Happy 2016 and 1 Year of Marriage!

Before we get TOO far into 2016, it's necessary to stop and take some time to reflect on 2015. After all it was a big year and very good to us! We entered the year as newlyweds and ended it with our one year anniversary. I started a new job, and after Mike finished a long winter in Rhode Island he finally started his new job! I didn't want to forget all of the special blessings this year brought us, so here is me trying to capture it in a few different lists.

Traveling:

• Puerto Rico for our honeymoon (pina coladas enlightened us)
• Newport, RI while Mike was at ODS (snow mountains frightened us)
• Pawley's Island, SC for annual beach trip and lights festival (twinkle lights delighted us)
• Cumberland, Burlington, Raleigh, and Bealeton for family visits (the best North Carolina, Virginia, and Maryland have to offer!)
• Abingdon, VA to see Emelie star in Anything Goes (we have many talented friends)
• Chapel Hill for Rachel's graduation (we realized that we're old)

Adult Points Won:

• Kelsey started a new job career coaching 
• Mike did real lawyer things
• Kelsey took an Amtrak for the first time
• One of Mike's coworkers did our wills and other important documents (This is actually the thing I'm probably most proud of. I obviously hate talking about death and anything requiring paperwork, so let's give Mike most of the credit for getting this done and getting me on board.)
• We paid off my school loans! (see YNAB below)
• Kelsey was in Pirates of Penzance and sang for her audition. Kelsey gets brave whenever Mike is gone. 
• We ran our first half marathon together! (Mike bled from the chafing and still immediately set his sights on a full marathon)

We also learned a lot about being married this year. Most of it is just a continuation of lessons we were already learning (with the renewed recognition that we'll be learning them the rest of our lives), but we started using a couple of pieces of software that made thigns a

• YNAB

• It stands for You Need A Budget and it is how Mike and I organized our finances once we combined them. It's software that follows the zero-dollar budgeting system and it has forced us to think carefully through our financial priorities. 

• Evernote

• Evernote makes it super easy for Mike and I to share articles, documents, and lists with each other and to hold onto them for future use. This will come in super handy when moving. I love using Evernote to meal plan and then starring the recipes we'll be using for the week so that Mike can find them easily. 

Our intentions for the New Year:

1. Getting better at meal planning! We aren't horrible. At some point when we both started working full-time, we began meal-prepping all of our lunches on Sundays. We could be a lot better, though. I want to reduce food waste, cut back on eating out, and also try new things to cook...for fun! We have so many awesome appliances to cook with, we might as well use them!
2. Taking the lead in making plans with other people (especially inviting people over to our place). Mike and I LOVE hosting our friends. However, since we've always lived in a group house environment, it can get kind of tricky to randomly have people over, especially in winter when we can't grill outside. We need to be better about planning these things in advance and taking the lead on hosting friends for parties or group evenings out. Although I generally hate learning new games, I like games once I've learned them, and I love our friends...so we're thinking of more game nights or trivia nights and Game of Thrones watching parties in our future!

Here's to a brand new year (of marriage)!

We loved ringing in the New Year with Brian and Kay....who are practically neighbors with us now!