Wednesday, January 27, 2010

"Aha moments"

Because in my last post I was talking about how my husband was in the shower and I had an epiphany moment, I decided you should probably see this because it's kind of comical. Anyway, enjoy...


You Can Still Date

Over the last couple of days I've been thinking about how not much really changes after you get married to your significant other. In my case (contrary to popular society - not knocking it! Just that abstaining made our relationship even more true), the physical changed. Now I can see him every day. Before, I only got to see him maybe a couple hours a week because both of us were working and I had school. We lived on opposite ends of the Earth (me on the Southeast side of town and him in Marana).

We haven't really gone out - gone out like for dinner or something, but he told me this morning that there's no problem if I wanted to really focus on homework over the weekends.

"We could have...a study date," Louis said. I smiled because it reminded me of the only times I could spend all day with him before we got married. And it's cute, too, because I hadn't really thought about it - the fact we haven't been on a date since getting married. I don't mind at all since I'm still see him as often as humanly possible, it's just a different level.

Only a couple years ago, I couldn't wait for the weekends when I could either go out with the girls or curl up on the couch with a good movie. Of course, time with the girls usually took precedence. After my fourth year of college and all my friends moved away I started to feel real old. We're talking old lady - doesn't stay up passed 10 o'clock and is falling asleep on the couch by 9 anyway.

But now I feel like it's a right of passage.

My brother came to visit our house (my new house) on his way back to Flagstaff for school. He told me that when I walked in the door of my mom's house after Louis and I got married, I was different. He said there was a glow around me, like there'd been some sort of transformation. I kind of laughed it off, but I guess it just starts to come back full circle as I start to think of my "moments of being," like we'd talked about in Tuesday's English lecture. We'll talk about those more in my next post.

I guess what I'm trying to say is the fact that my husband brought up the idea of still having our little "study dates" was another moment of being. It was a realization that was there the whole time I just hadn't had my "aha" moment yet.

None the less, don't let your wife/husband tell you you can't date :) (just not anyone else!) :)

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

All over again

The one thing I've realized after getting married is that I feel like a freshman all over again. I packed up my stuff, trying to make sure I had everything I could possibly need. Once I moved in, I put everything away in a neat order and am currently trying my hardest to keep things in order around the house for as long as I possibly can. When people come over I'm so proud to show off my new living space and my things, specifically my things because it's my own.

The only big difference is now I'm doing the things my mom used to do for me and it's as hard as all get out. I don't know about you, but I've discovered I'm a horrible cook. I didn't have to cook my food when I started college because I lived on campus. Even when I transfered to U of A in '06 I lived in the sorority house where we had cooks.

To continue with my story...one of my favorite things to do is to watch Barefoot Contessa on Food Network. She cooks so effortlessly that I thought I could whip up a recipe out of thin air, as well. On Friday night, amidst image of domestication while doing laundry for my husband (I was so proud of myself), I started thawing out some steak pieces we bought from Fry's, thinking I could make fondue or something sophisticated.  I had just put the package in water so it would thaw faster and commenced folding laundry to the sounds of Reik from the stereo and Louis* (my husband) calls me.

He proceeds to tell me that he's at his mom's house and that his sister Eriel* and her husband Carlos* wanted to have a game night over there. At any other point in time I would have been o-so ecstatic to have a game night with them, but I was comfortable and getting work done and, unbelievably, enjoying myself. It was also cold and rainy. Not to mention, our house is half-way to Phoenix and his sister and her husband live just down the street from his mom, who lives half an hour down I-10 and I-19 from our house. (confused yet?)

Of course, I said, "Sure."

I finished folding the laundry, threw on a sweatshirt and stuck the steak in a frying pan to put in the fridge since I really didn't have time to cook it.

I tried channelling Ina Garten and decided that a marinade would work great with the steak! I poured in some red wine that we had in the fridge, left over from when Eriel and Carlos lived with Louis (a few months before we got married), and some oregano and garlic powder and called it good.

Sunday, after the Colts victoriously sent the Jets packing in the AFC Championship game, I started cooking up the steak and some side dishes of rice and Texas Garlic Toast I found in the freezer. Not only was I getting proud of myself that I'd successfully put together a meal with side dishes, I was doing it all by myself! But then...it happened.

I took a bite of steak and it was HORRIBLE! It was tough because I'd cooked it too long - Louis eats his steak well done because he's got a thing about raw meats. And this wasn't just well done, it was just plain...ew. There's really no way to describe it. The wine I used was probably too sweet and it gave the meat a funky taste.

On the plus side, I heated up the garlic toast perfectly and barely missed burning the rice!! That's good right? Louis was very supportive of my moral victory, and did eat most of the dinner. :)

In other words, starting out in marriage is like starting out in college. You're learning how to live with yourself all over again, except this time you've got to think about living with someone else too. Luckily for me, there's no givesies-backsies on our marriage contract :)

Monday, January 25, 2010

Introducing the old kid!


Welcome, first and foremost! May I introduce myself. My name is Sarah. I'm an older senior (it's really hard to graduate college in four years, now-days) finishing my last semester at the University of Arizona. My passions are sports and telling stories so I've decided to mix them together and strive for a career editing sports broadcasts at a regional sports network that will hire me.

One of my ultimate goals was to become a broadcasting editor for ESPN, but that was before my life changed. In June of 2008 our church priest introduced me to CatholicMatch.com. A couple weeks after I formed my profile, I discovered someone. His smile, breathtaking; his personality, completely perfect by my
standards. We just recently got married and, now, I have new dreams. I'm focusing more on 'us' rather than just 'me.'



That's what this blog is about – how does a university student, about to graduate college, go through the day to day life and handle the hardships (so I've heard) of being married? Especially a woman?
I've met maybe enough married students on this campus to count on one hand. I've wondered what their lives are like and how they handle their married lives with the stress and undertakings of school. I'm lucky enough to not have to work just yet (knock on wood) with a very supportive husband, but that's another amount of stress I do not envy of anyone.
So here's to the next adventure! Please feel free to lay back with a cup of tea or, even better, a nice big glass of wine and relax: listen to someone else's stresses for a bit. Thank you for stopping by and I'll see you in a few!