The First 7 Months of Marriage Advice | Partner Style

Michael and I have been together since the summer of 2006. Our first few years together were spent apart until I finally moved to the same town as him in 2010. We got engaged in 2011 and have now been happily married for 7 wonderful, crazy, amazing months. I'm sitting in bed thinking of some things that I have learned along the way and came up with my top 7.

I know you are excited to take advice from us knuckle heads...

Disclaimer: these work for us. Each couple is unique which is what makes marriage such an amazing thing but I think we can all learn from one another so here ya go.

1. Figure out your finances and what works for you: I am so thankful Michael and I did research and talked about this before we got married. We have a great system that works for us, as I'm sure other married couples have a system that works for them. We had read that money issues tend to be such a big part of issues that arise so we tried to nip that one in the butt. :) Basically, our system is that we buy whatever we want....just kidding...I mean really we both work for the state of Texas...lol But seriously find what works for you...talk it out, even if it seems awkward. You will be glad you did.

2. Get a system for washing dishes: before we bought our house, we didn't have a dishwasher (ridiculous I know). We decided on a system for how we would do the dishes and cooking. Whoever does the cooking that night, the other has to do the dishes and clean up. It works because one person isn't doing it all and resents the other. Get a system that works for you. Although sometimes I pull the "ohhh man I'm sooo tired from working all day (insert yawn) and he gets the clue. Only kidding....

3. Set aside an hour each night with no computer (ME) and no phones (oh wait me again)... Just enjoy some time together without any distractions. The time flies by and you never get it back. Slow down and enjoy some quality time together even if its just sitting next to each other. I tend to take this forgranted even though Michael's schedule can make it hard for us to even see eachother. I've got to remember to just relax and that my blog, my texts, and my instagram will be there later.

4. Don't sweat the small stuff. If its not going to matter tomorrow, don't get upset about it today. Talk it out, let it go, and move on. If you still are upset about something, write it down, throw it away, and go to bed. Life is just too short my friends.

5. Don't do something in the first year of marriage that you don't want to do for the rest of your life. This actually isn't my words but someone from our wedding wrote this on our puzzle we had our guests sign. It's so true though. Even in the beginning of relationships, we want to please the other so we go out of our way to do things we may not normally do.

6. Read the 50 shades of Grey series when needing a boost. No I'm not kidding. Have you read those books?! Lol

7. When your husband cooks, or vise versa, pinky promise to be honest about taste. I say this because again, we like to make the other happy. BUT if you say "ohhh honey this is great" when really it tastes like...burned rubber...then they will keep cooking it and cooking it. I am the worlds worst picky eater so to me everything tastes a little weird, so I made Michael pinky promise to be honest about the taste. I would rather know that it is awful than to keep cooking it like it's some restaurant style food.

And a few tips from the guests at our wedding.....enjoy!