It's About Time

Color me a slacker.

Or is it count me a slacker?

What the heck is the saying I'm going for...? My mind totally blanked.

I'm gonna start over.

I'm a slacker.

Sort of.

I took last week off of my weekly goals so that I could focus on my All Things Love week. Now I have to catch up... and see how I fared. Let's say that I honestly don't remember what my goals were. Yes, I know you are surprised. You thought that the blueberries I have not been eating have miraculously fixed my memory problems and I can recall things at the drop of a hat! Oh, how wrong you are.

Let's start this madness.

Week of February 8, 2011

-ALL THINGS LOVE WEEK

--

Week of January 31, 2011

-Continue Laundering

-Unpack another 5 boxes

-Steam the master bedroom curtains

-Hang the master bedroom curtains

-Organize Jewelry

I just copied and pasted those from the sidebar on my blog. Let's see how I did going back to the week of January 31, 2011. 

Week of January 31, 2011

-Continue Laundering

-Unpack another 5 boxes

-Steam the master bedroom curtains

-Hang the master bedroom curtains

-Organize Jewelry

LAME. Two out of five. Productive, I am. Obviously, I continued laundering the endless amounts of clothes that Bryan and I have. But also? I have realized that the reason that it never ends is because we keep wearing things! We should just go naked. Except that would be scary and I'm pretty sure that since I work at a school, it would be illegal. 

I do all this laundry and then I look and there is more laundry! Right now I have about 4 loads at home separated. It is a revolving chore. What is GOOD is that by having in on my list I have been making myself get it done. And also? The fact that I can at LEAST cross this one off every week is good. Cause my track record sucks, for real. 

I have however, blown myself away by the amounts of effort I have been putting into cleaning out Bryan's office/our storage for the moment. I'm rocking those boxes socks off. If they wore socks. What I am trying to convey is that if boxes had feet and were so inclined to wear socks? They would be knocked off. I'm killing it in there. There are about four or five boxes that are all Bryan's crap. Which can stay in there since it's his office and I'm not going through his crap. Who knows what seedy weird musician things are in those boxes. Eek! 

Then there is our BBQ that Bryan has yet to put together. Hmph. No. Comment.

There there are a few more boxes for me to go through and then there are the tubs that need to go up in the attic. Again? Bryan. and No comment. 

Week of Jan 31? FAIL.

Let's move on to the week of February 8. 

Week of February 8, 2011

-ALL THINGS LOVE WEEK

I WIN. 

'Nuff said. 

This week, we get back to our regularly scheduled programing. Without further ado! Let me make up some things I need to do! 

Week of February 14, 2011

-Launder Things

-Go through the 2 boxes full of papers 

that I pretend don't exist.

-Organize Jewelry

-Steam the master bedroom curtains

-Hang the master bedroom curtains

EW! Why did I give myself so much stuff? Because I figure, why not? It's a goal. Goals should be hard. 

I'm not going to go over the laundering of the money clothes. Ya'll know about that. 

-Go through the 2 boxes full of papers that I pretend don't exist

It's true. I have two boxes full of papers that I pretend don't exist. I see them and immediately block them out. It's going to massively suck to go through them. But I need to. I went and bought some file folders so I need to go to town and file. And shred everything else. It's time. 

-Organize Jewelry

This includes un-knotting it. Hate that part. Gonna suck so bad. But then I'll be able to wear it! I'm gonna get it done. 

-Steam the master bedroom curtains

They are still wrinkly. I had misplaced the steamer and I found it this weekend. I now have no excuse. Dang it.

-Hang the master bedroom curtains

What are the chances that I can get Bryan to help me? Good, I say. Considering he was supposed to do this back in September. 

There is my quick run down of the chores I need to get done this week. Let's hope I knock it out of the park!

Oh, and just to make things extra interesting. I'm going to challenge myself to go the the gym every single day this week!

A New Meaning

February 12 is a day that my sisters and I greet with bittersweet memories.

February 12 is the day that we connect with each other in a deep and personal way that only we understand.

February 12 is a day that our history really and truly began.

February 12 is a day usually filled with text messages about how much we love each other and that we are so happy to have each other.

February 12 was the day that our Mom and Dad walked down the isle and pledged their love for each other.

February 12, 2011 was the day Alison, Kari and I had a new reason to connect with one another.

February 12, 2011, Owen Russell was born into this world.

February 12 is now the day that both Alison and I can be called Tia.

I have always woken up on February 12 with mixed feelings. I am so thankful that I have my sisters, and the twelfth of February is a reminder to celebrate that. On the other hand, divorce is hard, especially for the kids. We'll always remember this day for our parents... In honor of what our parents had together.

