Rachel Zoe and My Marriage

Friday night we went to Arlington to see our wedding band play at RiRa, and as always, they rocked! They are such an amazing band and I am so happy to support them as they make the transition from cover band to tHE.DESIGN. If you are in North or South Carolina check their schedule to see if they are coming to a bar/venue near you! I believe this was their first trip north, and hopefully they will trek up here again and continue to get lots of exposure!

A late night out Friday combined with a rainy Saturday resulted in a lazy day on the couch. During my veg fest, I somehow got sucked into watching The Rachel Zoe Project marathon on Bravo. Throughout the bajillion episodes I watched, Rachel commented at least once per episode about how she put her work first and her time with her husband was limited. He also commented multiple times about how he never got to see his wife. I cannot imagine living like that, but I am also not a famous stylist that is building a brand and jet setting from NY to LA all the time.

However, even with Alson being in law school, we try to put our marriage ahead of everything. Some of the best advice he received was from a mentor while working at the firm in North Carolina: Treat law school like a full time job. He gets up early, studies before school, goes to all his classes (which for me is a given, but apparently for a lot of people, it is not), studies between classes instead of socializing and goofing around, and studies after class until dinner time. This gives us plenty of time together in the evening, and also allows him to time to decompress and gather strength and brain power for the next day. On the weekends he also gets up early and studies while I catch an extra couple hours of sleep. Throughout the day he continues to study, but we still spend a few hours together.

Now, finals time is a different story. If we can just have dinner together I will be happy.

I am not saying this particular schedule will work for everyone; the point is that spending time together is important to both of us and we work it into his daily schedule. Seeing a couple on TV struggle with this really opened my eyes to how lucky I am. Not that I am in any position to give Rachel Zoe advice, but it seems like they need to schedule in some QT every now and then. However, they HAVE been married 10 years, so what do I know?

Another thing that struck me was watching Rachel and her husband fight. Obviously all couples fight, but something about watching a real couple fight was informative (and yes, I know some people are skeptical about the authenticity of reality shows). I found myself thinking, I would say that or I would do that or I would do this differently, and I think it helped me to realize how I fight. I have been known to say things I don't mean, just to get a rise or reaction out of Alson. Not nice and I'm not proud. I am really trying hard to not do this anymore, and watching this couple fight and seeing both their perspectives (another thing I have trouble doing) I think was helpful.

Is that weird? I don't know what it was about them that I found relatable, but it was something! Have you seen a couple on TV or in real life fight that hit home? What, if anything, have you learned about your relationship from TV?