Unexpected hope

This morning Kevin and I took Monster for a walk. For the first time, I looked around the beautiful blue sky and the spring blossoms...and felt hopeful! Once home, looking for an inspirational quote about the beautiful season of Spring, I came across a quotation unexpected but very welcomed.
It says "AS SURE AS THE SPRING WILL FOLLOW THE WINTER, PROSPERITY AND ECONOMIC GROWTH WILL FOLLOW RECESSION."
So as much as the springtime awakening in our neck of the woods has encouraged my husband and I, we hope this quote can encourage all people. One day, things will be back to normal :)

Family of 2....for now....

This last week spent with our nieces Sophia and Peyton, was an eye-opener for Kevin and I. We had a blast being the fun auntie and uncle but realized we both would like some time together as a couple before adding children to the mix. My brother Jeff mentioned that we should enjoy being a married couple right now. He and Lindsi suggested that we wait to have kids until we both really really want them. We both completely agree. Although we both look forward to the day when we can start a family, right now we're enjoying each other's company. Monster is enough of a dependent for now :) Plus, we've only been married for little over 6 months! We love to just get up and go...and now we know you can't do that with children! We have so many dreams to accomplish before starting a family, like buying a house, Kevin would like to get a newer car eventually, we'd like to have money saved up and we'd like to be able to travel before we settle down. The biggest dream is both finding jobs in the Corvallis area, as we think that'd be a great place to raise a family. When we left OSU, we definitely left part of our hearts in Corvallis as well. We find that last dream kind of unlikely, as jobs in our fields are sparse in that area, but it's still on our radar for now. From our talk, we decided that around 27 or so we'll look into the whole children thing again. But who knows...now that I posted this, I probably jinxed us! Haha! For now, we are just perfectly content playing house to our nieces and loving every minute of it! :) They are such dolls!

PostSecret Sunday!

Here's my favorite post of the week:


It reads: "This is the parking ticket I got the day I stopped our divorce. I love you!"

Simply said. Simply beautiful. Nice to hear a different side of divorce, especially today.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzq3srbYEUY&feature=player_embedded#

Check out www.postsecret.com

Operation: LOVE

Happy Valentine's Day! I woke up to this beautiful white rose arrangement and the sweetest card from Kevin. This is our first Valentine's Day as a married couple. I am practically giddy over the card that reads "To My WIFE on Valentine's Day!" As if that wasn't enough, he even spoiled me with a gift certificate to get a deluxe manicure and pedicure. I've been wanting one for quite some time! I hope we always stay as happy as we are today. This has been the best 6 months of my life. I love being married to him. He'll forever be my Valentine.

EUREKA!

I CAN SEE! :)

I know I already look a million times smarter. It's inevitable. Right? I've already been called Tina Fey and a sexy librarian. Hmm, I guess I will take what I can get. :) I honestly didn't know how blind I actually was until I put on my brother's fiance Tracie's glasses. I realized that there IS such thing as fine print...and I COULD read a sign from across the room. Go figure!


Life is so much more appealing now that I can see what I'm looking at. I feel like a whole new woman. Plus, they are just another cute accessory to add to the pile. I love being a girl!

Pure Bliss with automatic doors

I made the mistake of inviting my husband to Target with me tonight. Every girl knows Target is not the place to stop in to  pick up an item or two then jet out. If you just need one item, you stop into Safeway or maybe Fred Meyers, not Target. Target is the browsing shopper’s bliss. A place to find inspiration and things one doesn’t necessarily need, but somehow can’t live without. I had great plans to browse each department, with the exception of electronics and outdoor gear. I knew there were just so many things that I couldn’t live without, even though I had no clue what they were yet. Kevin had a very different plan. Before we even walked through the fabulous automatic doors, he was pressing for my list of needs: sandwich bags, paper plates, tortilla chips and vegetable oil. (Obviously, I could have gone to Safeway…but I was so excited about the potential in Target.) Considering I could count all the items on one hand, Kevin was determined to make this an in-and-out stop. At each turn, I tried to hold him back and browse through my favorite aisles…but my man was onto my schemes. We were parked, in and out, and driving away within 25 minutes. That deserves some sort of record or trophy. I barely even got to glance at the clearance clothes as we jetted toward the registers. He let me nowhere near the clearance baby racks and we breezed right passed the makeup and clothes. Men just don’t understand. Target is all about deals. Why was it Kevin’s goal to push me passed every potential purchase opportunity!?! He says because he didn’t have 3 hours to waste at Target. My belief is that he just came to make sure I didn’t walk out with anything that could be categorized as a “want” instead of a “need.” Ugh, men!

we're all just hampsters.

The wheel of life seems to be spinning a little faster lately. Our little hampster legs can barely keep up. We have so much going on right now and feel like we really don't have enough time to do it all. I have so many blog-worthy topics jumbled in my head that just need to make their way onto the page. A lot easier said then done. So much for my 1-photo-per-week commitment! That lasted for what?..a day? Go figure. I will work very hard this week with Annie (my new netbook) to get a lot of blogging updates completed--or atleast started! Now, I honestly have no excuse. There is a fabulous blog function on my netbook that allows me to open up this Word-like program with one-click, type up my blog entry (including adding pictures/videos, formatting and previewing the post) and then post it to my blog. I can even save it to automatically post itself on a certain date/time in the future. I don't even have to type in the blog address or open Internet Explorer! How handy is that!?! Don't you just love technology? :)

The following are the pressing topics on my mind...so much to tell...Girls Weekend Trip to Las Vegas, time with my most favorite niece, girls night out, the verdict on my new work schedule, Family photos/pregnancy photos of the Boss family, update on The Garvey's family life, becoming an Aunt TWICE, Monster, Kevin's birthday?, Sophia's upcoming 2nd birthday, Kevin's job hunt extravaganza, my new glasses!, our 6th month wedding anniversary, etc. MAN! I'm more behind that I thought I was. Am I forgetting anything? Did I ever even blog about Christmas and New Years? It seems like Christmas was just yesterday, but it's already February. I guess it's true...time flies when you're having fun.