Rejoining the World of Blogging

It has been a very long time since I have blogged, which is a shame because this past year has been quite the eventful one. I'm not even sure where to start to catch up on things. There have been a lot of ups and a few downs, but things have been good, for the most part.

So here's a brief catch-up on the goings-on of the Conelly household over the past nine months or so:

• We bought a house, obviously, and have spent a good amount of time decorating and doing minor DIY projects, mostly in the kitchen and dining room. Our current project is updating our framed photos (since our current ones are all engagement/wedding photos) and redoing the collage wall in the living room. I'm hoping to do a post with pictures of some of the little things we've done that I think look really nice.
• Andrew lost his job. Which was a very stressful time for a little while. But we have been blessed with how good my job is, and we have been fine financially. That means that once Andrew finds a new job, we'll be able to save most of his income, which will hopefully get us to our goals faster. 
• We went to Disneyland. This may seem a little frivolous after losing one income, but it had been half paid for before Andrew lost his job, and we had cash and gift cards we had been saving for the trip. The only thing we had to pay for out of pocket was the hotel, which made it feel like a very inexpensive vacation. And it was so much fun to be in Disneyland for Christmas. It's just so pretty. We had such a good time. 

• We adopted a kitty! Andrew and I had no idea we could be crazy cat people, but Bagheera has transformed us. This adorable little fuzzball has completely stolen our hearts and we love her to death. Bagheera is a really fun and rather affectionate cat, and she is spoiled rotten. But I think she deserves it after living in a shelter for six months and being burdened with the name Pink. But we saved her from both, and now she answers to Bagheera just fine. Well, when she wants to, anyway. We're even half considering getting an actual kitten at some point in the future so Bagheera has someone to keep her company, but we'll see.

• We celebrated a fun, quiet Christmas with just the two of us, and it was so relaxing and nice. We didn't have anything big under the tree, but that didn't matter; it was nice to be home together. New Year's was also low-key; I don't even think I made it to midnight. I'm pretty sure I fell asleep on the couch.
• I got a pretty awesome raise at work, which is such a blessing, especially considering it came completely out of the blue. I'm so incredibly grateful for my job and for the company I work for. My bosses care about me and want me to stay and be happy here, and the executives are all so careful in making sure their employees are taken care of. I am incredibly fortunate that I have followed my career opportunities to be where I am today.
• Andrew and I celebrated our second anniversary in the glorious Wizarding World of Harry Potter! We had been talking about this since last year, but when Andrew lost his job, we didn't think we would be able to make it work. But when we looked at our finances, the money was available, so we just went. And it was amazing. Seriously. The expansion with Diagon Alley and the Hogwarts Express is pretty incredible, and I loved every second of being there and feeling like witches and wizards really do exist. I geeked out hardcore and enjoyed myself thoroughly. This trip was only a couple of weeks ago, so I'm hoping to write up a more detailed post once Andrew edits the pictures he took.

And that brings us to the present, which isn't terribly exciting at the moment. Andrew has a couple of solid leads on jobs, so we're hoping and praying that one of them comes through for us. And if it doesn't, he'll keep trekking and keep looking, and we know that he'll find something eventually. We don't have any fun trips planned, so there isn't much to look forward to in that respect. But that's okay. I'm sure we will find fun things to do, and hopefully I will be able to stay up on blogging in the future.

Should We or Shouldn't We?

In 2007, I went on a ridiculously awesome vacation with my brother and sister-in-law. We spent ten days exploring New York City, and it was amazing. I loved every second of it. And then I didn't go on another vacation until 2012, when I went to Disneyland with my family. I had so much fun on that trip too, and it was so ridiculously nice to finally have a real break from work. I had coworkers who would ask me why I never went on vacation.

And then Andrew and I got married and went to Hawaii for a glorious week. And then we decided on a spur-of-the-moment trip to Universal Studios Orlando where I fully embraced my nerdiness (and enjoyed every second of it). And then we booked a cruise for our anniversary, which is coming up soon (and oh my gosh I can't wait!). And all of this has simply fueled my wanderlust. I just want to travel all over the place.

