beautiful addiction

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My best friend, Andrea, had her baby on Friday (08-08-08, how cool!).  They welcomed a beautiful baby girl, Samantha Lee, into the world at 6:39pm.  She was born into a huge and loving family (5 other siblings!).  We got to go visit them at home today and Samantha is absolutely adorable.

This article about the 6 principles for more passion and energy in marriage got me thinking today.  It got me thinking about what my ideals and thoughts were about marriage before actually tying the knot, and how things differ now, almost two years later.

Has it been all sunshine and happiness?  No.  Not in the least.  We’ve had some very emotional and deep arguments.  We’ve hit some terribly complicated rough patches.  We’ve been bored and felt like every day has turned into the same.  It definitely hasn’t been as easy as I thought it was going to be going into it all.  What people say is true, “Things are different when you’re married.  Things aren’t always easy, even though you’ve been together for a very long time and even lived together for years already.”

I didn’t believe those words then.  I thought, “How different can things be?  How can a piece of paper change everything?” But somehow, things are different and that piece of paper changed everything.

Things are somehow more real.  More concrete.  I can’t be selfish and focused soley on myself, even if I want to.  I have to think as part of a couple now moreso than I ever did in the past.  When things get monotonous it feels more personal now than before.

But what I’ve realized is that no matter what, I have a man who will stand behind me, always.  Through thick and thin.  In good times and in bad.  And he really does.  I lost my job and he was the first person to console me and tell me how much bullshit the whole situation was.  He didn’t question my morals and workplace ethics like most everyone else was doing.  He didn’t succumb to the nasty rumors flying around.  He took my word and knew that I was telling the truth.

When I was diagnosed with Behcet’s, he was there to wait on me hand and foot when I couldn’t get out of bed.  He took care of me and didn’t question it.

We have fun.  We have common interests, but still are different enough to keep things lively.  We both want the same things out of life and strive to reach those goals together.

So when things are feeling like they could be better, I just remind myself that I have the most caring and loving husband a woman could ask for right by my side.  Nobody could love me like he loves me.

And that’s priceless.

Sometimes I have to take a step back and reflect on the things I have in my life that make each day worth waking up.  It’s easy to get lost in the frustration, stress, and curve balls that life throws your way, but there are things that make it worth while.

I spent my evening with my husband and a good friend playing “Rock Band” on the XBox 360.  I made dinner for us.  We had ice cream.  We got to be silly and have fun and play as a band together for hours.

It’s the nights like these…sitting around laughing with some of the people who mean the most to me…that I remember why I put up with those curve balls and moments of frustration.  They make the better moments stick out even more.

It’s not as bad as it seems.

1. I’m enjoying all the jam we made a few weeks back. I’ve been having toast with jam on it for breakfast and/or snacks. So yummy.
2. Our homemade canned pickles came out just wonderful, too! I’m so glad. We were worried because we’d never made them before.
3. I did three loads of laundry today. I hate laundry.
4. Our air conditioner broke over the weekend, but got fixed today. I’m going to still try to use the box fan in the bedroom window at night to save on our electric bill. We’ll see how that goes.
5. I love Glade Scented Oil candles. They smell amazing. The refills are kind of pricey because I go through them so much, so I’m trying not to burn them as often. *pout*
6. Spent a while organizing my iTunes on my desktop computer since I had to migrate over from my laptop when I sold it. I’m now on last.fm again if you want to check that out. Still has my stats from 2005 but I didn’t want to make a new account, so I’m just going with it.
7. I’ve got cramps crazy bad and just want to curl up and sleep. But I just woke up from a nap on the couch. At 10pm. Ugh.
8. Currently reading “Fight Club” and so far it all matches up really well to the movie. I’ve got another 35 or so books on my shelf to be read after that. Yes, really.
9. I went to the farmer’s market today and bought a few pounds of potatoes, 2 huge green peppers, 2 banana peppers, 6 tomatoes, and a zucchini for $8.50. I’m happy about that.
10. I made homemade potato salad for the first time ever and it turned out yummy. Needs more mustard though.
11. I am looking forward to the end of the month so that I can do a summary of my finances and then set new goals for August since this month didn’t go as well as planned. I’m a geek, I know.
12. I miss my family.
13. …and my best friend. We were supposed to have lunch last week but she wasn’t feeling well. She will be giving birth in the next few weeks and I’m so excited for her.
14. Dave is currently napping on the couch where I left him when I woke up, and he looks so peaceful that I don’t want to wake him up.
15. I should really wake him up so he’s not awake all night when he has to be up for work at 7:30.

So, I spent nearly $500 on an eye exam, a 1 year supply of contact lenses, and a new pair of glasses (lenses and frames) the other day. The vision place called me earlier this afternoon to tell me my stuff came in and I could come pick them up before 5:30. So we did. And I love my glasses. I feel so emo (or artistic/smart). I can’t decide which, haha. I’ve wanted this style of glasses for a long time but never had the courage to actually get them. I’ve gotten compliments from Dave (he’s biased!) and my friends (yay!) so I’m thoroughly enjoying them.

We had Will and Nick over the other night and splurged on pizza for dinner and then some liquor (I spent $30 and Will spent $30 and Nick bought all the juice and stuff to go with it) to make Jolly Rancher shots and Bahama Mama mixed drinks (like you can order at Applebee’s). It was a wonderful evening of drinking and Guitar Hero. Once we were winding down we watched “Edward Scissorhands” on TV until 6:30 in the morning when we decided it was a good time for sleep.

The only bad thing was that when I opened the freezer halfway through our night of fun and games, the bottle of Malibu Banana Liquor came sliding out and exploded at my feet. I got two little shards of glass in my right foot but no other damage. Aside from the $15 bottle of liquor that was wasted thanks to my failure to catch it as it decided to make a leap when I reached for the ice cream… *sad*