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February 19, 2021

A Fun Survey About Us

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Hi friends! We’re snowed in right now and a lot of our meals this week were leftovers/random throw together things that I didn’t bother photographing, so I thought it might be fun to mix it up today and do a little survey post about me and Matt and a trip down memory lane about our relationship!

I saw a similar survey over on my friend Julie’s blog this week and thought it was really fun. It reminds me of the old days of blogging where everything was more casual and personal. So, let’s do it!

I’m using some of Julie’s questions, some questions I got from you all on Instagram stories, and I threw in some of my own just for fun, too. 

This started as a short, quick post and then I got really into it so now it’s quite long! I hope you have fun reading – I definitely had fun writing it! 🙂

IMG_2225

I hope those of you who are also getting snow and really cold temps are staying safe out there!

I’ll be back to the eats + exercise + recipes next week. 🙂

A Survey About Us

How did you and Matt meet? 

Matt and I met at the very romantic (sarcasm) “dollar mug night” at Whitlow’s on Wilson in Arlington in the summer of 2004, right after graduating college (Dickinson College for me, Syracuse University for him)!

My college bestie Kris was visiting and we spotted a guy named Tom who went to Dickinson with us across the bar and went over and said hi, and he introduced us to all his roommates, one of whom was Matt! They were high school best friends who moved down to DC from Pittsburgh together after college. 

(Sidenote – both Kris and Tom were in our wedding party 8 years later!)

Our groups started hanging out quite a bit over the next few months and the rest is history – we became an official couple that fall. 🙂

When we first met, I was 21 and Matt had just turned 22 – wow! So young. I wish I had more photos from that time, it was pre-camera phone and I have no idea where the hard copies are!

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First date?

If my memory is correct our first official date was dinner at a Thai restaurant in Arlington! Matt had never had Thai food before and I was like, “Uhhh, we’re going to have to change that ASAP.”

How long have you been together? 

About 17 years (!), but not totally continuous – we broke up for a bit in 2009/2010 because I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do with my life, and we had met and starting dating so young!

When I started this blog in October 2009 we were broken up – I was taking prerequisites and applying to grad schools to change careers and become a dietitian, and I had just come back from teaching English in Prague (something I had always wanted to do and wanted to make sure I did before I found a career to really settle into).

We ended up getting back together a few months before I was going to move to Chapel Hill, NC to start grad school at UNC in August of 2010, and we decided that he would come with – luckily he was working in consulting and had done a lot of travel for previous projects so they didn’t mind him doing the consultant travel thing every week.

So he would come up to DC and stay in a corporate apartment Monday through Thursday, work from home with me in Chapel Hill on Fridays and then stay for the weekends. It was a nice way to ease into living together for the first time since we both still got to do our own thing for part of the week!

When did you get engaged?

In October 2011! Matt proposed on the top of Old Rag Mountain in Shenandoah National Park – our all-time favorite hike! 

I threw off his plan by inviting my friend Kath and her husband (who we were staying with overnight in Charlottesville before the hike) with us on the hike, but Matt figured he’d go with it and have them be our unsuspecting photographers!

So this is not a reenactment, it’s the actual moment. 🙂 

IMG_0155

Here’s the blog post about it: Surprise: We’re Engaged!!

Fun fact: that blog post crashed my website for almost a whole day when I posted it because so many people went to look at it at once! <3

When and where was your wedding?

We got married at Rosemont Manor in Berryville, VA on October 12, 2012, when we were 30! You can see all my wedding posts on the wedding category page, if you’re interested. 🙂

That fall was such a crazy time for me – I was interning full time as part of grad school, finishing up some grad school classes, writing my masters paper, writing the blog daily (yes, I used to post 7 days a week – that was just what lifestyle bloggers were doing back then!), and planning our wedding. It was bananas.

We postponed our honeymoon until mid-December when I was done with school/interning!

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Age difference?

Only a couple months! 

What are your Enneagrams? 

This was a fun question from an Instagram follower and when I asked Matt what his number was, he said: “What’s an Enneagram?” Haha. 

Luckily he was down to take the test quickly – I always find stuff like this fascinating and am obsessed with Zodiac signs, too, which Matt thinks are basically just made up (for my fellow Zodiac sign fans, I’m a Virgo right on Libra cusp and Matt is a Leo – opposites attract). 

My main Enneagram is 3 (“The Achiever”) – makes sense I started my own business apparently! 

Matt’s main Enneagram is 9 (“The Peacemaker”). 🙂 

IMG_1364

Who cooks more often?

Probably Matt, ironically! 

Was Matt a healthy eater before you started dating?

This was another fun Instagram follower question!

I can’t say either of us were super healthy eaters in our early 20’s, although I was definitely a healthier eater than Matt was – he was doing the typical single dude meal situation with lots of super salty frozen meals, mostly meat and potatoes and not a ton of veggies. 

