This Halloween marks the fourth week of my marriage to my beautiful bride (that’s a photo of me at the wedding when she gave me my precious ring — somehow I lost my tux before the ceremony). What have I learned in my first four weeks? 1) I’m always wrong. Period. And 2) A new life together takes a lot of work.
First up on the to-do list: new shared bank accounts and closing the old personal ones. We got that done this weekend and it was surprisingly easy (I’m of the belief that the List should rate banks, as I’d rate my new financial institution highly, but that’s for another post). Next up: filling out reports for all the service companies we hired for our wedding ceremony. I’ll be rating and reviewing the reception hall, the florist, the photographer and the DJ. I should have done this weeks ago, but hey, I just got married — I do what I want (if it’s OK with the wife).
What else? For the long term, we need to find a home to purchase in the next two years; figure out a shared financial investment strategy (with the economy, I’m thinking of buying stock in the manufacturers of Ramen and refrigerator boxes); determine how to reduce our now shared debt; and decide on whose medical insurance we’ll use. I’ve got the feeling my Angie’s List membership will definitely come in handy in the future.
Josh is an associate editor at
Angie's List magazine. He has two dogs, Simon and Clem, and likes Thai food, Portland, Ore., and riding his motorcycle. For the low price of $1.00 US, he will give you his sincere and succinct opinion about anything.
I had my re-wedding this past Saturday with my husband John, and the weekend’s festivities were almost everything I had hoped for in my wedding. The only thing missing was John’s family. We had amazing photographers, though, so everything was well documented (which is a bit scary, as they were partying well into the evening with us.)
The whole evening went perfectly, though— from our short 10-minute ceremony in my parents’ backyard to the reception. My parents picked the reception’s location: the car gallery in the Stutz building, which gave the evening an interesting feel. Continue reading ‘Wedding Number Two? Success.’
Lindsay is the publication assistant for
Angie's List magazine. She has a dog, Clio, whom she found on the street, pregnant, in front of the Blue House. Lindsay loves eating anything homemade, especially salads, and her favorite movie is The Constant Gardener. Coincidence? Her favorite place is the South of France.
So, I’m planning my re-wedding. Yes, I’m getting married twice to the same guy, and no, there wasn’t any kind of confusion of sexual orientation that annulled the first wedding, in case you were wondering. Nope, my first wedding was of the shotgun variety, sans baby — we had immigration hoops to jump through so my husband could escape the captivity of our rental home and enter the American work force, which required us to get married in a hasty fashion. Continue reading ‘Going to the chapel, and I’m gonna get married…again…’
Lindsay is the publication assistant for
Angie's List magazine. She has a dog, Clio, whom she found on the street, pregnant, in front of the Blue House. Lindsay loves eating anything homemade, especially salads, and her favorite movie is The Constant Gardener. Coincidence? Her favorite place is the South of France.
As you, the observant and frequent reader of the Blue House Blog, may know, the Angie’s List campus offers the excellent benefit of an on-site, fully equipped gym, replete with personal trainer. In an effort to improve my overall health, as of late I’ve been taking full advantage of this benefit by working out about three times a week. To tell the truth, I’m not really doing it to improve my health. I’m not even working out on a regular basis to get big, rippled muscles. Truth is, I want to be the guy who kicks sand in the face of the minuscule weeny on the beach. Continue reading ‘Getting stronger’
Josh is an associate editor at
Angie's List magazine. He has two dogs, Simon and Clem, and likes Thai food, Portland, Ore., and riding his motorcycle. For the low price of $1.00 US, he will give you his sincere and succinct opinion about anything.
My fiancé and I can go anywhere in the world for our destination wedding next year. Sounds nice coming from our destination wedding travel agent, but the truth is, like most people, we (and our guests) have a budget.
We’re in the stages of narrowing down our location. This is, we’ve been told, the hardest part of a destination wedding. I hope so, because I want my wedding to be as easy as possible for me. Continue reading ‘No worries, mon!’
Kristy is deputy managing editor at
Angie's List magazine. She has two rottweilers, Bud and Moto, and enjoys playing mom to her rott-en, lovable pups. Taking the plunge into homeownership last year was a huge wake up call for Kristy. Thankfully, she says, she not only has a handy fiancé, but a handy tool called Angie’s List as well.
I love summer. The weather’s warm, the beer’s cold, and there are lots of parties and things to do. First, I get a high percentage of days I can ride my motorcycle. I ride to work, take pleasure cruises with my fiancee around town on Sundays, and take longer three- to four-hour excursions through southern Indiana’s beautiful hills and curvy country roads with a group of fellow motorcycle enthusiasts. Continue reading ‘Summertime fun’
Josh is an associate editor at
Angie's List magazine. He has two dogs, Simon and Clem, and likes Thai food, Portland, Ore., and riding his motorcycle. For the low price of $1.00 US, he will give you his sincere and succinct opinion about anything.
Well, my wedding went off without a hitch, and my wife and I enjoyed a wonderful, relaxing honeymoon in a forgotten corner of Florida. We had a terrific time away from our normal hectic life and felt tremendously blessed to not only have each other, but wonderful friends and family that supported us before, during and after our big day.
Then, we came home — and realized that our apartment looked like a tornado hit it. Continue reading ‘Bless This Mess’
Eric is an associate editor for
Angie's List magazine. He has a Cocker Spaniel named Maggie, his favorite food is anything but beets, and he enjoys watching football, being loud and correcting other people's grammatical errors. His favorite album is Johnny Cash's "At Folsom Prison."
The big countdown has begun. In 10 days, I will be a married man.
My fiancée is a wonderful woman, and I’m looking forward to married life. But with 10 days to go before a wedding the two of us have basically planned ourselves (from 200 miles away), the big day can’t come fast enough. Continue reading ‘Get me to the church on time … and soon’
Eric is an associate editor for
Angie's List magazine. He has a Cocker Spaniel named Maggie, his favorite food is anything but beets, and he enjoys watching football, being loud and correcting other people's grammatical errors. His favorite album is Johnny Cash's "At Folsom Prison."
I’m leaving for vacation in less than 48 hours. I’ll be spending a week on the beach in South Carolina, with nothing but sunscreen and seafood on my mind. So you’d think I’d be giddy right now from the excitement, right? The thing is, I’m too busy to even think about putting my feet in the sand. Continue reading ‘Vacations are a lot of work’
Amy is a staff writer for
Angie's List magazine. She has a dog named Penny, a cat named Twinkie, and she loves to go boating with her boyfriend.
It finally happened. My brother got married. After six months of bachelor parties, annoying questions from friends and relatives, and watching my brother’s poor new mother-in-law slowly pull every follicle of hair out of her overburdened head, my brother tied the knot with his grade-school sweetheart. Yes, people, they’ve been together since grade school. Continue reading ‘Should a wedding make you feel guilty?’
Conor is an associate editor for
Angie's List magazine. He has a cat named Kanye and a puppy named Sherman, his favorite movie is
Back to the Future, he loves playing basketball and his favorite place is his couch.
