The Aftermath

Lately, I've been thinking about what my life will be like post-wedding. Like many of you out there, this wedding has become my baby. I spend so much time thinking about it, molding it, perfecting it,... it's hard separating myself from it. And often when I'm not physically working on it, my mind is turning over new ideas for it.
As we near the four month mark at the Beagle house, I'm realizing that this whole post wedding depression that was once looming in the distance is speeding toward me like a bullet. Will I continue to get my daily fix of wedding blogs after the big day? How much will I miss all the projects I'm constantly working on? Even though sometimes I just want to get the wedding over, I know that deep down, I have thoroughly enjoyed this process in my life and will sorely miss it once it's gone.
To prevent being overwhelmed with change, I've started to plan out map out my married life. With the wedding said and done, I'll be able to spend more time with my new family (Mr. Beagle & Kingsley dog). No longer will weekends be filled with project deadlines and we will be able to enjoy the outdoor spaces in Austin with our hound (which I know he will enjoy). We can plan out vacations with the $$ that has previously been diverted to wedding expenses and start get back to doing weekly projects around the house. I can focus on career goals I've been avoiding since getting engaged and there is always the possibility of expanding my crafting to a side business on Etsy. The more I think about it, the more I have to look forward to.
What will your life be like after the wedding? How do you plan on dealing with PWD (post wedding depression)?

To Ring or Not to Ring...

I love my engagement ring and I'm really excited about adding a wedding ring to my finger to join it. Since the engagement, I've gotten pretty used to wearing my e-ring everyday. In fact, it even feels a little odd when I don't have it on. I don't think wearing a wedding ring with it is going to make of a difference (except when I start frequently stealing glances at my finger...as I did when I first got engaged :)).
Mr. Beagle, on the other hand, has never been one to wear jewelry. We are getting him a wedding ring, maybe more for symbolism than anything else. He will probably put it on when we have "date night" or go out as a couple. However, I'm not sure he'll end up wearing daily, as I will be wearing mine. Honestly, this really doesn't bother me. Although I can always remember my parents their wedding bands, Mr. Beagle has always remembered his parents not wearing bands. Perhaps this is why he may go sans wedding band a majority of the time. Does it make his parents less married then mine? No. The rings are merely a symbol of something much greater.
Will you be a dedicated ring wearer after you get married? Would you be disappointed if your partner was not?

Reason No. 1,583 Why I Love Mr. Beagle

Or perhaps I should call him Mr. Clean:

source

Mr. Beagle/Clean is pretty obsessive about the cleaning in our home. I'm a fairly tidy person too so this arrangement works out pretty well that we are both "clean" people. (I have a theory that it might have something to do with the fact that we're first born, anyone else notice this?) Anyways, the good part about this is that I usually end up having to do very little cleaning. :) So, I usually end up pulling my weight by taking care of other chores around the house like laundry and dinner. At this point, we've settled into a nice routine of splitting up household duties. However, this wasn't always so.

Before I moved in with Mr. Beagle almost a year ago (I can't believe it's actually been a year!), I briefly roomed with my younger sister and lived alone before that. In both living situations, I took care of all/ a majority of the chores by myself. I noticed that I fell into my own little cycle of getting things done. I'll admit I was a little anal about how to wash the dishes, vacuum, dust, launder, etc., etc. There was a process I liked to follow, and no other method really sufficed. Okay, maybe I was/am a little OCD about cleaning too.

So, while living with another tidy person was nice, it took an adjustment on my part to not take over every job Mr. Beagle started because I didn't like the way he was doing it. I struggled a lot with this when we moved in together. I know I should be grateful that my mister was willing to divide up household duties (and I am), but in the beginning I wanted to fight about every little nit-picking thing. It caused tension, fighting, and overall unhappiness. I began to wonder why I had moved in with someone else when I loved living alone.

I think part of it was the adjustment to sharing aspects of my living space and life that I had not experienced before. I can be stubborn and I had to learn when to let that go. I've learned to walk away from a fight that's just not worth it. I love Mr. Beagle for putting up with my shenanigans in the beginning, especially when it was his space I was taking over. I probably drove him nuts, but not once did he suggest the move was a mistake or that I should pack my bags and leave. :) I am horrible at dealing with change, and he tried so hard to make my adjustment as painless as possible. He even let me turn the spare bedroom into my own craft room. How sweet is that?!?!

Now, a year later, I love our living situation... even more than I loved living alone. I'm happy that we've been able to smooth all our rough patches out and that we've jumped over yet another relationship hurdle.

How has your relationship changed or how do you expect it will change from living together?