The House is Under Way

Brett and I met with the loan officer and qualify for the loan for our new condo. I guess that is exciting but it still really scares me. Who would have thought that in the last year I would move away from my family, get married and buy a really expensive condo. I know change is good but.....

So now we get to be involved with the building of the condo. We have to go next Monday and have a "pre-construction meeting". I got to go and pick out the refrigerator and carpet and if I really want to I can go pick out the slab of granite for our countertops. Hopefully I won't get too overwhelmed.

Wedding Invites

The wedding invitations are done with the exception of a couple that I am still waiting for addresses. I had set a goal of trying to get them mailed out before I went home to Cleveland for my dress fitting and I think I will actually accomplish it. I guess it helps when you have a snow storm and basically the whole city shuts down.

Because of the snow storm, I was able to accomplish a lot of wedding items. I was able to start the programs and work on the rehearsal dinner invitations. Believe it or not, I am actually up to date with my checklist provided to me by The Knot. Hopefully, I will be able to stay on track!!

Home Alone

So Brett is on one of his week long trips. I really don't like when he goes away. I still haven't made many (if any) friends here and we have been here 8 months. I was going to go to a Xavier alumni function tonight to watch the basketball game but I decided not to at the last minute. Main reason was after doing the loan application for our condo I realized that I really should not be spending money when I don't need to.

The problem is that I should have gone. I need to be a little more proactive in trying to meet people. I know that when we move to our new neighborhood there will be many opportunities for me to meet new people. The thing is I shouldn't wait until then - I need to take steps now.

I have a habit of making excuses as to why I don't make more of an effort. I think the main reason is that I am afraid. I am afraid of going somewhere by myself and then sitting there by myself. I know that is a stupid excuse but that is how I feel. I am afraid that I won't be able to make conversation with whoever I meet.

I have always been a quiet and shy person. I tend to come across as stand office when people first meet me because I don't know what to say to start a conversation. I guess I need to find a way to overcome this so that I can make friends a little easier. I am going to have to make new friends every 2 years or so. I don't want the next place to be like it is here - the first half of it being alone.

Borrowing from Others

So the drama of our new condo continues. Not only did I ask my parents for money for the downpayment I also just asked them for some additional money for me to pay off some of my debt. I want to get rid of some of it before we have to sit down with the loan officer and would rather owe the money to my parents than to the credit card companies.

The only problem with this is that I don't want them to think I am taking advantage of their generousity. I just want this to work out and want to get myself out of the debt that I could have avoided. It is amazing how easily it all builds up and you don't even realize it until you can't dig yourself out of it.

New Place of Residence

Brett and I signed the papers on Saturday to buy a 3 bedroom condo in Woodbridge, VA. It isn't even built yet. Well I mean the framing is up but there are no walls. So now we are trying to get the financing to get a mortgage that isn't going to kill us. I am starting to freak out because I have a bunch of debt that I am trying really hard to pay off but I am afraid this is going to either get us denied or cause us to get an outrageous rate. I don't want to be the sole reason we don't get this.

I am sure there are people with more debt than me and worse credit (I have really good credit) that are getting approved for home loans. I can think of a few that sometimes I wonder how they got approved and manage to still pay the mortgage. I guess I am just scared that we went into this way too fast. Everything is too good to be true.

How Romantic!

I don't get flowers sent to work (I work at home) or surprise visits like Nikol but I do get to go to a place I have been dreaming of going for most of my adult life. I get to go to Hawaii for my honeymoon!!

Originally we were going to go to Germany for part of the World Cup games and then to France to catch some of the Tour. Of course the World Cup is sold out so we opted not to go there. Next Brett decided we would go to somewhere in Central America. Fine with me - it is warm there. It was either going to be Costa Rica or Guatemala. I was excited about going since I had never been to either one before. Brett would get to go Scuba diving and deep sea fishing and I would get to gather some rays on my awfully white body (this way I will be red instead of white).

