I just got home form work and Dave just got home from softball so tonights post is going to be short.
The dare was to contact each other throughout the day just to see if we can something for the other person. Dave and I both failed at this dare until the end of the day when we texted each other. Both of our responses were kisses :) Muah! However, I did complete a favor Dave asks me the day before and that was to get up and attempt to buy Great American Beer Fest tickets which I succeeded at doing!
We slacked at todays dare but I feel that we always think of each other throughout the day. Dave usually always takes a break from work to call me and just take a few moments to chat.
Today at work one of my co-workers said that she would stay and close and I could go home. I would have LOVED to leave but I thought about Dave and contributing to our relationships financially and I was a big girl and stayed until close. Many of my actions take Dave into account. I want to make him proud and happy to call me his wife. Apparently all I have to do is buy his beer festival tickets and I'm golden ;)
I'm going to go relax with my husband and go to bed.
Until tomorrow...
Wednesday, July 31, 2013
Tuesday, July 30, 2013
Day three: Love is not selfish
Today's challenge was to buy your spouse something that said, "I was thinking about you today."
I loved todays challenge because I read about this same topic in our other marriage book and it stuck out to me as something important not only in marriage and relationships but also in everyday encounters with others. I've been more aware of being positive and showing love to people the past year. Something had to change in my life. In 2011 I was struggling with finding a job and feeling really down on myself in my career life and it affected Dave and my relationship. I was always expecting him to pay attention to me and make me feel better that I was selfish and not asking about his day. I did that long enough to where he started to close off and became self-centered in him own life. We weren't talking much and when we were it was forced. We went through a really hard time as a couple and as individuals. I finally got a job and started to get my self-confidence back but there was still something missing from our relationship until we had a pretty large fight to where we actually communicated to each other how we were feeling. I saw how my self-centerdness affected Dave to make him close off to me. We worked hard to get where we are today but I learned an important lesson during that time and that is to show love to him no matter what. You know why? Because showing that love puts love back in your life and it's this wonderfully positive circle of love and kisses and hugs :) Mushy, I know, but so TRUE!!
I also got back into yoga where they teach the same lessons! It's great for the mind and the body. (If you have time you should try it out.) It teaches you to be gentle to yourself and love yourself. When you love yourself (not in a conceded way but in an I'm created in God's image kind of way) it's easier to love others around you and when you love others you have loving feelings. Again with that mushy circle of love.
Side note:
It's amazing when I get a customer that comes in smiling and asks me how my day is and it turns my negative attitude positive. Simple! So. Very. Simple. Then the next people in line gets happy and friendly Delaine and it just keeps going!
Love is not about what Dave can do for me but what I can do for him to make his hard day a little better or listen to him when he needs to talk or buy him a Scooby Doo movie (yes, we do have a large Scooby Doo collection). Him coming home is my favorite part of the day and I want to make sure that's his favorite part of the day too so I'm going to show him love. I would love to keep him around for a long time. So, I'm going to make conscious decision to show love. It's not forced but it's thought out. So really, it's thoughtful! I'm thinking of Dave.
Not by any means am I perfect at this. Not even close! But, I'm aware of it and I'm going to work on it. Even when it's hard and I'm in a bad mood I need to learn to take a deep breath and take positive, loving actions towards others. Simple idea but difficult to act out. Here's to working on showing love everyday.
I loved todays challenge because I read about this same topic in our other marriage book and it stuck out to me as something important not only in marriage and relationships but also in everyday encounters with others. I've been more aware of being positive and showing love to people the past year. Something had to change in my life. In 2011 I was struggling with finding a job and feeling really down on myself in my career life and it affected Dave and my relationship. I was always expecting him to pay attention to me and make me feel better that I was selfish and not asking about his day. I did that long enough to where he started to close off and became self-centered in him own life. We weren't talking much and when we were it was forced. We went through a really hard time as a couple and as individuals. I finally got a job and started to get my self-confidence back but there was still something missing from our relationship until we had a pretty large fight to where we actually communicated to each other how we were feeling. I saw how my self-centerdness affected Dave to make him close off to me. We worked hard to get where we are today but I learned an important lesson during that time and that is to show love to him no matter what. You know why? Because showing that love puts love back in your life and it's this wonderfully positive circle of love and kisses and hugs :) Mushy, I know, but so TRUE!!
