5 Months Married | Our Top 5 Favorite Memories So Far!

WELL fun fact, I spent over an hour writing out this post at the coffee shop only to press publish and have it not go through because the wifi here says you’re connected when you actually have to visit their Facebook page to connect!! :) :) WHOOPS! So, this was much more detailed and well-written before that happened, but now you are going to get the abridged version… which might be better anyway! Haha!

Being married has been amazing. I love spending every day with my best friend and laughing 90% of the time and just being silly with each other and making memories… marriage is far better and so different that I imagined in the best way! I hope the feeling of newlywed bliss never fades! Time has been flying by and for that reason, I thought I would share our top five favorite memories so far after celebrating five months of marriage! (I can’t believe it’s been that long!) If this is how fun the first few months together have been, I can only what we have to look forward to :) So in the midst of all the seriousness in the news and on social media today, here’s a little fun personal post with our favorite married memories so far as newlyweds!!

1) Our Hawaiian honeymoon! This one is a given!! Our trip to Hawaii was our first vacation traveling alone and getting to hang out, just the two of us! And it was SO worth the 6.5 year wait!! We had way too much fun exploring the gorgeous islands of Maui and Oahu, driving the coastal cliffs, cage diving with sharks, riding ATV’s through movie sets, snorkeling at Molokini crater, watching the sunrise above the clouds, getting lost on drives through Upcountry, hiking to hidden waterfalls, and eating way too many loco moco’s and drinking way too many tropical cocktails!!! One of my favorite specific memories include the day we went looking for the redwood trees my guidebook described at the “end” of a long narrow road through the mountains… we saw redwood trees when we first started the drive, but my guidebook said they were at the end of the road, so forward we went. It was foggy, the drop off’s were terrifying, and the hairpin turns around a bend where you couldn’t possibly see what was coming at you… we were on the horn constantly! It was hilarious! Well, we eventually reached the end of the road and… no redwood trees. We even went past the “do not continue” signs but turned around when we saw a pickup truck tangled up in the roots of the trees with two wheels off of the ground! It was like a movie prop!! We finally realized that the guidebook must have been written from a place where the author entered the road at the other end… and the trees we had seen at the beginning of our drive WERE the redwood trees we had been looking and risking our lives for for over two hours. L.O.L. But the best part was, that drive become one of the funniest and most memorable couple hours of our trip. I still laugh picturing Justin hilariously beeping the horn as we went around curves! It was too much fun. I can’t wait for our next vacation & adventure!

2) Evenings in with a home-cooked meal and a movie on the couch! This is one of those simple things that become so precious and treasured. I didn’t exactly imagine every day life after marriage but I couldn’t have anticipated how much it would mean to me just cooking dinner for Justin and relaxing on the couch. Some of our favorite meals so far have been a sausage, sweet potato, & kale bake, tomato basil chicken pasta, and baked veggies with lemon!! So good! So our first month of marriage consisted of trying out a new dish every night and getting hooked on Stranger Things, Game of Thrones, and West World. Best summer ever.  If anyone has any meals/movies/TV shows they can recommend, we’d love suggestions!! :)

3) Our  day trip to Gettysburg over Columbus Day weekend! I LOVE history and Justin loves the outdoors and this was a perfect mix of both for us!! We left around 8am, got to coffee shop #1 by 9:30, grabbed some steaming hot lattes, explored Main Street, toured a historic Civil War home where Confederates set up a sharp shooter’s nest in the attic (the blood stains are still there!!), had philly cheesesteaks for lunch, biked the battlefields and saw Little Round Top and Devil’s Den where thousands of soldiers died, visited coffee shop #2 for an afternoon pick me up, had Irish beer & sausage platters at the local pub, and then finished up the day with an after dark ghost tour of Baltimore Street and the old Civil War hospital. It was the best start to our Fall and we can’t wait to go back!

4) Having friends and family over to visit! One of the things I was really looking forward to once we had our own place was inviting people over to hang out and stay with us! A few Monday’s ago we had a little “Fall Party” and had about 15 friends over for some pumpkin cupcakes, apple crisps, caramel apple sangria and of course some of my favorite buffalo chicken dip and we just did some Fall themed crafts like decorating/carving pumpkins and making pumpkin spice latte sugar scrub and played some Halloween movies in the background and it was so fun. The best part was we had not one but TWO friends (my best friend Emily staying with us and Joey visiting his family!) in town from California at the time so it was awesome timing!!! I’m happy to say we’ve had someone over just about every week since we got married and we wouldn’t have it any other way!! We may only have a one-bedroom but our couch is comfier than our own bed and we’ve had plenty of people agree! One day we’ll have an actual guest bedroom to house people in but for now it is SO fun having people camp out in the living room… it feels like a slumber party!! I treasure these days and memories and can’t wait for our next guest(s) to visit!! :)

5) This one hasn’t happened yet, but this weekend Justin will be accompanying me for the first time on a business trip to MEMPHIS! We will be there for a creative conference and we’re so excited for BBQ, nightlife on Beale Street, Civil Rights history, and introducing Justin to all of my industry friends! Even though it isn’t actually a memory yet, I know it’s going to become a favorite because I’ve been waiting years for Justin to be able to travel with me and now that we’re married, that can happen!!! I can’t wait!

P.S. if you haven’t heard of the Creative at Heart Conference and you’re a small business owner, you should definitely check it out! Follow along with our Memphis/C@H adventures on Instagram @megankelseyphotography and our personal account @glasbrennerhaus! :)