Advantages & Adventures of the Carpool

For those of you that don't know, Neal recently started a new job! We were so excited for something a little more stable and a definite upgrade in working environment. As an added bonus, we are working in the same building downtown! As a result, we now carpool to work everyday. I thought I'd share some of our advantages, disadvantages, & adventures:

Advantages

1. After 7 months of crazy work schedules, we finally have consistent TIME together - if all else fails, I know we will have a set aside half-hour each morning and evening of uninterruptable "windshield time"
2. We save MONEY! Not only on gas, but also on parking! My company offers free valet parking, so that is one less hassle to deal with...as a side note, it's really fun (and funny) to pull up to a building, have an attendant know our names and park our car for us :)
3. If one of us is TIRED (namely, me) the other can drive
4. HOV! Okay, so there isn't an HOV lane on our way to work, but if there was one, we could totally and legitimately use it, which makes me feel environmentally concious even though I probably am not
5. We now have ACCOUNTABILITY in how we manage our time (especially in the morning). Knowing I am responsible for making sure my husband who loves to be on time, aka 10 minutes early, is on time to work is definite motivation to get out of bed in the morning. 

Disadvantages

1. We spend get a lot of TIME together...and I am an introvert. We wake up in the same house, we get in the same car, we work in the same building, we get back in the same car, and we go back to the same house...rinse and repeat. I love my husband, I do! AND I enjoy alone time, in fact, I shut down if I don't get enough of it. Funny story on this later.
2. My commute has typically been my PHONE BOOTH time. You know what I mean...the time when I put those earbuds in (see, Mom, no hands!) and call friends to catch up on life. Here is my public and formal apology to all those dear friends out there who have tragically not been called in a while, I'm sorry! I DO love and appreciate each of you :)
3. Similar to no. 5 above, my sweet husband and I do not have the same definition of "on time", but this actually hasn't been a problem...yet :)

Adventures

• Neal is very much a morning person
• Jess is very much not

I could leave it at that, but one of our first mornings in our Anthony ride-share Neal kept asking me if I was okay. I could not figure out his concern. Then it hit me: in our 7 months of marriage, we had never had to get ready (for work) at the same time. He has obviously seen me on a Sunday morning, but even then, I get the luxury of sleeping til at least 8:30. 6:00am is a drastically different story...
I started giggling. I said, "Love, I am not a morning person. I'm not mad at you. I'm not giving you the silent treatment. I just need to sit here...in silence" and he's learned to accept my morning mood :)

But sometimes, and if coffee is involved, we turn up the tunes and have a mini-jam session to pump up our day...to which I think Neal would like me to return to silence, like this morning...

To Carpooling!!