Marriage Year 1

My mind is blown as we approach our first wedding anniversary this Sunday May 5. I have been experiencing flash backs all week as I remember exactly what I was doing at every moment leading up to the wedding. Today is Friday and 1 year ago at this exact moment, I was laying at the pool with all of our friends and family preparing for the rehearsal welcome party. (Hard to believe since it's 50 degrees here on the Cape today). The entire weekend was perfect-marrying the most wonderful man I could ever imagine, sharing our love with friends and family, and having the greatest time at a wedding in the history of weddings. I'm sure every bride says that, but our wedding truly was the best ever! I have a lot of favorite moments from the weekend, but I think the fact that so many of our guests traveled to Charleston is a true testament to how amazing all the people in our lives are. It was wonderful watching them all meet and then hearing how many of them have kept in touch since the wedding. I couldn't believe that many people from so many different parts of the US and Canada would all mesh like they had known each other for years. Really cool to see!

The past year has been a complete whirlwind in the best possible way. I went from being a pretty independent only child to a wife living with a man.  Our life together has been anything but normal. But really, what is normal?? We have traveled the country helping families fix their outdoor spaces for HGTV and in the process have learned to live on the road together, as well as work together. Curve balls have been thrown and we find a way to work through each road block. I have to give credit to my extremely patient husband for keeping me from blowing too much steam out of my ears. He causes plenty of the steam but is great when it comes to putting out the fires. With the travel and crazy schedules, it has made us stronger and has helped me relax and learn to roll with the punches....well some of them. I did mention I am an only child, right? I like having a plan and rolling with the punches has never been my strong suit. But marriage is all about balance and compromise. I think our biggest argument has been over who is making dinner. And not the 'I'm not cooking tonight, you are' kind of argument. We both really like to cook but in very different ways. I like to add butter and cream of something or another to about every recipe I know. I'm from the south....that's what we do! Chris is a very clean eater so we have really learned to compromise on the cooking front. I'll thank him one day when he doesn't have to wheel me down to the beach.

Chris is a runner and I am not at all. There have been several attempts at running together but that hasn't gone well. I grew up in dance and the furthest I ever ran was a mile to warm up. This will never compare to my husband who won awards for running track in college. He did convince me to run my first 10K at the Falmouth Road Race. I did it and ran most of the way. I was totally shocked and amazed at what adrenalin can really do for you. This year, I have decided I will train for the race. I said that last year too, but I figured if I put it in writing then maybe I will stick with it. Stay tuned for updates.

As the wife of a landscaper, I am learning to get my hands dirty. I find that weeding can be pretty therapeutic believe it or not. I actually spent the entire afternoon outside the other day pulling weeds and cleaning up our yard. Just because you are married to a landscaper doesn't mean you automatically have a beautiful yard. You can compare it to the saying about the cobbler's children not having shoes. The landscaper's yard can be touch and go depending on how busy the season. So I decided to learn and take matters into my own hands. We have a whole shed of tools that I have no idea about, but I will learn....and YouTube will help me. After a year of waiting for Chris to drill a hole for the dead bolt on our new front door, I went to Sears and bought the tools needed based on a YouTube video. I had to look up another video to show me how to use the drill, but the point is I learned how to drill the hole properly all by myself. I love having a partner I can come to for help, but it was really fun figuring this project out all on my own. Chris tried to tell me week after week that drilling the hole was a really difficult process and would take FOREVER. It took me about 30 minutes. Now we are in the early stages of a massive house renovation. We both plan on being very involved with the work. I'm going to make an attempt at refinishing some furniture and will keep you posted with my progress.

After a year of marriage, I can say we are on the right track and I am excited to see what our future holds! It's all a learning process and I am loving every minute! We plan to spend our anniversary weekend on Cape Cod because we desperately need a weekend at home! I am looking forward to watching our wedding video and flipping through our amazing photo album telling stories and reliving the best weekend of our lives. But first, we will watch an all new episode of our show, Going Yard, on HGTV Saturday morning at 9:30am EST. I hope you will join us in watching the show! We really want to film another season and need those ratings!!!! :)