VDAY

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I decided in honor of v-day, I would post the only song Rob and I have ever considered "our song".  It is "Second Chances" by Paper Route, which is inappropriately a break-up song, but we love it so much it just kind of worked out to be our song anyway.  I do love me a good ol' fashioned break-up song.  And this one comes complete with homemade emo video.  Win.

And I think I'll throw in a bonus Paper Route song of the same theme because, well, it's my blog and I do what I want.

huzz-band.

Dear Rob,

Thanks for cleaning the kitchen while I take a nap.  Thanks for putting up with me when I'm cranky and when I leave my clothes all over the bedroom floor.  Thanks for believing in me when I feel like a loser and for going on driving dates while listening to Sigur Ros albums.  Thanks for being all-around encouraging and positive all the time.  You are way cooler than I give you credit for (or you give yourself credit for).  I'm totally glad I married you.  Also, you are the cutest ever.  I love you.

Love,

Abi

(your wife)  

adventures in northside

Today - after making breakfast and doing an hour and a half of yoga - we went and met our good friends Jarrod and Paige at Melt in the Northside neighborhood of Cincinnati.  If you haven't been there, it's a vegan-friendly deli and since Paige is in fact vegan, it worked out well to go there.  It was also very good, so I would recommend it.

After lunch, we proceeded to wander about Northside and taking a few more engagement-y pictures.  Paige and Jarrod are getting married in October, and we are trying to get in a set for each season.  We are also super excited because we are in their wedding party!  This is my first time to be a bridesmaid!

We ended our day at Mt. Storm before calling it quits due to general coldness.  Unfortunately, I have been feeling kind of crappy lately and being out in the cold air for several hours has left me feeling pretty much terrible.  It was still fun, though I feel like the pictures did not turn out as great as I had hoped.  I will blame that on the way I feel, haha.

I wanted to share a few photos, though I am too tired to actually sort through them right now.  So here's some I thought turned out decent -

people i love.

,

Today I am going to tell you about my absolute favorite cousin, miss Hannah Elizabeth Friskney.  I am mostly inspired to do this because she came over to hang out tonight and I love her so.  She is seriously SO funny and smart (valedictorian!) and awesome and pretty and she totally humors me when I want to dress her up like a scene kid and take pictures in the snow (see below).

Being six years younger than me, she's like the little sister I never had.  She was also my maid of honor.  Han just got home from a semester abroad in England on this past Christmas day (!) and I am so excited she's decided to finish up school in Cincinnati so now she is super close again (!!) and we have opportunities to hang out more (!!!). 

So yes.  There you have it, my favorite cousin.

money/future

You know I have to say it: at the end of the day we will have completed two weeks of this p90x bullsh.  I feel like we are pretty awesome for that.

Anyway.

Rob and I have talked and kind of decided we are going to live as frugally as possible for the remainder of the year.  This is for a bunch of reasons, including but not limited to: Rob is going back to school full time in the fall to complete his bachelor's at NKU and that's going to cost us, we need to start paying off our debts (cars and Rob's school loans), and saving up to buy our own home.  Living frugally for us will mean not eating out all the time (or hardly at all), choosing our entertainment wisely (aka no movies all the time), and not buying shoes or clothes or things for the house unless we absolutely need them.  It's going to be super difficult, but our goal right now is since Rob was bumped up to salary and is making a bit more than he was previously, that we would be able to deposit the entirety of my pay into savings and live only off of his income.  Of course, if this is not enough we would have the option of depositing only like seventy-five percent of my income or something to savings, but really, we are shooting for really, really frugal living.  I already miss shopping. 

But, it should be worth it.

I could take this in a different direction and talk about how as a society we hoard up all kinds of junk we don't need, anyway, and especially as a Christian, I am being ridiculous by spending all my money on things for myself.  You probably already know what I mean by that, though.  So I'll leave it at that.

The reason I wrote this down is mostly for accountability.  So if you see me at the mall, tell me to go home and put my money in the bank.

kthxbye.

thursday, thursday

Yep, it's Thursday.  Obviously that means things are not going right.

Last night I fell asleep thinking, "Yes! I am so excited that tomorrow's work out is only 45 minutes".  Well, I was wrong to be excited.  For early morning cardio at 7 AM not only is not exciting, it kind of blows.  Yep, it was pretty terrible.  I barely made it through and afterward I prepared a breakfast of cottage cheese and fruit.  After eating only 1/2 strawberry - ONE HALF - I proceeded to be so overcome with nausea that I had to run to the kitchen sink and vom it right up, before vomming some more, but since there was nothing else in me besides water, I spent a good few minutes dry heaving.

Awesome.

And now to match the morning little girl is being such a delight*

*sarcasm


Thursday, we really need to set aside our differences and just try and get along.  This song and dance is getting kind of old.

++++++++++++++++

If you read this, sorry for all the complaints.  I am actually feeling pretty good since we started working out.  This is day nine, so I like to think of it as being 1/10 of the way there!  Not too bad; I feel pretty proud of us for sticking it out even this far.  The most annoying thing is how long the workouts are and how much time and effort goes into planning every single thing we put in our mouths, hence why we have began attempting waking up before work to get the exercising out of the way.


Anyway, here's to Thursday.

things i want.

Warning: materialistic and ridiculous.

Monster. I have actually only seen the the first three discs on DVD, which I believe is only 15 out of 74 episodes!  They never made any more!  Originally in the Japanese (duh), this manga was made into English I think in 2006.  Rob and I watched it for the first time a couple years ago and it is AMAZING.  I am not really into manga or anime or anything like that but the story line is so interesting and well written. I finally found a site that sells all 74 in Japanese with English subtitles, so Rob, when you read this - hint hint.  

Puppy.  I really do want a puppy, though I know I will not get one any time soon.  This is due to several factors, including but not limited to how often Rob and I are gone during the day, the smallness of our house/backyard for dog exercise, and obviously all the expenses that come with properly owning a pet. It wouldn't be fair to raise a puppy in our current situation.

 Some day, though, little puppy, you will be mine!

To go to Hawaii. Or at this point, really any place that is at least 50 degrees warmer than here.

Or if I was to get real ambitious, New Zealand.  Specifically sites where Lord of the Rings was filmed (duh). Seriously, how epic would that be?

Yes, I got this image from Harry Potter Wiki.

To apparate.  Because then I could get to previous locations freely and with ease.

Do I sound cool yet?

From FannyFishVintage on Etsy

And if I had a baby, this hot air balloon quilt.  What?  Why is this the cutest baby blanket ever?  I told Rob, after I had seen it, that he was lucky he hasn't knocked me up yet, because I would have ordered this thing posthaste, even if it is $180.

The end.