Renewed

Spring is one of my favorite times of year and I've been feeling its amazing effects this year more than ever. I've really been able to enjoy watching the flowers bloom, the trees turning green and the grass growing again. There is a beautiful courtyard between the three major buildings that make up where I work and there are hundreds of tulips and tall blooming trees I get to see when I'm lucky enough to get outside.

Things have been crazy for the last few months, starting a new job, getting engaged, finding out my grandpa has lung cancer and that a close family friend is struggling with an autoimmune disease and other family issues - I need to take a deep breath and step back. There are so many things I've been wanting to do that I haven't had time for, but its time to stop making excuses and do something about it.

I need to be committed to being healthy and working out.
I need to keep up on my housework and not let my house get so trashed every week.
I have to get on a consistent sleep schedule.
I want to start saving money to get my student loans paid off at least five years faster than I should.

I hope that this time of year can bring me a new sense of hope in my life and help me set some goals and stick to them. I've always hated the winter and how cold and depressing it is, how it makes me so unmotivated.

What do you do to keep yourself motivated? Does spring make you feel renewed?

I still cannot believe it

Yesterday it was a week since we got engaged and I'm still somewhat in disbelief. We have set a date (September 22, 2012) and the reception at least will most likely be at his parents beautiful farm. I wanted to get married in October but I'm afraid it will be too cold. I still want to go with a vintage/fall/country theme despite it being early fall.

I've asked all of my bridesmaids and I've started getting ideas from magazines and the internet. We're looking into halls and country clubs as well for the reception but since we're on a tight budget I think a tent is going to be our best bet.

I know I have a REALLY long time until the actual wedding and an equally long amount of time to plan but I cannot stand procrastinating.

Here are some more fun pictures I took of the ring! Hope that everyone has a good week!

My favorite sign of SPRING!

I adore the star magnolia that is planted in our yard. Every spring when it gets into full bloom, it smells and looks amazing. I was afraid when it got chilly last week that it wouldn't bloom, but it still did! I'm sure that soon our beautiful crab apple tree will be blooming along with the tulips.

What are your favorite things in bloom right now?

I'm Engaged!!!!

After nearly four years of dating, living together for a year and the happiest and most fun times of my life - the man of my dreams finally asked me to marry him yesterday!!

When I got home from work I told him I wanted to get out of the house for a little while, take a drive and maybe go walk around in a park. So we drove out to Buckeye Lake where we often take a warm weather drive and found a pretty little park. After walking around, we sat down at a picnic table and watched the swans and ducks out on the water. He started fidgeting around saying he had an itch and the next thing I remember I looked over and he was holding the ring. It didn't even feel like it was really happening, I was in such disbelief and started to cry.

"There's no one else I'd want to marrry" he told me and I could tell he was just as happy as I was! My family and his are both so excited and I can't wait to start making plans. We'll most likely get married in the fall of 2012.

I can honestly say this is the happiest I've ever been and I've been smiling from ear to ear since late yesterday afternoon.

Do I seem old to you?

I don't go out during the week anymore nor do I drink other than Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights.

I think that bars are too loud and hate going to "clubs" downtown. There is one bar that I like to go to but not on a regular basis. Plus its cheaper to just stay at home.

I dress more for comfort and practicality than I do to show off to other people.

I own house slippers.

I watch the news at 5:30am and 10:00pm pretty consistently.

I watch the weather channel/weather radar channel. Also recently my boyfriend purchased a Weather Channel weather station thing for our house.

I talk about "young people these days" and how they dress and act.

I clip coupons, complain about food being wasted and only buy things that are on sale.

I can and freeze vegetables, own matching tablecloths and place mats and have an extensive glassware collection.

Do all of these things make me old or am I just different?!

An update in photos

Who doesn't love a cute picture of a dog as the beginning of an update post?! Things have been a little crazy lately with work and things going on around here. The job is starting to get better as I keep adjusting but this week my hours are nuts and I have to work the weekend.

Saturday was the gala for my volunteer work and I love an opportunity to get all dressed up! I had worked so hard helping plan this event and it was so much fun! We had great music, food and drinks and managed to raise close to $30,000.

We also got a "new" boat a few weekends ago. Its pretty ugly late 70's brown, but its a good bit bigger than our old boat and has a faster motor. We took it out for the first time yesterday, and although it was a little bit cold it was nice to get out and do something fun together.

On the agenda soon: starting on my flower beds and veggie garden, keeping my up on my house work better than I've been doing, finish reading the two books that I've started and take a little time out for me :)