2012 Survey

It's a little late -- but don't they say it's better late then never?
I stole this from a friend's blog.

1. What did you do in 2012 that you’d never done before?  Bought a house and got married

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
  I didn't make any resolutions. In fact it was one of the 1st years I didn't.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?  My sister Katie had her third child, Carter Mark.

4. Did anyone close to you die?  No

5. What countries did you visit?
  Jamaica, Mexico & Haiti

6. What would you like to have in 2013 that you lacked in 2012?  Free time to just do nothing and hang out with David.With both of our new jobs this year it changed our schedule drastically where we really don't get to just have a day to ourselves.

7. What dates from 2012 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?  Getting Engaged, January 1st, 2012 
  My wedding date, October 28th, 2012

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
  Finally getting off overnights at work. It's come with it's own set of challenges and setbacks but it's so nice to not be sleeping during the day. 

9. What was your biggest failure?
  Getting back into a healthy lifestyle ... yeap, that went bad

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
  I got really sick after our wedding and had a bad cough for almost 4 weeks

11. What was the best thing you bought?  A house, a wedding dress

12. Where did most of your money go?  Bills, new furniture and appliances for the house

13. What did you get really excited about?  My wedding and getting to see all the Youtube BIPB girls together

14. What song will always remind you of 2012?  "I won't give up on you" Gavin DeGraw

15. Compared to this time last year, are you:
- happier or sadder? Happier
- thinner or fatter? Fatter
- richer or poorer? Richer, both David and I got better jobs and finally paid off a lot of debt

16. What do you wish you’d done more of?  Exercise, crafting

17. What do you wish you’d done less of?
  I can't think of anything

18. How did you spend Christmas?With family -- both David and I's

19. What was your favorite TV program?Walking Dead & Grey's Anatomy

20. What were your favorite books of the year?
Divergent Series, & Matched Series

21. What was your favorite music from this year?Silver Seas, Katy Perry, Adele

22. What were your favorite films of the year?Twilight #4 -- I know, but I didn't get to see many films

23. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?I turned 26. We had a cook out at our new house

24. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?Working a different schedule that didn't include weekends

25. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2012?Uh…. what's fashion?

26. What kept you sane?My Youtube girls

27. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2012.Patience is hard to come by, but if you are patient good things can happen.

Finally ... House is Almost Complete

A while back I posted pictures of the new house and talked about how the dining room has become more of a collecting spot then a real dining room. While we were unpacking stuff it became the room that all the unknown boxes went, and while we were getting married it became the room that all the wedding gifts were stashed. Even now that we've been married over 2 months it still has random gifts and boxes from both events. Our goal is to ultimately make it an entertaining/game room for when we have people over, but it hasn't been a top priority.

Then the other day we were at Costco walking around when I spotted THE TABLE. I called for David and showed it to him and we instantly knew it would be perfect. It wasn't too expensive and thanks to a nice good-bye present from the former owner's of my work place we had a little bit of money sitting around. So we went ahead and purchased ... but did we know what we were getting into??

The table came in 4 boxes. One with the table and three with the chairs. Everything had to be assembled by us. Let me tell you the boxes were heavy and I'm pretty sure we looked like fools as we tried to load everything up into the SUV. We had to tie down another purchase to the roof cause there was simply not enough room in the SUV anyone.

Once that was complete we then had to get the suckers home and IN THE HOUSE!! A mini workout.

The biggest box being unpacked

David getting the bottom support screwed together

Did I mention all the packing material? The way they pack stuff now-a-day has tons of cardboard and plastic wrapping. It was a mess, but Liam the cat didn't seem to mind.

Having too much fun!

Hours later, despite one injury and a wobbly chair that had to be worked on over and over the table finally got finished. It looks great! So excited to finally put it to use. Now I just have to find the time to get rid of the last few unknown boxes stashed in the corner.

