Day 143.

Dear New Husband,

Here's to me being friends with lots of folks that love cheesecake on Facebook so we could have an impromptu dessert date night, complete with half priced cheesecake Facebook coupons and wine from The Cheesecake Factory.

And as we indulged in some of my favorite treats, it was so fun talking the Olympics, college football, and what we want to do together. I think this might be my current favorite thing about us: That we do the same thing. I take it for granted so often, but it is a treasure that I hope I never take for granted again. We are so lucky and I don't even know it sometimes.

And thanks for not calling me names when at 10:45 pm I am insistent that we finish decorating the guest bedroom. Even when you're already in bed, you tug your cute hiney out of there and help me get all the things on the top shelf I can't reach. You need to cut it out with being this awesome. You're setting the bar really high. But I guess that's the point.

Cause I'm so short. (I was trying to work a short joke in there. I think this works? Maybe? Small slow clap? Or if its terrible, don't tell me. I'm not sure my ego could handle it)

And here's to you indulging your wife to take a picture because she says like a narcissistic ninny: "Let's take a picture because I'm having a great hair day!" What a goon

I love you,

Your New Wife.

Day 142.

Dear New Husband,

I finally almost feel normal again! This calls for another song tribute to you. I know you might feel like its a major cop out. And let's be honest, it is. I'm having a hard time getting back into routine these days. Plus I keep falling asleep. 

That's normal right?

You inspire me to be more, to love more and be greater than I ever thought I could be. And honey baby sugar lump. That's what love can do.

I love you,

Your New Wife.

Day 141.

Dear New Husband,

After 12 hours of sleep, I almost feel like myself again. But mostly I still feel camp hungover. So, naturally, I will dedicate this one to you. Its our wedding slideshow that never made it to our wedding - but it made it to our rehearsal dinner!

Thank you for keeping our home tidy. For making this video. For loving me so unabashedly. For loving my independence, and sometimes loving me in spite of it.

Also, major shout out for including awkward family Christmas photos in here. +1

I love you,

Your New Wife.

Day 140.

Dear New Husband,

Because I'm about to crash asleep, here's another tune for you. Thank you for being my home.

I love you,

Your New and Incredibly Sleepy Wife.

Day 139.

Dear New Husband,

Guess what? I get to see you tomorrow!!

And I will look something like this:

I love you,
Your New Wife.

Day 138.

Dear New Husband,

Getting 50+ 8-12-year-old children in one room for a dance might be one of my most favorite things ever.

This is mainly because they think my dance moves are so 'kewl.' Is that still a thing? Are kids still saying that these days? I'd like to think I'm so in touch with the kids these days.

But then I remember I am delusional about pop culture factoids. I'm still quoting Star Wars for pete's sake. Plus, I made a balloon boy joke today. Yikes.

You are so loved. And so missed. Thank you again for believing in my work and the importance of it. You da best.

I love you,

Your New Wife.

Day 137.

Dear New Husband,

Children are tiring. But so much fun. You are kind and gracious and so missed. But what else is really new under the sun?

You'd be so proud of all the 'hiking' and adventuring that I have been doing. It always seems like you tend to pull the athleticism weight in our relationship but I'd like to think I'm outdoing you this week. . . Sheesh. I am way too competitive for my own good. This is horrible.

I love you,
Your New Wife.

Day 136.

Dear New Husband,

Okay. So I know this might be cheating. But camp is exhausting. So I'm going to post a song for you to enjoy and think "Man. Check out how artsy fartsy my wife is." And: "Look at how much my wife loves me.", etc, etc.

Thank you for being you and for always believing in my abilities in dreams. It is a treasure to share dreams with you and knowing that the good we want secured for the people we work with is of highest priority to us both.

I love you,
Your New Wife.

Day 135.

Dear New Husband,

Holy smokes children are tiring. Camp is tiring. But I hope you know that sacrificing times with me so I can go to one of my favorite places on Earth is well worth it.

You're paying dividends into our financial future, I hope you know.

I love you,

Your New Wife.

Day 134.

Dear New Husband,

I cannot begin to describe how lucky I am to be married to a man that when I say I'm going to go be a social worker at camp to get more direct practice skillz, you don't get selfish, you don't huff and puff, you say: "Yes."

You are my greatest champion and it is a treasure to share my life, even when we're apart, with you.

Plus, I did the math and we can still beat Paul & Linda McCartney on nights spent apart. Marriage high five.