So the other day while we were watching Dog the Bounty Hunter, I mentioned that I wanted to go to Hawaii. "How about for our honeymoon?" was the response I got. I reminded him that he was in charge of that and that I will enjoy wherever he choose. Next thing I know I am getting emails showing me the places we will stay while we are in Hawaii!!! I definitely love this man. Could I be any luckier?

No Excuses

I have already broken one of my New Year's resolutions. I promised to write a blog every day. Guess what - I haven't done it in almost 2 weeks. No excuses I just haven't written. I guess I just had other things to do.

Okay I really didn't have other things to do. I just got busy with work. I normally write while I am working. I decided to try and concentrate on my work so that when the time comes to leave the job I don't feel so guilty. It is not guilt of leaving all the work for Carl to worry about; it is guilt about leaving it for Becky to do all by herself. She is such a nice lady and has brought a calm to our business unit. I do know that if I left and it got too much for her she would just up and leave since she really doesn't need the job. She is just doing it because she got bored after a month of retirement.

Don't get me wrong - I love my job. Right now with planning the wedding and going on our honeymoon it is the perfect situation. However, I cannot handle the mood swings of my boss. Some days things are perfect some days I wish I had never logged in. I am hoping this week will be a bunch of catch up since he is out of town.

A Day at the Museum

Brett and I went on a date of sorts today. The day started with breakfast which I sort of ruined when I cooked the fried eggs too long (instead of over easy they were over hard). We then went to mass where we were asked to bring the gifts to the alter. Of course neither of us was dressed properly for mass since we were going "out" for the day. I guess God doesn't really care as long as you make some attempt to go to church.

After church we headed to the Metro station. We bought a one day pass and headed to the Smithsonian. We had decided to spend the day at the Air and Space Museum. Now normally I am not a museum person but this one was fun. It was interactive and discussed so many different things. You could of spent a couple days in there just reading about the start of aviation and space exploration.

All in all it was a great day.

Life in the South

I wouldn't officially call Northern Virginia the south but considering where I have lived all my life it is to me. The fact that I spent a Saturday in the beginning of January raking leaves is amazing to me. Today the temperature was in the mid-40s - a little chilly but not too bad.

We decided to clean up the back yard while it was nice and we had some time. Both of us will be gone next week and Brett needed some exercise since he didn't workout today. It took us a couple hours to rake up what was back there (and clean up Pepper's mess). The thing that amazes me is that since November we have raked up 15 50-gallon bags of leaves. That is quite a few.

Though I loved being out side I was not thrilled with the hardworking. I will be the first one to admit that I was spoiled as a child and was not responsible for doing hardworking. That was my brothers' job and when they got too old to be doing it and left home my parents hired someone to do it for them.

Destiny to be Smaller

All my life I have been larger than my friends both in height and in weight. So now I have an opportunity to lose some of the weight that makes me a little self-conscious (since I can't lose my height unless someone cuts off my legs).

With Brett being diabetic I now have to change my whole lifestyle and eating habits. We are cutting back on all carbohydrates and sugars. So in others words, we are on a strict South Beach Diet. I also have to get into a good workout routine and not do what I did this morning. Normally Brett gets up and goes to workout before work. When he does this I get up too and go and workout on my own. Today he decided to sleep in. I should have gotten up and went anyways but I didn't - I just laid there. And now I have no motivation to go and workout. Instead I started working. There is something wrong with this picture.

I have an appointment next Friday with my mom's personal trainer. I am ready to get my butt kicked and put back where it belongs. I tried to see a personal trainer here but I felt nothing after the exercises she gave me. I know I will hurt (in a good way) after meeting with Kelli. She is also going to help me with diet recommendations due to Brett's needs.

My goal is to lose at least 15 pounds by the wedding and no more than 25 through out this whole year. That will get me down to where I was in high school but hopefully will be all muscle so I don't look emaciated like I did back then. Sometimes I forget that since I am 6'2" I am allowed to weigh a little more than the normal woman.