It’s safe to say Matt has become a way healthier eater as our relationship has continued, especially once we started living together! Luckily he’s pretty open/flexible to trying different and new foods, although he does generally consider vegetarian dishes as side dishes that would be better with some meat involved. 🙂 

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Since I do the meal planning and grocery shopping (well, ordering – we almost always order groceries nowadays) for the most part, and am also the one who picks out the meals we make each week with Blue Apron (affiliate link), I tend to choose more veggie-packed nutritious things and he just goes with the flow. 

Who is most competitive? 

Definitely me! 🙂

Matt’s like: “Eh, we’re all winners!” And I’m like: “Okay but seriously, bring it on…”

Who is most stubborn?

We can both be pretty stubborn… but probably me. 😉

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Who drives when you are together?

Matt! He likes driving more than I do. 

What’s the best meal you’ve ever eaten together? 

Oh man this is a tough one! I’d probably say dinner at The Inn at Little Washington with our parents – that restaurant is absolutely phenomenal.

I was just saying the other day to Matt how I was dreaming about going back there – not only because eating at a restaurant sounds like a dream right now, but because the whole experience of eating there is such a luxury between the super attentive staff, the wine pairings, and the exquisite food! 

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Who changes the light bulbs?

Matt. 🙂 

Who falls asleep first? 

Definitely me – Matt is a night owl, I’m a morning person!

Who is more social?

We’re both quite social; I’m probably a bit more extroverted in the sense that I get more bummed out if I don’t see friends super often, but he’s definitely social/extroverted too.

I think he’s just better at going with the flow and doing his own thing more often than I am!

!anne matt-734

What type of trips do you like most as a couple?

Those involving adventure!

We really love doing hiking trips in particular (hiking Banff + Jasper National Parks in western Canada was a big highlight, that was such a great trip), and really anything that involves a nice mix of outdoorsy adventure but also some relaxing and pampering, too.  

What’s the coolest trip you’ve taken together? 

This is tough, having been together so long we’ve been fortunate enough to take a lot of really fun trips together!

I’d probably say the overall winner, though, is a tie between our Costa Rica Honeymoon in 2012…

Here are all the recaps, just for fun:

  • Costa Rica Honeymoon Details (overview)
  • El Silencio Lodge: Hiking Adventures
  • El Silencio Lodge: “Cultural Tour”
  • Waterfall Rappelling
  • White Water Rafting
  • Hanging Bridges, Volcano Hikes, Waterfalls, and Hot Springs!
  • JW Marriott Guanacaste Resort & Spa
  • Ziplining!
  • Scuba Diving!

And also tied for first place is our scuba diving trip to Malta in 2015 – that was SUCH an awesome trip… (also, that arch in the picture below sadly no longer exists – it fell into the ocean a couple years after our trip):

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Gosh a tropical vacation sounds amazing right now, doesn’t it? Take me backkk!!

Here are the Malta recaps, which I just got very jealous of my old self reading:

  • Malta Adventures: Radisson Blu Resort & Spa, Golden Sands
  • Malta Adventures: Mellieha, Scuba Diving with Bezz Diving, and Gozo
  • Malta Adventures: Sliema, St. Peter’s Pool, the Blue Grotto, and Mdina

What do you like most about each other? 

This was a fun one to think about, and to talk about together… I feel like with how monotonous life has gotten lately being cooped up at home all the time, plus being very busy and distracted with Riese, and also just how long we’ve been together, it had been a long time since we really checked in. Too long!

Here’s what I like most about Matt. He is:

  • Generous
  • Kind (it has been so special to see how he is with our daughter Riese – he’s such a sweet, attentive dad – it’s no wonder she’s 100% a daddy’s girl)
  • Knows how to make me (and now Riese!) laugh
  • Is always up for whatever random adventures I come up with 🙂 

065

And here’s what Matt said he likes most about me. He said “I like that you…”

  • Are proactive about coming up with fun stuff to do (at least, when not pregnant and also in covid lockdown life, that is)
  • Make me want to be the best version of myself
  • Prioritize building real and strong relationships (friendships, etc.) and put in the time to keep them up 

🙂

Did you always know you wanted kids?

Yes, Matt and I both knew we wanted kids, we just weren’t sure when or how many! He was ready to start having kids a couple years earlier than I was, but he didn’t pressure me or anything, just basically said that he would be ready when I was.

I think since I started my business/career so late after pivoting and going back to school to become a dietitian (I graduated with my Masters of Public Health in Nutrition in November 2012 right after we got married, and started my nutrition private practice in early 2013) I wanted to have some time to focus on that and to build things up before starting a family.

