Dear Sir or Madam

To whom it may concern:
I am writing on behalf of my husband to tell you all the reasons why he should be admitted to your school.

He is a hard worker and is very good at what he does. I can count on one hand the number of people I know our age who have a work ethic comparable to his. He works the hours no one else wants to work, does the jobs no one else can do and rarely complains doing it. Beyond that, he has a compassionate soul and a generous nature. He daily performs a task that most people cringe at the thought of but he understands their suffering and tries to make the experience more tolerable. He takes time to not just do his job but to make sure the patient feels heard and comfortable before leaving their room. There is a lot to be said for good patient care skills, which he certainly possesses.

He has accomplished more in the last few years than even I ever expected he would realize. He has bought a house, started school and gotten married, all within the last 18 months. Not only has he accomplished all these tasks, but he has put careful consideration into each decision for how they would affect his future. Our home has a lot of potential that we are in the midst of making a reality. He has made better grades than he has ever made before in school. And, let's face it, he didn't do too badly in the marriage department, if I might say so myself.

Finally, he has to be accepted because our future is nearly completely dependant upon this decision. Certainly, if he doesn't make it in this year we will just try again next year. But that is an entire year to wait to realize your future which is a very hard pill to swallow. There just cannot be that many applicants that are more deserving of this opportunity.

P.S. If you accept him into school, his wife will bake you cookies every week for the duration of the school. She'll have to do something to pass all the free time alone she'll have!

The Valentine's Day Dilemma

This will be mine & Sean's third official Valentine's Day as a couple. (Wait a second, right? Or is it fourth? Regardless...) We have never actually celebrated Valentine's Day, mostly because I've given him an out. Don't get me wrong, I L.O.V.E. Valentine's Day. I love loving, I love being loved, I love the word love. I just don't like celebrating Valentine's Day other than spending time together.

And why have I always given him an out?

Because I hate buying Valentine's Day presents. Last night when Sean got home from work (at oh..... 11:30) he said he wanted to celebrate Valentine's Day this year by either exchanging gifts or going to a nice restaurant - my choice. Oh the dread. I know, I have a pretty pathetic decision to make. Don't get me wrong: I love buying things for people.  But how do you buy that ONE thing that says, "your love has changed my life, made me a better person, and allows me to look forward to a wondeful & fulfilling future." And there is no dinner nice enough to convey these feelings.

Perhaps I am making this too difficult.

There's No Place Like Home

We left Saturday the 8th for vacation but didn't arrive until the sun was almost already down so we finally got to the beach on Sunday!

We enjoyed 2 days of sun.

And a few piña coladas :)

We ate great food & had excellent service everywhere we went on the resort.

But then it rained for 2 days. We started to get a little bored & kind of bummed. So we decided to paint some souvenirs for the family.

It was all good though because we were with family.

The last full day we finally got to enjoy a few more ounces of sun to finish off our tans.

Overall, we had a good time, but we were never so happy to see Señor OP. It is certainly good to be home.

Worthless

I am absolutely worthless today. All I can do is sit behind my desk, buzzing with energy & excitement, ready to leave for MEXICO! This time tomorrow we'll be on our way (probably waiting in Atlanta to board our plane to Cancun). I'm so freaking excited that I've got that nervous sick to my stomach feeling that I tend to get when I'm this elated. I shall endure it!
I didn't sleep that well last night because a) we're leaving for Mexico, didn't you hear?! and b) because my sickly hubs has pneumonia. He must have coughed half the night. I think Mexico will cure him, don't you? I was up bright and early at 6AM this morning so I could be at work early so I can take an extra long lunch.
Sean's dad asked yesterday if we could meet him for lunch somewhere today; he wanted to see us before we left. This is an especially sweet gesture but it makes me a tad bit nervous. I'm not at all worried about the flying. I LOVE to fly! It's all the talk about violence and corruption in Mexico & all of the questions of, "are you sure you want to go down there right now?" that are finally getting to me. YES! I'm sure. But when the father-in-law says he wants to take you to lunch before you leave, it deposits a tad amount of fear.
I packed most everything I'm going to need last night. I have a list of everything else I need to pack & made a list of things for Sean to gather together so I can pack for him. I kissed our nephew goodbye this morning - he is celebrating a birthday while we are gone. I'm so sad to squeeze OP for one last time for a WEEK. We are heading to mom & dad's tonight to close our eyes for a few hours before going to the airport at 4:30 in the morning.
Adios!

Broken Heart

My mom, brother & I met a lady a couple of years ago with a car full of puppies. Each pup had great big eyes and sweet black, brown & white faces. Will & I each got to pick one out. Will picked the runt and we named him Oliver after Oliver Twist. He was definitely the smallest of the group but was certainly not lacking for energy or appetite. I picked out the largest in the pack. When we got home he immediately went to his kennel. He'd come out to eat & snuggle and then would go back to his "jail" voluntarily. We called him Otis.

We took them to the beach with us, where they proceeded to eat and then defecate sand for a week. We got stopped by a shady young man who would not leave my mother alone about how much we wanted for them. I thought Sean was going to have to manually remove my mother from the situation just to get the fellow to leave us alone. It was also on this trip where we realized that Oliver, whom we shortened to Ollie, also shared the moniker of another famous boxer. From that point forward, Sean would greet the runt with a resounding "A-li!"

As is in their nature as a boxer, they were caught running some cattle this afternoon and apparently badly injured one. Mom & Dad have to find a new home for them tonight & I can imagine they are pretty grief stricken by it. There have been many nights that Otis would climb right up into Dad's lap like he was the size of a terrier and then look up at him with these eyes that said, "what? C'mon, don't tell me that you don't love me..."

