Tag Archives: marriage mondays

It’s Marriage Mondays Link-Up Party Time!

I’ve been waiting for this day for the past three weeks. It’s Marriage Mondays link-up party time!

Previously, we’d hosted this link up party weekly but because it’s my desire to visit the sites of all those who link up, that became a bit of a challenge to keep up with each week.

Last month, I made the decision to change Marriage Mondays to the 3rd Monday of every month. It was a tough decision because I love visiting the sites of all the married bloggers who link up on this special day.

For those who don’t know, Marriage Mondays is the time when wonderful bloggers from around the world join us here to share their favorite blog posts from the past month.

I invite you to join me in hopping around to as many blogs as time will spare.

I love meeting new bloggers and am always encouraged reading the posts of those who join the link-up party. I hope you will, as well.

If you’re a blogger, link up your most intriguing posts from the past month below. Remember, if it doesn’t have a good title, chances are no one will be interested in hopping over to read it. So link up the best you’ve got and woo us to your site.

We are a community of close to 200,000 women and we’re here to support one another, encourage each other and shining a positive light on life, love and marriage.

So put on your dancing shoes and join the link up party!

Until tomorrow…make it a great day!

An InLinkz Link-up

Marriage Mondays: Awesome Activity You Can Do With Your Husband & Friends {& Link-Up}

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Keith and I had an absolute blast last night with some of our closest friends; all married couples. So much fun I wouldn’t even dream of keeping it to myself.

While traveling the world last summer, and interviewing couples happily married 25-years or more, I came across this very cool activity.

A couple in Perth, Australia got together with their closest married friends -nine couples in all- every other month to travel the world…without ever leaving home.

Allow me to explain.

This group of friends created passports for each person, including customized country passport stamps, and every other month they’d visit a new country by way of food and decor.

A different couple hosts the event each time, finding the perfect restaurant (or turning their home into one), and then the group all travels to the chosen location together.

The hosts are charged with knowing all about the country they’ve chosen and throughout the evening they share different things about the culture, food, people, etcetera. It’s a beautiful way to get to know the entire world (while spending time with your friends) at a fraction of the cost.

After I returned from my travels, Keith and I invited nine of our favorite couples to join us in creating our very own World on a Plate (WOAP).

The funny (yet oh-so-sad) thing is we were the first hosts and chose our favorite ethnic restaurant. The problem was -and we didn’t realize this until it was time to create the country passport stamp- we chose a restaurant that served Pan-Asian food.

Hmmmm…you mean there’s no country called Pan-Asia? How’d that happen?

We had a wonderful time but that definitely wasn’t the way we wanted to start off the American version of WOAP. This time around, my sister and her Dominican-born husband hosted us -eight couples in total- at a real country: the Dominican Republic. It was some of the most fun we have ever had with our wonderful group of friends.

When we arrived, they had the Dominican Republic flag waving outside and when we entered their home, we were all greeted by a colorful sign that read, “Kings WOAP Dominican Republic Night” and leis in the colors of the Dominican flag. Each of us put on our leis as we entered the home.

The decor was colorful and festive. Dominican music filled the air as drinks and a 4-course dinner that began with albondigas (meatballs) and hit a high note with sudado de pollo (sweaty chicken) and carne de res guisada (braised beef with rice and beans) filled our stomachs.

We ate and ate until our tummies could not possibly take in one more thing. Carlos, my sister’s husband, told stories of growing up in the Dominican Republic and gave us a look into his country (he doesn’t like desserts or candy because as a kid he’d climb up trees and hack off a piece of fruit if he wanted something sweet).

It was a fabulous night and a wonderful way to encourage happiness in marriage. When you get together with a group of married friends, and the only thing you focus on is all that’s beautiful in life, nights like this carry on with us long after the evening has come to an end.

Give World on a Plate a try with your own group of married friends. I promise it’ll be well worth the effort.

QUESTION: Do you and your married friends have any special activities you enjoy doing together?

Until tomorrow…make it a great day!

JOIN THE 1,000,000 MEMBER CHALLENGE: If you haven’t already done it, what are you waiting for? Join the club! It takes only a few seconds and, of course, is free.

An InLinkz Link-up

The #1 Way You Can Help Your Husband After a Tough Day

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There is no denying our hubbies often have tough days at work. And these days, more so than ever before, their days are getting longer and more stressful.

But we can help.

Even for those of us who work outside of the home, and have our own work-related challenges, our days tend to be less stressful.

