Valentines Day 2012

To my Dearest Wife

Valentine’s Day is stupid... or is it? Do I love the holiday or do I think it’s a waste of time. You may never know how I truly feel about that special day but I will tell you this. I know that you love it, and that I love you. Because I love you I want you to feel that special feeling when you read this. This is our third valentine’s day together and our first as a married couple. A lot has changed over the last few years. We started a relationship that you didn't really want. I started having feelings for you and I asked you to be my girlfriend. We had our first valentine’s day and I planned a special day for the both of us. You absolutely loved it and so began our romantic journey.

It wasn't long before we knew that we wanted to get married. I planned an elaborate trip to whisk you away to a tropical island, to give you a ring that you would bring a smile to your face every time to looked at it. After we came back we celebrated with family and friends as we started planning for our big day. We made an amazing team and planned an amazing event that people from far and near would remember. As we were planning our wedding we celebrated our second Valentine’s day together . We both wore red, had a great time with just the two of us. We enjoyed a romantic movie and had delightful dinner. I remember the smile you had on your face when you read the card the same time last year.

We finished our planning and we celebrated our big wedding day. Things didn't go perfect but was still great. We enjoyed ourselves, our friends and family had a great time, and finally we could start spending our lives together. We moved in together and the first few months were an adjustment period. We enjoyed each other’s company but we still got on each other’s nerves. We learned to adjust to our new lives and each other’s needs. We knew we wanted something to call our own though. After a few months we started our search and found the place we now call our home. We loved it the first time we saw it. I still remember how excited we were when we learned that our offer had been accepted. We moved in quickly and started to fill our home with everything we wanted.

As I look back at our time together I remember all the reasons why I love you. I think back to our Valentine ’s Day dates and how beautiful you looked. The times when we could just lay on the couch and watch some TV. The moments when we would turn to each randomly and just say "I love you". The moments when I am excited for the things you have no care for and you tell me to "go have fun". On our wedding day I remember when you were walking down the isle and I had to hold back the tears of joy. When we had our first dance together the room was completely empty and all that mattered was you. Now that we own our own place together you keep doing things that show me how much you love me. I appreciate everything you do for me and how you love me every day.

While you might doubt whether Valentine’s Day really matters to me, there is no denying that I Love you with all my heart. Thank you for making me a very happy man and I want to make you happy too.

Happy Valentine ’s Day

Love your Husband

Moving out

Since I was a child I was always a home body. The idea of going out and exploring the world seemed fun but scary. The comforts of home always felt more safe then to be far away for extended periods of time. When I first went to college I decided it would be a great time to get away from home and dorm. I remember moving in and things just became tough. I had 2 roommates and after a while I got into an argument with one of them. It was so bad that I had to switch out of that room. I wasn't doing well with the adjustment and I started to skip classes, eat to much, and would look forward to the evening when my parents would come home and I could call them. I would come home every weekend and ended up getting a job at my local gamestop. Eventually I just gave up and dropped out of school altogether.

It wasn't until a few years later that I decided to go back to college. This time I went to a community college and drove back home when classes were done. I was in a better state of mind and I had the desire to do well. I worked hard, got great grades and eventually got hired at the hospital I work at now. The one thing that didn't change was my living condition. I always stayed at home with my family and had no desire to move out.

I knew it wouldn't last forever. When my father died it was up to me to start helping out with the bills in the house. If it was up to me I would stay in that house and take it over and raise my family there. I knew that no girl would ever be okay with living with their in-laws and staying there forever. So when I got married Shincy agreed to come live at the house but she said we would move out eventually. That eventually came sooner rather then later. She had a difficult time adjusting to life in my parents house an wanted to move. At first we were looking for houses and things were looking good. We found a few places that we liked but prices were still high in a bad economy. The houses that we looked at were descent but still needed work.

In our hunt for a new house bad news hit. A few days after I told my mother we were planning on moving out Shincy was let go from her job. Whatever it was that we were going to do, we had to do it with a single income. While I do make good enough money, affording a home on long island with only 1 income would be difficult. So we turned our eyes else where and started looking at co-ops. We fell in love with a nice 2 bedroom co-op that was kept in good condition. We negotiated back and forth but eventually were able to settle on a descent price. We were diligent with making sure that all the paperwork was in order but it still took forever to get to our closing date.

