Family Traditions

One of the coolest parts about our first year of marriage has been sharing our holiday celebrations with one another. Fourth of July cookouts.  Carving pumpkins for Halloween. Obviously since being married in June, we haven't run across any major holidays. But as the big holidays are approaching, we're excited to be officially celebrating them together. And we're trying to add in a few of our own new traditions. We'll see if this one lasts.

(Ignore the tags on the new placemats. I'm letting them sit on the table for the weekend to make sure I'm sold on them before I take the tags off. And no, we're not using them)

With Thanksgiving quickly approaching, I wanted to do something special to remind us what the holiday is really all about. Although I do enjoy thinking it's about food and football, I wanted to make sure we took time to think about what we're really celebrating.

So I decided that I wanted us to daily write down something that we're thankful for. So, we picked up this branch during our late night walk around Mill Park,  put it in a Ball jar my Grandpa James gave me, and filled it with the acorns that used to be on my shelf above the tv. Then I cut little squares out of fall scrapbook paper, hole-punched their corners, and looped some string through it.

Each night up til Thanksgiving, we'll write something we're thankful for and hang it on our 'tree'. And on Thanksgiving, we'll be able to read what each other wrote. I'm so excited!

And surprisingly, Kyler's been  going along with it pretty well. He just thinks we have the order wrong by putting leaves on the tree as time progresses instead of taking leaves down as the days go by. Oh well. Hopefully this is one of those things that we love enough to repeat every year. Because I  can't wait to start our own family traditions.

It doesn't always pay to be smart.

The other night while Kyler and I were watching Jeopardy, we witnessed the strangest thing. All three contestants got the final Jeopardy question wrong, so the wagers were very important. One of the contestants lost all of his money, and the other two ended up with the same amounts. So they were co-champions of that game.

Usually the champion of the show has some big sum. And usually second place gets $2000 and third place gets $1000. In this round the co-champions ended up with $1599 because of their wagers. So the guy who lost actually got more money than the champions.

I guess it doesn't always pay to be smart.

Gross. With a capital G.

Remember our beautiful, perfectly ripe pumpkins?

Apparently a few weeks in the cold and rain aren't the best treatement for them.

They got all moldy and disgusting.

Kyler asked if I wanted my candles back. Who knows what kind of funk they sucked up from that standing water. I passed.

Mine caved in, but at least it wasn't as disgusting as Kyler's.  I attribute it to scraping it out better than he did.

Nevertheless. Still gross.

Our neighbors probably think we're weirdos. I've caught the man staring at these gross pumpkins. And today he walked by as Kyler was taking pictures of them, but he went inside before he could see Kyler throwing them away. So we're the screwed up neighbors that carve pumpkins to let them rot and then photograph them.

Carving Pumpkins

Last week when Kyler's parents stopped by, they brought some pumpkins. This weekend, we carved them out and made some Halloween decor.

The weather was wonderful this weekend, and our patio was clearly up for the task.

And I cut my hole a little too small. Can't hardly get the candle down in there.

Kyler's finished product.

And only a minor burn to light these babies...

And my haunted  castle...

As we were setting them out in our garden, our neighbor walked by and commented that now we were prepared for The Halloween.

Columbus Night Life

Saturday night, Kyler and I headed out on the town.

We walked straight past this bar and into Race Mill Park, open til 11pm.

Orange Trees.

Blue Trees.

Green Trees.

We just walked and talked. And Kyler would stop when I stopped to take a picture of tree branches...

...and their shadows.

We chatted about our week and what we have going on the next few days.

We acted silly, as we kept discovering new parts of the park.

We stumbled upon some entertaining architecture, of course.

And little pieces of history to the town.

As we started on our way home, we got stuck by a train. So we just popped a squat on the curb and enjoyed its clanking on the tracks.

We laughed  at funny sculptures that were a little odd and not noteworthy of pictures.

And we laughed at unfamiliar scenes and guesssed how many of these trucks are deployed daily and in the holiday season.

We made our way back in town to our car.

