responsibility

when i lived at home i was responsible to keep my room fairly clean and my stuff (interpretted books, bags, shoes, clothes, etc) if not out of sight atleast in an orderly pile. but dishes, vacuuming, cleaning the bathrooms and laundry were taken care of by my mom. they just happened without me realizing it.
Then i get to college, living in the dorms. While i now had to do my own laundry, the bathrooms were cleaned daily and with meals in the cafeteria dirty dishes were wisked away to be cleaned for the next meal. and with no one to tell me to put things away (my roommate had just as much if not more "stuff" than I did) things started piling up until i either took notice or had time to care.
Then I moved into a house full of girls and while we now had to take care of dishes laundry and general cleaning ourselves, if the kitchen was messy or there were shoes, magazines, purses, keys, strewn all over the living room, even if the majority of the stuff was mine it was easy to write off the mess as a joint mess.
now that it's just Adam and I living in a place it's not so easy to walk through the kitchen and see a stack of dishes in the sink or a pile of shoes by the door. I know that if I don't do something about it the said mess will probably still be looking at me tomorrow. This is not to say that Adam doesn't do his fair share of picking things up, but i know that generally half if not more of the mess is most likely mine and if i don't take care of it no one else is going to be picking up behind me. just one more of those realizations that my mom could have tried to tell me but that i couldn't have understood until now.

lakeside perfection

really, does it get any better than this?
Arnold's Park
Lake Okoboji, Iowa

sunset

the end of another day on vacation

the schmidt's

Sisters

Karen (my little sis) is 16. I had so much fun reliving teenage memories with her this week.

vacation

Adam and I spent our one year anniversary and first significant vacation as a married couple at Lake Okoboji this past week. Most of our time was spent in a cabin with my family at my childhood vacation spot. I loved every minute of being on the lake and it was so fun to see Adam fitting in so seamlessly.

I am a water girl at heart, so the sailing, skiing, swimming, jet-skiing, boating, floating, and walking by the water were the perfect vacation.

A lot of people have asked Adam and I how the first year of marriage was and the question is usually followed with the statement: the first year's the hardest. I can honestly say that we had a great year. Admitedly it was a hard year, but not so much because it was our first year of marriage, but because my whole identity seemed to change. I don't think I could have made it through the year without Adam sitting there next to me, holding my hand, and encouraging me with his unconditional love and acceptance of who I am even when I didn't even know who that was.

down time

I know that everyone needs some time to themselves, but I tend to surround myself with people and love being with people I love that when I have a day or an evening to myself I almost get anxious being with myself. I enjoy the time to reflect and do my own thing for an hour or two, but then I start to get a little stir crazy. In the end I know I should just enjoy this time, but part of me feels like I should be doing something (like right now I should be cleaning the bathroom) and then I start feeling guilty for just sitting around. So here's to a quiet night.

summer trips

the happy couple in Chicago

the BEAN! (notice the bride in the background)

Even in the middle of the city nature exists

It's been awhile, but that's because Adam and I have been traveling. Here's some pics from our most recent adventures. We both highly recommend Millenium Park in Chicago and if you're in northwest Iowa, you have to check out our favorite, Lake Okoboji.