Co-Habitating...

The Jig is up!

CityBoy and I live together and have been living together officially for the last 11.25 months.

There are black and white opinions on living together before marriage and on most fronts the opinion is that its HORRIBLE, but I totally disagree.

Our reasons for moving in together in the first place were:

1) I was moving to a new city and CityBoy was moving to be with me.
2) Rent on 2 1-bedroom apartments was WAAAY more than 1 2-bedroom apartment
3) If we didn't live together, we'd NEVER see each other

Now that we're approaching 1 year living together, I've started to reflect on how we work as "roommates" and overall, I think we're pretty awesome roomies.

We each do our share of the "chores" and we've never really fought about the house being messy or stuff being left out, although CityBoy did compare our apartment during busy season to a particular scene from Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.

We have a household budget that we've managed to stick to pretty well and we discuss all big purchases before we make them. We've also committed to putting a certain amount into savings each month and it really came in handy last month when my trusty pickup decided to kick the bucket and I had to buy a new car!

We're parents to the cutest 2 1/2 year old, 2 1/2 lb chihuahua and we share the responsibilities of taking her out to potty pretty equally with only a few grumbles. Okay, maybe we grumble everytime, but one look at her cute face and the grumbles stop.

We stay out of each other's way when we need to, like when CityBoy comes home from a client at 7:30 PM, scarfs down whatever meal I managed to throw together despite only getting home 15 minutes before him, and barricades himself in the office to work another hour or two while I set up camp on the couch with my laptop to multitask work & clearing out my DVR!

I think the only real snag we've hit as roommates is our sleep schedules. CityBoy goes to bed between 10 and 11 and as soon as his head hits the pillow, he's out. I, on the other hand, don't even think about sleep until somewhere around midnight and can sometimes lie in bed for over an hour before I finally fall asleep. Usually on the nights when I can tell I won't be able to sleep, I'll just plan on sleeping on the couch so I don't make both of us have a bad night.

Despite ALL the good reasons to live together and how well its going, we still had to face the facts during our first marriage counseling meeting with my pastor back home. It was the first question out of his mouth and even though I'm confident we made the right decision, a part of me still feels really guilty...

Do you feel guilty about co-habitating before marriage?

Happy Anniversary...

Saturday marked 2 years since CityBoy and I had our first date and I realized I never posted about how CityBoy and I became an US. So, I'm going to combine our story with our e-pictures by the fabulous Jenna Cole.

Doodly Doodly do.... Spring 2007...

I was a cute, young intern at an Accounting Firm in Lubbock, Texas, working long hours, travelling all over Texas, New Mexico & Arizona... CityBoy was a Junior Associate in the Audit Department, working long hours, travelling all over...

I can't really recall our first meeting, but CityBoy remembers it perfectly. On the second week of my internship, we all went out to lunch, and apparently I talked about my roommate's illegal pet being caught in our apartment and us being fined, but that's beyond the point. MY first memory of CityBoy was in the Bullpen when he was introduced to me as "the guy that plays crazy music in the afternoons to lighten everybody up." His favorite -- "Its Raining Men."

My internship was a quick blur. Every week I was in a new town (nowhere exciting...unless you think Willcox, Arizona and Bandera, Texas are exciting), and in every now town, me and the other members of my audit team found a new bar. Over the course of my internship, I became fast friends with my fellow interns (one is a bridesmaid!) and the junior and seniors at the firm. We played poker, we had Happy Hours on Fridays when we all managed to trickle back into town--CityBoy puts it best when he says it was like we had all been to war together.

Somewhere between the out-of-town jobs and the Happy Hours, CityBoy and I started talking to each other with increasing frequency. We talked about our problems and things that were going on in our lives and ultimately, we decided to try things out together late one night while I was in Flagstaff, Arizona.

We made plans to get together on April 4th, 2007, the night I got back from Flagstaff, and the rest is history. CityBoy came over to my house while I unpacked from the trip and we've pretty much been inseparable since then. We both instantly felt the connection we had and the very next night, CityBoy came over to the house to hang out again, this time while I packed to go to my parents' house for Easter, and we stayed up all night talking.

