Andy,
What I want to tell you right now, at this very moment, is that I have complete faith and confidence in your intelligence, in your integrity, in your drive, and most importantly in YOU. I know that these times are tough, but they are also great. How can a time period in which we are engaged actually be bad?? The answer is that it can't. Despite the difficult mountains we are climbing, we have our love, and we have the light in our lives that is each other. I just read your blog post from yesterday, and I was reminded of that feeling I expressed to you last night - that I was feeling like I was holding my breath until you found a job. That life would not return to normal (ie. great) until you were back at work, and we weren't worrying so much about money and bills, wedding payments, etc. But what you said in your blog post - that reiterates that not only is that not the way to think, but that there are small victories and joys in our lives ever day. Those are the things that we should cherish, and look forward to. The hugs, the kisses, the smiles, the love, the friendship. Every day of my life since I met you has been amazing - even the days that don't seem it at the time. Every day, despite the occurences, hardships, trials, or triumphs - we come home to each other and we come back to our love. Thank you for being so strong. Thank you for waking up this morning and being my running partner. Thank you for feeding Cleo when we returned. Thank you for making my coffee & preparing it perfectly :-) Thank you for accompanying me on the train to work.
Thank you for waking up with me every morning, & this morning...for being the sunshine in my life on this grey, cloudy, chilly day. Our life together will be filled with many obstacles, many trials, and many many accomplishments and triumphs. I pledge to you to stand by you through the good, the bad, the ugly, and everything in between. As long as we have each other the bad doesn't really seem so bad does it??
Thank you for being my partner in life. I can't wait to make that official! Until then, you will just have to settle for the term "fiance" in public :-)
I love you always.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Monday, January 26, 2009
Monday
So today is yet another Monday. See the thing is, I was not feeling so well right before. Looking at the bleak economic news, well, it makes you worry. Our VP, Joe Biden, is saying things are going to get worse and there is no end in sight. There are at least 50,000 jobs announced today that people are getting laid off from. Terrible. The thing is, I guess you have to find the little stuff that makes you smile. If you only get happy every time you get an end of year bonus, well, then your happiness only comes once a year, if that. If you find pleasure in a smile, or a hug, or an "I love you", then well, what's it all for?
So anyway, my morning was spent going over these tests for the recruiter that I am meeting tomorrow. I had to do them, but I thought they would take an hour total...not a total of 3 hours (and 5 tests!). It was killer. But they are done, so hopefully I am on my way to get a new job quickly.
I have a meeting with a recruiter tonight, which will be great. They have a really cool position open and if they like me, I suppose they reccomend me to their client, and then hopefully I get brought in.
Today has been a weird day anyway. I feel like I am getting pushed to the brink in terms of stress sometimes, but I did get some good news. While at my last position, I had a ton of e-mails back and forth with Amanda, including those the day before we got engaged, the first Monday after, and some absolute gems of e-mails that I thought were gone. I wound up e-mailing my old managing director and voila, she asked the tech guy to send me every single one of them. So now I have them all in my possession. It is amazing. I wanted to always keep a record of our love, and I do on GMail, but now I have one for us from the time I was at my last job. It is a sort of notebook (reference) of our love and life, something in electronic form that we can cherish and always look at together.
Hope you are all having a great day!
So anyway, my morning was spent going over these tests for the recruiter that I am meeting tomorrow. I had to do them, but I thought they would take an hour total...not a total of 3 hours (and 5 tests!). It was killer. But they are done, so hopefully I am on my way to get a new job quickly.
I have a meeting with a recruiter tonight, which will be great. They have a really cool position open and if they like me, I suppose they reccomend me to their client, and then hopefully I get brought in.
Today has been a weird day anyway. I feel like I am getting pushed to the brink in terms of stress sometimes, but I did get some good news. While at my last position, I had a ton of e-mails back and forth with Amanda, including those the day before we got engaged, the first Monday after, and some absolute gems of e-mails that I thought were gone. I wound up e-mailing my old managing director and voila, she asked the tech guy to send me every single one of them. So now I have them all in my possession. It is amazing. I wanted to always keep a record of our love, and I do on GMail, but now I have one for us from the time I was at my last job. It is a sort of notebook (reference) of our love and life, something in electronic form that we can cherish and always look at together.
Hope you are all having a great day!
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
One Love. One Life.
