Work work work

So lately every night has been the same for Anthony and I. I don't want to complain because we DO get nights together. He has Thursdays and Sundays off in January and it's nice to know that is constant. The only thing is, on the other nights, he works for hours and hours. His job is supposed to be from 7:30 am until 4:00 pm which would be a dream. Often times he is more likely home by 8:00-9:00 pm so that means I see him a few hours before he has to be back asleep for the next day.

Anthony works for At&t and puts in their new television service (U-verse) It's a great job and we are really lucky to be blessed with it so I can go to school and not have to work. I hate complaining but to be honest today I am lonely without him. He has been at work all day and isn't home and it's almost 8 pm already. I know he is tired and worn out and he even called today to tell me he was really missing me so I know it's getting to both of us. We hardly ever go to bed seperately and last night he just could not stay awake. I am sad that I do not get to see Anthony as much as I would like but I want to praise God for that awesome job. I guess I am just venting my lonliness a bit.

January 10, 2009 Thankfulness:

I am thankful that Anthony has a great job that provides us enough money for a comfortable life. I am also thankful that it gives us medical benefits, vision, dental, and life insurance. I am thankful that we can give to ministries that we believe in and that we are able to have two days a week together.

January 10, 2009 Growth/Learning:

It's important to be thankful for things that challenge you in your marriage. We are having to be very creative on what to do when we are together as well as how to make ends meet and I am thankful for this time in our life as we cling to our time together and really enjoy everything we do as a couple. These years are going to be so precious and I do not want to take them for granted!

5 month Anniversary

Today Anthony and I have been married for 5 months. I can't believe how quickly 5 months has passed. We are having such a good time together and are enjoying the learning and growth that comes with marriage as well as all of the fun times. We have been together for 2 and 1/2 years and through that it has been so much fun and to be honest, we have both grown as people as well as in our relationship. We are really excited for each anniversary that happens and we give every one of them a large amount of attention.

Also, this morning at 7:56 AM (Indiana Time) my best girl friend Carrie from Indiana had her 3rd child, a little boy, Jacob Logan Ritchison. I love being a "pseudo aunt" to her kids and I love her little girls so much. I very much look forward to meeting little Jacob in late February! I could not be happier for my friends who are excellent parents and they inspire me every day! It's been a great day so far and I thought these big events were worth reporting on our blog.

In other news, Anthony and I are headed to Indiana from Feb 26th-Mar 1st to throw my sister's baby shower. My little nephew Shawn Christopher Lee is due May 10th so we are throwing the shower in February in order to prepare for his arrival! I am really happy to be going home and doing this for Hilliary as well as seeing friends and family! Today has been an exciting day!

Happy 5 months to my gorgeous husband, Happy new mommyhood to Carrie, and Indiana peeps, get ready I am coming home to hang out! :)

January 9, 2009 Thankfulness:

I am thankful for so much today. I am thankful for 5 wonderful months married to the love of my life. I am thankful for my new "nephew" Jacob being born healthy and strong and his mama is safe and healthy also. I am thankful for my biological nephew Shawn Christopher being healthy and developing well. I am thankful that I get to come home in February and Anthony is coming with me this time. I am thankful that I get to see friends and family. I am thankful for a friendship that has been growing back to what it used to be. I am thankful for my husband networking for me on the job. I am thankful for "The Office" because it makes me laugh!

January 9, 2009 Learning/Growth

We have learned lately how important it is to celebrate every single moment in life. Everything that is exciting and happy and fun should be celebrated and we are learning that. Every new baby, every surprising blessing, every friendship, every engagement, every day we are married, every time we are able to be together is an opportunity to celebrate. Joy and thankfulness are the most important things in our marriage!!

Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without

Anthony and I have really worked hard to learn how to decrease waste in our home not just for the environment but for our household economy. Today was our monthly visit to the recyling center. It is amazing to me that our trash becomes cash. Anthony and I use our recyling money to go on dates and you would be surprised how much it brings in. Also, we do everything we can to give things to goodwill when we get new items. For example, when we moved into our apartment we were given quite a few items from people who wanted to help us start out. We got 2 sets of dishes, silverware, appliances, etc... Every time we buy something that we really want or get a gift of a new item, we take our gently used items to goodwill, salvation army, or a number of other thrift places and give it as a donation. People are always looking for good deals at these places and I like to think that I am helping them find one.

