5 Years!

Brian and I were at our rehearsal dinner 5 years ago today.  I had a ton on my mind and could not sit still, nope not worries about who I was marrying but about logistics.  For those that know me well, this is no surprise.  I constantly think about these things, how they will go, how they could go better and what I can do to improve or change them to be the best decision.  Our wedding did not go off without a hitch and it wasn't perfect but I learned a lot.  One of the main things I learned is things go wrong even with the best laid plans, and believe my psychotic planning was incredible.  You just can't control everything.  Needless to say I believe that it was the day I decided to become an event planner, even though I didn't admit it to myself for a few years.  I had a "weekend of" coordinator who totally dropped the ball and even almost burned down the church, she was awful.  I hope for those who I have helped or planned their events they did not have the same feeling I had during/afterwards about logistics.  While even a great planner wouldn't have set aside all of my obsessing, a really good one would have anticipated it and mitigated it.  Needless to say in the end we were still married and I think most everyone had a pretty decent time.
Welcome to 5 years later and we have traveled most of the globe (several places in Europe, the Carribean, the Middle East, China and several places in the USA), met some incredible people, renovated and sold our first house and moved 1/2 way across the country.  Its been an interesting but fun 5 years.  We aren't without our trials and troubles, but overall I think we have done pretty well.
So here is what I have learned:
1. Each person needs to stand on their own 2 feet and the relationship can survive and thrive.
2. Outside influences can ruin a good thing and bring you down, get rid of them or at least keep them at bay and things will improve
3. Vacations are NOT overrated.
4. In the middle of all arguments start a major home renovation (haha yeah we have a tendency to do this).
5. Learn to express your expectations without using the word expectation.

I figured I'd stop there, 5 for 5.  Of course there are basics of being kind, gracious, don't nag if possible, share the burden of the household evenly, and everything is better if you start everything by saying I love you.

I hope everyone has a great Friday as I will be spending the day with Brian doing some of our favorite things, 90 min hot stone massages, sushi, the mall (don't worry I just need to pick up some jeans that were getting hemmed, not forcing Brian to shop again), working on home projects and the melting pot! Oh and cake :-)! Happy 5th Anniversary to us!