Hey everyone! I’m taking a fun little detour from my normal home decor posts today to join nine of my blogging friends in putting our behind-the-scenes husbands into the spotlight to celebrate Father’s Day! We drilled our husbands about everything from life with a wife as a blogger to what they know about our blogging friends plus an embarrassing tidbit or two about us thrown into the mix (aka question #5 – did he really have to share that?!). Since I love getting in the last word when I can (ha!) I’ve added my own little commentary too in italics. Jeff and I just celebrated our 20th anniversary if you can believe it (I hardly can)…
so there’s not much that I don’t know about this guy but a few of his answers actually surprised me! I’ll let him take it away from here…
When did you first meet Kris and what was your first impression?
I first met Kris on a blind date (set up by a friend of mine who was dating her sister) in the Washington DC area when she was on Christmas break from college. She’ll tell you that it wasn’t presented to her as a blind date . . . but it definitely was on my end. My first impression was that she was exactly the girl I had been looking to find and that I had better take this one seriously because it could turn into something really good!
So what Jeff left out is that his friend told him he was getting set up on a blind date with a tall, buxom blond (false, false, and false 🙂 ). I was told that my sister, her boyfriend, and a bunch of their friends were going to a bar to play pool and I was invited along to hang out with the group. My sister’s boyfriend had just bought a 2-seater convertible that he wanted to give my sister a ride in so he said a friend of his (Jeff) was going to pick me up on the way so I’d have a ride too. There was no primping, hair styling, or cute outfits involved because I had NO IDEA this was a date!
Which one of you more aggressively pursued the other?
I think we both played it cool at first because we met while she was home over the holidays and we weren’t living in the same city. Then when she was in the Washington DC area the following summer, I think it was mutual and we started to date right away.
Jeff is only 2 ½ years older than me but we met when I was a Junior in college and he was out in the “real world” so we were at two very different stages of life. I really liked him that first night we met but remembered thinking “too bad he’s so much older than me because I think we’d be a great match” and figured that was that. When he called me out of the blue a few weeks later I was shocked (and psyched!). We talked by phone for a few months and then when I was back in the area for the summer we got set up on a real date to go to a semi-formal event for my sister’s (and his friend’s) workplace and it was all she wrote after that!
One of our first dates
How do you explain what Kris does for a living to your friends and coworkers?
I tell them she’s a home decorating blogger. Most seem to know what that is, but I think most underestimate the impact of her work until I tell them about her number of monthly viewers and Instagram followers. That’s when they get really impressed and almost always write themselves a note or bookmark her website so that they can start to follow.
It’s actually pretty cute – I worked for 15 years in genetics before becoming a full time blogger and Jeff is as proud about telling people what I do now as he was when I had my genetics career.
What are the best and worst parts of Kris’ job as a blogger?
Best: I work in marketing, so one of the best parts of my wife’s job is that I’m super interested in (and proud of) what she’s doing and we have a lot in common to talk about from each other’s perspective. Worst: While the house looks great because of her job as a blogger, the house only looks great between projects. During a project like the kitchen renovation she’s doing now, the house can be a wreck given that the project materials seem to spread out and take over all of the adjoining rooms . . .
Guilty as charged! I’ve never been a clean-as-you-go kind of girl when it comes to projects – I’m more of a create-a-bigger-mess-every-day-and-clean-it-all-up-at-the-end gal! Our current kitchen reno (if you haven’t seen the plans for it, you can check those out {here}) is a good example – while our dining room looks like this on a good day,
Dining room paint color and sources can be found {here}
this is the current view of the chaos that reins in that room – it connects to the kitchen so has become the storage depot for all of the reno tools and materials – yikes!
What is something we might not know about Kris?
Her favorite singer in the 1980s was Jermaine Jackson . . .
I have no words.
What does Kris do that drives you crazy? What would she say you do that drives her crazy?
In the middle of major projects, there have been times I can’t even walk in a straight line around the house without stepping on something – it drives me crazy when going to the kitchen, etc. becomes an obstacle course. Interestingly, I think the thing that drives her crazy is when I leave all of my things around the house (clothes, mail, work items, etc.). So, maybe we both go crazy when the house is a wreck.
I HATE clutter so he nailed it that it drives me nuts when he leaves all of those little things littered all over the house but somehow project chaos is a totally different thing for me because it’s such a losing battle trying to keep the house in order during a renovation. So now we have TWO answers from Jeff about not loving the project chaos – I get the not-so-subtle hint babe, the kitchen reno (and chaos surrounding it) is almost over – I promise. 🙂
If you had an extra $10,000 that you could do anything you wanted with (no saving, investing, or donating allowed), what would you spend it on? Would your wife be on board?
I’d go on vacation with Kris to Europe: definitely back to Sorrento, Italy where we previously visited for a day, and then possibly on to a few places we’ve missed in the past like Budapest and Prague.
I’m in!!
What’s your favorite trip you have taken with your wife/family?
My favorite trip before kids was a driving trip that Kris and I took through France, Switzerland, Italy, and Germany back when we were dating and I was living in Brussels for a year. My favorite family trip was a Disney Mediterranean cruise we took with Kris’ parents and her sister’s family that stopped in Barcelona, Monte Carlo, Rome, Capri, Pompeii, and Sorrento – full of Disney fun for the kids and great visits in each port.
The European trip we took together while we were dating was such a lucky opportunity – Jeff had taken a one-year role with his company in Brussels, Belgium and since it was such a once in a lifetime opportunity, I quit my job, gave up my apartment, and went out to Brussels to stay with Jeff (my dog in tow!) for three months. He had some crazy work arrangement where his gas was paid for so we took the tiny little car he had been given and made serious tracks all over Europe every weekend and for two weeks when he took a vacation. So many good memories from that trip and from the family Disney cruise too!
