mr and mrs like to walk

as i mentioned several times on this little blog, minnesota is the greatest/worst place to live. the food scene is great. the parks are fun. lake life is pretty much the best. and then comes winter. but that isn't for a while still!!! and not something i even want to start thinking about it. so, because it is summer, every minute possible, i try to spend outdoors in the summer. i eat my meals outside. i cook outdoors. it is great. and i make chad go on a daily walk with me. he used to make fun and only go on walks with me to make me feel better. but... i've turned my lover into a walker! and now even he craves them! there is something special when you can take 30 minutes out of day and just spend time outdoors, and even just spending some quality time with your significant other. in the book the five love languages (by gary chapman), quality time is my number one. soo the whole going on a walk and spending 30 minutes of undivided attention is a dream for me. it is where our best conversations happen, those ones where you get to dreaming and planning for the future, or even to allow us to reflect on what is going on in our lives at the current moment.

our walk latest discussion? where in the world do we go on our next trip. something we are always talking about. we aren't having kids a for a bit still ( i think) so i kind of treat every day as one other opportunity where we get to make memories of just us and do crazy cool things. kind of selfish, but something that we are trying to "get out of our system as much as a possible before we introduce a wee one" .

we were really hoping to get another big trip in for 2015 like a three week road trip, or europe! but after taking a closer look at how much we have spent traveling this year. we feel like it would be a smarter choice to do a few smaller trips, and put those dollars towards student loans (does anyone else feel like these suck the life out of you?!) ya know, be a smart, grown adult. totally is over rated ;) it is what it is. i do have to say, i like adulthood, especially the whole marriage part of it. chad and i have only been married for 2.5 years and we are already at the point where it is hard to make a decision with out the other's input. i can't imagine what it will be like in 35 years! by that point we will have more then similar tastes in watches ;)

outfit details (chad):
shirt// gap jeans// naked and famous hat// baldwin watch// c/o JORD sunglasses// rayban

(heather)
jumpsuit// tj maxx sunglassess// thrifted shoes// saltwaters necklace// tiffany & co bracelets// variety of shops watch// c/o JORD

Ladies Wood Watch

his and hers / 01

welcome to my new little series called his and hers. i know these things have been circulating around the web for a long while, not to mention stores and merchants have caught on to this fun idea, but i thought it would be fun to do a continuous series of the different him and hers of chad and heather ( i have also seen some mama and baby ones, those are so cute!). i love seeing what each of us brings to our lives, and how though we are one family, we have our own unique characteristics. it still amazes me of how perfect two people come together, despite how different they are from one another. i love it! these photos above were taken by chad a few nights ago (where he also posted them on instagram, i have to say he is the creative half of 'us'), where he snapped some photos of our night stand. 

excited to be sharing some more of his and hers in the coming future!

chicken tacos with adabo sauce

i feel like i talk about a lot of mexican food on this little space of mine. but that is simply because chad lives and breathes for mexican food. every time i ask that husband of mine what he would like for dinner, his answer, every time, is tacos.  now don't get me wrong, i love myself some delicious tacos, but because of my husbands adoration for them i have become extra creative with all of the different ways to cook these things. you see i am not a big fan of making the same dish over and over. i feel like that is so boring. and why would you when there are thousands of cook books out there and not to mention the internet is flooded with a variety of recipes.

so the other day we had just gotten home from church and i was trying to figure out what we should have for lunch. i should not even ask  chad what we should eat because his answer is always the same (tacos, or i don't care) but i did, and you guessed it, his answer was tacos. i was slightly hesitant at first because it had been a mexican heavy week. we went out for tacos on monday evening, we had homemade barbacoa (which was amazing and highly recommend- from here), on tuesday, friday we had chipotle with my family , and now it was sunday, and he was asking for mexican food, again?! but i for some reason was actually craving mexican again.  so off the taco making i went ;) this time i decided to make it a little more like a taco salad. i have to say the end result was amazing. thank you chad for always routing for the tacos (even when i do doubt you sometimes ;) )


chicken tacos in adabo sauce

12- 6 inch corn tortillas
1-1/2 pounds skinless chicken breast, cut up/cubed
1 medium onion chopped
1 bell pepper, diced
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 tablespoon minced canned chipotles in adabo
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

and if wanted, corn salsa, avocados, cilantro ,etc.

1. in a large pan,  heat oil and place onions on. cook until onions begin to soften, about 5 minutes. add chicken, peppers, chipotles in adabo, salt, and cayenne pepper. cook until chicken is fully cooked, about 10-15 minutes.

you can make these tacos into a taco salad (like i did), put them on a corn or flour torita, or even save them for another day and make a wrap for lunch later on. this chicken taco recipe was simply delicious.

enjoy!

check out other taco/mexican recipes HERE and  HERE

satur (date)

aren't saturdays the best. 

i know everyone loves the weekend, but honestly what would people do with out this beautiful break of the weekend?! i know that i would go nuts. on the weekend, chad and i try to dedicate the morning of one of the days, to have a little date. this little date can mean having coffee in bed and listening to music, brunch, or getting out in minneapolis somewhere. the other day we ventured to one of our local favorites, spyhouse, to grab a cappuccino and to break away from the cold. it was the perfect little thing to warm us up. and though it was freezing outside, the sun was bright as ever and we had such beautiful. natural light. 

i have decided that morning saturdates are my favorite type of date. 

