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My husband and I have been living in our house for just over 365 days. Last year, when we moved in, our 1/2 acre of property was already covered in warm-hued leaves; the trees were bare. Because we didn’t have a rake — or very much time — we hired a lawn care company to do a Fall clean-up. They mowed and raked and tidied up our property in just a couple of hours.

This year, I watched in dread as the leaves began falling off the trees. J and I decided that we would play the roles of responsible homeowners and not spend the extra money for somebody else to do our dirty work. When there was an adequate amount of leaves blanketing the lawn, we woke up early on a Sunday and began tackling the front yard. We got a quarter of the way through before we had to abandon our project for other plans. A couple of days later we did another quarter of the front yard. It took a little over an hour, but when we were finished, half of our front lawn was clean.

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Forty-eight hours later, you couldn’t even tell where we had raked. More leaves had abandoned their branches.

Like most couples, I imagine, my husband and I really only spend quality time together in the evenings and on the weekends. Occasionally I have to work on Sundays, so we don’t always have full weekends together. If we were to rake and clean our entire property, it would take one whole exhausting day, maybe two. In the words of Carrie Bradshaw, I can’t help but wonder: Is it worth it to spend the rare time we have together sweating it out in the yard? Or would our time be better spent if we shelled out the cash for somebody else to rake?

We aren’t rich by any stretch of the imagination. We try to live comfortably within our means. It is extravagant to hire a lawn care service to tend to our yard? Or is it a good use of our time and money? What do you think?

(image via larskflem)

If you’ve been wondering where I’ve disappeared to this past month, here’s the answer: I’ve been dealing with a pretty serious issue, one that’s left me basically incapacitated. No, I’m not talking about swine flu. I’m talking about the dreaded Writer’s Block.

Have you ever felt like you’ve lost your creative mojo? It’s like I’ve run out of steam. For a while I was maintaining three blogs. Besides writing for EAD Living, I had my personal blog and my business blog. I thought I could keep my life separated into neat, little compartments, but that’s turned out to be pretty hard to do. And coming up with topics to discuss on a daily basis for three outlets has suddenly become very overwhelming. Despite living an active life, I find myself blanking out on what to write about when staring at the computer screen. Even writing this post has been challenging!

So I ask you, fellow EAD Living bloggers and readers, how do you unlock your creativity? For those of you who write for several outlets, how do you come up with a multitude of ideas every day?

(image via Flickr)

A few weeks ago, my husband went on a business trip for a couple of days. I was dreading sleeping alone again; J hasn’t been deployed in quite a while and I’ve gotten used to spooning before we drift off to dream world.  To my surprise, the first night he was gone, I had the best sleep that I can remember having in a long time. It was one of those sleeps where you wake up in the same position in which you fell asleep. I didn’t toss or turn or wake up in the middle of the night. I experienced a blissfully deep slumber. Was it because I was alone in the bed?

According to a recent study by Dr. Neil Stanley at Surrey University, sleeping in a separate bed from your partner can be beneficial to your relationship and to your health, as sharing a bed can lead to harmful sleep disturbances. “Poor sleep is linked to depression, heart disease, strokes, lung disorders and accidents,” says Dr. Stanley. Plus, if you’re tired, you’re more miserable, he explains, and that can lead to divorce. Divorce caused by sharing a bed?!

Unlike this writer’s husband, J has never unintentionally punched me in the face in the middle of the night. However, he does sleep smack in the middle of the bed, leaving me with less than half of the mattress’s surface area to claim as my own space. He radiates heat in the summer and steals the blanket in the winter. But he’s the best at cuddling before we fall asleep and the first person I want to see when I open my eyes in the morning.  So what if every night I don’t experience the best sleep of my life? I think I’d be more miserable if we slept in separate bedrooms — or worse, in separate twin or double beds in the same room. So near yet so far! Although there is something to be said for having a room of one’s own…

How does sleep affect your marriage?