Finally in late November we were handed our keys to our first place. Within a week of closing we had gotten our furniture in, set up our utilities and decided to move in. I had grown a lot in my life. When I first started writing this blog I was depressed and not very confident in myself. I am no longer that guy. I transformed myself into a person who believes in himself and ended up with a beautiful wife and owning my first place. Because of that transformation I went through I didn't have a difficult time leaving my parents who I had been living with for over 28 years.

Its been over a month since I moved in and I absolutely love my new place. Even though its not as big as my parents house I feel as if I have more space. In my house I usually just stayed in my room. In the co-ops I have my master bedroom that is huge but I really only use that to change and sleep. Since it has 2 bedrooms I have used the second room as my "man cave" I put my comfortable recliner in there with my 50 inch TV. With that I also have my computer so whenever I want to escape and play some games (which is way to much) I just head over to that room. For Black Friday I went to best buy and bought another 50 inch TV that I put in the living room. So now in the evening when Shincy wants to watch some TV and I want to play some games we have our own space to do our own thing. When we want to spend some time together we snuggle on the couch and watch a movie or our DVR.

Married life is different then when I was single. There are good and bad points of both but I have to say that I am much happier now then I have ever been. I have my beautiful wife, a great place to call my own, and all the stuff that I still enjoy. Shincy will be going back to college to get her degree in Ultrasound soon since the accounting market isn't doing great now. While I don't know what the future holds I am excited to see what is coming up next.

5 months later

Marriage is interesting. Living life on your own allows certain freedoms and being with someone requires a little more flexibility. Shincy was upset with my mom and grandmother because they always did a lot for me. They continued doing stuff like making meals, doing laundry, and setting stuff up for me like they always did and Shincy didn't like it. One time when we had gotten into an argument she told me she felt like Wife number 3. I had a talk with my mom and they backed off a bit. Now there is a bit of awkwardness between members of the family because they don't want to bother Shincy, and Shincy feels like they are avoiding her.

The second big thing in my life is Shincy want's to move out. I don't think any girl wants to live with her in'laws. They dream is to get married and move in together and start a new life. The dream does require money though. We are both good at saving so we do have money to follow our dreams. After a fight one night I promised her that we would get a place of our own. I didn't want to go to an apartment and go straight into a house. We looked online, went to a bunch of open houses but never really found the one for us. Finally we went to an open house in hicksville and we fell in love with the place. It had big spacious rooms and everything was redone nicely.

We put in an offer and got accepted and we showed it to her family and a lot of issues came up. While the inside was great the outside needed a lot of work. They do have tenants and we would inherit the tenants and get that rental income. But there was no way to really know how reliable they are or how they are as people. I told my mom that we were looking for a place and she flipped out on me. They day after we had put our bid in Shincy's work situation had changed as well. It looked like our dream home wasn't meant to be.

So after being demoralized we decided to change our plans and start out smaller and get a co-op. Shincy was determined to move out so she put a lot of research into glen oaks and had set up appointments to see a few places. We met up with the real estate agent and he showed us a few places. Nothing really stood out to us as amazing. Once we were done with our appointments he siad there were a few more places that were available. He bought us to a big 2 bed room apartment that seemed modernized and we both really liked the place. We looked at a few more places but this was the place we wanted.

The place was going for 255 k so we started bidding around 230. We kept going back and forth and we stopped at 237. They said they didn't want to play the bidding war so they just rejected us outright. I told Shincy to wait a week and rebid at 240. They ended up accepting our offer so our dream was bright again. We went through the paperwork, hired a lawyer, got a mortgage and are getting ready to set up a closing date. This isn't our dream home but its a start in that direction. We will have our own place with our own responsibilities. It is exciting and scary at the same time.

5 months have passed and Shincy is able to handle me better. I play a lot of video games and at first it did affect her but now it doesn't bother her as much as it used to. We have a routine we go through and both of us are handling each other just fine. Our love is still strong and the future looks bright.

Life after marriage

It's hard to believe that I am married. It doesn't feel like I it but here I am. When we were getting closer to the wedding it felt more like completing tasks for the wedding then actually preparing for my own wedding. After months of planning the day had come and while it start off a little bumpy with the limo not showing up to her house on time, it ended up being a great party.