I also got back into yoga where they teach the same lessons! It's great for the mind and the body. (If you have time you should try it out.) It teaches you to be gentle to yourself and love yourself. When you love yourself (not in a conceded way but in an I'm created in God's image kind of way) it's easier to love others around you and when you love others you have loving feelings. Again with that mushy circle of love.
Side note:
It's amazing when I get a customer that comes in smiling and asks me how my day is and it turns my negative attitude positive. Simple! So. Very. Simple. Then the next people in line gets happy and friendly Delaine and it just keeps going!
Love is not about what Dave can do for me but what I can do for him to make his hard day a little better or listen to him when he needs to talk or buy him a Scooby Doo movie (yes, we do have a large Scooby Doo collection). Him coming home is my favorite part of the day and I want to make sure that's his favorite part of the day too so I'm going to show him love. I would love to keep him around for a long time. So, I'm going to make conscious decision to show love. It's not forced but it's thought out. So really, it's thoughtful! I'm thinking of Dave.
Not by any means am I perfect at this. Not even close! But, I'm aware of it and I'm going to work on it. Even when it's hard and I'm in a bad mood I need to learn to take a deep breath and take positive, loving actions towards others. Simple idea but difficult to act out. Here's to working on showing love everyday.
Monday, July 29, 2013
Day Two: Acts of kindness
hi life. :).... That was from Dave.
Day two: Do at least one unexpected gesture as an act of kindness.
Today was easy for me. I cleaned and picked up the house and Dave noticed it when he came home. I also had full intentions on cleaning up after the dog in the back yard but it rained and everything was moist. Eww. So that may happen tomorrow.
Dave still owes me mine (I feel he struggled at thinking of something and for good reason) but he said I'm going to get an uninterrupted, two handed back rub which I'm so looking forward to!!
Dave had a very eventful and productive day which included meeting with the president of his company, gathering info for mortgage companies, and cooking dinner for me while I was out catching up with the lovely Sarah Sanders. He's pretty much awesome.
Anticipation has got to be one of the most stressful things! That and operating outdated Mac computers.
Anyway, I digress...
"Kindness is love in action." The opening sentence to day two's lesson. This holds true to relationships and just encounters with people on a daily basis. Working with the public on a day-to-day basis can sure test my patience and kindness. I couldn't even imagine treating another person like the way that I'm treated sometimes. It's disheartening but hopefully only temporary.
"Kindness creates a blessing." Let's face it, when you treat people with kindness you feel 100% better! Whether they ignore you, just smile, or straight on acknowledge you, you feel better. Blessing= you feeling positive, not needing a reinforcement. You may have been the thing that person needed that day. Always be kind. ALWAYS. It's just better for society... and wrinkles ;)
Until tomorrow... give someone a smile.
Day two: Do at least one unexpected gesture as an act of kindness.
Today was easy for me. I cleaned and picked up the house and Dave noticed it when he came home. I also had full intentions on cleaning up after the dog in the back yard but it rained and everything was moist. Eww. So that may happen tomorrow.
Dave still owes me mine (I feel he struggled at thinking of something and for good reason) but he said I'm going to get an uninterrupted, two handed back rub which I'm so looking forward to!!
Dave had a very eventful and productive day which included meeting with the president of his company, gathering info for mortgage companies, and cooking dinner for me while I was out catching up with the lovely Sarah Sanders. He's pretty much awesome.
Anticipation has got to be one of the most stressful things! That and operating outdated Mac computers.
Anyway, I digress...
"Kindness is love in action." The opening sentence to day two's lesson. This holds true to relationships and just encounters with people on a daily basis. Working with the public on a day-to-day basis can sure test my patience and kindness. I couldn't even imagine treating another person like the way that I'm treated sometimes. It's disheartening but hopefully only temporary.
"Kindness creates a blessing." Let's face it, when you treat people with kindness you feel 100% better! Whether they ignore you, just smile, or straight on acknowledge you, you feel better. Blessing= you feeling positive, not needing a reinforcement. You may have been the thing that person needed that day. Always be kind. ALWAYS. It's just better for society... and wrinkles ;)
Until tomorrow... give someone a smile.
Sunday, July 28, 2013
The Love Dare- the beginning
It's been a while since I actually got on here to write something, but, with good reason... I got married! Hence the reason for this new post. I will get back to the wedding blog here real soon because my wedding turned out as close to perfect as you can get. Great people, great weather, great EVERYTHING! So I will be sharing with you a few things that I did (DIY), things that went smoothly and things that I wish were slightly different. However, this blog is about the actual first month of marriage (tomorrow will actually be our first monthaversary so I'm a day early).