The perfect Saturday morning in Omaha includes a visit to one of two popular Farmer’s Markets. This past weekend my parents came to visit, and I made sure to carve out time for us to check out the local produce and meat at the market in the Village Pointe parking lot. Granted, it’s not as extensive as, say, the Ferry Plaza Farmer’s Market in San Francisco, but it’s a great way to support local farmers and spend some time outside when the weather is cooperating. I think my parents were impressed by the friendliness of the farmers selling their good and at the sheer variety of vegetables. We filled an Envirosax with ingredients for homemade salsa, eggplant parmesean and assorted grilled vegetables–plus a beautiful zinnia for a mini vase that sits on my living room table.

Are you lucky enough to have a Farmer’s Market in your town?

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We’ve been living in our house for 9 months, but we’ve only really gotten to know our neighbors in the last 8 weeks. Perhaps because we moved in at the cusp of winter, when people spend more time indoors than socializing outside. So how did we finally learn who lives near us?

At the beginning of the summer, we received a note in our mailbox from the eldest son of our across the street neighbors. He wrote that he would be trying out for the high school football team in August and offered to mow our lawn for free as a way for him to get in shape. Now, we live on nearly 1/2 acre of property and were previously paying a lawn service to do the job. How could we say no to free?! Plus, this gave us the opportunity to talk to him weekly and learn about his two younger siblings and his parents. It also gave us an excuse to talk to his family when we saw them outside; we wanted to tell them what a good job he was doing mowing our lawn.

As a thank you for his hard work, we bought him a gift certificate to a local sporting goods store and took him on a field trip to the Air Force Base where my husband works, as he mentioned an interest in planes. The day of the excursion, his father and brother stopped by with handfuls of tomatoes and cucumbers from their garden. In return for their generosity, the next day we brought over a container of homemade salsa made with the tomatoes. And that is how that relationship began!

We met our next door neighbors because we were planning to build a fence to contain our small Maltipoo in the backyard and wanted to know if they were interested in splitting the cost with us for the fence that would divide our two properties. When we knocked on the door, they invited us inside and we had a lovely conversation not only about fences, but about what each of us did for a living and about their children. Turns out they were more than happy to contribute to the fence fund, and are now planning to use the same company to fence in the rest of their yard at a later date.

Perhaps we would have met the neighbors sooner if we had children the same age as theirs, but because we are a bit younger than both, we had to look harder to find things in common.

Do you have relationships with your neighbors? If so, how did they develop?

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As summer comes to an end, my search for a bronzer/blush combo begins. I’m normally quite pale, but in the warmer months my freckles become accentuated, and I look as though as I have a bit of color in my face. However, when the season changes and my freckles fade, I’m back to looking ghostly. This year I’ve decided to invest in some bronzer to brighten my face. These are some of my choices:

Philosophy The Supernatural Mineral Blush Duo

Benefit 10

NARS Highlighting/Bronzing Blush Duo

Do you have any bronzer/blush combination recommendations?

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When I was growing up, my mother would always have us tidy up our rooms before the cleaning lady arrived. “Why do we have to clean up for the cleaning ladies?” I would whine. “Isn’t it their job to clean?” My mom would explain that while, yes, it was their job to clean, it wasn’t their job to put my things away.

Fast forward to the present. My husband washes the dishes before putting them in the dishwasher. “Why do we have to wash the dishes before they get washed?” I whine. (Some things haven’t changed.) “Because otherwise they won’t get totally clean,” he explains. Bah! Just like cleaning ladies are supposed to clean, dishwashers are supposed to wash dishes! What a waste of time, energy and soap and water.

“Let’s do an experiment,” I suggest. “Let’s NOT pre-wash the dishes–especially this blueberry stained pie plate–and see how clean they get in the dishwasher alone. I bet they come out sparkling.”

“You’re on,” he says, his eyes screaming, “I’m going to win!”