You get home from work and Kris is giving you “the look”. What have you most likely done to get yourself into trouble?
Occasionally I get to travel to some cool places for work (more in my old jobs than I do now) and sometimes when I get home I get “the look” that says that she has been busting her butt taking care of everything on her own while I’ve been off in some beautiful place getting wined and dined (which is sometimes true but not nearly as often as she thinks).
This used to happen a whole lot more when the girls were young than it does now but Jeff did get “the look” a few months back when he was on a work trip and I was home in a major winter storm with no kitchen (our renovation had started and it was all torn out) and no power for days. All while he was in some sunny location in a comfy hotel. I’m pretty sure I gave him “the look” of all looks when he walked in the door from that trip – lol!
Want to save this post?
We'll email this post to you, so you can come back to it later!
Do you have a “man cave” ? If so, where?
We used to have a great office in our old house that was essentially my man cave but once we moved to this house and Kris started blogging more, she slowly took over our home office. Now when I’m working at home I’m usually either on the living room couch or at the desk space between the bookcases in our family room. It’s got a beautiful view out the window and is light and bright so there’s nothing too cave-like about it. Sometimes I’m on work video calls from that desk and people always wonder where the heck I am – a few weeks ago someone paused mid conversation and asked me if that was a llama in the background. Why yes it is!
Ha! In case you’re not familiar with our family room, this is the desk space that Jeff’s talking about:
The space between the windows used to be empty but when we remodeled the room I added this simple built-in desk that has worked out really well (you can see “before” pics on my family room makeover post {here}). Directly across the room from the desk is our TV and art wall and this is the llama in question 🙂 :
All sources for our family room can be found {here}
What’s one thing that Kris is super “picky”/particular about?
How she folds towels. The towels that I fold inevitably get refolded.
True. Our linen closet has really narrow shelving so there’s a certain way to fold the towels so that they fit and stack perfectly. I have a thing about putting away freshly washed towels in messy stacks. It bugs me.
What’s your favorite dinner that Kris makes? What’s your specialty?
It’s a taco dinner that’s heavy on the cilantro. I’m not sure I really have a specialty, but I enjoy grilling steaks or hamburgers and a few vegetables.
My family is easy to please in the meal department – some of the quickest and easiest dinners I make are their favorites. And yes, the man does grill a mean steak!
What do you think about Kris’ blogger friends? Who do you hear about the most? Have you met any of them?
Kris talks about a bunch of them but I probably hear about Kelley the most. They seem like a great group of fun friends, but also a great group of professionals who are super sharp and share meaningful tips that help each other to grow their blogging businesses. I haven’t met any of them, but I would love to!
I have so many amazing blogging friends that I love to pieces including every single one of the girls in this blog hop! They are some of the smartest, most supportive women that I know. This is a pic from when we first met each other at a blogging conference a few years ago – it seems like we’ve all known each other for much longer than we have – they are the best!:
The “Kelley” that Jeff’s referring to is Kelley Nan who is my #1 blogging buddy go-to. She’s come through after many “I’m having a crisis” calls and texts during the course of my kitchen remodel and is just the best! I have a nearby blogging friend who I adore (Annie of Most Lovely Things ) who definitely should have met Jeff by now (how has that no happened?!) but I only get to see my other blogging friends at out-of-town conferences when I need him to stay at home and be Mr. Mom!
Has Kris ever done a project that you secretly didn’t love but you never told her?
I love all of the projects she’s done in our current house where we’ve been for five years. But there are a lot of projects that she did in our first two houses that I didn’t like very much. I think one of the reasons she started blogging was so that she could spend more time researching options and defining her style. Now I think everything she does is amazing.
It’s so true that it took me a lot of trial and error to figure out my style and how to put things together to create a cohesive space. This is our bedroom from our old house that I remember being so proud of and now I look back on it and…. yikes!
If you could live anywhere, where would it be? Would Kris agree?
I love the outdoors so there are a few places I’ve always wanted to live like San Diego or Colorado, but they’re too far from our family in Virginia and NC. So, looking closer to family, I think we agree on Wilmington, NC. We’ve been going there for over 20 years to visit Kris’ parents so it feels like a second home, and it has beautiful weather year round and lots of great restaurants – plus it would be closer to both of our families.
Yes!!! We’re always saying that the the day our youngest daughter graduates from high school, we’ll be putting the For Sale sign up in our front yard! After five years of brutal CT winters, I’m so ready to move back south!
What’s your idea of the perfect Father’s Day?
A short bike ride with my group in the early morning. Breakfast made by our girls. Then do something outside (bike, golf, kayak, etc.) with Kris and the girls during the day. Watch the last hour of the US Open golf tournament on TV. Go to one of my favorite restaurants (Bar Taco or Valencia Luncheria) for dinner.
Done! If you guys can’t tell, he’s a keeper! Our female dominated family (dog included) gives him a run for his money so he definitely deserves the perfect Father’s Day celebration!
I hope that you all have a wonderful weekend celebrating with the Dads in your lives too! But first… it’s time to check out the posts of some of my favorite blogging buddies and see what kind of secrets their husbands are spilling! I’m DYING to read each and every one of them!
And if you’re new around here (welcome!) and want to explore the rest of my house, check out my home tour {here} or subscribe to get notified of new posts (typically only twice a week and you can unsubscribe at any time!) {here}.
XOXO,