I love you,

Your New Wife.

Day 133.

Dear New Husband,

I am currently supposed to be packing for camp as I leave today. And you're washing my water bottle because I don't think I've used it since Haiti. Or maybe Bikram Yoga class. So it has a strange funk.

But I need you to know how much I'm going to miss you; how you brighten my day, how you're the best thing and the sweetest man I have ever known. These are the core things in you that I will be praising until we're old and disgusting.

I love you,
Your New Wife.

Day 132.

Dear New Husband,

What a whirlwind week as we prep for our first guest, move into our new home, have a date night and prepare for me to be gone for a week. What the crap were we thinking in this mess?!

Actually, it should probably be: "What the crap was I thinking when I said okay to all of this mess?!" But thank you for this sweet life. For giving me the opportunity to forever be the lady you take out to dinner. And discover that a random storm has knocked out the power at the musical we were going to see.

Didn't realize you had signed your life to a cursed individual, eh?

I love you,

Your New Wife.

Day 131.

Dear New Husband,

Our apartment finally looks like home! Never mind the remnants of moving that we're still stepping around, I'm just so pleased that in the midst of the life that occurs in the middle of our moving, we are still finding time to set up our place and spend time together.

Marriage high-five.

Thank you for being compassionate and caring - for wanting the best in others and me. As well as hanging up a curtain rod right before you want to go to bed, per your wife's insistence. You da best.

I love you,
Your New Wife.

Day 130.

Dear New Husband,

"Falling in love in a Christian way is to say, 'I am excited about your future and I want to be part of getting you there. I'm signing up for the journey with you. Would you sign up for the journey to my true self with me? It's going to be hard but I want to get there.'" - Tim Keller.

Thank you for providing me with a bigger adventure than I ever dreamed of or thought I could have. It is a privilege to be the woman you asked to come along with you and be your wife, friend and companion. And to fill all your homes with chotckies and other non-essential items that have no other purpose than to be displayed and admired.

I love you,
Your New Wife.

Day 129.

Dear New Husband,

I'm glad I can talk you into Pinterest recipes that actually look terribly horrifying to you, i.e. the cornbread mix and turkey hot dogs we had tonight that translated into corn dogs made with the aid of a muffin tin. But when I told you how cheap Jiffy cornbread mix is, I appreciated that you became more open to the idea. And hey! Tasty!

I'm just so thankful that I married someone who has knowledge about household things. Not that I'm a complete ignoramus; if the apartment started wanting a dissection of classic art and literature or the impact of feminist theories and CBT on the profession of social work or the apartment needed endless quotes from the original "Star Wars" trilogy - I'm your girl. But since the apartment has yet to ask for any of those things and since you're taller and more muscle-y than me, then well. You get to do all the hard stuff. So I'm thankful I married a man who knows enough about Tim 'The Tool Man' Taylor types of things and enough about Dr. Sheldon Cooper types of things. But has more social skills than either of them.

Thankful for you, your skills and your talents.

I love you,
Your New Wife.

Day 128.

Dear New Husband,

I'm really not a fan of your Monday night class. Because then you're not here to talk me out of doing really nutso things like having hard boiled eggs and pasta for dinner. Seriously. What was that thought process? I think there was some thought in there about protein that was not meat. . .?

But moreover, I just miss the crazy out of you. As I straighten up our home, I can't help but think how I want you here because this is your home too. But then I talk you into late night Sonic milkshake runs and forget about missing you. Because you're doing what I always have known about your love for me: You let me talk you into almost anything. It's truly a Holmes-Watson or Lucy-Ethel dynamic. Spoiler alert: I'm always the crazy, thoughtless character.

I love you,
Your New Wife.

Day 127.

Dear New Husband,

I think I have a problem. And that problem is that every time I move, I feel the unbelievable need to go to Ikea. What is the deal? I spent about 20 minutes today inner monologue-ing with myself about how much stuff we have that we don't need - about how much stuff we have that we could donate or give away, etc. etc. We live such a full life, but its not because we have a bunch of stuff. 

Ugh to you Swedish furniture. But you held my hand and dragged me away from textiles, rugs, curtains and such things that we truly do not need. However, you had to have been impressed by my sheer will to keep moving forward and not peruse. I blame that on the massive burger I had just had at Twisted Root; it provides you with a sense of urgency. And a sense to move very quick to burn off all those calories you just had.

