Happy Anniversary!

John and I have been married a year now and been together for 3.5 years. We have made pies, laughed a lot, taken trips, helped each other through heartaches, and tried, above all, to be kind to one another. He is my best friend and the person I want to talk to, without fail, every day.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that we reached the open farting stage. Like, 3 years ago.


A whole year has gone by, and while we are not wiser, we are definitely older. We've had a lot of fun this past year, getting a new dog, taking trips to see family, going to upteen weddings, eating way too much food.

Also, it's my one year blogiversary! I've been blogging for about a year now. Well, less than a year, but we'll call it a year because I'm only doin one anniversary post and this is it.

To commemorate all of these wondrous occasions, I've got something exciting in the works. Probably going to post it this week or next, so come back and check!

Thank you all for reading! Your comments and feedback make my heart go pitter-pat! Blogging is such a solitary thing that you forget that people are actually reading your words, but you guys always let me know what you think. And for this, I thank you.

A Short Play About Marriage

Scene: Two offices across town from each other

1:28 PM Lauren my computer is making this whirring noise
1:28 PM Lauren that is driving me insane
1:29 PM John you're making a whirring noise that's driving ME crazy
1:29 PM John circle of life

FIN

Happy Birthday John!

Today is John's birthday! He is old(er)! Look at him, giving his best Blue Steel.

John makes me laugh every day. He tolerates me when I'm crabby and short, and cheers me up when I am sad. He does really silly dances and a dead-on Will Smith impression, if you are ever fortunate to see it. I am fortunate enough to see it.

John told me the other day he loves me more than cheese! He had to think about it a bit, but he said it. Me > cheese. The fact that he said it is one of the many reasons I love him.

Happy birthday to John!

How's the spending hiatus going?

That depends on what your definition of hiatus is. This week I've bought coffee mugs, magazines, food I didn't need, a coffee grinder, an orchid, and other sundries. But I bought them all for sick people.

My grandma broke her ankle last week so I bought her some magazines to read and an orchid. Then John got sick so I had to buy him some bland food to eat. And my friend Jules had her bridal shower, so I got her the coffee grinder and coffee cups.

I don't really consider any of this unnecessary spending. People were sick and I helped them. It's what you do for loved ones. So that's how it's going these days.

"How's married life?"

I get that question a lot since I just got married. Two months ago today, in fact. My married life is a lot like my engaged life, or my living together life. John and I have lived together for about two and a half years now. We have a house and a dog. Our life isn't really that different now, except I like to constantly remind John that there are no takebacks. And I changed my name.

It's funny how things turn out sometimes. When I graduated from college, I applied to jobs all over the country and didn't get any of them. I took a job in San Antonio at a magazine as an assistant and then found another job at a nonprofit. I wound up staying in San Antonio when I was trying so hard to leave.

But San Antonio is where I met John. It's where we live and have friends and dinner parties and get to wear flip flops all over town. It takes 30 minutes to drive 20 miles. We both have jobs we like in a town largely untouched by the recession.

And we have each other. He is my partner and my best friend. He makes me laugh with his dancing. Even when I'm mad at him, I tell him "I love you, but I don't like you right now." Because it's true - I always love him, even when he doesn't do the dishes.

Here's to two months of marriage, and many more to come.

Cheap wedding bells

Since this blog is supposed to be about saving money, I thought I'd talk a little about how John and I saved money on our wedding.

-The dress. I bought it online for $230 and then had it taken in, taken up, and a lining put in, all for about $120. So I came to about $350 total. Considering what David's Bridal and other stores charge for dresses and alterations, this is a bargain. I wanted something that wasn't big and froofy and tulle. So this worked out well.

-The shoes. Bought em at DSW for $35.

-Jewelry and headband. Bought on Etsy.

-The guestbook. My friend Kate had the brilliant idea to use a cookbook for our guestbook, since John and I love to cook. We loved it! I bought a bunch of sharpies and people left us their "recipes" for love. This is fantastic because we can use our guestbook and read peoples' messages all the time.

-RSVPs. We went to Hawaii last year and picked up vintage-looking postcards for the RSVPs. They cost like $30 total. Then we had my friend Ryan do a graphic of a piece of coral for us for our invites and accommodations cards. We hand wrote the RSVPs.


-The officiant. Neither of us is religious, but we didn't want a JP either. So we asked John's dad to officiate our wedding. We got him ordained online. He wrote a great speech for us (about wine!), and it was so amazing to have everyone involved in our wedding like that.


-Favors. Ok, we didn't really save any money on favors. We found these half bottles of wine at World Market. It was Primus, one of our favorite reds. So we bought one for every family/couple and wrote notes for everyone on them. Not cheap, but infinitely better than impersonal gifts.

Things we didn't do for the wedding:
-A program. Everyone knows what happens at a ceremony. Why do you need a program?
-Save the dates. We got engaged in August and married the following March. By the time we'd booked everything, it was too late for Save the Dates.
-Linens. We just used the ones the location had.
-Full bar. We had wine, beer, and delicious prickly pear margaritas. I heard no complaints.
-Stupid chair drapery things. They are my nightmare. I don't get them.
-Big centerpieces. I had the florist give me big peonies to float in water in the center.
-Placecards. We only had 70 people at the wedding. We let everyone sit where they wanted.
-Menus. The location provided them for us.
-A DJ. We asked our friend Sam, Kate's husband, to be our "DJ". We set up the iPod with all the mixes and he just made sure the right mix was playing and all.