to do -- ta da!

the recent warm weather and late sunsets have really proven themselves to act as a magnet to our little family of 3, when 7pm rolls around. sunset walks are coming back into the picture, and oh how i love them!

aside from allowing june to alleviate some pent up energy, our little evening walks have become yet another great enviroment for solid conversation. last night's conversation somehow shifted to a topic of our daily to do lists, and how we both work so differently.

josh seems to have a "rule of 7". his past research (of course he has researched this...) has shown him that people should focus their efforts on completing seven realistic tasks in one day. if more are completed, great, if not, no worries, you hit your lucky #7. at work, he has a "master to-do list" with mini lists of 7 that help him prioritize his daily activities.

i, on the other hand, have ONE list. this list has it all... until it's full, that is. at that point, i start another list, transferring unfinished items to the new list, adding to it, and abandoning the old list. i revisit my list at least 15 times in a day, and if things become higher priority, they get an extra touch of color as a reminder.

as we discussed the different ways we manage ourselves and our to-do's on a daily basis, we were reminded that, although we work really well together, we work very differently than one another. josh feels overwhelmed when faced with a long to do list, i feel comfortable that i've captured everything i need to get done on a peice of paper! if i gave my list to josh, he'd probably be so confused. if he gave his list to me, i'd feel like i was missing things.

i'm POSITIVE this plays out in our marraige. one fundamental difference we found on day 6 of marraige was this:

josh: "i cannot clean this house until i relax!"
gigi: "i cannot relax until i clean this house!"

i won't go into how many times this has happened in the past year--i'll leave that up to your imagination... the good news, though, is that we both want the same things: a clean house and time to relax. therefore, we find ourselves working toward the same goal in two different ways.

so, as is the case with both the lists and the cleaning/relaxing styles, we continue to find ourselves wanting the same things, getting the same things done, but always bringing another approach to the table. and i LOVE it! it keeps things interesting and challenging, makes for some great debating, and keeps us focused on our goals. not to mention, in the end, we've both gotten what we wanted, because we wanted the same things to begin with.

...phew!...

Two down, two to go...

The last couple of years have been busy to say the least. I have been engaged and married, moved into a new house with my wife, become a landlord, and recently celebrated a 1 year marriage anniversary! On top of all of that, I went back to school to finally get my bachelors degree. It was a decision I knew would be full of long hours and hard work, but would be an important step to take for the future. What I didn't realize at the time was what I would learn from going back to school. Of course there are all the things I have learned from the classes at school, but that isn't what I am referring to. What I am talking about is what life has taught me just by going back to school.

School has taught me that no matter how difficult things get to manage my wife is always by my side to help encourage and support me. After all, she was a major factor in me going back to school in the first place. School has never been a priority in my life and through her love and encouragement it has become something that I am proud of doing. There are always the days where neither one of us want me to disappear into the office to do schoolwork, but over the last two years it has become a little easier to deal with knowing that I am just that much closer to reaching the light at the end of the tunnel.

It has been two full years since I started school and I have two years left to go. The first two went by really quickly and with the Gigi's help we have been able to still maintain the very active lifestyle that we have grown accustomed to and we have even begun to make plans for the future... whatever that may hold for us.

Through the "going back to school" process it is very apparent to me that no matter what life throws at us, Gigi and I are very capable at handling it. We work really well as a team and can tackle any situation that comes our way. We may have ups and downs along the way, but we recover well and learn from our mistakes. It's just one of the infinite number of things that I continue to learn and love about my wife! Without her, going back to school wouldn't be nearly as meaningful or educational. In fact, I probably wouldn't have done it at all. And I most certainly wouldn't have received this in the mail the other day....

Thank you Gigi for all of your love and support during this process! I love you and I could never have done this without you!

attention pooch owners—

word on the street is that OC is cracking down on the requirement to have a dog license in place for your pet. i’ve heard cops are going to go door to door asking for pet licenses and fine people that are found empty handed. (i thought cops would have better things to do, but apparently not…) typically, you can only get a license within the first 4 months of dog life/ownership, but OC has open enrollment right now for anyone to apply for this license. thought i’d share this info with you guys--we’ve had the June Bug for 3 years and never finalized her paperwork (tsk, tsk, i know…) and others may be in a similar situation.

you can go to this website to apply for a license. the fee is somewhat minimal compared to a potential fine/ticket, or.....the loss of loved one.......... ugh, could you imagine?!?!?

http://egov.ocgov.com/ocgov/Info%20OC/Departments%20&%20Agencies/OC%20Animal%20Care/Pet%20Licensing