Around the Neighborhood: One Month Celebration at Fireworks Pizza

This past Sunday, Dave and I have been married a month -- its crazy right?? Seems I was counting down to be married for so long, but marriage has gone by quickly -- a honeymoon and move helped pass the time, for sure!!

I sure do love being married to this sweet guy and although the newness will wear off, living with him still feels like a BIG sleepover. It's fun to stay up late watching tv or talking and not have to worry about one of us driving home.  And its fun to get to spend every evening cooking and piddling around the house together.   Being new to town, we spend a lot of time together which after a year of Dave studying all the time and then a month apart, I like all this togetherness a lot more than I thought I would!! Even with my independent streak, I enjoy every day with Dave.

I am not qualified to give much advice on marriage (with only one month under my belt), but my one piece of advice is this: Marry someone you are friends with and enjoy spending time with.  I think some couples love each other and love nights out, flirting, cuddling, etc, but they aren't always FRIENDS....you know, buddies on a non romantic level. I have always loved being Dave's friend, along with being his girlfriend, but I don't think we always needed eachother as friends because we had other friends too. Now, in a new city with only a few friends, I have never been more grateful that we have a friendship.  I like hanging out with Dave which is good because I do a lot of it these days!!  It's good to be his wife, but it is also so good to be his friend.

This weekend we celebrated one month of marriage. Dave and I never celebrated month anniversaries when dating. In fact, we had to look at a calendar to determine when we went on our first date in order to celebrate one year.  I guess I never saw the need to, but now that we are married and living tightly, any excuse to go to a movie or cook a nice dinner or go out for dinner is greatly appreciated!!

Anyways, mushiness aside, we celebrated One Month in complete Dave and Katy fashion - casually with pizza and soda at a local pizzeria.  The plan was to eat dockside at this seafood restaurant in Annapolis but we finished touring the town at 4 and weren't hungry at all, so we drove back to Courthouse with the intention to rest and then eat at this gourmet pizzeria in Dupont that I love, but on our way to dinner, Dave's friend needed help moving some furniture, so after we stopped, moved the furniture and chatted, it was almost 9 and we decided to just eat locally. Luckily, there is another italian style pizzeria (FIREWORKS PIZZA) in our neighborhood and within walking distance, so we decided to celebrate there.  I want to fully explore and enjoy our cute little neighborhood so I am glad we did dinner in the area! We both loved the restaurant -- Dave said, "It's chic and fun like you like it" and he was right, it was a fun urban place and the pizza was delicious and affordable.  For 30 dollars, we had an app, pizza and diet cokes.  I think we will visit this place again!

If I am out of touch for awhile, its because I am home in the South enjoying friends, family, Kiefers, Sakura Bana, watermelon and SNOW CONES (How did I leave that off my first list??)  I am excited to go home and see everyone but also eager to get back to MS and unpack and settle in.  Not that I don't love our free Craigs List furniture and all, but I will be happy to have our things again!  FINALLY making our first home, although I will always remember and cherish this first month of simplicity.

Day Trip to Annapolis

One of our goals while we are in the DC area is to take TONS of day trips and weekend trips.  We aren't sure yet what our longterm plans are: stay in DC/Nova forever or just for a few years, but we do know that we want to take advantage of our time in this part of the country and see as much as we can.

We started with a little day trip to annapolis because it was less than an hour away and I fell in love with this cute little harbor town!!!  Charming streets, cute little stores (including a LILLY store!) and a beautiful harbor!

  We also saw the state house - where the original US Congress met an the legislative branch of the Maryland Government still meets.

We also toured the Naval Academy.  There was a wedding in the chapel so we could not see the inside of it, but we plan to take an official tour of the campus when we go back.

