Today marks exactly 6 months since we moved to Florida.
I felt that today would be a good day to give you all an overall update on our life. ....Even though there isn't too much to update on.
Married life is great. The other night I was thinking about how one of the best things about marriage is that every night is date night. Now, I'm sure to most, they don't feel this way. However, prior to our wedding, we were long distance for four and a half years. I only spent a total of 9-11 weeks out of the 52 weeks a year with Nick. When he came home on leaves, staying in and watching a movie was considered a "date" for us. And even though we're married and have been living together for 9 months, I still consider a night in, cuddled up together, watching a movie, a date. Given our unmarried relationship, we learned that every second is precious. It all counts. A night or day at home isn't just another day. To us it means more. We know what it's like to not get this often. And we're fully aware that the future will bring many, many more months where we are apart. So I'm soaking it all up now.
So... life in Florida....
it's...different. We live in a town called Milton. There's not a whole lot to do here. And it's off season for Pensacola so it's just dead.
Weekdays: Nick and I spend our weekdays just hanging out. He's in API so he's gone all day but we do get our evenings together. He's now finished with the academic portion of API so his nights aren't consumed with studying. We usually watch one of our television shows or a movie. For the most part, I make dinners most nights but there are some nights where Nick helps me (I love when we cook together) or nights when he makes dinner.
After reading some things others have to say, I want to say I am so thankful for a husband who helps out. He cooks dinner sometimes. Doesn't need to be asked. Just says he's going to do it. Asks me what I had planned and where the recipe is, or makes up his own chicken marinade/seasoning and cooks his own creation. He also helps out with cleaning. He dusts shelves, vacuums, steam mops. He does the dishes pretty regularly...both dishwasher dishes and our dishes that need to be handwashed. Doesn't complain. Doesn't wait to be asked. Just does them. I'm so thankful he doesn't expect or even want me to take care of the entire house. (I'm sorry but I don't do the whole old school thing of 'women cook and take care of the house'. There's no reason men can't help out.) I never thought much of it...I pictured married life to be a team of us equally doing these things. But apparently that's not the case for a lot of couples so now I know to be even more thankful for Nicholas.
Friends: We are thankful to have a wonderful group of friends here. During the week, we get together for wine nights (for us ladies) and the guys will have poker nights.
On weekends, we all go to Bayview, which has a dog beach and a separate dog park. The dogs love it there (and it's great way to get them to sleep the rest of the day away). So most weekends you can find us there with our friends and their pups for a few hours.
Aside from the dog beach and park, we like to spend our weekends at Seville Quarters. It's a place here that has many different bars inside. They're all connected through doors and hallways and you can walk from one to the other with your drinks. One cover gets you into the place and you're free to go from bar to bar. They have a club, a wine bar, piano bar, a bar with a live band, patio bars, a casual bar, etc. We hang out in the casual bar playing pool and having a drink.
Some weekends we all opt to stay in. We all gather at someone's house and just hang out or play games.
It's nice to finally have a routine and friends so that we're not always sitting in the house. I love my husband dearly but it gets boring if we're never out and about with friends. These friends have made living in Florida a lot more bearable.
What else do we do?? Oh! Well twice now we've gone to play Bingo. Yep, we're old married couples that have nothing better to do than play Bingo. ....Kidding. Surprisingly, Bingo is actually really fun! We all really enjoy it! (and last time we played, I won twice and Nick won once!)
We're all anxiously awaiting the warmer weather so we can hit up the bars that have beach volleyball. I cannot wait to spend a Saturday on the beach hanging out, grilling, playing volleyball or whatever with our friends.
Overall I can't complain about life here. I'm not a huge fan of Milton and Pensacola, but I don't hate it. I think I'll love it a lot more once spring rolls around.
I can tell you it's been nice to not have a real winter. If you know me, you know I'm a huge baby. I do not like cold. Anything below 65 and I'm cold. Below 60 and I'm freezing! My ideal temperature is about 80 degrees =) But I've been spoiled living here. The coldest day we had all "winter" was about 45 degrees. We had maybe two of those days all winter. The average temperature here from November to present was 65-75. You can't beat that!!! Mid-January and early February I was laying out in my backyard...and got a sunburn! I wasn't one bit mad about it =)
Other than that, we're just hanging out. Still obsessed with our pups. Still loving married life.
If you're Facebook friends with me, then that give you an idea of life here. And you'll also see that I still take millions of photos and upload them all to my profile. I think in January and February I averaged over 300 photos a month so now each month is getting it's own album lol. Nick still gets annoyed with me wanting to take pictures all the time but I don't think that will ever change. I haven't been very good about taking photos of us when we're with friends so I want to work on that =) I know my family loves keeping up with our lives via the pictures. If you're reading this and aren't on Facebook, then just email me and I can send you a link to my albums, even if you don't have a Facebook account =)
So there it is....I told you...not much going on. Although life isn't boring, this update was. But I haven't done one in a long time. We're still doing the same ol' things but we're loving every minute our lives. Pensacola might not be the greatest place to live, but when you have an amazing little family like mine and great friends, you can find the fun in any place!
So here's to warmer weather, less rain, and more fun adventures with my Husband, our pups, and our friends! And hopefully a visit from friends and family back home!