I thought I would also post a few more suggestions for how to recycle more and save what is still valuable:

-- Buy Recycled paper and print on both sides of your paper.
-- Take your old magazines to the doctor's office, gym, or somewhere else so that others can take advantage of what you are done with (Cut off your name and address)
-- Buy a reusable coffee container at Starbucks so that they can use less paper and plastic for your drink.
-- Instead of buying bottled water, get a water cooler and use a reusable container to fill up.
-- Keep four recycling bins at your house to separate paper, plastic, metal, and glass and keep recycling going. It brings in a little extra cash and keeps it from the landfill

There are a few tips that we use at our house. I hope you can use some of them at your house. Here are the last couple of days info...I have been a little under the weather.

January 6, 2009 Thankfulness:

We are thankful for our blog because it's a place where we can keep everyone up on our life and also keep up on their blogs. We are thankful that the internet makes it easy to live far away from people you love.

January 7, 2009 Thankfulness:

We are thankful for a giftcard we got for Christmas to go out to dinner. It's so thoughtful when people give us gifts for dates because it's hard to make ends meet sometimes and it helps to have a fallback when we want a night out.

January 8, 2009 Thankfulness:

We are thankful for the ability to recycle and help our world while making a little extra cash for dates. We are thankful that California takes that seriously and has a lot of locations to be able to recycle.

January 6-8 Learning/Growth:

We have learned that it's important to watch our tone with each other. It's so easy when you live with someone every day to start to treat them too casually and not watching how you talk to your loved one. This is something that I have had to check myself on long ago and moreso I am noticing it recently how easy it is to relax too much and start to get lazy on how we treat each other.

--e--

Some holiday ideas

So this year Anthony and I decided that we would work all year to make the holidays extra special for our families. Yes, that means great gifts but more importantly it means thinking through things that would be ultra special to the other person and not something they could just buy themselves or eventually will lose its luster. I have quite a few ideas already in motion and have been working on gifts each day already but I would love any suggestions that people may have about things to get their family and loved ones. Here are a couple of suggestions that we have thought of but we are not sharing who they are for so no surprises are ruined.

1. Go on zazzle.com and personalize a number of gifts! They have sweatshirts, t-shirts, shoes, postage stamps, greeting cards, mugs, calendars, posters, and also have things that others have designed that are really cool and unique

2. Create a homemade cookbook of all your favorite recipes to make to a friend who might be getting married soon or moving into their own place.

3. To a movie lover, create a movie package called the movies of your life. Buy the top grossing movies for them at crucial times in their lives. Examples would be; when they were born, graduation year, the year they got married, etc... It brings back memories.

4. For a music lover, do a similar project called the music of your life and give them a cd of the top 20 songs of each year of their life. If you have limewire or another music download account this is really affordable and fun. Music always brings me back to certain times in my life including school dances, first kisses, and the songs that made you think of that one boy!

5. Create a scrapbook of you and someone's fun memories together. You may have a best friend who has been around since gradeschool. If you have a bunch of snapshots start making copies and putting them together for her to enjoy in a scrapbook.

6. For someone special in your life; give them a book called "A year of memories."; Take one snapshot a day of your life that made the day meaningful (I am doing this now for someone) Buy a cheap sketchbook for 5.00-10.00 at Borders and put each photograph on its own page and write a brief summary of what you did that day that made you take the photo. If that person is a daily part of your life, take special photographs that will remind them of your time together. If they are far away, share your life through photos so that you never felt apart!

7. Make a special gift called "The grateful box" Get a fancy box at Michael's craft store and every day, jot down something you are thankful for in a certain person. Do it daily and at Christmas wrap it up nicely and put it under the tree. That way the person has notes and notes about what makes them special to you. A really expensive present could not top the meaning that this one gives!