Everyone had a good time and they thought it was an amazing wedding even for new york standards. People who came from Florida and beyond were really impressed with how organized the event was and how much people were dancing and having a great time all around. In the background there were things that didn't go perfectly right but no one really noticed. The best thing that happened was the fact that we got DJ Sherod. I really didn't know who he was but when Shincy saw him there she was shocked. DJ Sherod was apparently a very popular MC that is impossible to book. He was the main reason the party turned out so well. He was able to get people up on the dance floor and they had a great time.

The wedding was wonderful and that following week we went down for our honeymoon to St Lucia. When I was planning for the honeymoon the fact that we were going to be on vacation afterwards didn't really hit me. It was all about getting the wedding right that once we were on our way down we started to get really excited. We got there and it was beautiful. They had great food, great staff and we just spent a lot of time on the resort on the beach or hanging out in the pool. We had a great time and it was a memorable trip.

We came back and we are living in my mother's house currently which makes saving money easy but it has caused some stress on her. She gets along well with my mother and my grandmother but the fact still remains that she doesn't own the place she lives in. My mother is used to the way my sister and I act. My sister was tough and was eager to make it on her own. I am a little more relaxed and don't let to many things bother me. I leave my door unlocked and people come and go as they please. Once Shincy arrived the door to our room is locked and my mother and grandmother feel a little weird that they don't have access to the full house. While things are fine I do feel like I am stuck in a hard situation. I love my family but I have to be true to my wife. I put her needs ahead of my own and when it comes to the family I know I am going to disappoint them.

Being a single bachelor I could go to sleep whenever I wanted, play video games, watch TV, or take naps whenever I felt like it. My main responsibilities were to make sure I went to work on time and pay my bills regularly. Being married changed all that. If Shincy says that she is tired we go to bed. Bed times are now 10 or 10:30 instead of midnight which I would do every so often. I would also snack after I got back from work and eat dinner in my room. Now we eat dinner in the dining room around 7 pm. The thing that has changed the most is playing video games. I love video games to the point where I am addicted to them. I get an itch when I am at work or surfing the internet and get excited to play when I get home. Once we get home from work I still have that itch but I have to spend time with her and do things we want to do together. It's not terrible though because she does give me space every so often and I can get my game on.

I love my wife but love is not the only thing about marriage. There is a lot of compromise, responsibilities, and decisions about how to live life. Simple choices like what to eat for dinner and what to watch on TV doesn't always work for both people. Then there are the bigger decisions like where to live and how to raise children that could be more problematic if both people don't agree. I am pretty easy going and open minded but that doesn't mean I don't have things I believe are important to me. We haven't gotten to a point where we have a big disagreement on something but we are pretty different and that does scare me for future decisions we have to make.

For now I am enjoying the married life. We spend a lot of time together and I like that. She shows me love all the time and that was not something I expected in my life with how the earlier parts of my life turned out. I consider myself very luck to find her and to be at this point in my life. I feel like I am living my American dream.

My 30 Day Countdown

I know its been a while since I updated the blog. During the final month leading up to the wedding I thought I would be sweet and do a facebook status update every day for 30 days.

29 It's the final countdown to the wedding. 3 Gonna upload a pic a day until wedding Day. This is one of our first dates. We went out bowling and who do you think won that night?28

28 days and Counting. Early in the relationship we decided to head out to the city for a night of fun with friends and dancing. We didn't realize it but the first place we went to was only playing 80's music so after an hour of hanging out we head to the place next door which had songs I could recognize. And nothing tops a night off like Pizza early in the morning.

27 days to go. Another picture from dating in the early days. Shincy may look all cute and innocent but she was hustling me in pool. She says it was beginners luck.

26 days left. Valentines day 2010. A day of surprises for Shincy. Started of with Church while roses were delivered to her houses. Then to the movie theaters to watch Valentines day followed by reservations at a Thai restaurant and finally cheesecake to top the night off from the cheesecake factory.

25 days to go. Last May I had Sunday afternoon brunch with my sister and brother in-law as well as my cousin's and Robin at a new Thai Restaurant my sister had discovered. All the women in my family love Thai food so I was helpless to resist.