Well, this is my first time writing since I got laid off, and frankly I am sitting here, day after day just applying for jobs. I have a couple of meetings with recruiters next week, which is great, and hopefully something comes out of my random writings to everyone on the planet.
Today I was brought to absolute tears by a website called Noah's Ark. I subscribe to a newsletter focused on being green and making a difference, and they had a link to this site:
http://www.noahs-arks.net/RESCUE/Noahs_Arks_Main_Page.html
I clicked on the dog named Sammy and boy was I taken aback. I cried. I have never seen such horrible pictures of mistreatment of animals. For those queasy, he was beaten so badly that his eyes burst. It is perhaps the most absolute horrible thing I have ever seen done to an animal.
Surgery is expensive for little Sammy, and I implore anyone reading this to donate at least 1 hour's pay (at least minimum wage) to this cause.
I really have no clue how humans can be so cruel to animals, or frankly to each other. Why the hate? Why can't we focus on what is good in the world, rather than what is bad? Why can't we explore the emotions of love, rather than the emotions of cruelty and division?
For example, whenever I log onto Facebook I see either something supporting the Israelis or something supporting the Palestinians. I don't care who fired what rocket. There needs to be peace. A Palestinian is just as much of a human as a Israeli, and frankly both sides are wrong. Both sides need to sit down and either agree to disagree, or agree to love one another. But let us all get along.
As far as animal cruelty, well, it is terrible. I signed a petition today imploring the NFL to take even more action against Michael Vick who had no regard for dogs when he literally helped many of them die a cruel death. I recently read an article that stated that many of the dogs that were found alive have actually been rehabilitated. That is amazing. is Mr. Vick rehabilitated? Who knows? All I know is that the dogs are doing better than him, and that says a lot.
Let's all just get along.
I love you all.
Today I was brought to absolute tears by a website called Noah's Ark. I subscribe to a newsletter focused on being green and making a difference, and they had a link to this site:
http://www.noahs-arks.net/RESCUE/Noahs_Arks_Main_Page.html
I clicked on the dog named Sammy and boy was I taken aback. I cried. I have never seen such horrible pictures of mistreatment of animals. For those queasy, he was beaten so badly that his eyes burst. It is perhaps the most absolute horrible thing I have ever seen done to an animal.
Surgery is expensive for little Sammy, and I implore anyone reading this to donate at least 1 hour's pay (at least minimum wage) to this cause.
I really have no clue how humans can be so cruel to animals, or frankly to each other. Why the hate? Why can't we focus on what is good in the world, rather than what is bad? Why can't we explore the emotions of love, rather than the emotions of cruelty and division?
For example, whenever I log onto Facebook I see either something supporting the Israelis or something supporting the Palestinians. I don't care who fired what rocket. There needs to be peace. A Palestinian is just as much of a human as a Israeli, and frankly both sides are wrong. Both sides need to sit down and either agree to disagree, or agree to love one another. But let us all get along.
As far as animal cruelty, well, it is terrible. I signed a petition today imploring the NFL to take even more action against Michael Vick who had no regard for dogs when he literally helped many of them die a cruel death. I recently read an article that stated that many of the dogs that were found alive have actually been rehabilitated. That is amazing. is Mr. Vick rehabilitated? Who knows? All I know is that the dogs are doing better than him, and that says a lot.
Let's all just get along.
I love you all.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
The revival of romantic Tuesdays
Dearest friends & family, stalkers & those who have stumbled upon our blog for the first time,
Happy New Year!! Indeed I have been extra tardy in updating our blog lately, and I apologize for that. Sometimes living life gets in the way of writing about it. I suppose there is no crime in that.
Much has happened since my last post - including a wonderful Xmas in Syracuse with my family, my mom and Mike's beautiful wedding, and the start of a New Year. First I would like to touch on what a great time I had this holiday season in Syracuse with my family. I felt like it was the first time in a long time that we were all around (not working, busy making rounds with everyone, etc.) and able to really get to enjoy each other's company to the fullest. I felt especially blessed that my brother Mark had taken time off of work and was over every day. We really got to catch up and hang out like we haven't been able to in so long. He said it best "we are each other's best friends," and I just like I had reconnected with one of the most wonderful people I have ever known. And this is true...my brother is a wonderful man. I also enjoyed being around my brother Josh, and his girlfriend Brittany, my stepbrother Michael, and his wife Michele, my stepbrother Nick, my soon to be sister-in-law Justine, my cousins Ashley & Jonathan, & Jonathan's wife Lisa, my Aunt Susie, my Grandma, and every other wonderful person I was able to spend time with this holiday. Of course I also enjoyed spending time with my mom and Mike. My mom is also my best friend, and just like Mark and I - her and I don't get to see each other nearly as much as we would like to. So spending time with her, and taking part in her wedding was truly the best gift of all.