Annapolis was truly a charming little town.  I think Dave wanted to visit Annapolis more than I did, but I fell in love with this town the most (I made him promise me three times that we would make a return trip one weekend!) I LOVED the walkable streets, little restaurants and ice cream shops, cute stores, boats, etc.  I can't wait to return.  We had intended on staying for dinner and eat famous maryland crabs, but we had walked for several hours and it was going to rain, so we decided to head home and eat dinner in Courthouse.

I can't wait to take another trip to this charming little town!

HOME SWEET HOME

I am in an "in between" phase of life and also in an "in between" phase of home....

I teared up when we got in the car in Memphis and headed to DC, not back to Jackson.  My life felt like it was in Mississippi and we were headed the wrong way.  The only thing that would have been harder would have been getting in my parent's car and heading to Mississippi and not going with Dave to DC.

Possibly the best thing that happened to me recently is Dave moving to DC without me...because we spent a month missing each other!  It changed the move to DC from "a move away from people I love" to "a move towards someone I love"  It's much easier to move towards something or someone than move away from something or someone.

Next week I go back to Mississippi.  I love Missisisippi. I love the South. I love my family and friends...but I kindof wish I wasn't going.  I have adjusted fairly well to DC despite not having a job....and going home will remind me of all the wonderful parts of my old life....and going home is going to involve a lot of goodbyes!! That's hard.

But, yet again, Dave will be here for 9 days without me and I think that will make things a bit easier...because I can come back to him!  And, Marley, Bech and Jack will be making the journey up north with me and its such a comfort to know we will have family 4 hours away now!

But still, this may (I'm hoping not) be my only trip to Mississippi until Christmas (say it ain't so!!!) (ACTUALLY I am anticipating some winter/fall weddings so I may have another trip(s) home!!) ANYWAYS, I am making an "I love Jackson" list of things I have to do while home:
- family time
- friend time
- coffee from CUPS
- eat at Kiefers
- sushi at Sakura Bana
- SONIC drinks possibly every day
- finish with gift exchanges (we have a few duplicate gifts, etc)
- church at HIGHLANDS PRES
- visit Kroger and enjoy the comforts of a LARGE grocery store
- maybe lunch at Walkers, after all it is my fav and I won't see it again til December....
- eat Watermelon -- I mean, I can do that here too, BUT it tastes better in MS
- get Doc Dave (daddy) to grill out one night
- go to the Neshoba County Fair --- JK, I do not have time for a weekend in the cabins at the fair, but I so wish I did!
- visit my Nana and Papa

Thats the list thus far... it may grow, and its only 9 days!

DC Weekend 2: Brunch, Exploring, Movies and Pancakes

As I said yesterday, so far I LOVE our weekends in DC....mainly because everyone is off work! Dave and I can enjoy down time together and explore our new hometown!

Call me blissfully naive, but so far I think its better to have to do chores and errands with Dave so weekends where we do laundry and clean up don't seem bad....this may also be due to the fact that we live in a tiny apartment and don't have much of our stuff here yet, so the two of us cleaning the whole place takes an hour tops. :)

So our weekend began with dinner and a movie at home.  We only have a desk, so we have to eat our meals at the desk .... Don't you like our plastic target plates and romantic glade candles?? its all about improvision!

Saturday we begin the day with brunch with friends in Eastern Market at Ted's Bulletin.  TB is a popular restaurant in the city that makes homemade poptarts, homemade twinkies and adult milkshakes.  And although I can't yet speak for the homemade twinkies and adult milkshakes, I can say that the poptarts are delicious.  The four of us split some poptarts as an appetizer (yep thats right we had an app at brunch haha) and then I tried the hot cereal with fruit and nuts for breakfast.  

Then Dave and I wondered through Eastern Market since we were nearby.  It was noon and too hot to spend a lot of time wondering, but I wanted him to see this DC staple.

 We then took the metro to the zoo.  Now, I have made some bad decisions in my life, but attempting to visit the zoo during the afternoon during a heat wave was high on the list on dumb things to do.  It was miserable..not only for us, but for the animals! Most of the animals were hiding in the shade and when we had only seen 2-3 animals in 10+ exhibits, we decided to leave and come back this fall!  We still got to enjoy walking through Woodley Park and seeing a building that Dave is working on.