Celebrating The New Year -- Hello 2013

Unlike 2011/2012, I had to work the New Years Holiday this year. Thankfully, it was the first time it wasn't an overnight shift. So even though I produced the 10pm news I was able to jet down to Franklin to be with David and his friends and ring in the New Year together.

New Years use to be a blahhhh holiday for me.

Reason #1: It always seems so bitter sweet. You go to parties and countdown 10, 9, 8, 7 ... only to be in just another year. Kind of a let down. Sure it's the dream of possibilities and a new start but if I'm gonna hold a party and countdown I want something exciting to happen. Like winning the lottery.

Reason #2: Everyone (mostly TV & movies) makes a big deal about having someone to kiss at midnight. And I never had that ...............until last year!

New Years Day 2012 was the day David proposed to me. Since I was off work we decided to go to Atlanta and spend a long weekend together. Little did I know he had packed a ring and was going to ask me right after midnight. We did the whole "downtown Atlanta" scene on New Years Eve and watched the peach drop at midnight, after we got back to our hotel room was when he got down and asked me. It was a complete surprise.

This New Years wasn't as dramatic, but it was just as special. I love having David by my side and being able to celebrate holidays together. We may not get to see each a lot because of my work schedule, but I resolve this year to make the most of the little time we do have. I don't want to take a single moment for granted.

I know 2013 is going to be a year of big dreams. 2012 was about David and I putting together the building blocks of what is our new family. This year will be about developing those building blocks and working hard to make things better for us.

Our SECOND Christmas

I think it's so funny that people make a big deal out of your first Christmas together as a married couple. Especially people who aren't the couple. Almost everyone I talked to leading up to Christmas asked me if I was excited for our "1st Christmas." Honestly, I felt like this was our "2nd Christmas" .... because it is! Last Christmas, David and I pretty much knew we were going to get married (he proposed 6 days later) so we spent the holiday like we were a committed couple. We visited each other's family and spoiled each other with far too many gifts. LOL! THAT was our 1st Christmas. So, in today's post, I'll tell you about our 2nd Christmas together :)

Christmas Eve we got together with David's immediate family. This is a feat in itself because of past tensions involving some members of the family (I won't get into it). So it was nice to have his close family together -- especially the kids. I haven't had much interaction with David's nephews and niece so this was my first "real" experience. They were cute and a lot more rambunctious then at the wedding. They were perfect angels at our wedding. LOL! Morgan, the 2nd oldest, found a little keyboard and was picking out Christmas tunes. At one point I started playing with him and teaching him the notes to "Jingle Bells." We opened some presents. Overall it was a fun visit.

The Jean Family on Christmas Eve
(back) David, Me, Annessa, Jason, Pam and Mack
(front) Wesley, Anna Ruth, Grady and Morgan

Christmas morning David and I spent time just the two of us. My favorite gifts where a folding basket that I can use to hold some of my crafting stuff and a new bigger jewelry box. Can you believe my old jewelry box was a present from my boyfriend in High School? That tells you how long I hold on to stuff. David's favorite present was a set of remote helicopters that battle each other.

Christmas afternoon we went back to David's parent's house to have some more Christmas fun. Then we took off for Cookeville to see my side of the family. That night we didn't do much besides hang out with my parents, watch TV, and play with my niece and nephews. This is only our second time playing with my new nephew Carter. He was 2 weeks old at the wedding. Now he's 2 months.

 

 

Day after Christmas was finally my family's "Christmas Day." We had to wait until the afternoon to open presents as my sister had to work that day. My favorite gifts from my family were some books that I've been wanting to read "Crossed" & "Reached" by Ally Condie and "The Casual Vacancy" by J.K. Rowling. David got some cool grill accessories.

The Smith Family for Christmas
(back) David, Me, Tim, Dana, Katie, John
(middle) Cole, Mark, Cathy, Carter
(front) Claire and Brogan

After my immediate family opened presents we had some of my extended family (grandparents and aunt and uncle). We always have just a simple dinner and then do a fun game of dirty Santa.