These are my current ideas and I would love anyone elses suggestions! I am so excited about the unwrapping of these gifts on Christmas 2009! :) I can't tell you who they are for but man are they going to be fun and meaningful!

and Now....

January 5, 2009 Thankfulness:

We are thankful for good friends. Anthony and I have friends who are really great and bring us so much happiness and joy. We are lucky to have these people to share our lives with and thank God every day for good friends.


January 5, 2009 Growth/Learning:

Sometimes the smallest things done together can really add to a relationship. An example is brushing your teeth together before bedtime. Do not shut yourself in the bathroom alone to get ready for bed but make it something you do together and be playful in the moment. Sometimes the smallest things done together can become a marriage ritual that is really special and looked forward to. It may sound corny but I love brushing my teeth with Anthony before bed and teasing him with promises of good kissing once he flosses, brushes, and rinses! :) Oral Hygiene is hot! :)

--Erica--

Jan 4th!

Yesterday I did not get a chance to get online and publish this so here they are

January 4, 2009 Thankfulness:

I am so thankful for my husband's days off. We always have such a good time just lounging together around the hosue in our Pjs, playing board games, playing video games, doing puzzles, watching tv, cooking together, and you know...other married people stuff (wink wink)! Having time with Anthony is a valuable part of my life and every day he has off I fall in love with him more and realize how amazing my life really is.

January 4, 2009 Growth/Learning:

Taking time each day to be affectionate with each other has been so helpful in our pursuit of focus on our family. I am not a very affectionate person by nature, however, Anthony is. When I take the time to really hug him, kiss him, and pursue him intimately he feels loved and I feel loved and we meet in the middle and the passionate part of our marriage is livened up each day! :)

Learning...

Boy people aren't kidding when they say that when you get older things are harder to learn. Anthony and I have been working very hard on learning the guitar. Anthony has had a guitar for quite a few years and never put the time in to learn it. I just got a new guitar for Christmas and it's fun and sparkly and feminine but unfortunately, it doesn't play itself. I have only been learning for a few weeks but it is really hard to learn. I can read music to sing but I have never learned any guitar so this is a true challenge.

It's so nice to be learning something with Anthony though and seeing each other through the struggle. We teach each other when one of us doesn't get it. It's great time between us and a lot of laughs. I encourage everyone who wants to learn an instrument to try it!

Now, onto the news of the day...

Thankfulness January 3, 2009:

We are thankful today that we are both alive and well. My health and Anthony's has been good lately and we are striving for better things. It's awesome to wake up each morning with a beat in our heart and breath in our lungs and get another opportunity to praise God and be together.

Growth/Learning January 3, 2009

I personally learned today how much Anthony loves me. Anthony puts all things behind me in his life and would do ANYTHING for me. He really grasps the amazing parts of marriage that don't come natural to me. I am naturally selfish by all means and Anthony is naturally selfless. I am learning to be more like my husband every day. It's a really hard level to work toward. :)

--e--

What's for dinner at the Lewis House?!

I don't know if anyone that reads my blog enjoys cooking but I love to cook. I am a huge cooking show fan and try new things all of the time. Most of my recipes are meant to be healthier fare but I sometimes try something more southern to remain close to my roots! Since 2009 is all about Anthony & I doing things we love and enjoying life, I thought I would write about one of our first loves, food. Yes, you can tell we love food! I don't just love to eat though, I love to cook food. I love to see my husband smile and say "MMM" so cooking is a rush for me

I thought I would open up the blog and ask the readers to tell me what your favorite dish to cook is and if you can't cook, what does someone else make that you just love?! I love trying new dishes so if you don't care to share, let me know! Tonight for dinner, we are doing one of Rachel Ray's recent dishes she had on the show using leftover Ham called Ham & Cheese Strata! It's going to be yummy and we'll let you know tomorrow if all went well.

