Simple Joys: Movie Night

*Reminder: Today is the last day to enter in the DaVinci Bracelet & Beads giveaway! I'll be picking the lucky winner early tomorrow morning!*

Matthew and I are lucky in that we commute together to and from work.  That means, we get 3+ hours of "us" time in a small, confined space.  During this time we talk about our day at work, plans for the evening, and just about everything else in between.  Our commuter car is very tiny and holds only two people, so it's sort of an intimate space for us.   We take turns driving so that it's fair, but we also have a fun ritual of trying to get the other person to drive for them in exchange for other favors (i.e. choice of dinner location, less driving turns for the following week, etc.)

Last week though, we either had to work late or made plans with friends after work, so we drove home separately several times.  By the time we were both home, we were too tired to do anything else besides go to sleep. 

I know it was just a few days of veering from our standard routine, but I missed him.  Thus, I made sure our schedules were clear on Friday for "movie night".

It was Matthew's turn to pick a movie, since I dragged him to see "Inception" a few weeks back.  I've seen it twice and would pay to see it again if anyone still hasn't seen it.  Seriously.  I liked the movie that much.

Well... he decided that for our "let's reconnect date" we would see,

The Expendables.

source

*groan*  I really didn't think a movie about men who were hot 10+ years ago gratuitously killing other guys with machine guns would be something I'd consider an ideal "date movie". 

But boy was I wrong!  There were probably a few too many close-up shots of Mickey Rourke and Sylvester Stallone, and a couple of horribly acted monologues... but I actually enjoyed the film!  I definitely don't see it winning any Academy Awards, but the storyline kept me on the edge of my seat and the action scenes were as over the top as you could hope for. 

My favorite part of it all, however, was turning to see Matthew's reaction throughout the movie.  It's so cute watching his face light up like a little kid on Christmas morning when a building would explode or when someone was stabbed with a knife spilling their guts everywhere.  He loves that sort of stuff and I love watching his happiness.

I've learned that it's very important to make time for your relationship... even if that time is spent doing something you wouldn't normally want to do.  Sometimes you just might discover a new interest or a new appreciation for something you never would have opened your mind to otherwise...

Simple Joys: Snoodling

My first alarm goes off at 4:20 in the morning.  I hit the snooze button immediately.  After all, I don't really need to get up until 5:30.

The next alarm goes off at 5:30.... I'm still so tired and my eyes do not want to stay open.  I nudge the hubs to try to get him to wake up, so I can sleep while he gets ready first.  This fails. Every time.  (He says I have to get ready first because I take longer... fine, I guess that makes sense.)

"Is it OK if I get up in 3 minutes?" I ask the hubs.  There's really no reason for me to ask permission since I'm the one with the start time, while he can come in whenever he wants, but I feel less guilty about it when someone else gives me the green light. 

He says, "Yes", of course -- though the word 'yes' never comes out.  It's more often a grunt which I take to mean 'yes'.  After all, three minutes for me equals three additional minutes for him.  Win-win.

We almost always start off the evenings in a spooning position, but somewhere between "good night" and "oh-my-god-we're-so-late-get-up-now!", we drift to our separate sides of the bed.

However, during these last few moments of sleep, he opens his arms to fit me into his nook, which I've deemed to be my favorite place in the world.  We cuddle together until the 3 minute snooze alarm goes off, and I roll out of bed to begin the day.

Snooze + Cuddling = Snoodling* and it's the best feeling.

You feel like you're getting over on the world by getting to sleep in those extra few minutes, PLUS you get to share the experience with one you love the most.    It's my favorite part of the day and makes every morning a little more bearable...

source - the nook!
*Obviously "snoodling" is not a real word - it's just something I made up.  However, I did a quick google search and found some disturbing definitions for "snoodling" on  Urban Dictionary.  That is NOT what I'm talking about.

Simple Joys: Rearranging Furniture

Sometimes, it's the simple things that put a smile on your face and give you that extra kick in your step.

The other day when we cleaned our master bedroom, we did a little furniture rearranging, too!

It was a very easy and seemingly minor change - we moved our bed from one side of the room to the other.

No biggie, right?

Well, that's what I thought, too... but for some reason, I was really excited to go to bed that night. I love sleep and always looked forward to getting some shut eye, but I felt inexplicably extra giddy jumping into bed. It kind of felt like I was on vacation and had something super exciting to look forward to the next day (I didn't - I just had work).

I got up waaay earlier than usual the following morning - I only had to snooze my alarm clock ONCE. Matthew didn't have to push me off the bed to get me up. I felt great and the thought of having to commute 62 miles to get to work didn't give me the feeling of dread it usually does on a Monday morning.

Our private space felt brand new but at the same time familiar. It was nice.

Who knew simple things like moving your bed could make your day that much brighter?

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On a separate note, this week's theme on the iheartfaces photo challenge is "pets". Unfortunately, I do not currently (this is a hint for the hubs) have a fancy camera, so my picture was taken using my iPhone. I didn't put much thought in taking the picture, so the lighting is awful and the composition is whack. I'm 100% positive I won't win, but I just had to post a picture of the cutest bulldog brothers in the world :)