Hey gang!
Whether you know her or not…whether you read her blog or not…whether you follow her on Twitter or not…whether you “like” her on Facebook or not…PLEASE do me a favor and drop a quick comment or tweet to Sunshine on her birthday today.
Sunshine, you are the love of my life and I can’t wait to marry you later this summer. I will do whatever I can to make you the happiest woman in the world. I love you.
I am the luckiest man alive.
Happy birthday, baby.
LOVE YOUR SHOW~!!
xox
If anybody has been in a relationship for more than just a couple of months (I’m assuming that covers just about all of you), then you probably know what it’s like to go through what’s called, “The Rut”.
As in…“We’re stuck in a rut.”
More than once over the past week or two, Sunshine has noted that she doesn’t want us to fall into that rut. We’ve both been going through some motions lately…a routine of sorts that doesn’t really let us be ourselves.
Y’see, if you’ve followed either my blog or hers over the past few years, you know just how much we love life. We love exploring the world around us and experiencing new and fun things together as a couple. Lately, we’ve been spending our “off nights” relaxing on the couch watching HGTV or the latest episode of Survivor. That’s not to say that there is anything wrong with that, because there isn’t. It’s also not to say that it’s not “us”, because it is…just not EVERY night that we don’t have the kids with us.
So how does a couple, four+ years into a relationship and scheduled to get married later in the year, get out of a possible “rut” or “boring routine”?
It’s going to take some work on our parts, for sure. We need to be spontaneous if we’re feeling like doing something new and different. We need to plan to take dates and then follow through when it’s actually date night. We need to make a conscious effort to be the couple that we WANT to be, not just the couple that we are (if that makes any sense).
Obviously, any other suggestions are welcome…so don’t be afraid to throw in your two cents.
They say that most relationships end because of money issues. Just who are “they”, anyway?
Regardless…it’s a statistic that I’ve never wanted to be a part of. I mean, I’ve always told myself that the relationship I was in would never crumble due to finances…that “love would overcome” and other such whimsical thoughts.
In reality, though, financial issues are part of the life I’m in an the moment. After selling my house at a loss recently, the savings hoped to be realized from not paying down two mortgages are now a lot less as that loss needs to be paid off.
Without going into a ton of details, let’s just say this has added to the pressures of day-to-day living for Sunshine and I.
Yesterday was an eye-opener for me. I’ve always been bad with money…I’ll fully admit it. What I realized yesterday (finally) is that I’m not only putting myself in a bad situation with poor money management, I’m not putting Sunshine and the girls into bad situations without them approving of things or having any say in them. It’s not fair to them and it’s not fair to my own kids.
There is no obstacle that Sunshine and I cannot overcome. She can’t overcome it on her own, though. I’ve matured and grown in so many ways over the past few years that I feel like a different man (to be honest, I think I am a different man today). One of the things that hasn’t changed, though, is my poor money management.
No more.
I refuse to let Sunshine down. I refuse to let myself down any more. I’m taking back control of my life and living a more balanced lifestyle that reflects both of our incomes. I’m NOT going to let our wedding suffer and I’m NOT going to let debt creep back into my life after being almost completely eradicated late last year.
I refuse to be another statistic.
Both Sunshine and I are getting more and more excited about our upcoming nuptials. The only thing that we’re beginning to have seconds thoughts about it the venue.
It’s weird…neither one of us wanted a big second wedding. We initially just wanted to go elope on a cruise or something, but we know our kids want to be involved and it wouldn’t be right if we didn’t include them in this event. So then we came up with the idea of getting married on the roof of the Halifax Seaport Farmer’s Market, which is a location that holds a very special place in our hearts and is absolutely gorgeous in the summertime.
Last Friday, Sunshine asked a rather simple question:
“What if we just packed up all the kids and took them on a destination wedding down south? Hello cruise ship wedding!”
This question resulted in a fairly lengthy conversation between the two of us. There are a lot of pros and cons to this possibility, the least of which is the fact that my “new” daughter probably wouldn’t yet be comfortable enough with our family to want to go on a trip alone with us and that Sunshine’s family probably wouldn’t want to come.
Of course, my “new” daughter may actually want to come on the trip. And maybe Sunshine’s family doesn’t need to come. Maybe it only needs to be us with the kids and that’s it.
I dunno. It’s not a decision that we should take lightly or quickly. We have about a month or so before a deposit is required on our original location. My thought is that I want this wedding to be FUN for us. I don’t care if it’s perfect or beautiful or pristine…I just want us to enjoy every minute of it from beginning to end and I want it to be OURS, not what society tells us it should be.
I’m sure we’ll figure things out soon. I guess it’s just a bit more difficult than originally anticipated.
It’s been a very long week.
Two weekends ago, Sunshine and I made the journey to my old house to empty it out. Y’see, it finally sold and closes in a couple of weeks…so with Easter just around the corner and not a lot of time to move everything out before the closing date, we decided to do it sooner rather than later.
Because the majority of the small things had already been moved (clothes, dvd’s, etc) and the majority of the items left over were being donated to my younger sister (so there wasn’t any real sense of “carefulness” when packing stuff like dishes), the move went a lot faster and smoother than my previous move a couple of years ago.
In fact, things were going so well that both Sunshine and I decided to go out on a date Saturday night. Things have been so crazy and hectic lately that we thought we needed to take some time out for ourselves. We went to a restaurant for a nice dinner and a couple of drinks. It was nice to get out for a couple of hours and just hang out together…we don’t do that nearly enough.
The next day my little brother showed up to help move the last of my things. I dropped 2/3 of my items off for my sister and then drove back home to Sunshine to unload the remaining items (my kitchen table set, my bedroom furniture set, etc).
That night I got sick. I could feel it coming on during the day, but was determined to not let it get to me until the move was over. When I woke up the next day, it all hit me at once.
Now I did my best to not end up with one of those “man colds” and whine and complain like a baby. But I’ve been sneezing and coughing and blowing my nose all friggin’ week and it’s done a few things:
So needless to say, I haven’t blogged all week and I haven’t enjoyed some of the perks of living with my one true love all week.
Thankfully, I’m finally feeling better.
Heh.
|
 | T on Dad’s New Girlfrien… |
 | Jolene on Dad’s New Girlfrien… |
 | naimavanswol on Dad’s New Girlfrien… |
 | thebitchdesk on HAPPY BIRTHDAY SUNSHINE!!… |
| thebitchdesk on Spring, sunshine, & middle… |
