WE'RE DEBT FREE

You heard right- we are completely debt free!

We just paid off the last of our car payment, and we are 100% debt free. Wahoo! We started a year ago- on the way home from a spontaneous trip to Disneyland to celebrate our fourth anniversary- listening to the audio book of The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey. We were both impressed, hopeful, and motivated. Then we started the Financial Peace University Course. We dove in with both feet. We had over $50k in medical debt, along with a car payment, and a vacation ownership. Over the last year, we built our baby emergency fund, then dug even deeper and got gazelle intent with our debt. I went from being a full time stay at home wife and mother, to a full time employer at a major financial firm. I didn't realize how much I missed the career route! (Thankfully, a trusted friend and neighbor watches our little boy during the day. It's an all day play date for him with his best friend there.) We sold our vacation home, got on a super slim budget (beans and rice, anyone?), and made a million and a half calls to lower, settle, have dismissed, and even beg down our medical debt. We become full on "ramsey-ites".

We started having budget meetings, communicating about our finances, spending, and our money, and setting goals- big and small- to achieve. It seemed touch, and long, but now that we are here, it was the most interesting and progressive year of our marriage.

And now, here we are. We are debt free. Debt Free. Those two words have so much meaning they can't possibly be expressed in two short syllables. Thank you, Dave Ramsey, for your Bible based, logical, simple, easy-to-follow guidance plan.

Shhh, listen. Did you hear that? That's the sound of our family tree changing.

Our five year anniversary celebration

Happy 5 year anniversary to us! March 7, 2012 marks our five year anniversary.

We have spent the last five years loving each other through good times and bad, health and sickness, and richer and poorer. For those of us that are close, you know how drastic all of these have been for us. Marriage is a lot of work, and we are honored to have reached five years together. We have spent many nights working through disagreements and many days laughing so hard we couldn't sit up straight. We have desired, born, and began raising a child. We have grown closer, become more stable, learned about life, love, and marriage.

So for our five year wedding anniversary, we celebrated the right way- a relaxing get away filled with enjoyment, food, and alone time for the two of us. We started by staying a few nights at a bed and breakfast. We were far enough away that we could leave our daily life behind, but close enough if we were needed we could return home within a few hours. It was perfect. The B&B we chose had a comfortable feel, with interesting locks all over.

The breakfast room

Wall of lock and key

We chose The Parlor Suite, and it was sweetly romantic.

Our private breakfast nook

For another relaxing note, we chose to get a full spa package. We invested in hour and a half massages, and full hour long pedicures. It was wonderful, and we were both melting off the table. I even got my toes painted a fun sparkly green.

For lunch, we went to the Beehive Grill. It's known for it's good food, and boy did it live up to that reputation.

We started with an appetizer of a chicken queso. It was the best queso we've ever had. Grilled to perfect crispness on the outside, while the inside was filled with chicken and cheese, topped with fantastic salsa and a side of sour cream.

I had a chipolte chicken wrap, with fries and onion rings. The chicken wrap was excellent, a perfect mixture of hot and cold. The onion rings are fantastic! They make their own fry sauce, and I was smitten with it.

DH had Black Chicken pasta. It was al dente pasta in a creamy alfredo sauce, with broccoli and a side of garlic bread.

We took dessert with us, because there was no way we had room to eat it then but we didn't want to miss out. We ordered the famous chocolate cake - a pound of chocolate cake, filling, and frosting, topped with more chocolate sauce, whipped topping, and powdered sugar. We were in heaven over this one.

It was wonderful to spend time with each other. We love our life, our marriage, our family, and all we have going on. That all made this get away that much sweeter. We are happily looking forward to many more years together.

We're to the "any day now" month

Any day this month, my husband will have a son. Any day this month, we'll be making a trip to the hospital, and bring home our beautiful little son. My guess date is middle of this month, and since babies are born two weeks before or after the guess date, that means he'll be here any time during the month of May. We will become parents together, and bring a child into this world that we will raise together and love together and continue our family together.

We had some maternity pictures done the weekend before last. Not only did we have a blast, but they turned out better than I ever could have hoped. Thank you to Valerie at Photography By Valerie, a friend I've known for years and recently caught up with again, for her excellent photography and photoshop. You will tell by the photos that she is incredibly talented. And, her prices are extremely competitive. She is worth significantly more than what she charges. We recommend her very highly. We've already decided she'll be our photographer from now on, and she'll be doing the newborn photos of our son.