So the holidays came and the holidays went, and now everything is back to normal. There is no longer a Xmas tree in my living room (which means Cleo is no longer batting at the ornaments), I am not surrounded by my family every moment of the day (which is sad)...but I am also back to work and back to yoga, and back to my routine...which all feels great! The new year has graced both Andrew and I with great things. First - this is the year that we are getting married!!! And of course we rung in the new year with that thought in our minds and in our hearts. The second thing is that we began this year in our apartment as each other's fiance's, with Cleo...we began this year with a home. This may not seem that important because we have been in our apartment since last April, but this is very significant for Andrew and I. To have a home, to start the year off in our wonderful home, in a nurturing, happy environment - that is truly a gift. And then there was some news that didn't seem so great at first, but is news that Andrew and I have embraced and decided to be positive about. Last Monday Andrew was laid off from his job. It came as a big surprise, even with our knowledge of the perils of the current economy. At first I think we both thought "why us??"..."this is supposed to be our year"..."we have such bad luck." etc. etc. And was it the best news we could have received (seeing that we have a wedding to plan and pay for this year)...not exactly. However, it is what it is. We can't change it, we can't keep asking ourselves why and how..we just have to believe that there is a reason for this. And we do believe in that. We both believe that we don't know why now, but in the future we will discover why this happened, and we will look back on it and be grateful that it did happen. And that is life. One of my coworkers told me "life is full of ups and downs, and you just have to go with them." And this is just a bump in the road of life really. Andrew and I are both happy and healthy, strong, educated, motivated, hard working people (not to toot our own horns! haha). But I really do believe in us, and I do believe very much in Andrew. I know that we will get through this, and that we will come out of it even better than that before. That is what we do - we take difficult situations and we work through them and we come out stronger, better, wiser. I am cheering on my love, and I know that he is going to be amazing in anything he does.
So, on to some more wonderful details of our fantastic life.
Last night I arrived home to the most romantic, candlelit dinner. Andrew was dressed up nice, and waiting for me with the lights dimmed and candles lit. The thing is that we were actually supposed to go out to a romantic dinner last Tuesday in celebration of the new year, and paying off all of our credit cards (yay!), but he lost his job on Monday, so we weren't exactly in celebration mode last week as I'm sure you can imagine. Andrew decided to surprise me this week instead, and to make me the most special, thoughtful dinner and evening ever. First he took my coat, and things and told me to sit down, and then he pured me a specialty cocktail he made (of gin, lemon juice, lime juice, vanilla, and some other things I can't remember), and then cooked up some lemon papardelle with olive oil and a little salt & pepper for an appetizer. Next we had the main course which was steak (so good, and perfectly prepared!), and last was the gold medal of all things - dessert. And let me just lead up to this by telling you that this truly was the best dessert I have ever had! Andrew doesn't eat dessert as everyone knows, so how he manages to make it so well without tasting it is beyond me, but he does! So what was it you ask?? Well I can't remember what it is called exactly, but it is basically a chocolate shortbread cookie on the bottom with a creamy chocolate sort of mousse on top with a little olive oil drizzled over it and a pinch of sea salt. It was to die for. The most perfect blend of salty & sweet I have ever tasted. So for anyone who comes over in the future - request this dish from Andrew...it is divine.
Thank you again for dinner last night my love. It was romantic, delicious, beautiful. Thank you for all of the thought and love that you put into it. You are perfect.
Happy New Year!! Indeed I have been extra tardy in updating our blog lately, and I apologize for that. Sometimes living life gets in the way of writing about it. I suppose there is no crime in that.
