>> Our whole house is hardwoods. Which means with this stupid boot on, I sound like Peg Leg Steve. J has started referring to me as booty. The other night when I walked into the living room he goes booty booty booty booty walkin’ everywhere. Yeah.
>>Wednesday morning we woke up to what sounded like an invasion on our house. Nope. Just the lawn maintenance people and our back door neighbor sawing down trees.
>> My birthday is on Sunday. I probably should have written this on Wednesday and linked it up with Kathy as a confession–but somehow I ended up confused and thought I was turning 29. I’m not sure where the mistake happened–but I’ve been thinking this for the last 6 months. My husband realized my error and was like “uhm, no. You’re turning 28.” I feel the opposite of Pheobe. I get a whole year of my life back.
>> J is trying to teach me stick shift. With my boot on. Surprisingly, that doesn’t really affect it (at least I don’t think it does). We were in an empty lot on Monday driving around. I’m not sure I’m coordinated enough. Actually, I’m pretty sure I’m not.
>> This one needs a little back story. We live in a house offered by the university. Another football coach lives in another house offered by the university. Well, that coach and his family are in the process of moving. The university decided to repurpose the house they were living in–and he didn’t have much notice. The school is doing what they can to take care of them, but in my opinion it sounds kind of like a nightmare.
My phone rings on Wednesday morning. It was a local number I didn’t recognize. I missed the call and called it right back. It went to the voicemail of someone in residence life for the university. Immediately, my heart jumped into my throat. I called J thinking surely they would only call me if they couldn’t get ahold of him. He said he’d take care of it.
Later that afternoon, J calls me from work. Says he heard back and that we had to be out of the house by the end of the month.
I just sat there on the other end of the line silent. My whole body went numb. If you’re new here, there was a bit of drama with settling into this house on my end. But now that we’re here, I’m happy. I’m comfortable. This house works for us.
I swear in the moments it finally took for J to say just kidding I was trying my hardest not to break down. That little jerk.
Turns out a package was just delivered to the Res Life office instead of our PO Box for some reason. I’m still trying to catch my breath.
Remember when I used to make youtube videos? Yeah, that was fun. I set most of them to private because….well, I’m really awkward. I enjoyed it, though. And maybe when I get a new computer and it doesn’t take me seven hours to edit a 5 minute video, I’ll get back into it.
But since I stopped making videos, I stopped sharing with you guys all my favorite things each month. And I’m putting a stop to that now. I had a lot of things that I just kept reaching or in May, and I think they’re worth mentioning!
1. Coconut Oil: Okay, before you roll your eyes because you’ve seen people ranting and raving about this for almost a year–hear me out. Yes, I use this as my makeup remover and my only facial moisturizer. And I love it. But I’m about to confess something a little…uhm…embarrassing. It doesn’t matter what deodorant I use–I could buy the most expensive, clinical strength stuff on the market…and it still won’t last. Knowing that CO is antibacterial and antifungal, I figured I’d try something. If it worked, cool. If not, no one would ever have to know. So I rub just a tiny little bit into each armpit (oh gosh, I can’t believe I’m admitting this) and let it soak in for a minute before I apply my normal deodorant. And you know what? It works.
2. Nivea: Kiss of Mint & Minerals: By far my favorite lip balm. I’ve almost used this entire tube up and I have a back up.
3. Johnson & Johnson Melt Away Stress Lavender Hand Cream: I’ve used this for years and years and honestly just rediscovered it. The scent is amazing and the cream leaves your hands so so soft. I’m kind of addicted to hand cream, and this is by far my favorite one.
4. Tresemme Dry Shampoo: STOP! And make sure you listen here. As a dry shampoo I hate this. I have fine hair and it leaves my hair feeling dirtier than it did before I started. Wait, what? I thought this was a list of favorites. It is. I do not use this as a dry shampoo. But I have very slick, fine hair. So when I curl my hair, everything sort of just melts together creating one giant curl. That’s where this baby comes in. It adds just enough grip and texture to my hair to allow the style to fall how I want it to! Plus, it doesn’t smell awful. But if you have fine hair like me, I wouldn’t at all recommend this as an actual dry shampoo. You’re better off with Batiste!
5. Monistat Chafing Gel: Again, I don’t use this how it’s intended. I’ve mentioned it before–but I actually use this as my make up primer. I know, weird. As the summer months settle in, I love this stuff even more. It keeps my make up in place all day and helps combat oil. And it’s like $5 at walmart. The ingredients are the exact same as the Smashbox photo finish primer. This isn’t new information–but it might be to you. So I recommend it.
6. OPI Strawberry Margarita: Worth the $88 I spent for it. I change my nail polish a lot. That’s not news. But I keep reaching for this.