But thank you for a day of adventure and errands. Its always more fun with you.

I love you,

Your New Wife.

Day 126.

Dear New Husband,

We made it! And most of our stuff made it - meaning we still have a few odds and ends that I know will get taken care of, because I married you and you're responsible.

So as I introduced you to a library rented [Seriously becoming an obsession: Renting movies from the library. Why didn't I think of this sooner?!] one of my family favorite movies [The Rocketeer! I still can't believe you never saw it. Seriously, so much greatness and Jennifer Connelly not looking like a scarecrow. What is not to love?] this evening and you made kettle corn, I realized that admist all the chaos and mess of moving, we really do live a sweet life. I look forward to many more evenings of quiet love and enjoying small pleasures together.

I love you,

Your New Wife.

Day 125.

Dear New Husband,

Seeing all [Well, most] of our possessions in our living room makes me think that we really need to simplify our lives. We need to make like Thoreau and start Thoreau-ing some stuff out.

See what I did there? I made a pun there. Yeah, go back and re-read that. Pretty good stuff, am I right?

Thanks for doing most of the grunt work, for being logically minded on subjects where my brain feels as though it might implode, and thanks for the solid suggestions in checking out movies from the library. I feel like an idiot that it even took us this long to realize we can watch movies for free. How I am making it through graduate school, I'll never know.

Excited for this new chapter in a new place that is ours. Excited that I get to decorate a new place with all my favorite chotchkies that you have no idea what their purpose is.

I love you,

Your New Wife.

Day 124.

Dear New Husband,

As excited as I am to move into our new and larger apartment, I am going to ever so slightly miss the 2110.

This is where we became an "Us." This is where we first lived together. This is where you lived before we got married.

Clearly, I get overly sentimental and put on the "Graduation Goggles" when stuff like this happens; but this apartment will always mean something to me.

Because I remember walking through that front door, honeymoon luggage in tow, no longer a single lady walking through that door to my fiancee - but a married lady walking into the rest of her life. A life more rich and more difficult that I could ever dream of, but a life I would not trade for anything else in the world.

I love you,

Your New and Strangely Sentimental About the Weirdest Things Wife.

Day 123.

Dear New Husband,

Originally, I was going to make this blog post pretty short; it would have consisted of this one line:

I am very thankful that Wednesday is left over night. And that the Brazilian Butt Blast is done. For now.

Instead of caving to my tired-ness and exhaustion and slight frustration at myself for ever deciding to commit to writing you a letter every day, I wanted to express how thankful I am for the exhausting life we have built together. Being busy is a pleasure. . . I remember when I first moved here; not really knowing any one that lived here. There were a few people from college and family members, but they were in school or had built lives or lived way too far away. I remember watching DVR'ed episodes of So You Think You Can Dance, or Beverley Hills 90210 [Still feeling scandalous that I was watching it because I was never allowed to watch it as a kiddo] wishing I had something to do.

Wow, I sound super pathetic. But truly! I was happy - just a little bored. But now, we have a life. We have friends and a home base and so many things that occupy our time. So instead of complaining, I have to remember that this is a gift. This life we have together is a gift. Being together and doing things together is such a beautiful gift.

I love you,

Your Tired and Thankful New Wife.

Day 122.

Dear New Husband,

Four months, four months, four month anniversary! You have officially lasted four months longer than I think any other man could have. 

Its hard to believe it has only been four months - sometimes it feels as though we have already been married a lifetime because of all the adventuring we have done together. But sometimes it feels like a drop in the bucket - that we have only been married 4 days instead of 4 months. 

But I truly love you more today than I did on our wedding day. That's mainly because you have stocked our kitchen full of treats.

I love you,

Your New Wife.

Day 121.

Dear New Husband,

I am incredibly thankful for you today. You didn't really do anything for me today. . . That sounds weird. But what I mean is that I was nose deep in writing today and you never pestered, never whined for attention; you were very supportive. As per usual. 

So. I didn't really pay much attention to you today and then jetted out for some much needed girl time [I always need girl time. Lets be honest here] and you didn't mind at all. . . Not that I even would think you would care or protest, because you're not a weirdo. And you are supportive. So supportive you're willing to let me go for a week so I can build up my resume at a camp that I adore so dearly. Thank you so much, dear one, for continually showing me that you are the best thing that ever happened to me. 

I love you,

Your New Wife.

Day 120.