And now we have three more trips to consider:

1. San Diego. It looks like I'll get to go for work, which means my flight and at least a couple of nights at the hotel and some food will be covered by my company. So all we'd have to pay for is Andrew's flight and maybe a couple more nights in a hotel. And seeing as how Andrew has never been to San Diego, I think he really should go with me.
2. Washington. Andrew's 10 year high school reunion is this year, and we're trying to decide whether or not we should go. Rather, I'm trying to convince him that we should. It would be really fun, and I'd love to see Washington in a month that isn't super cold and miserable.
3. Disneyland. My brother and sister-in-law are planning a December trip to Disneyland, and they've invited us to go. I think it would be an absolute blast, and I have always wanted to see Disneyland at Christmastime. I've heard it's amazing.

So here are the arguments for not going:

1. I work for a ridiculously awesome company that has offered (basically) unlimited vacation time. But while I don't have to worry about accruing hours, Andrew only has a limited number of days off, which he tries to use judicially. I can't blame him for being concerned about using up all his PTO.
2. We are trying to get into a house, hopefully sooner rather than later. And despite living on two incomes, we are by no means rich, meaning it will take some saving in order to cover a sizable down payment and the closing costs without becoming house poor.

And here are the arguments for going:

1. As DINKs (dual income no kids), we have room to play. And as soon as we start popping out the babies, we will have to pass on a good portion of these kinds of opportunities. I want to take advantage of this benefit while we've got it.
2. These are relatively inexpensive trips, especially to San Diego and Washington. And Disneyland is far enough in the future that we have all year to save for it.
3. How often are we going to have opportunities like these? There are real reasons to go other than that we just want to go and have fun (which isn't a bad reason either). The San Diego trip will cost half as much as it normally would, we have family in Washington we could probably stay with, and we would get to watch my nieces and nephews experience Christmas in Disneyland.
4. We can make Disneyland our Christmas present to each other. It's not like we have kids who would need some sort of Christmas morning awesomeness; we could just have a couple of small gifts under the tree and call it good.

So what do you think? Should we go, or shouldn't we? I'm trying to convince Andrew we should, but maybe viewpoints from other people will help me out.

I love San Diego. So much. It's gorgeous there.

I would really, really love exploring Seattle when I'm not freezing cold and wet.

Just look at it! How magical is that?

Major Purchases

Nothing has made me feel like more of an adult than getting married and making big decisions with my husband. I made plenty of major decisions as a single adult, but it feels like a bigger deal when those decisions have to be arrived at with another person. Not to mention that a lot of those decisions get a lot more expensive when considering two people instead of one.

The past couple of weeks Andrew and I have made some expensive decisions, but I'm super excited about all of them.

Purchase #1: BYU football season tickets

My brothers, my dad, and I have been getting season tickets together for the past four years, and I love going to games. My dad could only get four season tickets, so this year Andrew and I were planning on getting separate seats. But then my dad found out that with changes made this year, he could buy twelve season tickets, which meant we could sit by them instead of sitting by ourselves. I was really glad that I would still get to sit with my family, but it meant that our tickets cost a wee bit more than I was anticipating paying. But I'm pretty sure it will be worth it, since this year's home schedule is pretty awesome.

Purchase #2: The Wizarding World of Harry Potter

Andrew gets a day off work for my birthday, and out of the blue, he suggested using that extra day to go on a weekend trip. His initial idea was to go to Disneyland, which would have been awesome, but then he did more research and found out that a trip to Florida would cost about the same. So we're going to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter! We'll spend two days in Universal Studios Orlando, and I can't wait. I think it will be so much fun. Our trip package includes a breakfast at the Three Broomsticks, and we also got tickets to see the Blue Man Group. It's going to be an awesome weekend, that's for sure.

Purchase #3: Living room furniture

Andrew and I have been thinking about getting new furniture for our new apartment, so yesterday after work we went and looked at a few furniture stores to get an idea of prices and what we liked. We weren't planning on buying quite yet, but at Ashley Furniture, we got a really good deal that we couldn't pass up. And I got an accent chair, which I really wanted. I just think they add a nice touch to a room. I am so excited for the furniture, especially since the store is holding it until we move into our new place, which means we don't have to move it. It also made me super excited to decorate our apartment and make it our home.

I can't wait to make use of all these purchases, though I also hope these are the last of our major purchases for the next little while, at least.