Confession: I have a love-hate relationship with Valentine’s Day.
The idea of a holiday where you buy fancy trinkets to show how romantic you are just feels… icky. But what if we pressed rewind and took it back to Elementary school? Or even better- what if we work on loving the person we have to live with every single day, no matter what. Ourself.
Read MoreAre you a good gift giver? Do people think of you as someone who always manages to find the perfect gift?
Follow these simple tips to find the perfect gifts this holiday season or any time of the year.
Read Moref there is one thing that I truly believe, it’s that we are all works in progress. Every day we have the opportunity to get better. Since the moment I committed to Rob in front of our friends and family our marriage has been something I continuously want to make better.
Which leads me to this book.
I borrowed it on audio from Hoopla (but I have a physical copy in my library!) and we listened to it together on our mini-road trip. To be fair, I borrowed a couple books so I could let him choose which one we would “read,” but he let me choose, and I went with this one since I knew we could complete it during our trip.
Read MoreMonday is our 1 year wedding anniversary. And you know what? Marriage is hard. Like really, really hard. To quote one of my favorite authors,
“All due respect to the Resurrection, but two-becoming-one might be the greatest miracle ever.” (Thank you Jen Hatmaker for keeping it real in your book For the Love)
Don’t get me wrong. It’s also amazing, and exciting, and a whole lot of fun to be able to see your favorite person first thing every morning… but I feel like the movies give us enough of that stuff. What I find lacking in the conversation about marriage is real, honest accounts of how tough marriage can be, but how it’s totally possible to still make it work. We hear the really great stuff, or the really bad stuff. But rarely do I hear people talking about the in-between stuff (except Jen, who I mentioned earlier has a fabulous chapter devoted to it in her book, For the Love. If you haven’t read it do yourself a favor and pick up the audio copy, because listening to her read it will have you laughing out loud).
So while our first year of marriage was far from perfect (what even is perfect?), we did pretty okay. And I thought I’d share some of the stuff we did to navigate the in-between in case you need a little inspiration in your relationship.
Read MoreIs there anything worse than getting a card with nothing but a signature inside? Not to someone whose love language is words of affirmation.
How would you feel if someone sent you flowers because they flaked on you… again? If your love language is gifts, you’d probably appreciate the thought. But, if your love language is quality time, you might just wonder if that person is trying to buy your affection.
So what exactly is a love language? Well, the ones I’m talking about are “the 5” of the The 5 Love Languages by Gary Chapman. In his book he explains how different people not only experience but express love. While the original book is really aimed at couples, love languages can be used in any and every relationship. Yes, even at work.
The Languages are:
Words of Affirmation (words)
Quality Time (time)
Physical Touch (touch)
Acts of Service (service)
Gifts
February is my least favorite month of the year. It’s cold, the sun tends to hide, and even the snow that’s on the ground looks gross. Plus, the excitement and cheer of the holidays is officially over and there’s nothing much to look forward to. Okay, I take that back- some people have a long weekend at the end of February, but most of us don’t.
Oh, and there’s Valentine’s Day. The day of the year when advertisers tell us (guys especially) that we have to spend lots of money on the person we love to show them that we actually do, indeed, love them. The day when anyone who is single, for whatever reason, notices their “singleness” in a way that doesn’t occur any other day of the year (In fact, in college, my friends and I used to wear black in honor of “Single Awareness Day”). The day of the year that’s full of high expectations and often, big disappointments.
Now, don’t get me wrong. If you love Valentine’s Day, you do you. More power to you. I actually used to love February 14th before I was an adult. That’s when Valentine’s Day was funny cards, and craft projects, and more about friendship than romance. Honestly, I still feel the same way. I love buying silly cards and giving them to the people I care about throughout the year. Maybe Valentine’s Day has become more commercialized lately (Guys, get your girls a diamond), or maybe I just didn’t notice it as a kid.
This pull of loving a day to celebrate love, and hating a day that feels so “expensive to prove love” has bugged me for years. Which is why, when I was introduced to Galentine’s Day last year, my head (and heart) exploded.
Read MoreExperienced traveler. Your GO-TO place for motivation, accountability, balanced life tips, and, well... the FRICKin Good Life with Erin Frick: Fit Life Coach; recovering perfectionist, people pleaser and clearance rack shopper.
