2 years!

OMG it has been over 2 years since my last post!  So much has happened.   The last post I had recently moved in with my boyfriend.  Well that man is now my husband.  He proposed on Christmas Eve 2016.  We married on April 21, 2018 at a beautiful venue in Northern Virginia.  Married life is wonderful.  We still have the same issues as we have in the past, since getting married did not really change much except my name, which is now MUCH shorter. 

In the past 2 years I have also become re-involved in the Masonic Family.  I am a local advisory board member and state board member for the International Order of the Rainbow for Girls.  This is an organization for girl 10-21 that teaches public speaking, poise, camaraderie and much more. The other organization that I have joined is Bikers Against Child Abuse (B.A.C.A.).  It is a great organization of bikers that empower children to not be afraid of the world in which they live.  I have met some amazing people, who give all of their free time to these children.  So, my life is super busy but with everything going on, I am hoping to maybe get back into blogging. 

Have a sunny day! 

It has been a while!

"You'll never find a rainbow if you're looking down." 

Charlie Chaplain

"Always believe that something wonderful is about to happen."

Unknown

"If you want your life to be a magnificent story, then begin by realizing that you are the author and everyday you have the opportunity to write a new page."

Mark Houlahan

So it has been about a year from the last post I made and there have been some MAJOR changes in my life.  First and foremost, I earned my Masters Degree in Interior Design.  It was a long treacherous road, but I finally made it to the end.  I wanted to give up at time, but I pulled through and made it.  One of the only reasons that I did was because of my life partner.  He supported me through it, and nagged me when I needed it even though I did not want to hear it. I finished my thesis on December 17, 2015, which was the last piece to my degree.

After I finished that, I moved in with my significant other at the beginning of March this year.  He told me that he would not propose until I did two things: Finish my thesis, and move in with him.  Well both are done, and I think that I have his whole family on my side where they are waiting more so than I.  He makes me happy and I just want a life with him.  Now I would like to be married before I start having kids; I would like to have that stable home for them.  We are not young kids, but in our 30's, so we are mature enough to know that this relationship is what we both want.

When I moved in with my man, I also started a new job.  Not a promotion, but a raise which is nice.  I do have to travel longer to get to work, but one of my sisters sends me books on my kindle and I listen to them on my way to and from work every day.  So always look on the bright side of life as Monty Python says.

My life finally seems to be going in the direction I want it to.  I live back in the country, in the woods, next to a river.  I have a man who loves me dearly, and a job that even though it stresses me out sometimes, I am learning a lot, and pays me pretty well, with room for advancement.  For the first time in a long time, I can pay all of my bills in a month.  Even though I do still live paycheck to paycheck if emergencies arise, I am doing well.

I hope all of you reading this have a great and sunshiny day!

What to do, what to do?

'Unity is strength... when there is teamwork and collaboration, wonderful things can be acheived."

 - Mattie Stepanek - 

"Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear."

 - Ambrose Redmoon - 

"The most important thing in communication is to hear what isn't being said."

 - Peter Drucker - 

"When you're surrounded by people who share a passionate commitment around a common purpose, anything is possible."

 - Howard Schultz - 

My roommate said something to me today, and I am not really sure how to take it.  She said that she thinks I am depressed and that I can do more with my life.  Now I really do not think I am depressed.  I get emotional sometimes, but hey, I am a woman.  We are allowed to do that from time to time.  As for the latter, it may be true.  I procrastinate often and sometimes I just want to eat chocolate and read a book, but when it really matters, I do what I need to do.  Or I do what I WANT to do.

You always have a choice in what you do.  Like Joan Brandwyn (Julia Stiles) in Mona Lisa Smile, it was her choice not to go to law school.  She wanted to be a homemaker, so that is what she did.  Now I love my friend and roommate, but I really think she does not want other people to move on without her.  She said she sees a lot of her in me, but I don't.  We were brought up similarly, but I am more of a country girl, and she city.  She never wants to have kids and a family but I do.  She never finished her degree and I am about to finish my masters.  Not that she is not a smart, beautiful woman who can accomplish anything she wants to, but I really feel like she might just not want me to be happy... without her.

I really do not know what I am say, but I know it is my life and therefore my choice in how I live it.

Achieving Tomorrow

"Strength doesn't come from what you can do.  

It comes from overcoming the things you once thought you couldn't."

 - Oprah Winfrey - 

"Success is focusing the full power of all you are on what you have a burning desire to achieve."

 - Wilfred Peterson - 

"Ask yourself if you you're doing today is getting you closer to where you want to be tomorrow."

 - Unknown - 

"The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams."

 - Eleanor Roosevelt - 

There are so many things that I want to achieve in my life.  I want to have a good career, a good husband and children, and a good life.  Note that I said good and not great.  There will always be ups and downs, and I just want the positive to outweigh the negative.

I had my graduation ceremony last week.  I am not officially done with my thesis so therefore did not earn my masters yet, but I will.  I am so close and even though I took a break, I am determined to finish now.  There was no reason to work my butt off for the time that I did and not finish.  This is part of that future I want.  The future I will have.

The Future

"Life begins at the end of your comfort zone."

 - Neale Donald Walsch - 

""May your future be limited only by your dreams."

 - Christa McAuliffe - 

"But even if we don't have the power to choose where we come from 

we can still choose where we go from there."

 - Stephen Chbosky - 

There are so many things that I want to do in my life.  I want to keep traveling and never stop.  I want to learn as much as I can about as many things as possible.  I want to experience all that I can.  I want to never stop.  I read because it transports me to so many different worlds.  I love because there is no greater force on this earth than love.  Keep learning, keep loving, that is how we as a people can make it better.

Waiting... not always a good thing

"Leadership is lifting a person's vision to high sights, the raising of a person's performance to a higher standard, the building of a personality beyond its normal limitations."

 - Peter Drucker - 

"If you don't make mistakes, you're not working on hard enough problems. And that's a big mistake."

 - Frank Wilczek - 

"There are two ways of exerting one's strength: one is pushing down, the other is pulling up."

 - Booker T. Washington - 

So I have been working on my Masters for way too long.  What should have been done in 2 years will be done in 5 years.  I worked myself to a breaking point, I made mistakes, and I have learned from them.  Do not put off tomorrow what can be done today.  Seriously, try your hardest not to.  I am pulling myself up from under the bad place I put myself in and now I just have to fix my finances. Once I do that, I can really start the life I want.  

Life, what do you do with is?

"The most important thing is to enjoy your life - to be happy - it's all that matters."

 - Audrey Hepburn - 

"Fear not that your life will someday end. Fear only that you do nothing with it."

 - Unknown - 

"The first rule of focus is this: 'Wherever you are, be there.'"

 - Unknown - 

"Fear is only as deep as the mind allows."

 - Japanese Proverb - 

Life.  There are so many topics that can be branched out with about our lives.  How we live them and what we do with them.  Be present, strive, but be happy.  Focus but carefree.  So many contradictions.  I feel that life should be a balance.  Happy and sad.  Light and dark.  Calm and turbulent.  In order to achieve this balance, we have to know what we want out of life and where we are going.  We need to know our limits and what works best for us.

I think we should just go for happy as much as we can.