Much has happened since my last post - including a wonderful Xmas in Syracuse with my family, my mom and Mike's beautiful wedding, and the start of a New Year. First I would like to touch on what a great time I had this holiday season in Syracuse with my family. I felt like it was the first time in a long time that we were all around (not working, busy making rounds with everyone, etc.) and able to really get to enjoy each other's company to the fullest. I felt especially blessed that my brother Mark had taken time off of work and was over every day. We really got to catch up and hang out like we haven't been able to in so long. He said it best "we are each other's best friends," and I just like I had reconnected with one of the most wonderful people I have ever known. And this is true...my brother is a wonderful man. I also enjoyed being around my brother Josh, and his girlfriend Brittany, my stepbrother Michael, and his wife Michele, my stepbrother Nick, my soon to be sister-in-law Justine, my cousins Ashley & Jonathan, & Jonathan's wife Lisa, my Aunt Susie, my Grandma, and every other wonderful person I was able to spend time with this holiday. Of course I also enjoyed spending time with my mom and Mike. My mom is also my best friend, and just like Mark and I - her and I don't get to see each other nearly as much as we would like to. So spending time with her, and taking part in her wedding was truly the best gift of all.
So the holidays came and the holidays went, and now everything is back to normal. There is no longer a Xmas tree in my living room (which means Cleo is no longer batting at the ornaments), I am not surrounded by my family every moment of the day (which is sad)...but I am also back to work and back to yoga, and back to my routine...which all feels great! The new year has graced both Andrew and I with great things. First - this is the year that we are getting married!!! And of course we rung in the new year with that thought in our minds and in our hearts. The second thing is that we began this year in our apartment as each other's fiance's, with Cleo...we began this year with a home. This may not seem that important because we have been in our apartment since last April, but this is very significant for Andrew and I. To have a home, to start the year off in our wonderful home, in a nurturing, happy environment - that is truly a gift. And then there was some news that didn't seem so great at first, but is news that Andrew and I have embraced and decided to be positive about. Last Monday Andrew was laid off from his job. It came as a big surprise, even with our knowledge of the perils of the current economy. At first I think we both thought "why us??"..."this is supposed to be our year"..."we have such bad luck." etc. etc. And was it the best news we could have received (seeing that we have a wedding to plan and pay for this year)...not exactly. However, it is what it is. We can't change it, we can't keep asking ourselves why and how..we just have to believe that there is a reason for this. And we do believe in that. We both believe that we don't know why now, but in the future we will discover why this happened, and we will look back on it and be grateful that it did happen. And that is life. One of my coworkers told me "life is full of ups and downs, and you just have to go with them." And this is just a bump in the road of life really. Andrew and I are both happy and healthy, strong, educated, motivated, hard working people (not to toot our own horns! haha). But I really do believe in us, and I do believe very much in Andrew. I know that we will get through this, and that we will come out of it even better than that before. That is what we do - we take difficult situations and we work through them and we come out stronger, better, wiser. I am cheering on my love, and I know that he is going to be amazing in anything he does.
So, on to some more wonderful details of our fantastic life.
Last night I arrived home to the most romantic, candlelit dinner. Andrew was dressed up nice, and waiting for me with the lights dimmed and candles lit. The thing is that we were actually supposed to go out to a romantic dinner last Tuesday in celebration of the new year, and paying off all of our credit cards (yay!), but he lost his job on Monday, so we weren't exactly in celebration mode last week as I'm sure you can imagine. Andrew decided to surprise me this week instead, and to make me the most special, thoughtful dinner and evening ever. First he took my coat, and things and told me to sit down, and then he pured me a specialty cocktail he made (of gin, lemon juice, lime juice, vanilla, and some other things I can't remember), and then cooked up some lemon papardelle with olive oil and a little salt & pepper for an appetizer. Next we had the main course which was steak (so good, and perfectly prepared!), and last was the gold medal of all things - dessert. And let me just lead up to this by telling you that this truly was the best dessert I have ever had! Andrew doesn't eat dessert as everyone knows, so how he manages to make it so well without tasting it is beyond me, but he does! So what was it you ask?? Well I can't remember what it is called exactly, but it is basically a chocolate shortbread cookie on the bottom with a creamy chocolate sort of mousse on top with a little olive oil drizzled over it and a pinch of sea salt. It was to die for. The most perfect blend of salty & sweet I have ever tasted. So for anyone who comes over in the future - request this dish from Andrew...it is divine.
Thank you again for dinner last night my love. It was romantic, delicious, beautiful. Thank you for all of the thought and love that you put into it. You are perfect.
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