our dream home

chad and i are in no position to be buying a house for the next several years but despite this, i love dreaming about the future house that we will own. it is funny because over the years our styles have really evolved and changed but i find that we are becoming much more aware of who we are as individuals and how they plays a role in what type of home we desire. the other day we were driving to one of our friends houses and we passed this gorgeous house. i automatically started calling it my dream house. it was slightly farmish, big white home, with a beautiful wrap around porch. when i get an idea going in my head, i tend to make a little fantasy about it and went to bed dreaming about that beautiful home where chad and i were for sure going to live now ;) , ha!

though we aren't on the search i love dreaming up our future together. it is so fun to see what our dreams and goal are for the rest of our lives. we know that one day we would not like to live in the suburbs and are starting to lean towards a more country style home that is in close proximity to the city (no more then 30 minutes). we really want to have nature close by, so in whatever state we live in we want the ability to go hike around (minnesota does have all of this... but, so does the beautiful west coast!) i want to have little chickens running around the backyard with a huge garden. i want a spacious kitchen (so i can get my julia child on) with lots of room to host company over in, and chad really wants a big garage to work on his truck. those will be such fun days, but because we shouldn't get too caught in the future i am going to stop the day dreaming now and focus on just decorating our little home.

what does your dream home look like?

the first year

when they say time flies, they really aren't kidding! chad and i celebrated our first year of marriage yesterday. it was the fastest, best-est( i know this isn't a word), year in my life. to celebrate we decided to dedicate an entire weekend doing the things we love the most. antiquing, exploring, eating, drinking coffee and eating (extra emphasis on the eating. what better way to celebrate marriage then food?! especially when the food is really, really good). it was spent laughing and reminsing about the events that have taking place over the year. so much happens over a the span of year and it was crazy to think of all of the trips and adventures we experienced. so many great memories, big and small.

 ** milk shakes and burgers for lunch, yum!**

**downtown stillwater, mn. they still had a little christmas cheer hanging round which made my heart so happy! the snow was falling so it almost felt like we were walking through a snow globe**

marriage is an amazing thing that changes the way you view one another. first of all, you have to pick get to your partner but then you must choose to love them selflessly over and over. in all of the good and the bad, you get to do life with another person. it is truly an amazing, but selfless act. i am so thankful that i have found the perfect companion to journey through life with. happy one year chad, i'll love you forever.

oh that thing called love

i have to say, i love living life with this guy and i love him more everyday. the other day i found an article circulating an article circulating around the internet  called "i didn't love my wife when i married her", have you read it? it basically talked about how when you first are in a relationship you think that you love someone, based on the way you "feel" but true love doesn't come for several more years. when that feeling may or may not be there, but your love then is a choice. i read this and thought about how true it is. love is such a complex thing. i think that society puts these notions in our head that love is a feeling, that it fades, and when it fades it s a bad thing. but it is so much more then that. my favorite line from the article simple states it perfectly, "love isn’t an emotion or even a noun. it’s a verb. better defined as giving. as putting someone else’s needs above your own"i can't say i am an expert but in the six years chad and i have been together, i have learned so much about love and what it entitles. the more you love, the more selfless you become. it is a humbling thing. i think that this article addresses several things that are not talked about everyday, but that are critical thing for relationships to be successful. and truly, i am so exited to see how our relationship and love grows in the next several years.

have you read the article? what did you think?

five things i've learned about marriage

after being married for five months i now know...

... that i love waking up and chad does not. so this usually means he doesn't want to have a conservation .124 seconds after he wakes up ;) but this does mean i can go make some coffee and breakfast, bring it back, and by that time we can sort of start having a conversation

... that i might say i love you to chad 17 times a day. but he always smiles and says i love you too. and because he knows it means so much to me, he always gives me a good night kiss. even if this means rolling over a few minutes after the attempted bedtime

... that i somehow don't fully tighten the cap on things (bottles, lids, etc.) but chad knows this and always tightens them up. this therefore has prevented several spills that i would have encountered if i lived by myself

... that marriage is fun. and you laugh a lot. usually because i am a little cookey, and because chad is so funny. yes there is hard stuff but you have got to make sure that you can still laugh at the end of the day. it makes the world a better place!

... that though i may have upgraded to a queen size bed(previously i had a twin) the bed is actually much much smaller then when you share it with another person. and sometimes their feet may creep over to your side of the bed... oh wait, that is me. sorry chad thanks for putting up with my bed hogging! 

oh the joys of marriage! what is one thing you've learned about your partner/husband/boyfriend while living together? 

three months oh my!

yesterday marked our three months of marriage. we have successfully ended the first season together as a married couple (yet, the snow hasn't melted yet... common minnesota!) it literally seems like yesterday we had gathered at the beautiful minneapolis city hall. but here we are, three months later and we are still alive ;)

this first season was slightly surreal. we had to get used to living with one another, got to on on a fabulous honeymoon, and have begun experiencing what taking care of one another is like. it was a fun one. 

 now to start our second season together, the spring!

i am excited to see what this season of material bliss will bring us.

going to the chapel and we're going to get married

so we did it!

we went to the chapel (otherwise known as the minneapolis city hall) to finally get hitched. the entire day went so smoothly and truly was the best day of my life.

i woke up with my girls, did a little dancing on the hotel beds, went and got coffee, and then got ready for the best day of my life. and let me tell you, people are not kidding when they say your wedding day is the best day of your life. it is so much fun. we didn't want it to end. all of the happy emotions, all of the love, all of the support, it was amazing. 

so be expecting lots of fun wedding photos and post over the next few weeks as i experience newlywed bliss!