We fill the Kenmore dishwasher with the dirtiest dishes that have ever gone in it, toss in a Finish Powerball Tab and hit start. A couple of hours later the machine goes quiet–the dishes are done. It’s time for the big reveal.

The first thing I pull out is the pie plate. The verdict? Totally spotless! I can see right through the glass baking dish. And the rest of the dishware came out just as clean.

The taste of victory is sweet–especially on clean plates.

In the 14 months that I’ve been married, I’ve gained approximately ten pounds–and no, I am not pregnant. I attribute the weight to eating poorly for the five months that my husband was deployed. He is the primary cook in our household, and when he was away I survived (quite happily) on cereal, peanut butter and honey on toast and pints of Ben & Jerry’s. I blame the gain on my laziness in the kitchen combined with my tendency towards emotional eating when I’m lonely.

Unfortunately, simply knowing how I went up one pants size doesn’t cause the weight to fall right off. In the last couple of months since J has been home, I’ve been eating more well-rounded meals and have started working out with a trainer once a week like I did prior to my wedding. Still, the scale isn’t budging. I’ve realized that I’m going to need to kick my own butt a bit harder if I really want to get back to my “I do” weight.

Cue Jillian Michaels.

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While I’m not the biggest Biggest Loser fan, when I do watch the show I’m typically “Team Bob.” I just love his zen attitude. But tough times call for a tough trainer–and that’s where Jillian comes in. I ordered her workout DVD, “Jillian Michaels for Beginners: Frontside,” through Netflix, and the first time I tried it (OK, the only time I’ve tried it, so far), I was surprised by how challenging it actually was. The exercises are basic enough that anyone can do them; there are six circuits that each include two or three weight lifting moves plus cardio. The workout lasts approximately 40 minutes, but it goes by quickly (thank goodness!).

My plan is to use the Frontside video a couple of times a week in addition to doing cardio, such as power walking, at the gym. Maybe I’ll get adventurous and rent the Backside DVD, too.

What are your favorite at-home workout DVDs? Have you had weight loss success using them?

I attended my first baby shower back in May and have just received an invitation to another. This shower is for a colleague of my husband, who was also invited. A co-ed shower? Have you been to one of those before?

Unfortunately, neither of us can attend the suprise party. Now I’m wondering about baby shower etiquette. Do you give the mommy-to-be a gift if you don’t go to the shower? I know that when you can’t attend a wedding you still owe the bride and groom a gift. Do the same rules apply for baby showers? How about wedding showers, for that matter?

(images via Party Perfect)

My husband loves to get dressed up. Wearing three-piece suits with patterned shirts and patterned ties, sometimes he looks like he’s walked out of the pages of Details magazine. That’s one reason why he was so excited to attend a friend’s wedding next weekend–the opportunity to wear his new bespoke suit. Unfortunately for J, the bride and groom have asked their guests to “opt for business casual attire instead of more formal options.”

Business casual attire? What exactly does that mean? Khakis with a button-down shirt and a tie? Khakis with a polo shirt? J complains that girls have it easy. We can just throw on the same dress we’d normally wear with a pair of more casual shoes, which is what I’m planning on doing for this particular affair. I’m dressing down a dress I wore to my cousins wedding last year by adding a pair of flat, black sandals. This is the outfit  I’m planning to wear (my apologies for the poor quality image of the dress; image of shoes from DSW):

Adding insult to injury, J has even fewer options of places to shop than I do out here in Omaha. J.Crew recently discontinued selling menswear at their one-and-only Omaha store because, while it was selling well, it wasn’t selling as well as the women’s clothing. There are a bunch of older men’s clothing stores, like Joseph A. Bank, and a handful of younger guy’s retailers like Abercrombie and Buckle. But what’s available for those young adults? Nowadays, at least out here, not much.

So I ask you, readers: What’s appropriate for a guy to wear to a business casual wedding?