24 days to go. When Shincy and I started getting close in our relationship it was time to bring some of our friends together to celebrate. We all met up at Bacci's one evening and my boys were impressed with all the hot friends that Shincy had.

23 days to go. When a relationship turns serious its time that the families get involved. We all go over to Shincy's house one day to meet all her uncle's aunts and cousins. I used my charm, humor and dashing good looks to woo them all and get the ok to marry their precious baby girl.

22 days to go. We had a weekend free so it was time to take a long drive for an all day date. What better place to go then to Atlantic City! Neither of us gamble so we just went to hang out. We spent the day walking the boardwalk, hanging out at the mall there and just cruising through the casino's watching people loose their money. But the best part of the trip was on the road we were hungry so we pull off at a random exit in jersey and find a little pizza shop in a no name town. It was the best pizza either of us have ever had and we have no idea where we found it.

21 days to go. Our first formal event together. It was a beautiful wedding with an amazing backdrop and great reasons to dress up and take pictures. We look good all dressed up.

20 days to go. As a good boyfriend it was my job to make Shincy's birthday special. I decide to throw her a surprise birthday dinner and invite a few of her friends. They are all waiting at the restaurant and Shincy is telling me that she doesn't really want to go out to eat and that she is already full. She is making it hard for me to surprise her but with some prodding she agreed. She acted surprised when she saw all her friends there. Later I find out that one of her friends slipped up and told her about it so she was practicing her surprise face all day and was just busting my chops. I still don't know which friend told her but when I find out, I'll figure a way to get you back!

19 days to go. It didn't take a lot of dates for us to know that we had something special and would end up married. When you are single you have no clue what cut clarity, and color, even mean. After doing tons of research and asking all my married friends I was armed and ready to find that piece of jewelry that truly says I love you. I head off into the city and onto the diamond district to find Shincy the perfect ring. I end up haggling my way into a great deal for a custom round cut ring with a halo of diamonds in a medium setting. I hope Shincy likes it!

18 days to go. Being the hopeless romantic I had to find a way to propose in a big way. After buying the perfect ring I go to her family and get permission from them to marry their daughter. They loved the ring and knew I made their daughter happy so I got the green light. So the plan was to take a cruise to the Bahamas. We get to the security gates and I empty out my pockets into her handbag. I had the ring hidden in my camera case. She had no idea that she was holding the ring that I would soon be proposing with.

17 days to go. Even though i had the ring I wasn't sure how exactly to give it to her. I could do it on the boat over dinner, on their private island, or do I wait til the Bahamas. I decided that Atlantis was the best place to set the scene to propose. We get on the bus heading for paradise Island and I have the box with the ring inside my pocket. As we are touring the island I am trying to find the best backdrop to get down on one knee. I discover an intersection where the path of the hotel comes down and intersects with the main path leading to the beach. There is a fountain there which I decided would be the best spot to propose. So after a day in the lazy river, hanging out in the pool, and spending some time at the beach we head to the Atlantis aquiarium. After that I tell her I wanted to show her somewhere cool. I take her for a little walk until I find my spot. I tell her a little story as I reach into my pocket and pull out the ring. I get down on my knee and ask her "Will you marry me?"

16 days to go. "Will you marry me?" Instead of getting a yes from her I got an "of course". I don't even think she remembers what she said in that moment. She was nervous and didn't even realize that she got a ring. Since we were far away from home we couldn't tell our family and friends yet, we decide to go up to random strangers and tell them that we just got engaged while showing off the ring. Some people were like "why are you talking to me". Others were so excited for us it was as if we were telling our best friend. One lady even flagged us down after we told her so she can show her mother the ring. Also you will notice that in every picture we take afterward her hand is up so she can blind the camera with the ring.

15 days to go. Once we returned from our trip it was time to tell our family and throw a big engagement party! So we hired a photographer, rented a hall, and put on our finest attire. We had people dance, sing, and share a few words about the new life we would soon start. While it was an engagement party its purpose was for people from both sides to come together and approve for us to get married. Took a lot of planning but it was a day we will never forget. In 15 days we are going to blow that party out of the water!