Passing on the Sickness

I love my relationship with my fiance but I don't like the fact that he got sick first and passed it to me. Now I am sitting here with a huge sinus headache and snot building up in my sinus cavity because it has decided not to come out of my nose. I would love to crawl back into bed and just sleep the day away but there are too many things to do both at home and for work so I will deal with the pounding in my head.

The problem with working at home is no sick days. You are home anyways so why not work.

Continuous Education

So today I went with Brett to a meeting with a Diabetic Educator. What a waste of time for the both of us. I know it will look good in Brett's medical records that he went but the fact is neither one of us learned a thing. Everything she told us is stuff that we had pretty much figured out on our own and the questions Brett did have she couldn't answer because they were about the effects on his career.

I am sorry but I think if you are going to have an educator in a military setting like this they should at least know the answers that active soldiers are going to ask. Sure they are going to ask medical questions but they are also going to ask how this is going to affect there careers.

Now we have to go to a 4 session class. I pointed out that the person we met with on a 1 to 1 was going to be doing most of the lecturing in these classes. Hopefully she will have more useful information in these classess than she did when we met with her.

Back to the Grind of Life

So today was the first day back to work after the holiday weekend. I definitely do not want to be back today. I guess it is a good thing that I work out of the house. I can take a break whenever I want. But that is starting to become a problem because I seem to be taking a lot of those breaks lately.

Flower Girl Troubles

A girl always dreams about their wedding. They know exactly what they want regarding flowers, dresses, decorations, etc. I am not one of those girls but I do know what I want when it comes to my flower girls.

I decided to have all 3 of my little cousins and Brett's 2 nieces in the wedding. I wanted their dresses to be different than the normal flower girl dresses and I wanted them to transition from the bridesmaids' dresses to my dress. After months of looking and even trying to find someone to make them from scratch, I chose a 2 piece black and white dress that was similar in style to the bridesmaids' dresses.

Now I am dealing with my aunt and uncle who have to pay for 3 dresses and waited until 2 days before the ordering deadline to say something to me about the price. I admit they are a little expensive for a little girl's dress but they can use it after the wedding either together or as individual pieces. I think the thing that bothers me the most is that they didn't say anything when I was home for Christmas. They had the perfect opportunity a bunch of different times and they said nothing.

Brett's mom had already paid for one of his nieces' dresses and they are nonrefundable. So the decision is made - either they buy the dress or the girls aren't in the wedding. Now unbeknownst to them, my mom and I paid for 2 of them so all they have to pay for is 1. I don't think they have anything to complain about now.

A New Year, A New Life

So it is now 2006. I always try to make a bunch of New Year's resolutions and keep them. I rarely ever keep them. However this year I have no choice to keep the resolution that everyone makes - exercise, eat right, and loose weight.

Brett has been officially diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes. The doctor was going to put him on medication right away but Brett convinced him to allow him to try diet and exercise to bring the sugar levels down. He has 2 months to do this. As of this morning, he as gotten it down to 120-130. This is still a little high but much better than 370 like it was on Tuesday. Because of this diagnosis we will be changing everything about our lifestyle - eating, drinking, exercise, etc. Hence why it will be slightly easier for me to keep this resolution.

Now for the ones I know that I will not be able to keep but am going to make anyways:

1. Write a blog every day (even if I don't have anything to write about).
2. Stop spending money on things I don't need.
3. Pay off all credit card debit.
4. Find a new job.

I am sure there are many more that I could make but I am going to keep it really simple for now. I don't want to overwhelm myself.

The Wonders of Life

I am amazed at how things can be going so right and then all of a sudden life just takes one of those turns. About a month ago, Brett injured his back moving some furniture into the house. Okay a little concerned but we will get through it. Then he started to have this neverending thirst and started to go to the bathroom much more then he used to (gets up in the middle of the night to go - never did that before). So yesterday before we left Cleveland he decided to check his sugar levels (since he is a nurse he had already self-diagnosed himself with diabetes). Testing himself was not the best thing to do because the glucose in his urine was over 1000 and his blood sugar was at 507. From what I was told this is very bad.