Plus, I was having a lot of fun traveling (with Matt and friends and also for blog press trips) and running marathons! 🙂 

But we both felt ready in late 2016/early 2017 and were thrilled to welcome Riese to the family in November 2017. <3

Mauney2017-031

And now we are happy to be completing our family in May of this year, with baby #2, a boy!

For a minute there we thought about trying for 3 kids, but we’ve decided 2 feels right for us/our family, especially since I needed a lot of recovery time in between Riese and trying for number 2. And given our age at this point – we are 38 now! 

big sister

Wow, this got long. 

I will close out here, and thank you for reading if you made it this far! 

I’m curious – what’s your Enneagram? Do you think it’s accurate? Why or why not? 

And if you have any other questions for me + Matt, let me know! 🙂

- anne
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34 comments
  • Lisa of Lisa’s Yarns
    February 19, 2021 · 8:43AM:
    This was really fun to read! I also went through a break up with my husband - 3 months after we met I found out I was being relocated to Charlotte and long distance was too hard for a new relationship. We got back together when I moved back and the rest is history! I am a Enneagram 1 and find it very accurate. My husband doesn’t really believe in personality frameworks (he’s a questioner using Gretchen Ruben’s framework!) but he is totally a 5. I found an analysis of different types together in a relationship and the 1/5 analysis was crazy accurate for us! We are definitely a 2 kid family. Pregnancy is super hard for me and I just turned 40. I keep having bad dreams that I am pregnant!!! Eeks.
    Reply
    • Anne
      February 19, 2021 · 8:58AM:
      I also found the Enneagram analysis of our two types in a relationship to be super accurate! Really fascinating stuff. Thanks for reading, glad you enjoyed the post! :)
      Reply
  • Lauren k February 19, 2021 · 9:47AM:
    Super fun to read!!
    Reply
    • Anne
      February 19, 2021 · 12:23PM:
      :)
      Reply
  • Marta February 19, 2021 · 10:19AM:
    Cant believe its been ten years since we met in Prague in 2010/2011. Its really great to read about yalls story🤗.
    Reply
    • Anne
      February 19, 2021 · 12:24PM:
      Crazy, right?? Hope you are doing well, Marta! I miss our travel adventures! :)
      Reply
  • Kris S February 19, 2021 · 10:22AM:
    Great survey, that was fun! Very proud to have been present for Mug Night 2004 back when it all began! A fun selection of photos and awesome memories of Malta!! I'm still so impressed you two came all the way from the US and rocked out that trip so hard- what a blast! Thanks for making it so much fun!
    Reply
    • Anne
      February 19, 2021 · 12:24PM:
      Best trip, so glad we didn't miss it!! Wish we were all there now!
      Reply
  • Ana February 19, 2021 · 11:19AM:
    I love reading "back in the day" posts (and often read the old ones that come up on your "You Might Also Like" section) so this was really fun! Thanks for sharing!
    Reply
    • Anne
      February 19, 2021 · 12:24PM:
      Yay, thanks!
      Reply
  • Allison February 19, 2021 · 1:13PM:
    This was a sweet read and made me think of the early days of my relationship with my spouse and getting together when we were 22, which was 19 years ago. Thanks for sharing, as always.
    Reply
    • Anne
      February 19, 2021 · 1:24PM:
      Aw yay. <3 Fun to take trips down memory lane!
      Reply
  • Roadrunner February 19, 2021 · 1:25PM:
    A wonderful post and trip along your memory lane, Anne, thanks! Covid, etc. aside, things seem to have gone very well for you and Matt and Riese, especially given that you and Matt have been able to transition nicely to working entirely from home over the past (crazy) year. Congratulations on everything!
    Reply
    • Anne
      February 19, 2021 · 1:55PM:
      Glad you enjoyed the post! I'll be honest while we are fortunate we are both able to work from home, we are on the struggle bus big time trying to juggle everything with all 3 of us home all the time. But the trip down memory lane was a very nice distraction and a reminder that this phase will not last forever, and that we can get out and do fun stuff together and as a family again soon hopefully. :)
      Reply
  • Melanie February 19, 2021 · 1:57PM:
    This was great! I can't believe I have been faithfully reading each post for over 10 years now..time is going way too fast!! Thanks for sharing!
    Reply
    • Anne
      February 19, 2021 · 1:57PM:
      Thank you so much for reading for so long! <3
      Reply
  • Gaye February 19, 2021 · 1:58PM:
    What a great read! Fun learning about your pre wedding days. And to your earlier book ?. I got turned on to Home going by Raa Gyasi from a community book box donation. What a great find/read. She has a new book out now I can't wait to read. Sorry nausea has come back!
    Reply
    • Anne
      February 19, 2021 · 2:06PM:
      Great, will check out the book - thanks!
      Reply
  • Theodora
    February 19, 2021 · 2:18PM:
