After college, I moved back in with my parents for a year. And during that time, I couldn’t wait to find my own apartment and move out. I was dreaming of the day when I had the keys to a place of my own. The day that Jim would move to Pittsburgh and we’d cook dinners together in the kitchen and hang our pictures on the wall and make friends with the upstairs neighbors.

We found that apartment, but it was mostly me cooking dinners and we didn’t make friends with any neighbors.

We’d lived in the apartment for almost two years and then we started thinking about a house of our own. We watched HGTV obsessively and dreamed of space to entertain, quartz countertops, a guest bedroom, and most of all, a garage.

We bought that house, and we ended up with everything on our wish list and more.

Once we moved into the house, it was time to focus on the wedding. I dreamed of candlelit centerpieces and silver sashes around white chair covers and the perfect photo of a last kiss as the sun set over the country club.

We planned the most fantastic wedding, complete with wine bottle centerpieces, wine cork place cards, and a summer sunset as our guests danced and drank the night away.

So now we’re married, we live in our beautiful house, we cook our dinners together, we’re planning to someday hang the pictures on the walls, we’ve had friends over to stay in our guest bedroom and we hosted a small 4th of July get-together in our backyard.

We’ve gotten everything we’ve ever wanted. So what’s next?  Continue reading →