Have a great January 2nd and here are my thankfulness and growth:

Thankfulness January 2, 2009:

We are thankful for our lovely apartment in which the rent was due yesterday. We have a lovely home with lovely furniture and tons of amenities that God has been so good to give us. We hear a lot of people complaining because they rent and don't own but I have learned to thank God for each step in our life. We are in the first year of our marriage so if we live in a one bedroom, one bathroom apartment, that seems normal. We have much more than some people have in this country and we don't forget that but truly give God our thanks. Thank you Jesus for our lovely home where all the magic happens! :)

Growth January 2, 2009:

We learned today that helping each other out with things that are easily forgotten can be really loving. An example is that Anthony gets up very early in the morning (5 am to be exact) and he often stops for a Monster Energy drink on the way to work in order to stay awake on the freeway. I am not a huge fan of this because those things are super expensive if you do them everyday and they hurt Anthony's stomach too. What did I do to help him out? I set the coffee pot for 5 am and had a hot pot of coffee ready when he got up this morning. I also wrote him a little note and stuck it to our front door that said quite simply "I love you, get coffee" which reminded Anthony to grab it before heading out so that he could be super alert on the freeway since he knows our budget no longer allows for the Monsters. Sometimes we have to be helpful when things are hard for the other one to remember. Being strong in their weak areas is something we have learned over our relationship of almost 3 years over and over. We are hoping to continue filling in each others weak spots. Thank you Lord for my wonderful and sleepy husband!

-- Erica

Happy 2009 From the Lewis Fam!

I hope everyone is already enjoying their 2009 as it's a new year with new opportunities and adventures to have. Anthony and I are not really "party people" so we stayed home last night and watched the ball drop together and drank apple-grape martinelis. We would love to say our life is more exciting than that but it really isn't. Today we spent the day doing even more exciting things; watching Heroes, eating a nice Ham dinner, and putting together a Marilyn Monroe puzzle. Speaking of that, talk about frustration....

We got this Marilyn Monroe puzzle months ago and we had not even opened it. I am a huge Marilyn fan and Anthony likes old movies like I do so we had planned to put this gorgeous puzzle together and then frame it for our wall. It's one of those puzzles that are made up of tiny little pictures to make one large picture. We are really excited to get it finished but we have put about ten hours into it in the past couple of days and it's border is together and probably 50 pieces more and it's a 1,000 piece puzzle. As you can figure out, it's difficult. It was frustrating and my eyes felt like they were going blind during the process. I haven't done a puzzle for years and man did it take it out of me.

I just realize in writing this post that I am pretty boring and domestic and for the first time in my whole life, I like that! I have learned lately what it is like to just enjoy life and really take in all of my experiences. I have been learning guitar, knitting, reading, and various other things on my break from school and just learning the concept of relaxation and enjoying life. When school is in I get so wrapped up and my biggest new years resolution is to enjoy life and enjoy my husband and all of the days that God allows me to be on this Earth. It's a year for me to learn gratefulness, calm, peace, and grace in the biggest ways possible.

I am determined to do things this year that will remove stress which means saying no more often, taking time for myself, and enjoying the things that I love and the people that I love. I also wanted to start something on the blog that makes this task easier. It's going to be a little add in to my blog each day about what I am thankful for in the days events and what growth happened in our marriage/family for the day. Anthony and I believe in every day we have a chance to say THANK YOU and LOOK WHAT WE LEARNED so we decided to share that with our blog.

We pray that your 2009 is absolutely wonderful and that you find the peace that we plan to find this year and remember what is very important about life!

Thankfulness for January 1, 2009:

I am thankful today for my husband having the day off and the wonderful quality time we spent at our house cooking together, watching tv, doing our puzzle, and laughing over our puzzle frustration. It's amazing to have a husband that you not only love and think is gorgeous but also enjoy as a friend and companion in life.

Growth in our marriage for January 1,2009:

Today I realized that when I tell Anthony that something is bothering me, he works very hard to adjust himself to that thing and make me happy and fulfilled. That is a great lesson for me to learn and I would be better if I was more like my husband. We learned that we have to come to a middle in our relationship where each of us gets our desires like doing a Marilyn Monroe puzzle while watching Denzel movies.

--Erica--