So, we obviously fit in.....

But, we were able to stumble upon an apartment that was within our budget and had enough space that we wouldn't suffocate.
With all this anticipation building I'm sure you are all about to bust down my door to see the goodness inside apartment #2. Wait no more....

Everything was virtually all wood paneled and very very dirty.

Our Bedroom & Office...after some paint & elbow grease.

Our Living room and little hallway to the rooms & bathroom. 

I'm a detail person, so here are some of our little Apt.#2 details!
Starting in the Top Left corner going clockwise: "Life is Sweeeeeeeeet, eat a cupcake" plate (From my awesome sister!), Turquoise glass bottles (the biggest one was my Grandma Blair's), Wedding gifts and guest book tree, K-Cup apothecary, Chalkboard I made for the wedding, and last but not least my our Gnome salt & pepper shakers.

Thank you for stopping by and if you ever want to give #2 a real life visit call me! I'd love love love to have some company! 

Strive...to relax

When Alex and I got home from our honeymoon my desk, in our tiny apartment, was covered in post-it-notes and notebooks. All of which had a common theme: TO DO.

I make lists like crazy! Some of my lists even looked crazy. I wrote one that honestly said:

To Do:

-          -Workout

-          -Do Homework

-          -Call Becky

-          -Shower

Who seriously needs a To Do list that says “shower”?! I have a tendency to get worked up about the little things and sometimes the big things that we encounter in daily life. Mainly self induced stress and school. Which leads me to my Strive moment…

I need to strive to relax. Not to be lazy, watch TV all day and not do my homework or housework. But, to stop fussing over the little details of everyday life and relax. I take for granted a lot of the things and people in my life because I am too busy worrying about something else.

Mathew 6: 31-34 – So do not worry, saying “What shall we eat?” or “What shall we drink?” or “What shall we wear?” For the heavenly father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. 

Back to School!

Monday was my last first day of college...for now :) I'm quite happy to be back in school. I know, I'm a nerd. But, it gives me something to do and work hard at. Every year since pre-school or kindergarten, I'm not too sure, my parents have taken a "First Day of School" picture as I'm walking out the door. I wish I knew where they are stashed so I could chronologize them. Anywho, my last first day of school...

Rocking the new bag...and lunchbox! 

Strive...to save

I don’t want to be poor. I know that a lot of young (or older) married couples have money woes and Alex and I do not want to. So he, being the accountant/financial smarty-pants that he is, sat down with me and we made our budget. I have never lived with a budget. Mind that I haven’t lived like a queen, but I have usually gotten what I need and most of the things I have wanted. Anywho, back to the story…We have a budget now. It’s pretty typical - rent, electricity, cable, food, gas, car payment, savings, yada yada…We outlined month 1 and agreed to try to keep as within the budget as we could.

Fast forward two days. We are in St. Louis visiting new baby Katie Sue and shopping. In the car before any shopping we discussed the budget again and smiled. However, the next time we were in the car one of us (me) was not smiling. I was pouting -pouting like a three year that didn’t get her way.

You see, I have been on the search for a new school bag. Not a purse and not a backpack, but a carry all bag that has room for my camera, kindle, purse like items and of course school things. Don’t worry, Macy’s had one. But it was a wee bit lot out of our price range. Ringing up at $188, Dooney & Bourke has a lovely gray cross body, carry-all tote...which of course is not within our one income budget. Hence the pouting.

So, after pouting all the way across the river, throughout dinner and Khol's...I found my new dream bag! Marshall’s had my cross body carry all bag for only $24.99!!

Which leads me to this week’s Strive moment: I need to strive to be a better saver. Alex didn’t tell me no in Macy’s because he’s mean and doesn’t love me. He told me no because he wants to save for our future, something that I need to be doing too.    

Proverbs 21:5- The plans of the diligent lead surely to abundance, but everyone who is hasty come only to poverty.

$188 Dooney & Bourke

No name, Jewel tone blue for $24.99

Strive

To strive is to devote serious effort or energy to something. Striving is a verb and if you remember the old commercials, "a verb is what you do!" Everyone should have something to strive for and I am no different. However, as an imperfect being, I have a lot to strive for. With that said, this section of our blog will be following   what I am striving toward. Enjoy!

First Ever Blog Post!

I never really thought of myself as a blogger or someone who really wanted to ever have a blog…and I still don’t think I know what I’m doing. But, when I started planning our wedding I would spend hours scouring through the internet and looking at blog after blog. I loved every new idea I stumbled upon and hence my love for blogs was born.  Mostly I look at the pictures in blogs; however there are some blogs that I look forward to reading every time there is a new post. I don’t want a too wordy blog, just something mainly for myself to keep track of the ins and outs of daily life! So, enjoy our blog and let us know what you think!