We still stay up all night talking sometimes, and I'm always reminded of our first days together. Everyone always told me that the person I will spend the rest of my life with should be someone I'm never bored with. That's certainly true of CityBoy and I'm so glad we decided to take things to the next level. He has most definitely been the best thing to ever happen to me.

I don't want to think today...

I'm having a BAD day. I stayed up way too late last night watching junk on TV...

We decided to add premium channels since we won't have time for any outside entertainment between now and May! Instead of going to the movies or out for drinks, we'll be sitting at home on the couch cranking out financials in front of the TV watching HBO!!

Let me give you a rundown of a traditional evening at our apartment...

We both roll-in sometime between 5:00 and 6:30, usually me before CityBoy. I change out of my work clothes, take Mia out, get the mail, and start dinner. We eat dinner at our bar, while watching TV, then CityBoy disappears into the office to read Wikipedia, CraigsList, etc. This leaves me with full control of the remote!!

LATELY, however, I've been getting home between 6:30 and 7:30...after CityBoy. The last couple nights, I've walked in and found him watching some bizarre movie...which delays my delicately planned TV schedule and has ultimately made both of our bedtimes later and later...not good.

Hopefully, we'll find a compromise...or else Showtime has got to go!

Anyway, I don't wanna think today, so I'm stealing this post from ThisCasita, with some modifications....enjoy!!!

Here's a chance to see how well you really know your Man.
Cut, paste and fill in the answers, then forward. The real challenge is to send it to your Man to see how right you really are.

1. He's sitting in front of the TV, what is on the screen?
Some bizarre movie, Top Gear, Time Warp

2. You're out to eat, what kind of dressing does he get on his salad?
CityBoy doesn't eat Salads

3. What's one food he doesn't like?
Mushrooms

4. You go out to eat and have a drink. What does he order?
Ribs and a Coors Light

5. Where did he go to high school?
Livonia Stevenson High School, Trenton High School

6. What size shoe does he wear?
10? I dunno?

8. What is his favorite type of sandwich?
Turkey with Avocado & Bacon...no Cheese

9. What would this person eat every day if he could?
White Castle!

10. What is his favorite cereal?
Hmmm...he doesn't eat his cereal with milk, but I'd say his favorite is Fruity Pebbles

11. What would he never wear?
Clothes I picked out for him...

12. What is his favorite sports team?
Detroit Red Wings

13. Who did he vote for?
Obama

14. Who is his best friend?
Besides me? Mikey

15. What is something he does that you wish he wouldn't do?
Leave his shoes in the front hall!

16. What is his heritage?
A little bit of everything, some Irish, some Portuguese

17. You bake him a cake for his birthday, what kind of cake?
Ice Cream Cake!

18. Did he play sports in high school?
Nope

19. What could he spend hours doing?
Playing on the Internet or Looking at Cars

20. What is one unique talent he has?
He knows everything there is to know about cars, and punk music

A Valentine's Tradition...

Last year for Valentine's Day, CityBoy was out of town for work, so we planned to have our Valentine's Day a few days later. To my surprise, he called me mid-afternoon on Valentine's Day to tell me he would be back that night!

I had instructions to meet him at his apartment that evening and when I showed up, he greeted me with a Heart Shaped Pizza (I can't find my pictures of it!!), Half Pepperoni (his) and Half Mushroom (mine)!! His sweet gesture and a great chick flick made for a fantastic Valentine's Day!

This year, we both have audits to wrap up this weekend, so we decided to do V-Day low-key, but that didn't stop CityBoy from disappearing this morning before I woke up and returning with Dunkin' Donuts (and all my favorite donuts) and little presents for me!!

So, I decided to surprise him for lunch by going to Krystals (the Southern White Castle...he LOVES White Castle) and bringing them home for lunch and going with our Heart-Shaped food tradition, I used a heart cookie cutter to cut them into Hearts!!

HE LOVED THEM!! I think tonight we might order pizza??

How are you making Valentine's Day special??