    omg 17 years!! Damn. I remember when we first were becoming friends you were kinda together kinda not and then were all of a sudden like soooo he's coming to NC! I'm so glad I was able to be at your beautiful wedding <3
    Reply
    • Anne
      February 19, 2021 · 2:21PM:
      <3 <3 Miss you my friend!
      Reply
  • Lara February 19, 2021 · 8:48PM:
    This was so fun to read! Can’t believe it’s been 17 years and yet we all haven’t aged a day ;-)
    Reply
    • Anne
      February 20, 2021 · 7:55AM:
      Hahaha totally! xo
      Reply
  • Anina Belle
    February 20, 2021 · 7:15AM:
    I loved reading this, Anne! Thank you for sharing.I am so excited for your next chapter. Xx
    Reply
    • Anne
      February 20, 2021 · 7:55AM:
      Thanks friend! <3
      Reply
  • Kris S February 21, 2021 · 2:30PM:
    Inspired by this post I did a quick Ennegram test! I keep seeing this around more and more and was curious so I went for it. Your numbers make a lot of sense after reading the descriptions! I didn't have one main type really, my top 3 were fairly even. Apparently I'm type 1(perfectionist), 6 (skeptic) and 9 (peacemaker), medium scores on 3 (achiever), 8 (challenger), and 2 (giver), and then totally NOT types 4 (individualist), 5 (investigator, a bit confusing for scientist but I'm an atypical scientist I suppose!), and 7 (enthusiast). Interesting thing, this! I totally relate to the type 6 thing of being stocked and prepared for every emergency! The pandemic threw my type 6 personality into overdrive!! Was thinking back to the Malta trip with Anne like "let's do the most adventurist thing!" and Matt like "sounds cool let's do it!" and me like "hmm how can we prepare adequately and avoid injury while doing this adventure thing I would never have suggested but will likely enjoy despite myself" :D
    Reply
    • Anne
      February 22, 2021 · 9:54AM:
      Hahahaha I love that last part, too funny! I was proud of how much you went out of your comfort zone while living abroad! I also really appreciated your preparedness skills when we traveled Italy together since that isn't my strong suit haha. We were a good pair... Me: "Hmm, I haven't researched anything at all, any ideas for what to do today?" Kris: "Yes, here's my 15 page thesis on top spots to visit in this Italian town." Lol. Miss you and our adventures!! Can we plan a trip together post-covid and post-baby for me please?? xo p.s. The other two Enneagrams I scored highly in were 8 (challenger) and 7 (enthusiast). :) My lowest were 4 and 5, so we have that in common!
      Reply
  • Carly February 22, 2021 · 12:47PM:
    Such a fun post! Do you have a link to an Ennegram test? I keep seeing so many people referencing it but have never taken it!
    Reply
    • Anne
      February 23, 2021 · 9:48AM:
      Sure! I used this test. And once you have your results, The Enneagram Institute had good info on each type's personality!
      Reply
  • adrianna February 23, 2021 · 10:04PM:
    all the heart-eyed emojis!! this was a fun post :) and being a long time reader, it was fun to remember the posts from way back in the day! love reading along the journey. your fam is so cute!
    Reply
    • Anne
      February 24, 2021 · 8:53AM:
      Thanks so much for reading Adrianna! <3
      Reply
  • J SALLETTE
    February 28, 2021 · 12:07PM:
    This was a fabulous post!! Congratulations on the new baby on the way!! Thank you so much for such a fantastic blog.. I came across it for a recipe.. And the rest is history.. I totally enjoy this blog.. you are so super talented!! I am so happy for you and your success on the blog and your family and your business.. You don’t know how much you inspire people with your charm and writing.. Your recipes are just awesome!! Thanks for all the effort that you have put in the blog over the years. I feel like I know you forever after reading your blog.. You are such a great inspiration for other bloggers. I wish you and your family all the best ..
    Reply
    • Anne
      March 1, 2021 · 9:40AM:
      This is so kind, thank you! Appreciate you being here :)
      Reply
  • Tyler
    March 25, 2021 · 11:58PM:
    Very enjoyable read! I think we have a lot in common based this post! I'm going to check out this whole Enneagram thing, haven't heard of it.
    Reply
    • Anne
      March 26, 2021 · 10:03AM:
      It's always fun to take those sort of tests - I usually find them to be pretty accurate!
      Reply
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anne mauney fannetastic food
Hi, I’m Anne! I'm a Washington D.C. based Registered Dietitian, mother, runner, and lover of travel, adventure, and the great outdoors. I've been blogging since 2009, sharing a mix of lifestyle content, recipes, and fitness tips. Come for the recipes – stay for the fun!
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anne mauney

I’m Anne, a Registered Dietitian and mother. I've been blogging since 2009 and love showing others that eating nutritious foods and staying active can actually be fun rather than overwhelming!

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