We Made It a Whole Year!

Married for 20 minutes.

Yesterday was mine and Chris' 1st wedding anniversary! Neither of us has ever had a wedding anniversary before, so this was new territory. What do you do? I thought it would be fun to re-create the entire wedding day, but the more we thought about it, the more we decided that most of that day was pretty weird. Chris was bored until the actual wedding started, and I was a nauseous mess being fed watermelon and mountain dew by my bridesmaids. So here's what we actually did for our anniversary:

We went to church.
Because duh. God got us this far.

There was some excitement at church though. In a congregation of about 150 people, who should happen to be sitting behind us?

 Bill Haslam, governor of Tennessee. So we worshipped with the Gov and went home.


Open window?!? @#$%@
While eating anniversary lunch (5 slices of bread and a frozen rice dinner), I noticed I could hear the wind blowing. And the window looked funny. Upon further examination, we realized the window was OPEN. And had been that way since we moved in 3 weeks ago. This explains the $50 electric bill for one week of service and why our apartment seemed hot no matter how high the air conditioner was. We're not sure who opened the window, but we're pretty mad at whoever you are.



We watched Titanic.
Because nothing says "I love you" like watching thousands of people die tragic, water-bloated deaths.

Really...Chris and I made a deal a few months ago that I would watch Zombieland if he would watch Titanic. I tried Zombieland but it was way too gross, so we exchanged Zombieland for all three extended editions of Lord of the Rings. Fair trade? No. But Chris made good on his promise to watch Titanic with me, so we did that yesterday.


Dinner at the Cheesecake Factory.
[Insert same reaction that everyone has when they go to the Cheesecake Factory for the first time.]

I want to tell you about our Cheesecake Factory $$ Plan. Here's how it works:

1. Decide where you want to eat dinner. (In our case, the Cheesecake Factory.)
2. Go to Kroger and buy a gift card for yourself to the restaurant of your choosing.
3. When you buy said gift card, you get 4x the amount of Kroger fuel points.
4. For every 100 fuel points you earn, you get $0.10/gallon off gas.
5. Go getchya some gas for less $$!

So we turned a $50 Cheesecake Factory gift card into 200 fuel points. Combined with 100 fuel points for filling a prescription at Kroger. And we got $0.30/gallon off gas!

It's the little things, ya know?

So dinner...
Bang-Bang Chicken and Shrimp at CF is NOT the same thing as Bang-Bang Shrimp at Bonefish, just FYI.

June 12, 2011!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cheesecake. MINE.

Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Cheesecake. Not mine... :(

:-)
It was good.


The secret to success.
I have learned a lot in my one year of marriage. No, it's not a lot, especially compared to couples approaching 30, 40, 50 years. But it's been significant for me.

I've learned how much God truly desires to be with us. If He calls us his spouse, does He feel the same disappointment I do if I don't get daily quality time with my husband? Does He want me to talk to him the same way I get excited about talking to my husband? Are His favorite times with me the silly, casual, "let's just enjoy life" moments? Does He think about me as much as I think about Chris? If all those answers are yes, then God thinks we are really special and loves us more than I knew was possible.

In our first year of marriage, I have learned that selflessness is pretty much the best policy. Want to have a solidly awesome marriage? Completely let go of anything you want or desire. The motto of our first year could be:
"Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves." Philippians 2:3
Why does your spouse deserve to always get things their way? Because they are better than you. Or at least they should be in your head. This means:

• doing things for them that they should probably do themselves (picking up their clothes, washing their dishes, cleaning their hair out of the sink...)
• letting them pick the restaurant, movie, activity, etc.
• listening to them talk about stresses in their life that you've already heard a thousand times but know they need to air it out one more time
• giving them a backrub even if you're exhausted and your back hurts too
• cooking foods that you don't like but you know they love
• living with the air/heat/water at a temperature that makes them comfortable
• waiting to make decisions that don't really concern them but giving them a chance to express their thoughts

What's the difference between living selflessly and being a doormat?
Your spouse treats you the EXACT. SAME. WAY.


I'm not sure what the key to success will be for our second year of marriage. Probably something totally different. But I'm so glad God has given Chris and I one year of the most amazing marriage I could have imagined. I know it won't always be this easy, but as long as we continue doing life with Christ at the center, we're gonna make it through anything.

Love you, O'B.