wamieswanders2019 – WamiesWorld

Hi friends, long time no talk! As I sit here in my cozy home with a hot coffee complete with pumpkin spice creamer, I felt the need to update my friends on all things Wamie!

Since becoming a Beachbody coach in the spring and devoting more time to my health and fitness, life has become a bit overwhelming and, well, here we are, five months after my last blog post. And I am oddly at peace with that. Life is not linear. It has its ups, among the peaks of dreams and accomplishments, and its valleys in the troubles or sadness or growing pains of life. And while WamiesWorld and sharing our story will always be a part of us, it will share in our peaks and valleys as well.

In the past five months, we have had our fair share of highs and lows. We traveled to the Outer Banks in April to celebrate our first anniversary. It was an amazing weekend, with an adorable hotel room right on the beach, plenty of shrimp and seafood, exploring lighthouses and National Parks, and time away just the two of us. I cannot express how blessed we were by our first year of marriage. We were able to spend so much time, just the two of us, to grow and learn about each other in marriage. If you have the opportunity to move away from friends and family in your first year of marriage, I am all for it! You will grow in ways you wouldn’t have had you stayed in your same routine!

In June we were able to take a week and go to Walt Disney World for one of the most magical vacations of our lives! It was Will’s first time (my fourth), and let’s just say that he has completely bought into the experience. He would love to be an annual pass holder (wouldn’t we all!?) and never vacation anywhere else again! We met a wonderful woman at our hotel who visits WDW every year and takes her grandkids. Can you say goals?

Following our phenomenal week in Florida, we flew out to Utah to spend some quality time with Will’s family. We were able to see two of his siblings and their families, and spend a lot of time with his parents. We explored a piece of Bryce Canyon National Park—a natural wonder of southern Utah that has some of the least amount of light pollution in the continental US—followed by a dinosaur museum and animal style burgers at In-N-Out.

My sister and their family moved away to Tennessee around the fourth of July, where they bought a house and started new jobs. We have enjoyed road tripping through the mountains to see them and explore their new home.

We are currently in a season that requires a lot of dedication and sacrifice for Will’s work, and although we cannot discuss further details online, we ask that you keep us in your prayers for the next severallll months.

Rapid fire questions:

What are you reading? The Anne of Green Gables series.
What are you watching? Grey’s Anatomy, Friends, and Big Brother.
How’s Blue? She’s great! And huge. Her first birthday is very soon.
What workout program are you doing? LIIFT4 is a program that combines lifting and high intensity interval training and is four days a week.
What is your favorite meal prep meal lately? Burrito bowls! Guacamole multiple times a week? Yes please!

If you want to follow along on our adventures, turning a house into a home, and all of the highs and lows of everyday life, click the subscribe button on the right. It doesn’t send you crazy stuff or give your information to anyone—it just sends blog updates directly to you!

Until next time,
Jamie out.

About a week or so ago, Will took me on a fantastic day date to a place I had been dying to visit. I’m a sucker for dates and romance. This one just tugged at my heart strings and was a perfect morning spent reflecting on history, how people used to live, and the things we take for granted now. Like freezers, freedom, and air conditioning in the south.

The 1897 Poe House is located near downtown Fayetteville. No, it was not owned by the poet, but by a prominent family that made and sold bricks. In fact, much of the foundation of this home is made out of bricks made by Mr. Poe, although the deeds to everything they owned, including the company were in his wife’s name, per the prenup.

The Poe’s apparently ordered this home out of a Sears catalog, which was not uncommon. Everything was sent to a local carpenter who built it for them.

We got to tour pretty much everything in the home and our tour guide explained how North Carolina had obtained the property, how much it cost to restore it, and what things the Poe’s daughter had renovated and converted from what it was originally. It was interesting to see how a well off family lived, with their ice box, grocers delivering goods, cook and maids, and two stair cases.