In a normal situation we would just deal with this. However, he is in the Army. This is a automatic discharge. I have never seen him so upset. He was actually crying in the car on the way back to Virginia. This of course got me all upset because I always cry when I see a grown man cry. Though he talks about getting out of the military I know he really loves it and is not ready to get out.

So today he is supposed to be getting everything checked out. Hopefully it is just something throwing off his levels due to the back injury. Worse case scenario I will have to console a 32 year old man who just learned he is diabetic and has just ended a 15 year military career.

Home for the Holidays

It is official. I will be home for Christmas. I am so excited about it. This will be the first Christmas Brett and I are actually together and we will get to spend it with our families. I might actually start to like the holidays.

And the whole reason we are actually going home - Cleveland Browns vs. Pittsburgh Steelers. I managed to get us tickets for the game. We won't actually be sitting together but we will be close. Brett will be sitting with my brothers and I will be the next section over with some of my parents' friends who have season tickets. But at least I got tickets.

Now everyone is probably saying we are crazy that this is the only reason we are going home. Normally I would agree but since the drive is killing his mental state I was okay with staying in Virginia and spending Christmas here. Now we have to figure out our travel arrangements. I am flying home on Tuesday for work and am supposed to come back on Friday. I was going to stay there if we decided to spend Christmas in Cleveland and he would drive up on Friday. We would drive back together on Monday.

However, Brett has done something to his back. It is very bad at the moment and has been like this for almost 2 weeks. (He looks like a little old man all hunched over.) So now I have to figure out if I can fly back earlier on Friday and then drive the truck home since we have to bring the dog with us. I am going to call the airline and see about flying back standby instead of changing my ticket.

Sounds like a bunch of work but it will all be worth it.

Registering Nightmare

They always tell you when you get married that registering is so much fun.  I tend to disagree.  This has been the most annoying part of the whole wedding activities.  First of all, I do not like to shop so I did all my registering online.  I didn’t even step foot into a store for any of the registering process.

Then there is the fact that we really don’t need anything.  Brett has lived on his own for a really long time so he has everything you need to establish a household.  The stuff we did register for was basically to update some of his appliances and make them ours.  We also chose some things that you wouldn’t buy for yourself (seafood utensils).

Today I was asked if we had registered for everyday china or silverware.  I told the person no and they asked why.  I explained that we both had dishes and that we had gone to Ikea (I love Ikea) and bought a set for $26.  They seemed a little upset by this.  I am sorry if that is what you wanted to buy us but there are a bunch of items you can purchase if you really want to get us something.

Don’t get me wrong – I am happy that people want to share in this moment with us but we are not all about the gifts.  I would rather not have them because it will be one less thing that we will have to pack each time we move.

Made for Each Other

And when we were going through our Christmas ornaments we discovered we had the exact same one that we made in grade school in the 5th or 6th grade. How cute!!!

My First Real Christmas Tree

Everyone has their first - first love, first job, first house... Well this weekend I experienced my first live Christmas tree. Growing up we always had a fake tree. Every year we would trek up to the attic and drag out this huge box with all these fake limbs that you had to insert into the "trunk". Once that was done, Mom would string on the lights and then it was a free-for-all with the ornaments. Let's just say I always let my brothers do the decorating. I truly do not like tree decorating.

Whenever we asked my mom why we had a fake tree her response was that she was not responsible enough to water the darn thing. She just wanted the simple tree that took forever to put together but that did not need any watering.

So when Brett found out that I never had a real tree he made it his goal to make sure this year I got one. We went to Home Depot (not where I thought we would go but hey this was my first time) and picked a very nice tree. We got it home and put it up and the first thing I did was water the thing. I will not be my mother and let it die or cause a fire (that was her other excuse). Brett put up the lights and then I of all people got stuck putting on the ornaments. I still don't like doing it but I figured since this was my first real tree and our first Christmas actually together I wouldn't complain.

And here is the final outcome.....