This past Tuesday, December 30th marked the second anniversary of my marriage to Bryan. I can honestly say neither of us had any idea of the changes both good and bad that would be in store for us over the first two years of our marriage. However, both of us knew we wanted to meet whatever challenges might come with the other, side by side, as best of friends, and deeply in love. That love has only deepened since, and I know I don't talk about it too often, but that's mostly because I'm private, and have no complaints! I am ever so glad to to have him in my life.
He may not read my blog much, but I wanted to do a little photo recap of our past two years. Hopefully you all will enjoy it too!
December 30 2012
We had a small ceremony, with mostly just family. Photos taken by the fantastic Arielei Kinzer!
Bryan and I headed to Florida for our honeymoon, spending time in Savannah, GA, St Augustine, FL, and Orlando, FL. You can see we're really just big kids at heart!
After the honeymoon, in February Bryan lost his job at ACHC, which was really an old internship from when he was in college that had let him stay on after graduation. This led to a tough month for us as he searched for a new job and in March happily started working for the NC Dept. of Agriculture as a programmer.
In May we moved out of the little apartment we were sharing with Bryan's brother Stephen and into a little rental house of our own. We got to paint and decorate a bit and have really enjoyed living close to both Bryan's job downtown and his parents in North Raleigh.
We went to the beach with family and friends that August, where I tested out a new lens for my phone's camera.
During the fall of 2013 I worked on my domestic skills, making chili (recipe for that here), growing my own tomatoes (everything else I tried to grow that year died), and working on my computer out on the screened in porch as Carolina Wrens occasionally visited.
Bryan and I headed to our first concert together, Switchfoot! And not soon after saw Neko Case, though no photos were allowed at that show.
In October Bryan was rear ended, totaling our old Buick, so in early November we got a little Honda Civic hybrid, which was a huge improvement in gas mileage and our first car of our own.
We also went to the NC State Fair together and made silly faces while enjoying ourselves.
As part of our Thanksgiving week that year we also went to DC for a couple days to visit the Smithsonian. On day one we went to the National History Museum. We didn't know my friend Samantha was going to be there, but we ended up meeting with her to go to the Natural Science Museum the next day. The butterfly house was amazing!
And we celebrated our first Christmas as a married couple!
Throughout 2014 we spent lots of time with family. Some of it was at home and a bit at the family reunion, the beach, and the weekend in the mountains. We spent our time having friends like Stuart over to visit, road tripping with brothers, exploring caves, playing board games, and fixing flat tires!
So you all have mostly heard about all that has gone on with us this year. However, in October Bryan heard he'd soon be laid off from his job with the state. He had enough notice that he was able to get a new position at a great educational programming company in Durham that he started immediately after his job at the state ended. I couldn't believe how hugely blessed we were by that one. I tried working for Anthropologie for a bit after attempting the Kickstarter in January, but am now simply working as an artist. I had my first local show in December, and we also got our lovely pet rabbit, Scarlet, which has made the last month of the year exciting.
And finally, our next big announcement is that we'll be buying a house this spring! We need to move closer to Bryan's job in Durham (it's 45 minutes to an hour each way!) and the new job has allowed us to afford buying over renting. So we've found a new neighborhood that's being built and will be getting a house with some custom features built for us. We're currently starting the design process, and are really excited. I can't wait to share more with you all as we make the journey to home ownership! Here's a shot of the rendering of our home (top image), plus the siding and door colors, Thistle Green and Tuxedo Gray respectively. Any advice and such is welcome as we're learning along the way and love hearing the stories of others as we work our way through the process.
I'm looking forward to all 2015 has to offer, and can't wait to share it with you all! Each weekday I'll be working on Pinterest projects and sharing the results with you all. To start things off I'm doing a January Photo Challenge where each day I'm taking pictures which I'll share here. Today's shot is "new" so you get to see the new home plans above. More soon!
Love,
Lydia