And by the time we got back to town, we were a little slap happy.



So we pushed the button, fully expecting a little black and white man to appear. Darn.

Although this wasn't a conventional night out on the town, we fully enjoyed our time together, especially before a big week for both of us.

Happy Birthday Anique!

Wii Love You

Back to School

A little behind on the back-to-school update, I admit, but I thought I would just share how things are going in the first month and a half of school.

Well, this is my last year of school and I am definitely ready to be out. It's not that I don't enjoy school and learning - it is the fact that:

1. I am a married man.
• Out of the 60 people in my class, only two of us are married. Of course, the majority of the 58 think it is a little bit crazy to be married right now, but I couldn't be happier. It is just difficult when Kara is working full-time and I am in school. For starters, school used to be an 8:00am-10:00pm (and on the weekends) kind-of mindset, working on and off with breaks all throughout. But, being married, I now try to make it a 8:00am-5:00pm and try not to even think about school on the weekends when Kara is off work. It has been a tough adjustment, but it is definitely worth it because let's be honest - investing time in my marriage and wife is more important than reading for the next day's class.
2. I am living way off-campus.
• If you haven't heard Kara's perspective about living in Columbus, don't worry - I am sure it will come up in conversation soon enough. I actually don't mind living here - it is just the drive and the feeling that I really am not even part of campus. Instead of walking 10 minutes to class, I have to drive an hour each way (and I am not sure how long when it snows). The drive is beautiful - especially right now - all throughout Brown County, and it gives me some alone time just to think.
3. I have full-time job already waiting for me.
• Out of the 60 people in my class, I would say that less than 10 are even seeking a full-time job this fall since they have already accepted their internship job offers. Having that "in the bag" saves a lot of interviewing time, but trust me - it doesn't always serve as the best academic motivator. I am really excited for my job and the next stage our lives.

My classes are going really well, and this year I have some classes that I really enjoy going to because they are completely different than any other classes I have taken. But, after 5 years of finance and accounting, some classes are getting a little "academic". I remember Pastor Bob in Bloomington preaching one time that "academic" is now a substitute for the word "irrelevant". I now understand.

In 7th months, I will be graduating again. I am definitely trying not to wish the year away, because I know Kara & I will look back on this as one of the more exciting times of our lives together.

Thanks for stopping by, and I hope you didn't find my reflection too boring.

Decorating for the Season

Since we're in a semi-permanent spot (you know, longer than 3 months), I decided to get some decor on these white walls. And yes, I did have to talk Kyler into letting me put eight holes in the wall in order to hang these four shelves.

So for starters, I pulled out our engagement pictures that just so happened to be taken in the fall. Woo Hoo for coincidence. They're the only photos we have printed of us and they're in the right season.

Then I decided I wanted some mini pumpkins. I really had my heart set on white pumpkins, but last week when I stopped at the little farmer's market, they only had orange. bummer. But when Kyler's parents visited this weekend, we stopped at Farm Fest, and I just had to buy a couple of white ones when I saw them. Although my shelves were pretty full without them.

So I scooted a couple down to the TV stand and moved that red candle by the TV from the shelves to...well, by the TV.

What? You didn't want a play-by-play of how I decorated my shelves?

And, for the past two weeks, I'd been on the lookout for acorns to no avail. This past weekend, when Kim and Terry were here, we went to Nashville and I found lots of acorns...to buy. I was pretty sure I could find them cheaper (say, free) but I couldn't find an oak tree until this afternoon when we took a walk around the apartment complex for Kyler's study break, and I stumbled upon (quite literally) a batch of acorns. And alas, an oak tree! So we filled Kyler's pockets, and I stuck them in a vase when we got home. But I didn't estimate the volume very well, so I filled the rest of the vase with...a pumpkin!

And maybe the most exciting part of this whole post/decorating/blogging process was that I learned how to set the white balance on our camera!

Before:

After:

Ta da! No more yellow walls from taking a picture inside at night :)

Happy Fall Y'all!

Happy Birthday Zach!

Enjoy it!