It was a great 2nd Christmas for the "new" Jean family. She got to spend quality time with a lot of family and really cherish the important things that matter during the holiday season.

5 Things I've Learned - #5

We are 5 days away from Christmas! Can you believe it!! Anyways, I can never think of things to post here so I thought I would start talking about the 5 things I've learned since being married. No, I am not saying I am a marriage know-it-all .... in fact if these posts show anything it's that I had no idea what I was getting myself into. LOL!

#5
No matter what, every single toilet in the house will get dirty 5x times faster then when I lived by myself.

I didn't have any brothers growing up -- but I did have a dad and if there's one thing I knew about guys before getting married was that when they use the bathroom they will disappear for a good 10-15 minutes. I remember many a trips to the movie theater or mall with my dad and having to wait outside for what seemed like forever for him to get finished. Well ... it hasn't stopped. Now I'm stuck waiting for my husband. I guess it's punishment for all the time us women make men wait when we are shopping at a store.

Anyways, back to the cleaning. I'm probably a terrible house-wife but I've never stuck to a schedule that required me to clean once a week or even once every other week. I'm the type of person that if it looks dirty THEN I will clean it. Whether that's every other day or once a month. So when I lived by myself it was more like once a month when it came to cleaning the toilet. Now that I'm married it's at least once a week. AT LEAST!

I'm still very lucky that my husband is a clean person -- probably cleaner then me. He puts away his dishes, his clothes, and other stuff. So don't misunderstand me. I'm not complaining about my husband. It's just one of the things I've noticed.

For my married readers? What's something you find yourself having to clean up after your husband?

Wedding Day Recap

The last time I posted on this blog was just a week before the wedding ... now we are a month and a half into our marriage. Believe me I've sat down many times to write an update but it seemed like everything was either too mundane or too long to write everything out. BUT, It wouldn't make sense to have a marriage blog if I didn't at least post something about the wedding day.

I woke up that morning having tried very hard to get a lot of sleep. I feel asleep easily the night before because I was SUPER TIRED! But about halfway through the night I woke up and had this intense feeling of "oh my GOD, I'm getting married today!" I ended up talking myself out of freaking out and falling back to sleep. Definitely a God thing.

My hair stylist was getting to the house super early. So my first bridesmaids started arriving around 8am to get their hair done first. Kayla is the name of my stylist. She was super friendly and very fast. Honestly, she wasn't my first choice just because I wasn't comfortable having someone I didn't know do my hair for such an important day. But after doing 2 trial runs with her I was comfortable and she ended up doing a great job on both hair and makeup.

Not a great picture of me
but it shows Kayla



Curling my hair for an updo

Pictures taken by Becca Sanborn

Trina, Becca and I ran to Subway and got a quick bite but then headed straight to the church to get ready. At this point I was feeling really good. I wasn't nervous but more excited to finally get the day started. My photographers arrived and they started snapping as we got ready. Some of my favorite pictures are from this part of the day.

Putting on my mother's veil

Mom helping me put on my "something borrowed"
Earrings from friend Caitlin Hepburn

Double-teamed to lace up the back

After getting ready, we did some pictures of just me and then what felt like an endless number of pictures of my family. Looking back I have mixed feelings about me trying to do so many family pictures at this point. I should have done more with my bridesmaids. My thinking was that we would get to do a lot of wedding party pictures after the wedding at Travellers Rest Plantation. But because it was so cold (Thanks Hurricane Sandy) my bridesmaids didn't last long outside in the weather.

We waited what felt like forever for all the guest to get inside. In the meantime, me and the bridesmaids were tucked away in a small lobby.

My sister and I waiting.

We finally heard all the voice from the main lobby die down and I knew it was MY time. All of the bridesmaids went ahead to get ready to walk leaving me and my dad some time to sit back. We didn't really talk about much. At least not much that I remember. I do remember him saying that he was happy that David and I had found each other and that he was proud.

