20 Life Hacks Learned in Married Life

Since being married for only two years, I’ve had to figure out a lot of things for the first time – mostly with cooking (since I didn’t do much of that before), but a few other things too. You will probably find these silly, but maybe (hopefully) you will appreciate some of my new found discoveries, too.

1. I don’t cut my strawberries anymore. I get a straw, stick it through the strawberry from bottom to top and the nasty stem-part pops off!
2. When it’s too cold outside to grill, I make my steaks and burgers in the oven – and I think they taste even better!
3. I have no patience for cooking potatoes in the oven. (Does anyone have time to wait around for an hour+ for dinner anymore?) So I wrap them up in foil and stick them in the crockpot on low all day. They’re ready when I get home!
4. I soften my butter by putting it in a cup and setting it on top of a warm stove while I’m preparing other things.
5. The key to cooking rice on the stove without it sticking to the pot is mixing in a chunk of butter and not lifting the lid for at least 20 minutes.
6. It’s actually possible to make a perfect, yellow omelet in the oven with a greased cast-iron skillet in just 5-6 minutes.
7. Setting a wooden spoon on top of a boiling pot of water will keep it from overflowing onto my stove.
8. My ice cream scoop doesn’t get ice cream stuck all over it if I dip it in warm water before scooping each scoop.
9. I make tea in the coffeemaker by running hot water through the coffeemaker into a pot with tea bags dangling in the water.
10. Homemade whip cream tastes way better. I just pour some whipping cream and powdered sugar into a bowl while mixing it with a hand mixer simultaneously. So fluffy!
11. I eat my berries with a toothpick so I don’t have to clean silverware or stain my fingers.
12. I fold my sheets and then stick them inside the matching pillowcases to keep the sets together.
13. Amazon Prime and Target REDcard make my shopping experiences so much easier.
14. Slicing up a little bit of fruit and cucumbers to put in water is an inexpensive way of serving refreshments to guests and making them think you’re fancier than you really are.
15. Buying bulk paper towels, toilet paper, plates and cups twice a year from Sam’s keeps us stocked for the entire year.
16. The step trashcan is God’s gift to cooks with their hands full.
17. Ikea silverware lasts longer than the expensive silverware we got as wedding gifts.
18. When going to a party, the key to giving a great gift is packaging it creatively – it’s half of excitement for the other person.
19. Spending time with Jesus each morning puts me in a much better mood for the rest of my day.
20. Keeping a magnetic notepad on my fridge has helped me to remember what I run out of, and better ensures that I restock it when I go to the store later that week.

I’m sure the list will continue to grow! Thanks for reading. :)

Making Time for Your Best Friend

Being silly is what we do. #matchingjackets #bonnieclyde #dannyandsandy #benandsydnee

In the midst of this crazy life, you need to make sure that you guard and protect your time with your husband. I feel like I keep seeing married couples who don't really mind being away from each other all the time. Now it may just be that they let on like they don't care or they really just don't value spending lots of time together.

I feel like I'm often alone on this topic. Maybe it's because Ben and I dated long distance and never had a normal dating period of time before we got married. I'm not sure. But still, I'm pretty sure that wanting to hang out with your husband a lot is a good thing. :)

For us, life can get REALLY busy really fast. With both of us being in ministry, we have to give the majority of our time to other people. Being a graphic designer, I'm more behind the scenes, but Ben is on the front lines when it comes to ministry. He's teaching kids, interacting with them, going to all the youth events – all in attempt to win more young people to Christ. And I 100% support him in that. I try to be right there alongside him when I can, but there are times when I can't because I also have my job to do.

Working at the same church, Ben and I have the privilege of going to work together 5 days out of the 6 day work week. It's GREAT. We share a desk. We collaborate over ideas, agree to disagree on design techniques, teach each other new things (because he's also a graphic designer), and go to lunch together. And while that may seem like a lot of time, we STILL want more. But just time to focus on each other–not to be preoccupied with other things. Ben's my best friend and we just love being together. And I think that's a very good thing. :)

But I also do believe in a space too, but not too much. We need (ideally) an hour or so to spend completely alone with the Lord first and foremost. But for me, if I have too much space all day or all week, I fall into my old habits of being completely independent. And I don't like being that way, and I know I'm not supposed to. Ben and I have also noticed that when we are away from each other for too long, we start getting in arguments all because we're frustrated that we couldn't be with each other more. It's really quite ridiculous. So our best option, most of the time, is to just stick together. We're a pair! We don't like to be separated. :)

So with that being said, go make time for your husband (if you have one) and have FUN! And enjoy that time while you can because life is just SO short! So be sweet and love each other. :)