Lifestyle - April 14, 2020

Rituals Duncan and I Have Together

My Outfit Details: Crewneck Sweatshirt (wearing size xs) // Performance Joggers (wearing size xs)

One of my favorite things about married life so far is living together! I hadn’t lived with a guy before (well other than my brother and dad…) so it was something I was really excited about post-wedding! Obviously there have been growing pains, quirks you learn about each other, and LOTS OF COMPROMISE, but overall, I’m beyond happy and grateful for Duncan as my roommate! IT’S SO MUCH FUN!

While our schedules are both different during Quarantine – especially his since he usually works out of the house – we’re in the same house 24/7 but so much of our days surround work slash individual responsibilities that some days it doesn’t feel like we have too much time to connect. Anyone else relate?! So as we’ve grown used to living together and newlywed life, we’ve developed a handful of rituals that help us connect. We didn’t start these rituals or habits on purpose – they just kinda happened which is my favorite thing ever! It’s like we found the pockets of our day to connect in a way that feels fun and good, you know? They aren’t fancy and I don’t even know if *ritual* is the right word, but these are the recurring rituals that we do weekly:

Stretching before bed

Well, this actually is kinda “stretching whenever” now because we do it multiple times a day sometimes. Duncan and I both workout (a lot more lately for me!) and so it always feels good to stretch – especially when you have someone motivating you and pushing you further (literally). I had never developed a good stretching habit but D has always had one and it’s rubbed off on me! We usually do this before bed but again, sometimes it’s for 5 minutes in the middle of a day when one of us needs a break.

Walks before dinner

Still loving that 30-minute walking habit that I started over a year and a half ago!! I actually started this habit around the time that Duncan and I started dating so it’s always been something we’ve liked to do together. Some of our first dates involved walking around Dallas and grabbing coffee and honestly not much has changed. We always take about 30 minutes to walk before dinner, even in the snow which has taken some getting used to. On the weekends, we’ll usually walk for about an hour. Love this distraction-free time to talk about #life and goals that we have.

Cooking + music

This is probably my favorite time of the day! We both try to sign off at a respective hour, usually around 5-6 p.m., to cook and hang out after we walk. Duncan is usually in charge of the playlist and I handle the recipe and all that. We both cook and just kinda dance around. It’s a carefree way to end the day and the music makes it feel more fun than having the news on or whatever. Then we catch up on our days and life over dinner and dishes.

Morning coffee

Duncan is the coffee guy in our house and WOW, it has been such a little blessing! As y’all have probably seen on Stories, he takes coffee V seriously and I get the benefits of yummy coffee waiting for me each day. I’m a bit slower to wake up and get going in the morning so bless this boy :) Y’all can find the coffee devices we use in this post.

Skincare

Duncan is such a good sport and is so carefree in life (something I love about him VERY much!). I’ve been trying to take better care of my skin lately and he’s always down for a facemask. We don’t do this EVERY night but probably 2-3 times a week right before bed. We’ve even started calling some of these nights ‘Spa Nights’ and adding in some other steps…which actually might be fun for its own blog post?? Let me know if y’all want to see our Spa Night list!

Sunday morning worship

Whether it’s trying out a new church (pre-quarantine), streaming a service, journaling, reading the bible, or talking about the Lord, we connect over religion and coffee on Sunday mornings. Our fave!!

Do y’all have any simple but sweet rituals with your partner??