I would so love to be able to take one of them (there is a special place in my heart for Otis), but they are brothers. While I maintain that for the majority of their life they probably haven't really liked each other, they should probably stick together. Also, I told Sean that there were no more animals allowed in my house. I suppose I am eating my words now.

Suffice it to say that I will really miss those guys. Boxers have a wonderful heart and a beautiful mug that really only their owner can appreciate. I hope that they can find homes that are just as worthy as my parents', with people who will love them just as much as they deserve.

Day 2 Blues

I knew this would happen... I have been on a blogging kick for a day and I am already out of ideas. There was a time when blogging was not an issue - I could write about the color of socks I was wearing and make it somewhat interesting. Now, I have become so far removed from my own sense of humor that I have to wear funny socks to make a statement so that I don't have to think of anything on my own.

A few of the blogs I follow from time to time (read: every day) are from women who have taken on the task of coming up with a word to define what they hope to accomplish in the coming year. These are women whom I have really come to look up to as a woman that I would like to become. The impression they leave on me is that they are wonderful, Godly wives whose primary business is their families.

I have thought about my word all afternoon, through a football nap, folding laundry, vacuuming, and watching television (it has not been a productive day). What I have determined my word should be is quality. These are the definitions of quality that I need to attribute to my own life:

• marked by a concentrated expediture of involvement, concern or commitment. I have plenty of quiet time, but I don't attempt to make it quality quiet time. Watching television when I get home from work is not time well spent to self-growth. By the end of the week I don't feel like I have had any real time to myself and the fault does not lie with my job, my husband, or my household duties. The fault is my own because I never took any of the 4 hours from the time I get home to the time I go to bed to sit in silence & reflect.
• character with respect to fineness, or grade of excellence. I am fairly new to this marriage thing, but that does not mean that I should not put every effort into making our marriage of the best quality at this early stage in the ball game. My fear is that by not putting in the most effort in this fresh, new time our relationship will grow stagnant quickly and the ball game will be over rather quickly. How can I remedy this? The book we read as a part of our marriage counseling was so helpful in opening the lines of communication to better understand our individual "love languages." Starting this week, Sean's schedule is changing and we will see each other even less than we do now. When I start to feel the self-pity setting in, I need to re-evaluate the 5 love languages to see where I can help him to feel more fulfilled. He rarely lets my pail become empty. My love language is easy: quality time!
• an accomplishment or attainment. For example, today I did a very minimal amount of housework. I am hoping for Taco Bell for dinner. I have one load of laundry in the dryer that has been dry for a while now, but as long as the dryer is running I don't have to fold it, right? And they are towels so it doesn't have to be folded tonight, right? Wrong. It would not have killed me today to have cleaned the bathroom (well, maybe). After I publish I am going to get up and fold those clothes. I am still hoping for Taco Bell for dinner, but c'mon. It's Sunday night. I don't want to go to work tomorrow when this time next week we'll be in Mexico. My point is this: I need to strive for quality in my work. I always feel much better about myself afterwards, but am mostly too lazy.

Here I go. I am going to fold those clothes. And it is going to be a job well done.

New Years Resolution

Happy 2011!
In bittersweet excitement I watched the new year come in with my new husband in our (fairly) new home. 2010 was so good to us that I can only pray that 2011 will be as generous. These are the things I want to remember about 2010.

• For the first time in my life, I really understood what it meant to take pride in your work. We got so much accomplished on our house this year, including landscaping, stump removal, intense cleaning, a new sink, new light fixutres and an updated kitchen color. Even better? We worked and made decisions on nearly everything together. It is the epitome of teamwork: making decisions & agreeing on one of your greatest financial investments.
• Family has been so good to us. We could not have accomplished many of the items on our list without the help of Sean's dad. Both of our fathers were merely a phone call away for any questions we had, primarily regarding electrical issues. Additionally, Sean's sister lives with us. There were many naysayers before we all moved in together, and I hate to say that I was in the highly skeptical crowd. I've never had very good luck living with other females, and it may not come as a surprise but I'm not the greatest with kids. Many nights I've just needed to come home and unload my troubles on someone, or just talk, and Ashley has always been there which has meant a great deal to me. Additionally, when Sean gets tired of talking to me, he can always go hang out with his big sis. I think it works out well for all of us. We would be lost with out our family. And I would have no cooking buddies.
• This is truly the year we established a weekly "date night." It is the one night out of the week that we do something just as a couple. The night may evolve into a night out with friends, but it is spent together. I think this has been very healthy for our relationship: I am very much a homebody so it helps me get out. We have communicated more on date night than any other night of the week.
• Of course, the biggest event of the year has been our wedding. Sean & I have watched both of our best friends get married and they have both been tear jerkers for this girl, primarily because I understand and realize the depth of the commitment now. It certainly is the best day of my life. I hope to never forget watching him hop from side to side, shifting his weight while I walked down the aisle. My dad whispered to me, "He's so excited he can't stand still!" I hope to always remember the dancing. Oh, the dancing! We truly became dance partners that night! On-lookers thought he was going to pull my arm out of socket and I thought he was going to drop me but he never did. I love that pollack.

My new year's resolution is to keep this blog going. I used to journal EVERYTHING and haven't even cracked my diary open to read lately. I feel like I'm going to forget important events of this newly married life that I want to be able to tell my kids about one day. So here's to the new year: that it will be as productive as 2010, that it will be as generous as 2010, and that I'll be able to remember even more about 2011 than I do about 2010.