Hello, hello friends! Ahh! My first coffee talk – NO. 1! I have been soooo excited to start this little tradition with y’all – as much as I love sharing home interior + life inspiration, I also just love connecting with you all. There is just something very sweet & special about growing community & what better way to do that than over coffee. 🙂 so, grab a cup of coffee & get cozy, because I have a lot of life to fill you in on!
If this is your first time here, WELCOME! I am so happy you have hopped on over to check out the blog (honestly, it makes my heart so happy that people actually want to read my things lol.)!! I came up with the idea of ‘Coffee Talk’ because lately, I have just been feeling the Lord nudge me to get a little more personal with my followers – to show them who I am as a real person and not just 5% of my life through tiny virtual squares on Instagram or blog posts. So, in my attempt to do this I came up with the idea of ‘coffee talk’ to update you on all the things – my husband (Nathan) & I’s adventures (here is our most recent one), our home, what our plans are coming up or just what we have been up to, my thoughts, my struggles, all of that! I want to be as real as I can with you because behind these blog posts and the squares on Instagram – I’m a real person too!
I think for the first coffee talk, I would just love to catch you up on who I am – kind of like this is our first coffee date ever 🙂 haha so, my name is Tristen – I am a 21-year-old wife, dog-mom, nanny, student, and now blogger. I definitely do not live the typical life of a 21 year old & I wouldn’t trade this season of life for anything! My passions include anything home, coffee, puppies, friends/family, & Jesus.
So a little back story on Nathan & I – we met & dated in high school and went to the same college in Nebraska (where we are originally from). While attending college we created some of the best memories before getting engaged in September of my Junior year (2016)! Planning our wedding was one of the most magical things I have ever done (you can see some of our wedding pictures on my Pinterest!) & sometimes I have wedding planning withdrawals lol. Anyone else? We got married in April 2017 & ugh, guys. It was the. best. day. ever. (if there are any newly-married or engaged gals that have any questions or just want to talk about being a new wife, email me!! I LOVE sharing tips on wedding planning & learning about being a wife! – PSA: The Power of a Praying Wife
my exact thoughts in this picture: “IS THIS REALLY HAPPENING”
was in love with my dress then. in love with my dress now.
While we were engaged, we found out we would be moving to Houston, TX in June 2017 for N’s job after he graduated college – so we would move just a couple of months after we got married. Those last few months that we had in Nebraska before we moved were so bittersweet. It all seemed very surreal and honestly, it didn’t really hit me until we were driving away in our U-haul. We both had tears running down our faces after a tough ‘see you later’ as we headed to start our life in a city 1,000 miles away from home. Part of me kept wondering why in the world we ever chose to move away from home as a newly-married 21 and 22 year old, but I really knew deep in my heart that God had guided us here for a reason. It wasn’t easy to move & still isn’t! (also, if you have ever moved away from home/family or are going to and need tips or just want to share your experience I would love love love to hear from you)
my thoughts again in this picture: “is this seriously literally actually happening”
In these last 8 months of living here, I think I have grown & learned more about myself than I ever have before. And ultimately, it gave Nathan and I such a kick-start to our marriage. Even on the toughest of tough days of being away from home/family, we know that we have each other and that’s something that the Lord has blessed us with in this season of life – a chance to get to be really close with one another because we are literally one another’s only family here!
Our Home + Style
Although I would love to be living in a house, I am extremely content starting off the married life in an apartment. It’s truly all we need right now and sometimes I think that small homes are the best – it forces you to see one another haha. Therefore, making it a home, not just a house – because being a new wife + having a new home to take care of is an intimidating thing (anyone else think this??)!
I would definitely say that I am still trying to figure out my decorating style and part of the reason I started GGH was to document my interior decorating journey! One thing I do know is that I love neutrals & bright whites. I am obsessed with modern farmhouse + a little shabby french country. BUT, it does get a little tough when we don’t own our home; therefore, we can’t do anything like shiplap or beaded chandeliers (this
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lol. cutest husband ever.
– but while we are living the #apartmentlife I have to be extremely creative, and creative on a budget (newlyweds + new college grad + still in college = decorating on a budget haha)! So even though on those Instagram squares it might look like we have pretty things in our home, most of them were free or given to us by our family/friends as hand-me-downs right before we moved lol. Because #1 – we don’t want to spend a chunk of money on something that #2 – we are going to have to just move again soon (i’ll explain more) and #3 – will probably get bumped around and chewed on by our puppies because #dogfam…
here is our first puppy, Calum – we went to Galveston beach the first week we moved here!
& then came the second puppy – Briar. He couldn’t be anymore different than Calum lol we love them both sooo much! (if you have any questions about being a dog mom – just email me! I have had followers do that before and it was the best thing)
What I Do
This is something that I get asked actually quite often and it makes me think – would it be fun to do a morning routine post in my IG stories one day? I don’t know why, but I always love watching and reading about what other people’s routines are haha!!
So, like a I said above I’m a wife, dog-mom, nanny, student, & blogger – my days can get really busy really quickly if I don’t plan them out very well! A typical morning for me looks like this:
-6:30-7ish (the ish is crucial some mornings lol): wake up & make coffee/breakfast (i always brew a pot of coffee in the AM while I’m making N & I breakfast)
-7:30: Clean up & refresh (i pick up around our apartment & just get things organized and refreshed for the day)
-8ish: quiet time (i always try to get 15-30 mins of reading my Bible/prayer in before I really get started for the day)
-8:30: homework & blog ( these are the two main things I have to work on during the day! in whichever order, just as long as i get done what I need to for that day!)
-10: work out (i try to work our atleast 4 days a week, anything from running to HIIT to weights – i really try to go with what my body is feeling that day)
-10:45: dog park (lol…..dog mom life.)
-11:30: more homework/blog
I work on more homework and whatever I have written down for the blog until I nanny that day, then I am home in the evening for dinner and relaxation with N! It’s actually quite funny that I’m doing this because I really feel like my daily life and routine isn’t anything special, but I love reading about other blogger’s lives and routines — so, I can’t be the only one right?!
What’s Next?
What’s next for us? SO much! It’s been nice settling into Texas and kind of setting a routine for ourselves here!
Visitors: One of my best friends from college is coming to visit this week & I could not be more EXCITED! You guys will see plenty of pictures/stories over on Instagram of our weekend adventures together 🙂
Travel: Oh man, this one I am ecstatic about and like literally cannot wait for it to get here. Soon, N & I are traveling to Fredericksburg, TX – the cutest little wine town!!! We’re staying in the cutest B&B – we get an entire cottage to ourselves! ahhh!!
The Blog: OH friends, I have some exciting things coming up on the blog – especially TOMORROW – head over to my Insta to find out! Also, I am launching something really soon – it has to do with keeping your home organized…any guesses? 🙂
I am so excited that you stopped over & I cannot wait for our next coffee talk in a couple of weeks! It really means the world to me that you read about & are interested in my life! I would LOVE to hear from all of you – email me, message me on Instagram or Facebook! Come on over & pin with me to see my latest inspirations! You guys are the best.
all my love –
xo, Tristen
Ladies, Tristen is for sure the best wedding planner! She was my maid of honor, and I couldn’t have done it without her!! Her creative mind and loving heart made the time leading up to and during our wedding day so special!!