The Simple Life

Dan and I love leading a simple life! I think that there are 2 parts to leading a simple life. First is the simplification of activities. When we were first married, I have to admit it was a slight adjustment, I was so used to having people around and stuff going on all the time that it was weird not to go out and do things. I quickly found that not doing anything can sometime be the greatest thing ever!

I remember when I was younger and noticing that my parents seemed to ALWAYS stay in, I thought to myself, how boring, why don't they go out and do something! I have now seen the light and I value the weekends I don't leave the house. This past summer was so much fun, as previous posts have explained, but now that summer is over, Dan is back in school, the warm weather has stopped calling my name, so Dan and I have gone back to living the simple life. We work, Dan goes to class, and we sleep. That is it. Don't get me wrong, Dan and I do love doing things, but we don't feel the need to be constantly busy with outside things. I realize this seems like no fun, but we love it!



An ideal weekend for us is to rent a movie Friday night. Dan watches the whole movie while I usually fall asleep in his lap. He wakes me up when it is over and we go to bed. The next morning we sleep in and I make a wonderful breakfast. We lounge around for awhile watching another movie or some random show on T.V. Eventually we decide we need to do something so we go to the gym together. An hour later we are back home again. Dan does homework and I attempt to pick up the house a little. That night we hang out with friends or go for a drive, then then sleep in again on Sunday. (Yeah for 11am church). We go to church, come home eat something, then it is time for our Sunday nap. We sleep for a couple of hours, then wake up amazed how we could sleep for so long. It isn't like we have done anything all weekend long to wear ourselves out. I usually try and make a yummy dinner, then we try and read for a bit, Dan works on homework. It is simple, but the perfect weekend.

The second part of enjoying a simple life, is being happy with what you have. Dan and I have had several talks about how we never want to become a "keeping up with the Jone's" family. It is amazing the stress that comes from wanting, especially things you can't afford. Dan and I love our condo. Yes if we could have a house that would be great, but we don't NEED one right now. We have more than enough room and we are able to save and do other things because we aren't slaves to a huge house payment. I love my car even though every time I drive I have at least 3 different lights come on saying something is wrong, but there is no car payment and it gets me around. Dan and I try to always remember that we really do have so much and that we don't NEED anything else. By doing this we are always happy with what we have and we don't feel as though we are missing out on anything in life. I have noticed lately when catching up with friends that I really don't have anything to talk about or update them on, but I just realized that for us that means we are doing GREAT. Living the simple life has really made us one very happy couple!