14 days to go. When you live so close to Manhattan you don't go there unless you have to. The city has so much to offer but its sometimes a hassle to get in. In the summer of 2010 we decided we should take a trip into the city. We did some shopping, walked around the city, and took a walk through central park. As the evening came she recommended a nice Italian restaurant and finished it off by going to watch In the heights. It was a good date for 2 people about to get married.

13 days to go. One Saturday night there was a fair in town so we head over to check it out. She doesn't like going on rides to much but she agreed to go on the tame ones. To end of the night we take this picture on top of the Ferris Wheel. A cliche shot I know, but it was still romantic to get to the top with my arms around hers and looking over all the houses.

12 days to go. Planning a wedding takes time and we booked a lot of things as soon as we could. When we booked our photographer we got a couple of hours with him so he can take our engagement pictures. The photographer brought us to a beautiful park that had a lake in the middle. Shincy wanted the pictures to come out amazing so she bought this cute blue dress. The problem was that it was the middle of fall and it was freezing outside. We were chasing down geese for pictures and walking through leaves all while shivering. While taking pictures the photographer would hold Shincy's Jacket and she would rush to grab it as we moved to our next photo spot.

11 days to go. I am a guy who likes to follow my own tradition. One of those traditions is to have my birthday at Santoor restaurant. I have been having it there for over 7 years now. When I turned 28, Shincy was in charge of my party so she took me out to my birthday spot while getting a cake from my favorite bakery (Buttercookie). It was great because I had my friends there, my cousins, my new family to be, and the new friends I had made by meeting Shincy there. Thank you baby for an awesome 28th Birthday party (October 11 2010).

10 days to go. It was Halloween 2010 and we had aranged to take her sisters kid's out for trick or treating. Shincy saw a side of me where I taught the kids how to maximize their candy load and we have candy til today from that night.

9 days to go. Shincy and I have very different tastes when it comes to food. She love ethnic food and I love American. Get her some pad thai food and she is happy. For me a cheeseburger is what I crave. So when we go out its always a compromise when it comes to picking the restaurant. One of her favorite spots now is Sushiya. They have good sushi, rice orders, noodle orders and even curry. We go there often, so when we heard Robin was throwing a dinner there after proposing to Nima, Shincy was ecstatic. Not only because Nima got engaged that night but because she could chow down on some monster rolls and Thai Chicken Curry.

8 days to go. My cousin Nima had her engagement party at The Sterling, which is the same place that we are throwing our wedding. It was great because Shincy and I got to preview how the place looks like fully set up and decorated. We got a feel of how the stage would be set up and the view every table has to the center. We got to preview some of the food that we could possibly use for our own wedding. She had an awesome event and set the bar so now its time for me and Shincy to see if we can top last years event.

7 days to go! So what better way to introduce your fiance to the people you work with then the department holiday party! It was a cold night in December but that wasn't going to hinder us from dressing up and hitting the party. I wasn't sure what kind of reaction I was going to get from my co-workers but everyone told Shincy that I was a great guy and everyone commented on how beautiful a women she was. Thanks crew for saying good things about me to her! Thanks Shincy for proving to the guys I work with that I wasn't just making you up!

6 days to go. Happy Easter everyone! Speaking of holidays when you have 2 people coming from 2 different families, holidays sometimes are about compromise. During Christmas of 2010 Shincy's cousins were having a get together and so was my cousin Omar. Instead of picking one or the other we decided to take a trip to New Jersey in the late afternoon and then drive all the way to Astoria afterward. It was a busy day but it was great to be able to spend Christmas with the person you love while being with the people who love you.

5 days to go. So when I get a romantic idea in my head I have a tendency to run with it. So the 30 day countdown to the wedding was only thought up 30 days before the actual wedding. So during my anniversary earlier this year I got an idea in my head. I took Shincy out to dinner the night before our anniversary and handed her a sealed envelope. I told her to open the envelope before she went to sleep that night and can pull out the first item. Then the next morning she can pull out one item every hour until she is finished with the envelope. She is the inpatient type but she agreed to hold off looking at everything all at once. Inside the envelopes were 12 pictures, each representing a month of the year. On the back of each picture was a story (similar to what you are reading) of what happened during that month. So by the time she had finished seeing all the pictures it was time for our date where I took her out to recreate the first time we met.

