Life Ain't Always Beautiful

Okay, I feel like Debbie Downer lately..

I just feel like 2011 is kickin my butt.  I know I shouldn't complain, because things could be waaaay worse.  I'm just going through a rough spot.  Does that ever happen to you?

I'm trying to stay positive, but every time things seem like they're looking up, something happens that brings me right back to where I started. 

God is trying to tell me something......  I'm just not sure what it is.

Today it all came to a head.  I honestly felt like I needed to crawl into a hole and live there forever; like I couldn't handle one more thing.  I was feeling sorry for myself.  Ick.

But then I heard a song on the radio that gave me a little attitude shift.  I've heard this song before and I've always liked it, but today it really hit home.

Life Ain't Always Beautiful ~ Gary Allan

Life ain't always beautiful

Sometimes it's just plain hard

Life can knock you down, it can break your heart

Life ain't always beautiful

You think you're on your way

And it's just a dead end road at the end of the day

But the struggles makes you stronger

And the changes make you wise

And happiness has its own way of takin' its sweet time

No, life ain't always beautiful

Tears will fall sometimes

Life ain't always beautiful

But it's a beautiful ride

What a beautiful ride!

Moving Right Along

Guess what?

We found someone to rent our house in Boulder!  Hip Hip Hooray!

I'm gonna miss this old house :(

I was worried it might be hard to find someone to take over our lease, but less than 30 minutes after listing it on Craigslist, we already had people setting up appointments to view it.  Twelve days later, the new lease was signed.  It was that easy.

Getting that lease signed was a huge relief, but it also made the impending move that much more real.  The new tenants are moving in on May 1st which gives us two weeks to pack up all of our worldly possessions and find a new home.  YIKES!!! 

That's enough to make anyone go into panic mode.  But I'm not freaking out...yet.  I like to think of myself as an expert packer.

Okay, that's a lie.  Paul and I have never really packed our own stuff-we've always hired a team of experts to do that for us (read: mom, dad, Bob and Mary).  Seriously.  When we moved from Boulder to Auburn, Paul and I were in Las Vegas on a trip we had planned months earlier and our parents packed all of our stuff for us while we were gone.  Then when we moved from Auburn back to Boulder, Paul was already living and working in Boulder and couldn't help pack.  Our parents flew out to AL and packed up all of our stuff while I finished up my last week of work.  Oh, and I should probably mention that they drove the moving van across the country with us both times. 





Best. Parents. Ever. 

And lucky for us, they signed themselves up for another packing party next week!  Although, Paul and I will be a little more involved with this one.  We are so blessed.

The thing that is making me a little nervous is finding a new home in Pueblo.  Everything we've looked at so far has made me want to cry.  I'm going down there this weekend and I'm making it my mission to find something habitable.  I'll be back next week with a full report.  Wish me luck! 

April 8th

Four years ago today, on Easter Sunday, my first and only true love asked me to marry him.  It's a day I will never forget for as long as I live.

We had just graduated college and had been living in Alabama for a little over two months.  I knew we would get married someday; I'd known since I was sixteen years old (I wouldn't have moved across the country with him otherwise) but I didn't know when it would happen.  We had never looked at rings or discussed the topic in too much detail.  I figured we would take some time to adjust to life in Alabama before we even thought about that next step.  To say I was surprised would be a huge understatement!

A few days before Easter, I was feeling a little blue.  I was sad about having to spend the holiday away from my family.  I've always been big on holidays and family traditions.  Every year we would go to Mass, have brunch, and my mom would hide eggs and a basket for me, my brother, and sister (yes, even when we were grown adults).  With this in mind, I kept asking Paul if he thought the Easter Bunny would come visit us in Auburn.  He would laugh and say no.

On Easter Sunday morning, I woke up to find one shiny plastic egg on the floor.  I picked it up and looked at Paul who was smiling at me.  I asked him what this was all about and he said he had no idea.  I opened the egg and found a little piece of paper inside with a note written on it.  It said:

At this point, I just thought Paul was being sweet and hiding eggs for me like my mom always did.  And I was so in to it!  Each egg had a clue inside that led to the next.  I began racing around our tiny apartment looking for eggs.  And let me tell you, they were not easy to find!  Paul was following me and laughing the entire time because I probably looked like a total dork.

I finally found the last clue that led to my Easter basket.  The basket had some goodies in it and one final egg.  I opened the egg and here's what I found:

I turned around to look at Paul and found him down on one knee with a beautiful ring in his hand!  I think I said something along the lines of, SERIOUSLY??? and before he could answer me I was jumping in his arms and screaming YES!  He put the ring on my finger and we shared some hugs, tears, kisses and laughs. 

It was such a perfect proposal.  I couldn't have even dreamed anything better.

Happy engagement anniversary Pauly, I love you!