We thought about what we should do -- Summer Saturdays (especially in the heat) at the Smithsonian are crowded, so we decided to just go to the movies.  So much for sight seeing! However, there is a cool movie theater a half mile from our house where you have to reserve your seat and the seats are recliners!  It actually costs no more than other movies in the city!  We cooked dinner at home then headed to see Pacific Rim, Dave's choice, but not so bad a movie.

Sunday, we continued the Robertson Family tradition of weekend pancakes and then did our chores and grocery shopping before heading to church.

I am loving our weekends.  With only one person employed, we have to watch our money and I love cooking in all week so we can afford brunch or dinner out or a movie. I love slowly making friends and getting to see them on the weekends! And I love having Dave home for 2 full days!

Hopefully, as it cools down, we will be able to do some more sight seeing so I can share about all the fun things in DC!!!

DC Weekend 1: Date Night, Jorts, Hard Times Cafe

So far, Dave and I are adjusting well to married life in the city.  I do miss my friends and family a lot, but it is such a treat to see him daily!  I particularly love our weekends together because we have time together and with friends.  During the week, my days are a bit lonely at time (and peaceful at other times!) because everyone else is at work.  I love weekends where Dave is at home to share the chores, explore the city and enjoy time together.

We are very careful to split our time-- some time at home getting stuff done and some time out and about enjoying DC.

Our first weekend in DC was very fun and started with our first DC date night which included seeing WHITE HOUSE DOWN in Georgetown and driving around the city to see important buildings at night :) Here is a photo of our first DC date night....

Saturday included errands, pancakes (a weekend tradition in Dave's family) and a JORTS birthday party for our friend Sarah Joy!

Sunday was spent at the house, doing laundry, tidying up, cooking biscuits, walking to my new favorite coffee place, Northside Social and then meeting Dave's school buddy for lunch at Hard Times Cafe in Clarendon (one neighborhood over from us). Hard Times Cafe is known for its delicious chili (4 different types) so despite the sunny weather, I had to try some.  We then went to church at Grace DC (it's an evening service every week)

NOT MY SOULMATE

I haven't even been married a month and I can already tell that love is going to be a choice a lot of times.  Sometimes we are grouchy, moody, sinful people.  Sometimes Dave doesn't understand what I am trying to say and sometimes he hurts me with his words or actions...and vice versa: sometimes I am horrible to him (I had already realized this through all our dating and engagement....)

Our first marital fights have generally been rooted in our expectations of marriage and expectations of eachother....the clash that comes when two sets of expectations meet and when expectations meet reality...And, even though we are still in this whole "newlywed love phase" and still spend most of our days in obnoxious bliss, our first few fights have made me realize how divorce easily becomes an option for some people...when the focus is on someone being your "soulmate" and meeting your needs, of course you will be disappointed.  And, sadly, even as Christians, we have encouraged the concept of soulmates, of someone who God has just for you, who will make you happy and complete you....just wait, pray, keep your legs together during your teenage years, and you will finally find this soulmate!!

Dave makes me so happy.  I assume that many days of my life he will. But I also assume there will be hard times when we irritate the heck out of eachother.  Making our marriage work is based on more than our feelings of love and attraction to eachother, making a marriage work will involve hard work, communication and often times, a choice to love even when annoyed with eachother.

Along those lines, Dave is not, nor will he ever be, my soulmate. I married him because: He loves Jesus. He is my best friend. I'm attracted to him.  He is good to me. I like a lot of his qualities and personality traits.  I like who he is becoming and who the Lord is making him to be.  He would give you a similar description of me, I think! BUT - I often think he is not sensitive enough. He thinks I am too emotional  (I suppose thats guys v. girls personality traits!)  We have different musical tastes and goodness, he irritates me when I have to try and cook around his picky tastes.  I can be high strung at times and he can fail to plan.  And although these qualities probably balance each other out, they also will probably cause us some stress during our years of marriage.  Certainly we aren't always soulmates who complete eachother and provide nothing but Joy.