On February 12 at around 6:45 in the morning, I was woken with the news that my sister's water had broke. At 9:22 in the morning, Owen Russell was brought into the world.

Here are some pictures... please excuse the goofy face my husband band in his second picture. I don't know what was up with that!

Congratulations, Adam and Kari. You guys made a stinkin' cute baby! :)

Happy Birthday, Bryan...

Happy 25th Birthday, Bryan. 

I am so happy that you were born and that God destined you for me.

I am awed by the man you have become.

I am inspired by the man I see you growing toward. 

You are my rock, my foundation, my lighthouse.

You are the sexiest man I have ever known.

I'm blessed that I get to celebrate every birthday and every day with you. 

I love you.

-Megan

Love and Other Drugs...Wait... No, no, that can't be right.

As I was thinking about what my posts should be like this week, I realized that I actually have a lot to say! Now I just have to decide whether I should pack it all in a few posts or spread it out. Hmm, decisions, decisions.

Since we had a holiday yesterday, I'll go ahead and start there. My Valentines day was great! The education community had the day off because of President's Day, so I was stoked to be able to sleep in. If you count waking up at 9:30 sleeping in. :)

Bryan and I had stayed up past midnight on Monday morning, so I was the first to say happy Valentines day. When I woke up, I posted this on his wall. 

See the time stamp? It was literally two minutes after I opened my eyes. Gotta love that Facebook addiction! 

Then, a while later, Bryan melted my heart with this...

Love that man! :)

I went along with my day as planned. I didn't have any plans so I just kind of hung around the house. Actually, I started watching this show that is on the SyFy channel. It's called Being Human. It's about a vampire, a werewolf and a ghost and get this - they are all friends! It's pretty interesting. Not surprisingly, I got caught up in another SyFy show - Face Off. This one is a reality competition show about these make-up artists. I was blow away by the things these people could do! I was staring at the TV in awe when my Mom called and asked me to run an errand with her. 

More on that later this week. 

I got home just in time to meet the UPS guy so that he could give me our new.... oops. More on that later, too. :)

I was home for a few hours watching Mr. and Mrs. Smith and then Click when Bryan got home. And that glorious man walked in with these babies. 

There is one red rose... four white ones... and three pink roses. This is a coded message from my man. :) Of course, he apologized that the bouquet lacked yellow roses. He was bummed when they told him they were all out since they are my favorite flower. I said who CARES? Any flower would do. 

Once we quickly got ready, we headed out to dinner. We went to a local Mexican food place that I love. Bryan kept asking me if that is what I really wanted since its kind of like a Panera Bread vibed restaurant that serves Mexican grub. I assured him that I was fine with a more casual dining experience and after eating stuffing our faces, we went and picked up some items from Target for our puppies. 

After what seemed like an eternity (we disagree on almost everything concerning our German Shepherd and Maltese/Poodle pups) we managed to get out of there after spending $80 on pet supplies... and another small item for me. 

We headed out to Lemoore after shopping at Target to see Just Go With It. 

I loved it! It was a pretty cheesy premise, but I loved it. Especially after seeing Click. I used to hate that movie, but it resonates with me more now... maybe because I'm married? Who knows. 

That was my Valentines day! It was wonderful and low-key and perfect.

Just what I needed! 

Valentines

I hope your Valentine's day was as full of love as mine was.

My husband rocks my world. <3

All Things Love: Wrap Up

*This is the fifth installment of All Things Love week. If you'd like to start at the beginning and work your way through, you can read about how we have to change our thought process on love, here. Day two of ATL week is all about the breakdowns of romance. If you are looking for romantic ideas for Valentines Day, click here. Read part four to see what effective love is all about.


We are at the end of ATL week! I really enjoyed doing this. If you know anything about me, you know I love love.  I am a huge proponent of loving and being loved and even I get in my own way when it comes to loving. For everything I've done right I have done four things wrong. But, its the thought that counts. Its the time and effort that is poured into whatever task that speaks volumes. Show the person you love that you love them, today. Don't wait for a Hallmark holiday. Give it because you feel it. 


Now, I absolutely cannot spend and entire week on love and not talk about where love comes from. The creator of love is the biggest lover Himself. His love defines all love. He IS love. 


Psalm 5:11
Let all who run to you for protection always sing joyful songs. Provide shelter for those who truly love you and let them rejoice.


And of course, maybe the most well known verses on love...

1 Corinthians 13: 1-13

Love

If I could speak in any language in heaven or on earth but didn't love others, I would only be making meaningless noise like a loud gong or a clanging cymbal. If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I knew all the mysteries of the future and knew everything about everything, but didn't love others, what good would I be? And if I had the gift of faith so that I could speak to a mountain and make it move, without love I would be no good to anybody. If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn't love others, I would be of no value whatsoever. 

Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. Love does not demand its own way. Love is not irritable, and it keeps no record of when it has been wronged. It is never glad about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. Love will last forever, but prophecy and speaking in unknown languages and special knowledge will all disappear. 

Now we know only a little, and even the gift of prophecy reveals little! But when the end comes, these special gifts will all disappear. It's like this: When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child does. But when I grew up, I put away childish things. Now we see things imperfectly as in a poor mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God knows me now.

There are three things that will endure--faith, hope, and love--and the greatest of these is love.

Thanks for sticking with me during All Things Love week!

All Things Love: Effective Love

Psst. Sorry, I didn't realize that this wasn't scheduled to post in the morning. I'm back-dating it so everything will be in order. Thanks!


*This is the fourth installment of All Things Love week. If you'd like to start at the beginning and work your wait through, you can read about how we have to change our thought process on love, here. Day two of ATL week is all about the breakdowns of romance. If you are looking for romantic ideas for Valentines Day, click here.


In October of 2009, I married my high school sweetheart. Whenever any couples decide to get married, people give advice and tell them what books that should read to help them out and how to effectively love each other. One of the books that was recommended to us was "The Five Love Languages" by Gary Chapman. I had heard about this book and I was definitely intrigued by it. So, I bought it and we started reading it together and then I just kind of read it on my own and I never finished it. (The book is about all the different languages that are out there and how to tell which one you are and which one your partner is. It's a great tool. I haven't even read it all and I recommend it. I'll add it to my reading pile.)

The reason being was that one, I was planning a full blown wedding in five weeks and two, I was in the love stage where I felt like we would be living happily ever after and would know how to love each other. How wrong I was.

Have you ever heard that marriage is hard? Because it is. It's really hard to get a routine down. To figure everything out. Bryan and I are in our second year of marriage and while most people say the first year of marriage is the honeymoon phase, is euphoric and the best - ours was decidedly not. Our first year of marriage sucked. Whenever I say that Bry always gets mad because it sounds misleading.

The first year of our marriage was one of the most busy and blessed years of our lives, but that doesn't change the fact that all of those blessings put a ton of weight and responsibility and burden on our new and fragile marriage. In the first year of marriage, Bryan's truck broke down so we had one vehicle. Some crazy lady T-boned me and suddenly we had no vehicle. Half our family was living at a different house due to a no-pet policy at our rental and for the first eight months all of Bryan's stuff was at the same house our pets were at. We tried to find a house to rent but all of them were so expensive and so unattractive that we started to look into buying a house. We bought a house. More specifically, we bought a huge project house and supervised months and months of construction... While living at Bryan's Dad's house. Bryan was blessed to get a every weekend gig at Harris Ranch and then later it was doubled to two nights a weekend, so we never saw each other. I had health problems with some medication and ballooned to a weight that I can't seem to shake off. We moved into our house only to find that the contractors had done a shoddy job on the painting and that we didn't have the time, effort, or desire to unpack all of the boxes that had been in storage. We got screwed over by a dishonest guy who was supposed to paint our house and lay our wood flooring.

Some of what happened was really good and some was awful. Regardless of if it was good or bad, we were a brand new married couple and we were having a hard time processing everything that was being thrown at us. On top of that, we were trying to find a balance of being together and not arguing over whatever we were going through at that moment.

Living with someone and trying to maintain some type of intimate relationship while everything around you is complete chaos is hard. We bickered and knit-picked at each other a lot during these hard times. We were juggling so many things at once that we hardly had time to 'date' each other in our marriage. We were too busy, too tired, too stressed. During those times, I did find myself wondering if Bryan and I were going to be okay, if we were going to make it. I wondered what we would have left when everything slowed down.

After the initial shock of actually being in a house that we owned wore off, things started to slow down. We had a few months that we blew a lot of time and didn't really accomplish anything. Now, we're getting involved in church and in Bible studies and Bryan is still booking gigs right and left. We're trying to go to the gym every weekday night. But the things that occupy our time are easier to deal with because they are things we want to do. Not things that we have to do.

So, our life together has a calmer aura to it this year than it did last year and now we are left with the fall out from last year. Unfortunately, we didn't make it a priority to focus on the intimate details of our relationship so now we are having to sort through a lot of junk to get back to where we were.

Love is a feeling. Beyond that it is a word, an action, a promise. Love is only effective if you use the tools that you have to convey your point. Love is never effective if you always let fear or resentment stand in the way. If you are able to learn from other peoples mistakes, learn from ours. It will be a long road to gain back the intimacy that was lost while we were running around like chickens with our heads cut off. Take the information you've learned (hopefully most of it was helpful!) and apply it to your relationship right now. Start being deliberate and effective in your love life. You'll be amazed at what you get in return.