Playing Catch-up Already

It's pretty pathetic that I only got 2 posts in before I abandoned this blog. It's been 2.5 months since I updated, and what an amazing 2.5 month's it's been! I believe the last time I wrote that my family was going to come visit Ryan and I in South Florida. Well they came down the first weekend in August and it was great. They got to see our apartment, visit the new city that we now call home, and even went to my Target to see my office and the place I spend the majority of my time!

While my parents were here, Ryan's plan was to ask their permission to take my hand in marriage! The topic actually came up at my Target and obviously my parents said yes and are excited to have Ryan be a part of our family. I actually knew before hand that Ryan was planning on asking them while they were visiting. I know -- it's weird that we discussed those things, but Ryan and I actually bought the ring together back in July and I was just so anxious for him to ask me that I helped him arrange getting my parents permission!

He finally popped the question on the morning of August 28th. We were out with friends the night before at the Casino and I went home early since I had to work at 7am the next morning. Ryan stayed out with our friends and came home around midnight and immediately started setting up his plan for the morning. I woke up at 6am to Ryan standing at the edge of our bed with a rose in his hand as he said "Come out here, I have something to show you." Immediately I knew what was happening and I began balling my eyes out! I walked into the living room down a path of red glass rocks, roses, and candles. At the end of the path were the words MARRY ME written with roses. He got on one knee and asked me to spend the rest of my life with him! (I mumbled a 'yes' in between the sniffles and tears). The best part of it all was that he got it on video! I can't thank him enough for capturing that special moment on video to share with our kids one day :) He knows me so well to know that was something I would love and I will cherish it for the rest of my life!


Of course I starting planning the wedding right away! I began googling for venues until I was cross-eyed! Thank goodness that all my hours spent on the computer finally paid off and I found the venue of my dreams within our budget. My mom and I visited it a month ago and we absolutely love it. We're currently just going over the details and costs with them until we officially book it (which will be August 6, 2011).


Ryan's mom was sweet enough to throw us an engagement party last weekend (10/17/10) at her house in Tampa. It turned out absolutely fabulous! The turnout was great (about 40 people!) and everyone had a great time! His mom is such a good host! We even got a surprise appearance by my family who drove all the way from Cocoa Beach to be there with us to celebrate. I will never forget it! This is the picture of the cupcakes that his mom and I made together the day of the party. They turned out so good and were pretty tasty too :) It matched our theme for the wedding which is Pink, Black & White.


Well I think that pretty much gets me caught up on life for now :) The holidays are coming up around the corner, which means a crazy 4th quarter for retail, and my parents will be moving into their new house soon -- can't wait!!

I'd lose my head if it wasn't attached

The past week has been rough. First my car got broken into, the following day I lost my cell phone, and yesterday I lost $20 and my discount card to Target. Oh, and I also broke my favorite bowl that I painted myself. I finally broke down and had a good cry at that point. I really need to get my act together and create a better routine at work so these things don't keep happening [although I'm pretty sure I have run out of things to lose at this point]. I beat myself up over all this so bad. It's not even the material things that I'm worried about losing, because they are all replaceable. It's the principle that all of these losses were preventable. I guess I'm learning my lessons the hard way.

I don't mean to sound sad or depressed, because despite those little mishaps, life is great! Ryan and I continue to work our tails off, and can't get enough of each other on our nights off together. Our 4 year anniversary is in 5 days and we are more in love than the day we met, it's incredible :) On my weekends off work, we rotate between going and spending time with our families and hanging out with friends here and enjoying south fla. My family is trying to plan a trip down here next weekend and I can't wait for them to come visit us and explore the new area we call home :)

Time is flying by and before we know it, Ryan and I will be looking for a house to buy in the area! We have already started to get some ideas on prices of homes in the area and where we'd like to be. Only a few more months till we seriously start looking and putting in some offers on places. I absolutely can't wait to have our own home and have the space and storage we need!!

That's all for tonight...Ryan is begging to use the computer [and asking if our kids are going to read this one day] ;)
I'll write more later - g'nite!

hi!

It's been on my To-Do list for several years now to start an online journal, and I'm finally able to cross it off today. The trick will be keeping it updated.

So it's July 24, 2010. But I'm not exactly sure where to begin my story. I want this to be something that my children can read one day and see what kind of person I was, and what kind of things I did before they were born. Hopefully I'm not too late.

Ryan and I have been living in our apartment in Plantation (just west of Ft. Lauderdale) for 3 months now. When we found out we'd be moving here, I wasn't very thrilled, but I couldn't be happier now that we're here. Yes, it's hot, but I have a new appreciation for the heat after living in Pittsburgh for a year. Now I just have to work on getting used to the crime and snap out of my naive-it won't happen to me, frame of mind. I had a huge wake up call 3 days ago when my car got broken into and my purse and wallet were stolen. Pretty sure I won't ever let that happen again. Ya Live and Learn, right?

So both of us are officially "grown-ups" and doing the 9-5 thing everyday. Well, not quite 9-5, but more like 8-8. We spend so much time working and it seems like our plates just keep getting bigger and bigger. I never knew having a "real job" would be this challenging. [School was always such a breeze, who would have thought a job would be any different? :P] I think about work when I'm not at work and I take my work home and do more work there. We both are worried that we might get burnt out too quickly. Is it normal to be putting in this many hours as the "new guy" in a new career? Does everyone else worry this much about work when they aren't at work? How are we supposed to get anything done for ourselves outside of work? Do working folk have a social life? How will we ever have time for kids in the future? These are all the questions Ryan and I keep asking ourselves, and still not quite sure on the answers. Don't get me wrong, we both love our job and are really thankful to have a job at all and make the money we do, but it sure is tough!

That's all for now, I have a lot more to write about, I'm just going to space it out in different posts so I don't bore anyone ;P

Gnite, Linds