And here's the one Kenn says is his favorite. I'll probably get this, and some of our son, framed to give him for Father's Day.
Soon enough, we'll be making an announcement about the birth of our son.

eBay makes my life easier

I love eBay! Selo and I have some big stuff going on right now, and eBay is giving some much needed ease.

One of the big moments we are focusing on is his mom's wedding. We're down to two months, and I'm in a planning frenzy. I don't think she realized how much needs to be done between now and then! Thankfully, I got theknot.com going last night, and we got on eBay to get some wedding stuff. She now has a checklist to work from, with daily assignments from me. We have purchased her veil and some wedding glam on eBay, and we are going tonight to look for centerpieces, backdrops, and decorations. I think she's a lot more organized.

And can I say how much fun this is? I never wanted to be a wedding coordinator, but I'm really having a blast! To see her get so excited when I show tell her I can make her veil, or to give her quotes on photographers that I've found, or to see her smile when she shows me her dress. It makes all the work and the chaos totally worth it.

Cool site, cool contest

It's three in the morning. I really should be sleeping. But I guess my sleeping is all topsy turvey, because of sleeping all day. I'm feeling better, though, so hopefully I can make it through a full work day tomorrow.

In the meantime, I found this cool blog. It's called Modern Molly Mormon. I subscribed to have their posts sent to my email, and I'm enjoying what I'm reading so far.

Right now, they are featuring another site called Simply Sweet Marriage. I'm all about improving marriages and keeping marriage strong. Marriage isn't easy but it's a life long commitment. That means it's a lifetime of working to keep it fresh, exciting, and strong! Selo and I read books, watch videos, and listen to CDs that gives us tips and ideas to keep our marriage strong.

MMM and SSM are doing a contest right now, giving away two sets of books to improve intimacy in marriage. The contest ends April 16, but there are plenty of ways to enter. I'm doing all I can to win! But since there are two sets, I hope you win, too ;)

Check out the contest here

Valentine's Weekend

It was nice to have a long weekend last weekend.

Friday night was awesome. The girls and I went and saw the movie, and it was really funny. There were even some parts that I didn't expect in it. After the movie, some of us went to eat and stayed for a while. We all had a blast, and are going to make plans to do it again. It's nice to go out and have time with the girls.

Saturday I woke up with a cold. Selo had just gotten over it, so he took care of me to help me through it. First he snuggled in bed with me for a while. We watched the snow fall outside (it was pretty!) and watched our cat in the window. Even though I was sick, it was a romantic morning. My sweet husband made and brought me food in bed, he kept me bundled up, he was there anytime I needed or wanted something. I seriously have the bestest husband in the world.

While I was sick, he re-arranged our computer area. We have one long table and one corner desk. He switched us around so he was on the long table and I was on the desk. It worked out a lot better than either of us had hoped. Now he has a computer desk. A desk that will hold all of his computers, monitors, keyboards, mouse pads, and anything else he needs. I have this beautiful and very effectient work space. On one side is the PC with the dual monitors and pull out keyboard. On the other side is where I can put my Mac and there is open space for me to handle paperwork, mail, and files. In the center in the corner is my printer/scanner/copier/fax (that I got for $10 with my Mac- thank you Mac store!). The end effect is a very workable and functional space that is classy and elegant. And, since he was doing all the heavy lifting and moving around, he gave me a job he thought I could handle. I got to clean a keyboard. lol I took all the keys off, then soaked them in Oxy Clean. I cleaned the empty board of the keyboard. Then I layed all the keys out on a towel so them to dry. Selo thought it was cute that I wrote "I LOVE U" with the keys for him. All in all, it was a good weekend. Selo did an awesome job of taking care of me, and I was almost over my cold completely by the time I had to go back to work. With all of the moving and organizing, we are going to have a much easier time keeping up with our business and keeping our house (at least that part) clean and organized.

A couple of weeks ago, Selo bought three bookshelves for our front room. Two full size and one corner unit. So far one of them has been put up, but it has already made a difference. We have high hopes of getting the rest of our front room completely organized once we have all three shelves up and in place.

So far, so good

Christmas has been wonderful for us, how about for you? We spent every night last week with one side of family or another, and there was so much food we couldn't even try everything. We received some awesome gifts. lol And I loved watching our family open the pictures.