4 days to go. So far Valentines days this February I decided to do something traditional and mix it up with something new. Valentines day is always busy, so the night before I took her out to her favorite restaurant Nan King. We were dressed up in her favorite color as well Red. After dinner I took her out to see a romantic comedy. The next day she had work but I was off all day so it was time to be romantic. What better way to be romantic then to prepare a 3 course meal for my hard working baby. So I hit up the supermarket and got all my ingredients together. For appetizer I made mini-pizza with the sauce being made from scratch. The main course was flavored rice with chicken. For dessert we topped ourselves off with cupcakes made from scratch as well. I wasn't sure how things would come out but she had a smile on her face after the meal.

3 days to go. After the new year hits every accountant knows that tax season is about to begin. People start getting their w-2, companies begin getting their reports in order and accountants start their long days and weekends at work. What makes it worse for us is that were planning a wedding at the same time. We had to cut back on regular "dates" and spend the time we did have together on wedding plans. Since it was harder for her I tried to take on as much responsibility as possible. I would go out and meet the vendors, pick her up after work if we needed to go somewhere, and just say I love you when she was feeling stressed. It was a tough time but we got through it and the wedding plans are coming out great!

2 days to go. As the days get closer to the wedding, people come up to congratulate me. I get advice from some of them. Some tell me that its not to late to run. Other offer me their experiences and lessons that they have learned. With the last few months being as busy as they were we still found time to appreciate the people in our lives. My best friend Phil got married and I stood as his best man.. Her friend Bushra also got married and we made sure to be there. While we are lucky to have each other in our lives its our friends and family who have shaped our lives. As we start our journey together we will remember to not forget those people who have brought us so much joy, listened to our cries, and offer a hand when we are down. We thank you, to everyone who helped us with our wedding and in our lives big or small.

One Final Day to go. This is it. Tomorrow is the big day. When you propose the marriage is so far away. You have all that time in between to pick out the flowers that you want, the wording on your invite cards, and picking the song you want to dance to. Doing all that you don't necessarily realize the scope of what it actually means. I still can't believe that tomorrow I am getting married. Shincy and I went to city hall to get our marriage license and then the realization of how official everything is started to hit us. I don't even know if its going to hit me fully until I see her walking down that isle in her beautiful wedding gown. I smile at her and think back to all the good times we had, and look forward into the future and see us raising a family together. At that moment I know I will have made the best decision of my life. Shincy I love you and I am excited for you to be able to call me your husband.

April 30, 2011 Facebook status changed to Married

The Final Countdown

A lot of perception of life is based on what you see other people do and hear stories about how things should work. When I think about planning for a wedding I always hear about how much time it takes and the amount of planning that is necessary. In my situation I really haven't noticed any issues with the planning. My fiance and I have been pretty smart about how we planned things and got a lot of stuff out of the way.

First major thing was the hall and food. We found a good deal at The Sterling and they provided a package for us. The package included the hall, 8 appetizers, 5 main course items, 3 desserts, alcohol, mocktail bar, and a three layer cake. These are standard that most halls give you but there was more in the package. In addition we had our full floral decorations, a 3 tier stage, a photographer, videographer, 10 passenger limo, DJ, and matradee services. We liked the package but we added extras to it. We got a full set of corsages and boutonnieres for the families, bridal bouquet, 8 bridesmaids bouquets, an MC with the DJ, an extra 10 passenger limo, an extra photo guy, and an 18 piece cold display. I am sure that there are more items that we got that I am just forgetting.

Alright so that is the base of what we started with but there is a lot more to setting up the wedding. It took us a bit to find a church that we liked, but we ended up going with a beautiful church that most of the weddings that I went to have been held in. Tuxedos were easy since we just went to the men's wearhouse and picked out the styles that we liked. We had to go talk to the DJ to make sure that he understood what we wanted and tell him what we want out of our MC. We went to the photo guy and payed for an extra guy in addition to paying for extra hours considering we are starting at 8 am and are probably gonna go until 5 pm. We also went to the limo company and upgraded one of the limos to be a 16 passenger one and we needed an extra hour to get to the reception hall.

