Goals for the 2nd Year of Marriage

I sure wish that Scott was awake to help me with this post, but unfortunately he has to work early in the morning. One thing that we talked about while camping is our goals for the second year of our marriage. The first year of our marriage was definitely a wonderful year. There are a lot of things that we would like to continue to do into our second year of marriage, some new things we would like to start and some things that we did while we were dating that we would like to bring back! Most of these things are ways to improve our relationship, but many are just goals that we have for ourselves to improve who we are and become more conscientious citizens. Here is the list:

1. TENT TALKS: When Scott and I first started dating we went camping and had some of the best chats that we have ever had. We decided that the reason for this was that sitting in the tent there were no distractions-no TV, no dirty dishes staring at you, no cell phones, etc... For a long time after this we recreated "tent talks" by just turning off the electronics and going into a non-distracting place, or most of the time under a blanket to give it a "tent-like" feel. These were some of the most meaningful conversations that we have ever had and I hope to bring it back into our daily lives!
2. ROAD TRIPS: Ever since we first started dating we have loved a good road trip. Some of the places that we have gone on road trips are: all over Minnesota, Michigan, San Francisco, Vegas, Utah (Bryce, Zion, Arches), all over CO (RMNP, Million dollar highway, random cool places)....the list goes on! The best part of the road trip is not the destination but getting there! I love to ride in the car with Scott and Gunnison. We can be so silly and love to sing along with dorky songs. A good road trip definitely brings out the silly side of both of us!
3. NO MORE BOTTLED WATER: So this does not have to do with our relationship, but rather with becoming more conscientious citizens. The water here in Colorado Springs is not the greatest (that is an understatement...it tastes like you are drinking a pool)! We were both so spoiled being in the UP and having delicious Lake Superior water. However, I am going to suck it up and start drinking the tap water. Here is why: tap water is free and does not waste the plastic like bottled water does. However, as a disclaimer: we will still drink bottled water while doing things like hiking and camping....just not while sitting in the apartment.
4. NEVER GOING TO BED WHEN THERE ARE DISHES IN THE SINK: This should not be hard. We have a dishwasher. We just both need to put our dishes into the dishwasher after we eat and empty the dishwasher in a timely manner. Enough said!
5. WASTE LESS FOOD: I Stumbled-upon a blog today in which a woman took a picture of all of the food she threw away every week. While I would be humiliated (at this point) to take a picture of everything that I throw away, maybe someday I will not be as ashamed. I have looked up some ideas for things to do when I have leftover produce so that I do not have to waste it. Also, today I had some very old bananas and made some banana bread instead of throwing them away...one step at a time. 
6. DO SOMETHING SIGNIFICANT: I do not want to just live ordinary lives. This year we had the opportunity to give a home to 2 rescue animals: Farah the cat and Gunnison the dog!  We gave Farah the best "end-of-life" care that a cat could hope for. And Gunnison has taken a 180 degree turn from when we got him. When we first rescued him he would whimper and duck down when you would go to pat his head (talk about embarrassing), now he is the friendliest, happy-go-lucky dog that I have ever met. We have taken him to training and he has turned out to be an awesome pet (and family member)! It may not seem so significant, but when we see the turnaround that Gunnison has made, we know that it was significant to him. Hopefully this year we can do something even bigger and more significant!
7. BE THANKFUL: We are so blessed to have jobs, food, a place to live, some of the "extras". We are living in Colorado which has been our dream since day 1 one of dating. I hope that even when things get busy and stressful we can remember how lucky we are. 

I know that there are a million more ways that we can improve ourselves and our relationship...however, these are the ones that I want to focus on. I think that if we can do these few things (and I think that they are realistic things) we can really improve our relationship, daily lives and environmental footprint. I will keep you posted on how we are doing in accomplishing these things!

Here is to a SPECTACULAR first year and many, many more to come!