I got Selo some small things he asked for. I also made him a blanket, because he has been cold so much lately. He didn't think he was getting one, because when he asked me for one while I was making all the others I told him I didn't have time. But you should have seen the look of glee on his face when he opened his. He got me a very nice gift card to Victoria's Secret, so that I could get some new girlie things. *wink wink* He also got me some really good chocolate from Godiva. Oh, it is heavenly. We are still on the search for Wii Fit, though. We even did a little shopping for Nobi and picked out some things for her from the cat and dog supplies. On a shopping trip yesterday, we found a store that had pillowtops on sale for $49 for any size. So we ordered a new one for our bed (we have a king size bed and a queen size pillow top.) to go with our new sheets. And Christmas Day itself was even better than we planned for- Selo's work was locked, so instead of working he was home on Christmas Day. So he is getting paid double time for five hours, and we still got to spend it with each other.

Today, I took our Christmas down. In two hours or less, I had all the ornaments packed up in their case, the tree put away in it's box, and the decorations, cards, and books packed up. It's all sitting next to the couch ready for Selo to put outside. I feel so good to be able to put it all up and take it all down so easily, and still have a complete Christmas from it.

I'm loving music by Michael Buble. I've been listening to him today, and enjoying it thouroughly. People say he was born in the wrong time. But really, can you think of anyone that could bring it back like this? There's just nothing NOT right about his vocals. Pretty good looking kid, too, if ya ask me.

I've gotten a lot of work done on the AAP website. Everyone was amazed at how quickly I was able to get it completely up to date, and that made me feel good. I've been told that a bunch of new fur babies have been adopted in the last few weeks, so I'm sure I'll have more updating to do once the numbers start coming in. Christmas is a good time for new pets.

There has also been some absolutely wonderful feedback on the CMS blog. I can't even begin to describe how that made me feel. Everyone wants to be taken seriously, and wants to know their writing is being read and making a difference. But to be sought out of a crowd and asked to be the writer for a huge website that is known all over the world? Wow.

I'm still working on the other two websites. One is almost finished and will be launched at the beginning of the year. The other is still in Beta for the host and may be a bit longer. But it's progressing, and there are big plans for it.

I took a pregnancy test this morning. Selo and I hadn't planned on TTC until end of next year, and I am still on BC. But with the way he told me he was disappointed this morning when the test was negative, I'm thinking we might be doing the baby dance a lot sooner than end of next year. I've got something really big planned for his birthday, so my focus is going to be on that for the next month. I'm sure we'll be talking more seriously about having a baby after his birthday.

It's a good feeling knowing that this is coming. It's nice knowing that I won't be pushing my husband into having a baby when he isn't ready or doesn't want one. It's comforting to know that he actually wants a child, and not just that we're going to have one because of me or because we got pregnant or because we should. We'll be having a baby because we are emotionally and financially ready, we are mature enough, we are at a good place in our lives, and our marriage is secure enough that we will not only make it through the added stress and joy of a child, but we will grow closer together. We are as prepared as two people can be to have a child, and we will be the best parents we can be when our child is born. Yes, it is a wonderful feeling knowing all of this.

I have almost all of my 2009 Goals defined. Every year, I set ten goals for that year. Not things like "start a diet" or "go to the gym every day". It's things that are actually attainable, have set details, and a specific accomplishment. I'm really looking forward to some of my goals for this coming year. When I think of all that we have went through and all that we accomplished this last year, I am truly amazed. They say what doesn't kill you makes you strong, and Selo and I are definitely proof of that!

Well, I'm off to do more online house hunting. We're going to be setting up some appointments to see some houses within the next little while. Have a great day everyone!

On Love- in all of its sugary sweetness

These are a few quotes on love that I found on this page of Wiki. And I've put my thoughts on a few of them. They got me thinking.

"The greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return"

• Eden Ahbez

Selo has taught me to accept love. For a long time, I didn't think I deserved it, and lashed out. For the last few years, he has taken his sweet and gentle time to let me learn that I am worth it, and he does love me. In return, I have learned to open the most sensitive part of my heart to him, and love him just as deeply.


"Love is the best thing that can keep you together"

• Anonymous

A relationship takes committment. When both parties are committed, a relationship can last through anything. And I do mean anything.


"When I saw you, I was afraid of meeting you.When I met you, I was afraid of kissing you. When I kissed you, I was afraid to love you. Now that I love you, I'm afraid of losing you"

• Anonymous The Voice Of Love by Silard Somorjay(soundtrack)Movie;The Streets of Beijing.

"True love is your soul's recognition of its counterpoint in another."

• John Beckwith ( Owen Wilson) in Wedding Crashers

Disagree

"Where there is love, distance doesn't matter."