Dear New Husband,

A sweet sweet day. An afternoon spent by the pool, which I originally suggested to get us out of the house for about 30 minutes, turned into an almost 3 hour affair. Complete with you grilling out lunch. And, complete with sunburns! Woof.

It was bound to happen. We somehow escaped the lake unburned; we were taunting the fates at this point. But it was a wonderful afternoon to spend neglecting the obvious paper I have due tomorrow.

Current status of said paper: Pending. But, it is all worth it to spend an unintentionally quality-time filled day with you.

I love you,
Your New Wife.

Day 119.

Dear New Husband,

A day full of errands and getting ready to pack up for our move. Which would be awful, usually. But it was so much fun running around together, getting to be with you and getting so much done together.

And, you pull more awesome El Huz moves. I've been whining and complaining about awful sore muscles and you bought me an hour long massage. WHAT. You still listen to me when I whine and am a pathetic old lady when I try to get into bed at night?

Stop showing off. . . But please don't. I really enjoy bragging on you.

I love you,
Your New Wife.

Day 118.

Dear New Husband,

What a glorious evening together. I love 'fancy' date nights; meaning dates with cloth napkins and one where both of us put a considerable amount of effort forward in getting ready.

But thank you for thinking of me and wanting to take me to dinner. And to see Abraham Lincoln hunt some vamps. Epic-ly awesome.

To be honest, what came so easy for us in dating comes more hard in marriage. We spend so much time together; I mean we live together. We spend all this time together without spending real time together. So as we figure out how to spend time together where we don't have to go out and spend money, I hope you know that I love being your wife and being the woman you set time aside for.

I love you,

Your New Wife.

Day 117.

Dear New Husband,

Though you had to leave the lake before the crack of dawn this morning, know that in all the fun, you were missed. In fact, I somehow channeled your show-off moves on the tube this morning. You would've been so proud. And, I didn't fall off. Booyah, grandma. 

Or booyah, El Huz. Is that the correct term to use? It's more fun when it rhymes though, grandma.

Thanks for such a fun time at the lake, and for being the kind of man that I am continually thankful for and can continually brag on your smarty-smarts. Thanks for being my partner, you da best.

I love you,

Your New and Extremely Tired & Sore from Tube-ing Wife.

Day 116.

Dear New Husband,

Happy 4th of July! I'm so grateful that we live in a place where we can get married, attend school, go to work and live our lives as we would choose. From all the places we have seen, both together and individually, we know how blessed we are that we actually get civil liberties, that we actually have freedom, and we actually have justice. We are beyond blessed to live in the United States and to have so many things that so many people do not have.

And watching you tube (What a show-off/ham!) and tube-ing with you. You are so much fun to be with on the lake, mainly because you are a major lake rat. And thank you for putting on gobs of sunscreen on my insistence. I want you to live a very long time.

I love you,

Your New Wife.

Day 115.

Dear New Husband,

I'm so excited to mini road trip with you to spend the 4th with you and our friends at the lake. What else says "Freedom" and "'Merica" like going out on the lake on the 4th of July? . . . Burgers? Hot dogs? Watermelon? Beer? Well whatever we decide defines a wonderful celebration of the land that we love's independence, I'm sure we'll make it happen.

Except for setting each other on fire and shooting off dangerous fireworks.

Here's to having people in our lives that are wonderful, fun and somehow just as nerdy as we are. I love you dearly and enjoy going new places and experiencing new things with you.

I love you,

Your New Wife.

Day 114.

Dear New Husband,

Mondays are probably the worst. I don't really get to see you on Mondays with you have class in the evenings.

But I'm thankful for this time of being apart, because it makes me realize how much I miss you and enjoy having you around. And even more thankful that you're the kind of man that is determined to better himself and obtain an even higher education than is required for him to have a decent job. So here's to me not being the only one in the family that has consonants after their name.

I love you,

Your New Wife.

Day 113.

Dear New Husband,

I'm so thankful for a man who I give a grocery list to and not only uses the coupons and gets almost everything that I need [It's okay. I can get popcorn kernels anytime. . . And not a necessary purchase at all. At least not tonight. You know tomorrow I'm totally going to be craving the sweet nectar of popcorn] and then some! 

PLUS, you got the good treats and snacks that I have way too much of a guilty nutritious conscience to buy. So if I start complaining about being chubby, you only have yourself to blame. And me for eating all the super soft sugar cookies.

I love you,

Your New Wife.