Greg and I celebrate four years together today! He took me to dinner at a wonderful little restaurant in Victorian Village here in Columbus! I wore this adorable outfit from ShowPo.
Shop the tank here! it’s TTS I’m wearing a 4 here, if you want a little more room in the top I would size up one size.
ShowPo is based out of Australia and as soon as you click these links and check out their site, I promise you’ll be hooked! Their clothes are adorable and you’ll be surprised by how quickly your order arrives with standard shipping! I LOVE this brand and if you tag them in your instagram post they’ll likely send you a 15% off coupon! what could be better?
My new favorite sandals are Mix 6 and available at DSW! these are linked in my ‘Shop My Instagram’ page, but you can also shop them here !
This is after all of the changes! Links are below.
Greg and I have gotten really into antiquing. We’ve spent the last few Sunday’s checking
out different antique stores in Columbus, Westerville and Dublin and we’ve seen
some pretty amazing things!
It inspired us to give our living room a little bit of a
refresh. When we first moved in, I thought ‘Why bother putting effort into
decorating? It’s just an apartment and we wont be here long.’ Well, turns out I
was wrong in thinking this way. Living in a space that doesn’t feel inviting isn’t
fun. It made us not want to be there and home is the one place you should feel
most comfortable! So, we decided we would buy a few different pieces over the
span of a few weeks so that it wouldn’t hit our pocket so hard.
This is before we bought the new rug, lamp and plant
The couch I got a Value City Furniture and it’s currently half price! We got ours months ago and ordered it without the middle piece because we didn’t want it to take up to much space in our living room.
The first thing we added was the greenish/beige chair that
we got at Boomerang Room in Clintonville. This is one of the better
vintage/antique stores we’ve been to. Everything is clean and in pretty great
condition.
I had been searching for a mirror for awhile. I didn’t want to spend hundreds of dollars on something for a space that we may not be in in a few months so it was a long search. Finally, this one came up on sale at Target. It was only $52! Can you believe it?! it’s on sale now for under $67 The back holds blankets or if you put it in your bathroom, towels! I love a multi-use anything.
End Table – TJMaxx
The end table is a TJMaxx special and can’t be linked but it’s super cute and was only $40 (it was on clearance). There was plenty of them in the store so if you like it, I suggest taking a ride over to your local TJMaxx ;). I linked a similar style here ( I kind of like these better! it’s a set of two)
Rug, light, and plant – IKEA (rug linked here; light linked here; bulb linked here; plant pot is linked here)
Photo is from the IKEA website – it’s $19.99 lightbulb is $4.99
MUSKOT plant pot; currently $9.99 or join IKEA family and get it for $7.49
We sprang for the rug, the small light on the table, and the plant this past weekend. All 3 are from IKEA. I love, love, love this rug! Bono destroyed the last one, but he’s finally potty trained now so fingers crossed he doesn’t muck this one up!
We got married at Arrow Park in Monroe,NY – The ceremony was outside and the reception was indoors.
Greg and I got married in July and it was beautiful, in
every sense of the word. I will unapologetically gush about my husband any
chance I get because to me, he’s freaking amazing. I’ve learned more about
myself from this man than I ever could have imagined. He’s the most supportive,
kind, generous, genuine person I’ve ever met and he’s not afraid to be himself
(I admire that about him the most). We’ve been through a lot together and we’ve
grown a lot together. I think (maybe I’m wrong here) that some people in my
life have this perception of me being this sort of overly-strong, independent,
bossy, etc. woman who calls all the shots and doesn’t need anyone to help her
(or maybe that’s just how I see myself in which case hello someone needs
therapy LOL). Anyway, yes, I’ve had some things happen in my life that have forced
me to be a ‘strong’ person, but the truth is, I need Greg and I’m not ashamed
to say it. I need him for all of the things he does for me that nobody knows
about or that I don’t even think he knows about. Greg pushes me to be
confident, to make decisions, to put myself out there and he does all of this
just by being himself. Pretty damn amazing, right?!
Greg and I met in NYC. I was out celebrating my friends’
birthday (Jen) and he was out with a couple of guy friends. We were sitting at different tables (he was
sitting directly behind me) when my friend, Kristine, got up and asked him if
he could “watch me” while she stepped away (LOL). The rest is history. We
actually didn’t see each other again for about two weeks (my foolishness) but
once we did we pretty much stuck together. We met on April 18th and
we mark that day as our (dating) anniversary. I told Greg we would get married
the night I met him, so I think it’s safe to mark the day down as special
(don’t judge me).
When we first met, I think we were both a little lost. He says he finally realized he needed to settle down and “get it together” and well, I think I was just sort of walking through life not really knowing which direction I wanted to go in. Needless to say, I went in the right direction because it brought me to him! Meeting Greg honestly strengthened my faith. I’m not super religious, but God is my homie (lol). Like, for real, I’m that person that believes every blessing in their life is because of God. Hate it or love it but it’s the reason I do my best to live right and do right by others. Don’t lie, don’t cheat, don’t manipulate, don’t take what isn’t yours, etc. I think all of those things block your blessings, so I avoid them. I consider Greg a blessing. He’s brought so many wonderful things into my life (family, love, friendship, companionship, happiness, etc.) and we’ve been blessed with so many things, things that you can’t put a price tag on!
Whenever either of us is feeling down or unhappy with where
we are, where we live, or what we’re doing with our lives, we look at the
things we have to be grateful for. For example, sure, maybe we would like to
have different jobs or live in a different place, but the jobs we have make it
so that we can spend time together on the weekends and experience different
cities and the place we live may not be where we want to be forever, but right
down the road from us is a place that’s loaded with art and fun restaurants!
Anyway, Greg is my best friend (the ultimate best friend).
He’s been really supportive of me starting this blog and encourages me to share
more and not worry about any negativity it may bring. What more could a girl
ask for?! I would be remiss if I didn’t write a post about my favorite person!
I think what makes us work is the fact that we’re two separate people, who
don’t depend on one another to make them better or make them happy. Greg is
Greg and I’m me and we each bring 100% of ourselves to the table. Sometimes it
isn’t perfect, but we keep pushing on. I know, I’m young and we haven’t been
married very long BUT this is my experience so far and I started this blog to
share my life so there you have it!
I’m Steph, a 27 year old NJ transplant living in Columbus, OH. I love wine, shopping, road trips, travel, my husband, and our pup (Bono).
Greg and I moved to Columbus back in July (three weeks after we got married and one week after getting back from our honeymoon!) and are slowly but surely getting used to living in the mid-west. Where we come from (me from Union City, NJ and Greg from upstate NY) there’s a lot to do. Growing up, I could cross the street, hop on a bus and be in midtown Manhattan in 25 to 30 minutes. Needless to say, Columbus is very different from NYC and that’s definitely not a bad thing. I adore where I grew up and now realize how much I took the convenience for granted, but a smaller city is cool too.
Greg and I love to venture out and find new things. We especially love visiting wineries and have tried wine in a few different states. So, I like to think I know a thing or two about whats good, whats great, and whats just ok.
So far since moving to Columbus we’ve been to Nashville, Detroit, and Chicago and the list just keeps on growing.
I’m really excited to share our adventures with you, some cool wineries, great sales, and other fun stuff.
Thanks for reading!
P.S. everyone has trouble saying Bonitatibus (my married name). It’s truly not that difficult once you say it a few times. Anyway, that’s why I shortened it to Bono. A lot of Greg’s family members have been called this nickname so I can’t take credit for coming up with it but apparently it’s easier than Boni-ta-ti-bus so there you have it!