Really like this picture of dad and me. It was moments before walking down the aisle.

There seemed to be a small glitch with our musicians. The bridesmaids had walked down the aisle and were standing for close to a minute -- but the musicians kept playing their song and hadn't switched to mine yet. So dad and I stood there for a while just waiting. I could see David through the glass and he looked quite nervous. As I knew he would!! Later everyone told me he was SUPER nervous. Finally our wedding coordinator flagged down the musicians and it was our turn to walk down the aisle.

I tried really hard to remember what it was like to walk down the aisle. I wanted to be able to replay that video over and over in my head. I remember seeing specific faces like my friends Andrew and Forrest and some people from work. Then I tried to focus as much as I could on David. I only broke away for a moment when I saw my Grandfather who was crying. It made me almost cry, because I don't have the greatest relationship with my Grandfather ... still at that moment I knew he really did love me.

The ceremony was perfect. It was done by David's childhood friend Paul Bonner and my brother-in-law who I've knew since I was 6, John Capshaw. They each had a different approach and it came together for the perfect package. I did start crying at one point. It was when Paul was telling everyone "our story" and how we met. I started talking about the video I made that I later posted on Facebook that reconnected David and I. I started thinking about how the girls that sparked that video were all sitting in the crowd and how the small things in our life (that we may not want to do) can turn into such great and wonderful things. Of course I didn't have tissues when I started crying, but I was able to rein in back in and do fine the rest of the ceremony. David told me later that he cried when my dad was giving me away -- but I didn't see it until the pictures came back later.

Exchanging Rings

Mr & Mrs. Jean

Final Kiss for my Dad

David and I didn't see each other before the wedding so after the ceremony we did more family pictures and then got into "our car" and headed to the Travellers Rest. The car was one of the things I didn't really care about, but it seemed really important to David's parents so we let them treat us. It ended up being a really nice, classy touch for the wedding. We took David and I's pictures together at Travellers Rest and did as much wedding party as we could -- but again it was really cold. I think my dad said it got down to 49 degrees in the wind.

My cold wedding party ....

The rest of the day was sort of a blur. I remember lost of fun moments at the reception like getting to see my Channel 5 friends and friends from college, youtube and Disney. It was a great mixture of people. We also did something called the "Shoe Game" which I had found on pinterest and asked my bridesmaids Trina and Becca to host. It ended up being one of the highlights of the night and for the people that stuck around I think they got a good laugh. We ended the night early, which I knew we would do all along. All and all, I was happy! Of course there are small things that every bride would change looking back -- but that's another post for another day.

Sheri came all the way from Utah. We were friend while working for Disney and hadn't seen each other in 7 years.

Rachel came from Texas. Also a Disney friend.

My MTSU TV gang. 7 years of friendship and still going strong.

Proof that Channel 5 people were there. My photographers sadly didn't get a lot of pictures of them.

10 Days

I know I keep saying it ... but I can't believe we are getting so close to the wedding day! Last night David and I sat down and listed out the order of our reception. Like when we thought would be a good time to cut the cake, or throw the bouquet. It was fun to finally get a vision in my head of how the day will run. My to-do list is also getting smaller and smaller with only a few non-essential things left to do. I've only had a few moments where I've felt stressed out -- but it's mostly been due to other people's complaining or lack of understanding.

I'm also counting down my last days of work. Today is day 1 of 7 in a row. Once I get past day 7 it means all the girls from Youtube will be in town. That's also another thing I'm really looking forward to. It will be the first time we'll have all 4 girls in the same room ... plus a few extra friends. We've got a fun few days planned out including my Bacholorette party.

After the wedding, David and I will be able to enjoy 2 honeymoons. The first is just a couple days in town at a hotel and then some relaxing at our house. Then the next weekend we'll leave for our cruise. Like I said, I can't believe we are getting so close -- but I'm very excited to finally be getting near.