Cincinnati Premium Outlets

Do you want to know how wonderful Travis is?  He willingly took me to the Cincinnati Premium Outlets.  Saturday morning we got up and he worked on his residency stuff for a few hours.  (He will be done in 2 weeks!)  Then I tried finding something to wear for another hour.  It was a bit ridiculous.  I just wanted to look nice because we don't get to go out too often, but I figured out that all my "nice" clothes are more wintery.  So, by this point I was a bit frustrated and ornery.

At least one good thing came out of it...it gave us something specific to shop for.  So we drove to the Outlets in search of a dressy-casual shirt that I could wear out in the summer.  I found lots of nice things at great prices!  I think everything was at least 30% off.  They had almost any store you could imagine.  They had a Rue 21 where I got 2 shirts for $10.  New York and Company where I bought one skirt and got another one free (among other things).  Le Creuset where we spent most of our money.  We are using this brand of kitchen product.  I love it, Travis likes it, our wallets hate it.  Travis got some Donald Trump shirts for 75% off.  There were amazing deals everywhere!  I loved it!  Travis on the other hand spent most of his time playing Risk on his phone.  He was a good sport though.

Other stores that we didn't get anything from include: Coach, Nike, Banana Republic, True Religion, Loft, Saks 5th Ave, and the one that I was looking forward to the most, Michael Kors.  It was actually a bit of a let down.

I am already plotting my next trip.  Travis needs a pair of basketball shoes and I still need a dressy shirt and the outlet mall has the best deals, so I guess we will have to go back.   

Making Each Other Happy

I have learned in marriage that if you make the other person happy, they will make you happy.  Let me give you one example of this.  For our one month anniversary, I decided to make Travis a nice manly dinner of meat and potatoes.  For those of you that know me well know that cooking isn't my favorite thing to do, but I did it because I knew that it would make Travis happy.  The roast didn't come out quite like I wanted, but Travis was just as happy anyway.

As a result of me making him happy, he made me happy.  That morning I went and picked up a coffee table and bookcase that we had ordered.  After dinner he suggested we put them together before we went to bed instead of waiting until the next day.  I was excited because we were having our first visitors the next day and I wanted to have it done before they came.  We stayed up late putting it together and hanging my mirror.  Travis had to work the next morning, but he did it to make me happy.  We both made sacrifices to make the other happy.  

On that same note, Travis has made me happy by allowing me to set up and change around his apartment.  We are doing one room at a time.  So far we have almost finished the living room.  He always goes with me to pick things out and is patient as I ask him to move the furniture around.

I didn't take a before picture, but here is a picture of it from when we first bought the couch back in October.  The tv was in the corner across from him, but that was all that he had in the room.

Here is what it looks like now.   

Slowly but surely I will make his apartment more "womanized," as Nathan says. 

Announcement

As you all know, Travis and I have been married for a month now. We have decided it is now time to share a blog (not that he updates his anyways). I will be leaving all of you faithful followers, but I hope you will still follow me. This is a sad day for me because all my stats are back down to zero. My 100th post is once again far away. I have had fun watching as my blog is slowing increasing in popularity. My favorite is seeing how many countries it can reach. (To my faithful follower in Malaysia, thank you).



So, we are sticking with the moments theme and going with "Moments that Matter Most" from President Utchdorf's talk. The web address is http://atbarlow.blogspot.com/



See you all there!

Blog Inspiration

Since I currently do not have a job, I have had a lot of time to do some deep thinking.  One thing that I have thought about is making more out of what I have.  At first I had a pity party because I had no job and no friends here in Ohio, but I was overlooking ALL that I DO have.  Sometimes I forget to stop and take a look around.  I saw this Mormon Message several months ago and it made me cry and it came up again just the other day and it had the same effect.  Take a look and I will share some more.

After watching it, I knew that I needed to change my outlook on life.  Just by me changing my attitude, I have seen a huge difference!  I realize how lucky I am to be at home all day to do the things that I want to do and get settled in, how lucky I am that we can manage right now on one income, how I have a husband that loves me, a family that supports me and the list goes on.

I hope that anytime my perspective starts to change, I can remember why I titled this blog this way.  For those that are struggling with my same issue, watch the video...it helps! 

1 Month!

Travis and I have been married for 1 month today. In some ways it seems like we have been married for longer than that. In other ways, it seems like we just got married last week. Here is what we have been up to this past month.



July 9-Married in the Washington DC temple!

July 10-Flew down to Florida to Leave for our Cruise!

July 11-16- Cozumel, Roatan, Belize, Grand Cayman

July 17-Arrive in Florida, Fly to Georgia, Drive to Dayton

July 18-22- Travis worked, I unpacked, did laundry and repacked

July 22-25- Oregon reception

July 26-29- Travis worked, I unpacked, did laundry and repacked

July 29-31- Georgia reception

August 1-5 We finally came home for good. Travis worked all week. I still unpacked and did laundry. In addition, I have been unpacking my stuff that we moved into the apartment and finding places for our gifts. I have also been job hunting, still with no success.

August 6- Our first free Saturday!! We bought a couch! (from wedding money, so THANK YOU!!)

August 7- Our first Sunday. We loved our ward! Everyone was so friendly and welcoming. It makes a huge difference, especially since I don't know anyone yet.



So, I guess it seems like a long time because we have done so much traveling, but on the other hand it only seems like a week because we have only been settled down since last Saturday. I look forward to more time without travel and big plans.

A Beginning

I have had some people begging to see some wedding pictures. Travis' sister-in-law, Shonda, did our pictures and posted some on her blog. These are basically the same ones she has, but I am posting them for people that haven't seen them. I will post some more as I get them. She took some more while we were in Oregon that I am SUPER excited about!! She did an amazing job!

This picture was Jessica's idea. I love it!
This is one of my favorites because it is totally us!My handsome husband!

YAY!! We are married! Love this picture too!Sneak peak of the night pictures! I love this temple!

Grand Cayman

This was probably the port I was looking forward to the most because I have a friend that went here on her honeymoon and her mother and law goes every year. I have heard how beautiful the water is and it lived up to my expectations. I could not believe how clear the water was! It was absolutely gorgeous! Travis and I have said that we would love to go back.

We had an excursion planned for this port, so once again we got up early to get some shopping in before our excursion. We left the tourist area to do some shopping and sightseeing.

This is what happens when you ask other people to take pictures of you. We asked them to make sure and get the pirate ship in the background.

I would have made a good pirate.

Travis watching the dolphins!On our way out to pet the stingrays.On our way back from petting the stingrays, they stopped and got some starfish for us to hold.

After going to the sandbar to pet the stingrays, we went back to swim with the dolphins. We were with about 6 other people and our dolphin, Lucy. We got to pet her, dance with her, kiss her, and take a ride on her belly. We didn't take any pictures, but we bought one from them.

We would love to go back because there were some many things that we didn't see and like I said, the beaches are breathtaking!