• Mata Amritanandamayi

Distance does matter. The hardest times of our marriage are when we are apart. We prefer to live together, sleep together, and travel together, because we want to BE together. No matter where we are or what we are doing, being together is important to us.



"Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies."

• Aristotle

One can love themself, but love cannot blossom without another person. Love needs to develope between two separate beings, in order for both to progress and experience the deepest sense of acceptance and joy.


My own thoughts

Love gives hope. Teaches endurance, patience, giving, acceptance. Love is not strong because it is love, love is to be made strong by those that are committed to making it that way. Love is to be cherished and encouraged. Love is not equal purely by being love, equality is to be gained by respect earned and given. Respect cannot be forced or taken, but is one's own to keep and to hold. Losing one's self respect should in no way affect your respect for others.

Selo and I were talking the other day, and, once again, I realized how blessed I am to have him, and to be his wife. I started thinking about love. About our pasts, separate and together, about how much we have both grown, about what love really means and is, about how it has changed us, about people and commitment and family, about so much.

I love that we can wake up next to each other every day. I love waking up next to the man that is my husband, and knowing that I am his wife. I love the feeling of my husband reaching over in his sleep to wrap his arm around me. I love the feeling in the morning when he first wakes up and pulls me to him so he can hold me for just a few moments before we crawl out of bed. I love the way he smiles at me, and says good morning to me with those sleepy eyes. I love the way he tells me that my eyes are sparkly. I love the way he makes my eyes sparkle. I love being married to him.

Love is a verb and a noun. That means that you choose who you love, and you choose to cherish or destroy the love that you have. I love knowing that loving each other is our choice, and not an obligation or a burden or a neccessity. I love knowing that we are together because we love each other, and not because we have to stay together for the kids or have to help each other pay the rent. Because we want to be together. We want to be committed. We want to be faithful.

I love knowing we are happy. I love knowing that we are improving our lives. Working together to make things better for ourselves, and our future children. Building not just a place to live or to reside, but an actual home with love and laughter. I love laughing with him. I love hearing him sing his silly songs, and spin me around when we dance, and being silly and crazy together. I love hearing his different silly voices, listening to him play his guitar, enjoying the sounds of him moving around in the house. I love the pictures on our walls. I love the way he looks at me when I tell him I'll cook his favorite meal, and the way he says thank you so many times while he eats it. I love how he does the dishes and cleans the bathroom. I love that he is willing to put just as much work into cleaning our home as I am. I love watching him separate our laundry, and put his clothes away. I love seeing him hang his shirts in the closets, and talk about the hangers. I love seeing him make our bed, and mess it all up to tell me he needs me to "help him fix it".

I love going on dates with him. I love the way he takes me by the hand and says he's taking me out tonight. I love hearing him talk about the places he wants to go, and what he wants to show me at each one. I love the way he pays the bill, or buys the tickets, or leaves the tip, so that he can be chivalrous. I love how strong and manly he is. I love that he can open the jars I can't. I love that he wants to be my hero, and carry me across the thresh hold. I love coming home together, and curling up to relax after work or on the weekend. I love the passion we have. The look in his eyes when I know he's thinking about me. The intimacy of being able to read each other's thoughts, know what the other is thinking, finish each other's sentences, and predict what the other will want. I love the way we feel so connected to each other, so close. I hate the way I miss him so dreadfully while he is gone on business trips, or how I miss him so innocently while he is at work, but I love the hugs and wanting when we reunite again.

I am grateful for the commitment we have in each other. I was told a few weeks ago while talking to a married man that he did not want to hurt my marriage. I was shocked and simply stated to him that I love my husband, I am fiercely loyal, that I hide nothing from him, and I do nothing that would need to be hidden. I love knowing that we both have complete trust in each other. And not because we've "never been caught", but because we don't put ourselves in a position for something risky to happen. We have proven time and time again that we are committed to our marriage, and we will do whatever it takes to not just keep it but to keep it strong.

I love knowing we are equals in our marriage. We value the other's opinion, perspective, and point of view. I love knowing he appreciates me, and I love being able to show him that I appreciate him. I am grateful for the work that he does to support our family and our home. I am grateful for the time he puts into laundry and dishes and cleaning, so that I'm not left with everything. I'm grateful for his help to pay our bills, even though I know how much he hates the tedious monotony of punching in card numbers and writing down confirmation numbers.

We don't have the perfect marriage. We have problems and disagreements and fights. We don't always get along. But we are committed to work through every problem, love each other before after and during, and to make it work.