We could have ended up married to other people and been happy, but I am glad that God, in his goodness, allowed me to end up with Dave.  And right now, he feels like my soulmate, but he is not. And next year or the next year, when times are tough and I feel disappointed that my "soulmate" is not fulfilling me and my expectations (or he is upset with my shortcomings), I hope we remind ourselves that we are sinners, spouses, friends, but not soulmates...and that even when I don't feel he is "THE ONE", I made a choice that he is the one and I must honor that decision and honor him.  Love is so much more a choice than feelings.

I loved this article - written by this blogger on her first anniversary. Even though it's what I already believe, its always good to read about it - and hear someone else's perspective.  I hope that 11 months from now, I will be writing the same thing about how we choose to love eachother and how we aren't soul mates.

Everyday Blessings

Before we got married, I told Dave that although I was excited about the wedding ceremony and reception, I was most excited about the day after the wedding when I could wake up and be his wife...

and I felt the same way about Cali, sad to leave our honeymoon, but eager to get home to our new home together...

....because life isn't wedding ceremonies and proposals and trips and HIGHS.  Although all of that is wonderful :) And I will share all about our wedding which was perfect in my opinion....but what I love most is living life with Dave, good and bad.

And, that's what we are doing now.  And every little chore or everyday activity is exciting...cooking Saturday pancakes, grocery shopping, doing our laundry, cooking dinners, watching tv on the couch in our own home together.  I can't help but look across the grocery store aisle and think that this is the man I will be eating all my meals with for years to come.  Dave's gotten used to my random staring and smiling... and the sweet boy humors me :) But, I can't help it, I feel so so blessed to get to live everyday moments with him!

And, I'm not a fool. The simple everyday chores of life will not always seem that exciting -- eventually it will just be grocery shopping, just be cooking, just be running errands and even with Dave involved, these things will still be chores.... but I am enjoying this stage when even the errands and folding clothes are special.

And, I hope that a few years from now, with kids and work and stress, I remember my first few months of marriage and remember what a blessing it is to have someone here for everyday life...because life is going to mostly be boring Monday nights and paying bills and washing dishes, but what a blessing to do those things with someone else!!

New Life, New City

We are now married and living in Arlington, Virginia. Lots of changes in a few short weeks, most of them really good though :)

I had a former blog... but thought that our recent move warranted a new blog! So here it is -- www.daveandkatyindc.blogspot.com.

Quick update on our life changes....my husband, Dave, got a job at ACG architects in the DC area beginning this past June.  He came home for our June 28 wedding....

Then we headed to San Fran and Napa for our honeymoon...such a fun BUSY week.  Dave and I certainly aren't lowkey lazy vacay people, we were busy the whole week...so busy, in fact, that we have vowed to do a tropical lazy vacation next summer, ha.  Maybe we need a vacation from our vacation, but we have had plenty of lazy time to enjoy our new home, especially me.

Then we flew into memphis, picked up our car, packed down with as much as we could fit inside it, and drove to DC - which took a day and a half and involved being side swiped by a hit and run driver, but eventually we arrived in Courthouse, Arlington, VA which is a cute neighborhood, very urban and very walkable.

So, now I am just settling in to our new home, exploring our neighborhood and starting to look for jobs...I applied for a couple last week, but starting yesterday, I have made searching a big part of the day. (Unfortunately for me, its about to be recess which means DC and hiring is SLOWING down)  Anyways, say a prayer for my job search.  Until then, I am trying to enjoy my time off and cook, keep our house tiny, and enjoy my new city!

More updates soon, including wedding pics, but I wanted a short intro/update to the next blog!