One reason is we know if we ever lost our job (or decided to make a career change), our husbands would move heaven and earth to make sure our families remained fed, clothed with roofs over our heads.

We are nurturers by nature. They are protectors. It is those varying traits that allow us to best support one another.

As a protector, one of the most wonderful things my husband does for me is keep the world at bay; he will only allow me to carry so much weight on my shoulders at one time.

As a nurturer, one of the most loving things I do for him is to make sure he feels at rest and peace in our home.

So what is the #1 way you can help your husband get over a difficult day on the job?

Shhhhh…

No, I’m not insinuating the answer to that question is a secret. That is the answer.

As women, most of us tend to be far more talkative than our male counterparts. It’s our nature. But oftentimes, the most loving thing we can do when our husbands have a difficult day is say nothing and just offer our arms as a place of refuge.

I must admit, I’m still working on consistency in this area. A couple months before Keith and I were married in 2003, we visited a friend in San Antonio. While in the car she asked Keith a question I’ll never forget, “I just counted 6 times Fawn gave you unsolicited advice. Does that bother you?” Ouch.

The humility in his answer is one of the many reasons I love him to pieces, “No, I actually love it when she gives me advice. Unsolicited or not, I value her opinion.”

While I was grateful for his support in that moment, and thankful he didn’t seem to mind this subconscious action on my part, I also recognized this could potentially cause conflict years down the road. From that point forward, I made a concerted effort not to give him unsolicited advice.

The beauty is, because he respects my opinion, he asks for it often. There is no person he trusts more than me and no opinion he esteems greater than mine. But here’s the key. When I know my hubby has had a tough day, I wait for him to ask.

After a tough day on the job, what your husband often needs most is your warm embrace and silent understanding. You can ask him for more details about his day later, but for now, don’t be afraid of a little silence.

Until tomorrow…make it a great day!

JOIN THE 1,000,000 MEMBER CHALLENGE: If you haven’t already done it, what are you waiting for? Join the club! It takes only a few seconds and, of course, is free.

Marriage Mondays: Top 10 Tips to Have Date Night on the Cheap {& Link Up}

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Did you know we have a Date Nights section on the new Happy Wives Club site? We sure do and you can find great articles like this one from HWC contributor, Paula Rollo.

Enjoy and today is Marriage Mondays so don’t forget to scroll down and link up!

Until tomorrow…make it a great day!

____________

Finances can often be a huge hindrance for couples wanting to have a consistent date night. The desire may be there, but that doesn’t mean it is always do-able financially!

I don’t work outside of the home and we have 2 young kids, so my husband and I have definitely learned to get creative when it comes to making date night work for us.

Here are my top 10 tips to have date night on the cheap:

Share an entree. This isn’t only a great way to get a meal for less, it’ll help you watch your figure.
Skip the pricey beverages and order water. This will also help you reach that often elusive goal of drinking 8 glasses each day.
Dress up like you are going to a 5-star restaurant, but eat at a local deli instead. A night on the town doesn’t need to come with an $100 tab at the end of the night.
Stay home and play board games. Put the kids down early and let them know mommy and daddy are having a special night. Incentivize them to stay in their room if need be.
Go on a romantic nature walk. If you live in the city, this may be a bit tricky. But there are generally beautiful walking paths (most off the beaten path) almost anywhere you go.
Add date night into your monthly budget. Some couples create a “date night” savings account they add to (and usually drain) monthly. Some put it in a jar or envelope. The important thing is to set money aside for this express purpose.
Save a few dollars each week until you have enough for a fancy dinner date. If “fancy” is important to you, save toward it. But don’t wait until you’ve saved enough money before enjoying a date night (see tip #3).
Swap free babysitting and date night weekends with another couple. You never know how easy this can be until you try.
Have dinner out but rent a movie instead of going to a theater. With theater prices going through the roof, it may be time to stay under your own roof.
Go to a movie earlier in the day to get cheaper tickets. Can everyone say “matinee”?! If there is a movie you just “must see” while in the theaters, enjoy it for a little less.

QUESTION: What inexpensive date night tips do you have? Share them in the comments section.

JOIN THE 1,000,000 MEMBER CHALLENGE: If you haven’t already done it, what are you waiting for? Join the club! It takes only a few seconds and, of course, is free.

Marriage Mondays: One Thing Every Couple Must Know {Link Up}

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Today is my parent’s 40th anniversary. To be more accurate, this milestone was almost theirs until my father succumbed to his battle with prostate cancer last fall.