7. Covergirl Shimmering Sands: This is an old favorite. Perfect for an easy and quick eye look.
8. Jergins Natural Glow & The Express formula: Being the 5th kid means they ran out of pigment by time they got to me. I’m the whitest of the bunch. But I also don’t crave the sunshine like I used to. Both of these work great. The Express has that DHA sunless tanner scent right off the bat (and works pretty quickly as far as seeing color). The Natural Glow smells nice right away, but then develops the DHA scent. Both leave your skin feeling extra soft! Also, I’m not orange or streaky. So there’s a plus.
9. Vaseline Rose Lip Balm: I’ll admit I only bought this because it was cute. And I didn’t love it right away. I like a balm with a little tingle in it–but aside from smelling pretty, it didn’t really do anything for me. Well, then we went to Pittsburgh and nothing was relieving my chapped lips. Oh, holy cow they hurt so bad. Finally, as a last resort I tried this. Instant relief. It’s a thicker formula so it actually sticks around on your lips for a good long while too.
10. Water Water Water: This is a stupid favorite, but I had to mention it. As someone who always hated water, I can’t believe I’m even including this. But I can’t get enough. I only drink water and coffee (one cup/ day) now. I feel better, my skin looks better, I’m not nearly as tired and being outside in the heat doesn’t kill me. It’s the easiest (and cheapest!) thing we can do to take care of ourselves.
What are your May Favorites? Let me know if you love any of these things too! Do you use any weird products the way they aren’t intended? I want to know!
Favorite Spotify Playlist:
>>Your Favorite Coffeehouse–Seriously. It’s good writing music for me! And it helps me relax!
Favorite Quotes:
I laughed so hard at this that I couldn’t breathe. I then shared it with my husband who just stared at me like I was an idiot. Whatever. That’s funny.
Happy Friday, friends. Hope you have lovely weekends. I’ll hopefully be sending the manuscript back to the copy editor this evening.
Linked with: The Nail Files
**all photo credits are clickable links through the photograph.
We weren’t always this happy, my husband and I. Our first few years were sort of rough. I know a lot of that was due in part to adjusting to living together, having no money, and learning how to prioritize our happiness. But a lot of it, too, was because we weren’t exactly in sync. We always loved each other. But I’m not sure that we were exactly aware of the other all of the time: what we each did every day; what we wanted; what makes us happy.
In the few short years that we’ve been married, we’ve gone through a lot. Pair that with our unusually difficult dating history, and you might just have a recipe for a stable marriage. I’m not saying that in order to be happy or stable you have to go through crap. But what I am saying is that going through crap kind of speeds up that process.
In the winter of 2012, J was offered the job here at Campbell. We were living happily in Charlotte in a house we had just barely moved into and made home. No sooner than he got the call he was out the door, and I was left behind. This isn’t a story you haven’t heard before. But it’s an important part of our story. In that time we spent apart, I was forced to reassess my myself, my priorities and my marriage. When everything feels like it’s falling apart, suddenly what you need is very clear. Everything else was stripped away. All that fluff we all let ourselves get so distracted by was no longer important. At all.
Moving here meant big changes. I joke that there isn’t a Target (I mean, there really isn’t–but I joke about how important that is). Finding a job for me would be nearly impossible. We wouldn’t have immediate access to every store we’d ever need. Our house wouldn’t be the same caliber house we’d leave behind in Charlotte. All of those things mattered so much to me for about the first week J was gone. And then none of it mattered at all anymore. In actuality–he wasn’t gone three days before I called him hysterically crying that we just needed to do whatever we could do to be in the same place. I’d give up Target. I kid–but you get my point.
I’ve always wanted to stay home and write, but our lifestyle never allowed for that. Bills have to get paid. Seeing how the move was rattling me, J suggested I stay home. Our house would be cheaper. We would eat meals in because I’d be home to make them (and well…you can only eat so many wings from The County Seat). We’d cut out gas costs with his job a mile away and mine across the hall. Target wouldn’t eat $200 of every paycheck. This move meant really big changes.
I appreciate that he works hard and that allows me to stay home and chase my dreams. He appreciates that his underwear is always clean and his meals are always prepared (and he never has to clean up the mess). I am a much less grumpy person. He gets to have the job he loves and focus everything he has on that. And I get to do what I love. And we’ve both made sacrifices to make this happen.
It’s this cycle of appreciation. This move, the one I was so allergic to, transformed my marriage. It’s a lot easier not to care about the little things that might just piss you off when you see the big picture. At the end of every day, my heart is grateful for the work my husband does. And his is grateful for the work I do.
We figured out our rhythm and our priorities. We learned what we can live without. And then when I got so sick last year, I didn’t have the added worry about how much work I was missing on the days I couldn’t drag myself out of bed. There were so many things with this move that neither of us could really understand–but it ended up exactly how it should.
And we learned how to just be happy.