As far as me being the groom, my part is a bit easier then my fiance. She has to get 2 outfits, the bridal gown and the traditional manthragodi which is the Indian sari wore to the reception. Getting the outfit is not enough, there are alterations to be made and getting the right accessories and shoes take up more time then getting the outfit itself. Then there are invites. The process of picking an invite, getting them shipped, putting them together took a descent amount of time. We also had to plan our guest list. This probably took the most amount of time. There are people I want to invite, my mom wants to invite and people that we are obligated to invite. Remembering all of them and getting their address took some time. We over invited knowing that people would say no. While we did get a descent amount of RSVP back we still have people who just haven't responded and even when we call they haven't answered.

It is less then 45 days left to the wedding. I am trying to think of what I have left to do but I always feel like I am going to forget something. It is the small details that you forget up until the last minute. We have our ushers set, we just have to tell them what we want them to do. We are in the process of creating the book that people will see during the reception. We have to create a play list of items that we want the DJ to play. We did our food tasting but we just have to finalize the food that will be available and pick our flavoring for the cake. We still have to finalize our itinerary for the wedding day itself and find out who is planning anything for the wedding. The seating chart can't really be done until we find out who is coming and who is not. We still haven't made preparations for the rehearsal dinner but that is going to be a strain on the budget.

I am feeling pretty confident about the wedding but I feel something will go wrong. I don't think it will be anything major but something small like the limo's coming late, or family missing when we are trying to do pictures. The wedding is just one day that has a lot of money and planning that goes into it. What I am more excited about and nervous about is after the wedding. We have our honeymoon planned and booked and that will be great but we will start to live together after that point. I am very comfortable with life right now. I see my fiancee a descent amount but I cherish my time that I have to do my own thing. She also enjoys her time and space that she gets to do whatever she want to with. We will have a lot more time together and I feel we won't know what to do with it. We will find our flow eventually and things should smooth out but I wonder what she will get annoyed with me about. I like to nap a lot and she finds that weird. She is worried that she will be messy since no one ever comes to her room now.

The days leading up to the wedding are going fast. Soon enough we will have our wedding day and be Mr. and Mrs and start the beginning of our lives together. God help us.

Valentines Day 2011

You already know how I feel about you. I love you more then words can describe but do you know why? Here is a list of the top 10 reasons why I love you.

10. You aren't selfish. While you are sarcastic sometimes when I ask for certain things your actions speak louder then words. You take care of me and make sure that I am happy

9. You let me be me. You listen to my silly stories about my hobbies that you have no interest in, and let me joke around and get excited about stuff you normally roll your eyes at.

8. You are good with my family. You talk to my mother about clothing and fashion. You joke with my grandmother. You are respectful to my sister and play around with Pailyn.

7. You love your own family greatly. They may annoy you at times but you take care of your parents, talk to your sisters (even if the younger one is selfish) and you adore your niece and nephews.

6. You are an independent women. You know what you want in life and you strive to be able to take care of yourself. Your work and responsibilities are important to you and I admire your dedication to them.

5. We have great fun together. Whether we are going out to the city, hanging with friends, or spending the night in we have fun. It doesn't take a lot to make you happy and I am glad I can bring you joy.

4. You are easy going. You know that I am the one who always has a plan in play and you go along with it. When I ask you to dinner or to the movies or just to hang out you always say yes. If plans change suddenly you still are there by my side.

3. You are so beautiful. Your long flowing dark hair, your amazing smile, your amazing body with its amazing curves. I love holding you in my arms or catching a glimpse of your smile as you wave goodbye to me. I always tell myself how lucky I am to have a gorgeous girl like you.

2. You live so close! You knew this one was going to make the list. Whenever I feel the need to see you I know that you are only 15 minutes away from me. The fact that we hang out 3-4 times a week is possible just because you are only a few towns over.

1. The way you love me. You never push away from me. You embrace me back when I embrace you. You take care of me, are concerned for me, and have been there for me whenever I needed. You say the words that I need to hear and my heart skips a beat whenever you speak.

As I make this list I realize how many other reasons I have that I love you and I can't possibly list them all. You have made me incredibly happy and when you said yes to marry me I knew that God has truley blessed my life. I will love you now and always and I just wanted to wish you a Happy Valentines day.

Your Love

Joby