Our own little celebration at the wedding

Hubs and I shot a wedding last night and we've earmarked a portion of the wedding money to pay off our last student loan.  I've been telling him for weeks that as soon as the wedding is over, we're debt free.

We were pretty busy with other things all night obviously and were across the room from each other during a slow part of the reception.  The first chords of Baker Street, which is the Dave Ramsey theme song, started playing and I turned around to see my husband with a huge grin on his face as he pointed at me.  Just awesome.

Oh, and WE'RE DEBT FREE!!
$22,000 paid off in 14 months.

The View

#projectlife365 #view

Saturdays are my day.  Hubs has to work until about the late afternoon on a typical Saturday and that window of time is the only alone time I get in a typical week.  I adore my husband and the time I get to spend with him but waking up to a quiet house is really peaceful.

I'm a reader and I have spent many a morning in that cramped tub flying through something I've found.  I feel guilty sometimes that there were things that I should be doing and I shouldn't keep this lengthy ritual.  I'll admit that I've heard the garage door open and I've hurriedly changed over the laundry or cleared the counter tops before Hubs makes his way into the house.  I have come to realize that he does not care if the house is tidy but he does appreciate when I approach the rest of the weekend with a sense of calm.

I would love to know where that hurried "I need to prove I accomplished something while you were gone" feeling comes from.  We both work full time jobs and spend our evenings knocking out a chore or two that might pop up together.  He's never said anything implying that I'm responsible for cleaning alone because I have the day off but the anxiousness is usually there.  We have never been anything except equal partners in this so I'm not sure where it comes from.

My subconscious might just have some qualms that I didn't know about.  I wonder if I just need to readjust some things to get a better sense of balance.  In the meantime, I have seven days to go until a quiet house waits to see about working them out.

Bruce Wayne

#projectlife365 #graceful

Two days after getting back from our honeymoon, the girls called me up front at work and said that we just took in a stray Italian Greyhound from the strike zone and they thought I would be interested.  The strike zone was the main area of the tornado damage that had gone straight through town less than two months prior.  We still weren't back to normal yet in the shelter or our day to day lives.  Curious, I had checked the lost reports and came up blank.  A little bummed, I put the book away and headed to the back.

It was all over before the door even closed behind me in the holding room.  This pathetic, convulsing, skinny dog stared up at me from the bottom kennel.  I say convulsing because this dog shakes on a good day when he's happy but he was terrified.  Putting the dates together, I assumed that he gotten himself picked up because fireworks had startled him and he couldn't find his way home.  Cursing the girls for telling me that this creature existed, I called my brand new husband and that was that.

For such a beautiful, graceful looking dog, he is the most awkward animal alive.  He doesn't particularly like to be touched unless he's doing the touching.  He can reaaaach up and scratch you across the face just to say hello.  He can jump from a standstill so you can make eye contact without bending your head.  He once, to my horror, jumped and dropped a lick on the face of a pregnant friend while landing his front feet on her belly as she was walking in our front door.  He pees on his front legs because he's so uncoordinated and his legs are ridiculously long.  He won't lick your hand but you better believe he'll lick the roof of your mouth if you yawn in his presence with your guard down.

He also, in a moment of my wondering what the hell I had gotten us into, looked up at me and then laid his head on my chest and closed his eyes.  Life is better with a dog.  Or three.

Being Present

#projectlife365 #optimism

My boss stood in my office doorway today and mentioned that Hubs and I don't ever go out and do anything and it makes her sad because we're so young.  Apparently since I don't really post things on Facebook anymore, they don't happen.  I'm still confused at how this was any of her business in the first place but I was kind of relieved.  We live full lives and don't always share the details.  We have things to talk about when we meet with friends that they haven't already clicked through to see how the story ends.

I made a promise to myself this year that I would leave my camera at home for the holidays and focus on being present this year.  I spent too much time focusing on framing my memories in the camera than actually experiencing them last year and didn't really enjoy myself.  I had a blast this year because I didn't have a filter between myself and everything that was happening.  I think I just needed a break to get my priorities back in place.  I feel relaxed and ready.

Here's to being present and having stories to tell.

January 2 Flowers

#projectlife365 #you_today

My mother always gets flowers on this day.

I remember walking into my first class of my senior year of college and hearing her blurt it out on the phone.  She tried to hold it in, but my mother has always been uncomfortably straightforward.  Your grandma has lung cancer.  My hand slid down the door handle and I walked a few feet away as I tried to make sense of the words.  We just lost my great grandfather to that within a month of him finding out.  Now her.  Just perfect.

She had been having symptoms for some time and refused to get herself checked out.  If she had, who knows what would have happened.  It might have unfolded in the exact same way with wires and hospice rooms on Christmas.  There is no sense in thinking about that part too much.  What's done is done.

My mother is a machine.  She always has been but in a rough situation, look out.  Someone needs help filing some forms?  Don't worry about it.  She's already done it...and she made dinner for the next week.  The problem with my mother, while in Terminator mode, is that no one is able to reach her.  Cancer blows and it sucks even worse when there's nothing you can do for the people who have nothing wrong with them except broken hearts.

So she gets flowers.  Of course, we don't talk about why she gets flowers but she gets a phone call asking her to check her front porch when she gets home from work and I get a text message photo of what they look like on her counter.  It may not be perfect but it works for us.  I'll get a phone call tomorrow about the crazy antics of my sisters and not a word will be spoken about this.

And that's alright.

*I'm participating in the Project Life 365 Challenge.  Just roll with it or join in.

Resolutions

I do not usually do New Year’s resolutions.  I do not really believe in waiting for a specific day to start making changes to your life if it needs changing.  My main goal for this year is just to be a better version of myself.  I have a wonderful husband, a beautiful home, and three dogs that make me crazy on a daily basis.  I would love to be more patient, quicker with an encouragement, and ready to handle anything.  I have been working on some of my "resolutions" for months but wanted to write them all down together to keep myself accountable. And that accountability is to you, dear internet strangers.

Last night, Hubs and I laid in bed way before midnight and whispered to each other what we thought this year would look like for us.  Our finances will be settled hopefully by my 26^th birthday in May.  After that, we are going to see what life looks like as responsible adults for a few months and then see about trying our hand at being parents.  Our plan has been to be debt free before we started trying to expand our family and we are nearly there.  It seemed to be a much longer trek on the other side of paying everything off but now that we are on the downhill slide, it does not seem that far away.  It does not seem as scary as I expected either. 

Even though we are not there yet, I am excited.

Happy 2013 Everyone.  I hope you get everything you are wanting, find everything you are looking for, and be the person you want to become.

Project Life 365 #Resolution

·         Be debt free (except the house)

·         Have 3 months of expenses saved

·         Go to the gym twice a week.  Quit focusing on the number on the scale and go for myself.

·         Read.

·         Answer emails within 24 hours.

·         Go see a movie with Corey every month.

·         Write even if it’s not very good. Especially if it's not very good.

·         Be a better version of myself.

Home Organization 101: The Dining Room

Our dining room is the only room in our house that doesn't need to be decluttered.  We don't keep anything extra in here.  Woohoo for an easy week!