Oh, the joys of life!

Well...it's official - we are an old married couple!  We sat down last night to our first "Budget Committee Meeting" of our life together.  The meeting went well - I did my best to stay engaged, focused and interested in numbers and spreadsheets and he did his best to stay patient with me.
We are starting on a plan - a plan made by Dave Ramsey.  We plan to live today like no one else so that down the road we can live like no one else.  We are both so excited to be starting this journey - but to be honest, it is a bit scary, a bit unnerving, a bit worrisome....but we have each other to lean on and support - and there is no greater feeling in my life than having a partner that I can be completely honest and vulnerable with.
so...day one of budget is down, a lifetime to go.  I am so blessed to have been introduced to this system and look forward to sharing pieces of our journey!

Cheers to financial peace!
Jb

Well, I'm a B

It's been about a year since I started this blog, wrote once, and haven't written since.  So much has happened - Tim and I have gotten married and have begun our life together.  I'm officially a "B" now, moved up in the alphabet from "N".  I haven't had the opportunity to utilize the move yet, but I will say I'm looking forward to it at graduation this summer - it's the one time I know for sure I will get to use it!

Bryan Swisher Photography

We are working on figuring out married life, how to keep this life going now that it has begun.  We are talking money, budget, moving, family, jobs, retirement, vacation, cars, house...you name it, we are discussing it.  The tough part is we are both coming up on the busiest time of the year for us - busy season for him and student teaching for me.  We are trying to get as much done before hand as possible, but when you are planning to move across the country, its hard to do a lot in advance and blind.
I'm so blessed to have my life - to have everyone in it that I do, everything in it that I have.  I heard a quote today from Lou Holtz, extraordinary college  football coach for South Carolina and Notre Dame (others, not sure?) and also one of the cutest old men I have ever seen, that has changed my outlook on life, how I'm thinking of my dreams, my goals, my life: "Everyone needs four things in life: something to do, someone to love, something to believe in and something to hope for".  Hope, belief, love, action... simple?  Absolutely.... easy? Not quite.  I've been thinking about my goals in life - thinking about who I want to be, what I want to do, how I go about making a difference.  I am still thinking through those, but stay tuned...I hope to figure it out little by little.
Thank You, Lou Holtz, for making a difference in my world today!

Becoming Future B

Well, its happened! September 18, 2009, my always had begun. Tim proposed to me at Buckingham Fountain that evening - after carefully crafting every detail. We were going to see the fountain before they shut it off for the season and he had a plan all of his own. We met a very nice man who took pictures for us, I thought just one photo, but again, Tim had his own plan. The man took many pictures and captured the whole proposal on film. It was perfect - romantic, sweet, loving and playful, all at once...just like Tim. When Tim began his speech, I thought I was being tossed into

the fountain. You see, Tim had me convinced that he did not want to get married, and I believe it to be somewhat true. When you start dating someone, you don't know what the other person expects or what you even want....well, Tim had me completely fooled - to the point where I was making anti-marriage comments and jokes for him. I had gotten to a point in my life where I knew I wanted to be with Tim....however he would take me. I searched my soul, prayed and thought and realized that he was worth more to me than marrying someone because I wanted to be married. Once I came to the decision that I didn't need to be married to be happy with Tim, he proposed - perfect! So here we are, at Buckingham Fountain, and I am once again swept off my feet by Tim. The ring, designed by him, is perfect, the night was perfect and we are perfect. I cannot wait for our forever to begin and to always enjoy our always......