In Las Vegas on Memorial Day 1973, they said ‘I do’ after only four weeks of dating and never looked back. Today is a difficult day for my mom to be sure. It’s also a day when I am reminded of one important (but often ignored) truth.

There is but one thing every couple must remember if they are to live happily ever after til’ death do part:

Your spouse is not promised one breath beyond the present moment.

Remembering this point is crucial in creating a marriage in which happiness, good communication, friendship, love and encouragement trumps all else.

Have you ever gotten so upset with your spouse that you’ve gone to sleep after an argument determined to hold on to your position of being right until the next morning? You may not realize this, but in that action, you made a subconscious decision that your spouse would still be there in the morning to continue the conversation; to acknowledge you were right.

But what about those who fall asleep in that state to never have their spouse wake up again? What about the husband who walks out the door in the midst of an argument and never returns – not by his own will but that of his Maker?

Rather than spending the remainder of our lives thinking about the wonderful life we created with our spouse, we would likely live out our final days replaying that last conversation. Instead of grieving our lover, we would grieve our last words together; that bitter moment when pride took precedence over love.

Even those who are happily married, adore their spouse, and have a wonderful relationship sometimes fall into this trap of arguing over the insignificant. But what a better life those live who are reminded of this important point every moment of the day. All of a sudden, nothing is so urgent as to not warrant patience and nothing is so important as to cause a lapse in our gentle approach.

Today, in this moment, I challenge you to make a commitment to each other not to fall into that trap. Never argue over things that will not matter in the last five minutes of your life, because after all, you never know when that time will come.

When my father passed away, my mother in all her sadness was comforted by the fact that she had no regrets. She loved him to the very end and if she could do it all over again, she’d do it just the same. We should all be so wise. We should all be so in love.

Until tomorrow…make it a great day!

JOIN THE 1,000,000 MEMBER CHALLENGE: If you haven’t already done it, what are you waiting for? Join the club! It takes only a few seconds and, of course, is free.

Marriage Mondays: 5 Keys to Happiness {Link Up}

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I love to read. Most of the growth that has occurred throughout the course of my adult life has come at the hands of a book. I”m a huge believer in, whenever possible, learning from the failures of others rather than experiencing my own.

Why go through the hard stuff yourself if you don’t have to?

There are times when you must experience your own failure or trials to fully understand a lesson but I personally do that as seldom as possible. As a matter of fact, this has been a prayer of mine my entire adult life and I can genuinely say it has been generously answered.

If I can grasp the lesson through someone else’s experience, you best believe that is what I will do.

Business tycoon and success magnate, Warren Buffet, once said, “When people tell me they’ve learned from experience, I tell them the trick is to learn from other people’s experience.” YES!

So when it comes to the issue of happiness, it should come as no surprise that I look to the wisdom learned through other’s experiences to help shape how I handle challenging situations and maintain happiness in my own life.

The best book I’ve read, and the greatest lessons I’ve learned on this matter of happiness have come from countless interviews of couples happily married 25-plus years, and a book by Richard Carlson called You Can Be Happy No Matter What.

If you’ve never read this book, I highly recommend it. He speaks from a psychologist point of view (of which I am not) and helped me understand why and how happiness is possible in spite of every external situation in life.

I don’t write book reviews but I’ve found myself sharing this book with my friends lately so I wanted to share it with my online friends, as well. Happiness is all about the mind; it’s all about choice. And as a proud card-carrying member (and founder ) of the Happy Wives Club, I make this choice daily in my marriage and life.

As I was getting my car washed earlier today, I came across a Blue Mountain card that made me think about the above. I actually bought the card, not because I have anyone to give it to, but so I could share the contents with you. Granted, these aren’t all the keys, but they are a few great ones.

5 Keys to Happiness

1. Realize that happiness is a choice…you can make the decision to “be happy” each day.

2. Remember that happiness is contagious. Make someone smile, and the good feelings come right back to you.

3. Be grateful for the little things in life that are free. Make a list, and add to it each morning.

4. Believe that ultimately everything happens for a reason. Acceptance leads the way to happiness.

5. Give away some courage every day! When you encourage another to “Keep going,” “hang in there,” or “believe in your dreams,” you will find an unending source of happiness.

Until tomorrow…make it a great day!

JOIN THE 1,000,000 MEMBER CHALLENGE: If you haven’t already done it, what are you waiting for? Join the club! It takes only a few seconds and, of course, is free.