Stephanie Webb gave me this book called The Love Dare for my first bridal shower ad I actually just looked at it yesterday (sorry, Steph) and got real excited about it! So much so that I texted Dave and said we had to start this 40 day journey right away!! This book holds the couple to a 40 day relationship challenge. Since I told myself a few months back that I wanted to start a blog to keep track of my life and failed miserable at it this will be a dual challenge for myself. I will not only be going through this journey with Dave but I'm going to write about ever dare on this blog. I know I will miss a few days but I'm going to keep notes for myself to update when I get around a computer. If any friend reads this and notices that I missed a day, please, harass me!!!
So, here we are, DAY ONE:
The books start out easy... so we thought.
"The next day, resolve to demonstrate patience and to say nothing negative to your spouse at all."
Ha! Now don't think that Dave and I just say negative crap to each other all the time because that's just not true. We tease each other! (That's just how our relationship stays fun and youthful, by teasing.) We went out shopping and to run a few errands while being aware of today's dare. We're supposed to think before we speak but since we're both smartasses that was difficult to overcome. We both caught ourselves saying negative things towards the other but don't worry because the other person was quick to call the other one out on their negative remark. I would score us n a scale of one to ten, ten being amazing, an eight. Our "negative" things we say to one another are innocent enough but we struggled with thinking about our words before saying them. That's something we NEED to work on but otherwise, we did pretty kick-ass!
A great quote from this book "Patience is where love meets wisdom."
I love that quote because patience takes practice as well as being aware and in control of your thoughts and words.
Another thought on this topic...
I was speaking with a friend from work about relationships and marriage and we got on this topic of being upset with the spouse and instead of starting an argument just taking a few breathes and letting it go. I actually got to practice this on the honeymoon a few times and I feel that it was beneficial. I like communicating but I also like enjoying my time with Dave and if it was something that just bugged me for the moment I got more joy out of time together if I just took a few moments to be angry to myself and let it go. My friend said even after so many years of marriage she struggles at doing that. She asked how I did it and I guess I just felt that making that one thing into a big deal wasn't going to make the situation any better rather make us both uncomfortable and closed off. I married a wonderful, caring, and amazing guy but even he can push my buttons (and I KNOW I push his) so my moments of being truly angry at him are few and far between.
I'm looking forward to the next forty days and to share it.
Davey, I love you!
The Love Dare and a glass of wine to get the creative juices flowing.
Stephanie Webb gave me this book called The Love Dare for my first bridal shower ad I actually just looked at it yesterday (sorry, Steph) and got real excited about it! So much so that I texted Dave and said we had to start this 40 day journey right away!! This book holds the couple to a 40 day relationship challenge. Since I told myself a few months back that I wanted to start a blog to keep track of my life and failed miserable at it this will be a dual challenge for myself. I will not only be going through this journey with Dave but I'm going to write about ever dare on this blog. I know I will miss a few days but I'm going to keep notes for myself to update when I get around a computer. If any friend reads this and notices that I missed a day, please, harass me!!!
So, here we are, DAY ONE:
The books start out easy... so we thought.
"The next day, resolve to demonstrate patience and to say nothing negative to your spouse at all."
Ha! Now don't think that Dave and I just say negative crap to each other all the time because that's just not true. We tease each other! (That's just how our relationship stays fun and youthful, by teasing.) We went out shopping and to run a few errands while being aware of today's dare. We're supposed to think before we speak but since we're both smartasses that was difficult to overcome. We both caught ourselves saying negative things towards the other but don't worry because the other person was quick to call the other one out on their negative remark. I would score us n a scale of one to ten, ten being amazing, an eight. Our "negative" things we say to one another are innocent enough but we struggled with thinking about our words before saying them. That's something we NEED to work on but otherwise, we did pretty kick-ass!
A great quote from this book "Patience is where love meets wisdom."
I love that quote because patience takes practice as well as being aware and in control of your thoughts and words.
Another thought on this topic...
I was speaking with a friend from work about relationships and marriage and we got on this topic of being upset with the spouse and instead of starting an argument just taking a few breathes and letting it go. I actually got to practice this on the honeymoon a few times and I feel that it was beneficial. I like communicating but I also like enjoying my time with Dave and if it was something that just bugged me for the moment I got more joy out of time together if I just took a few moments to be angry to myself and let it go. My friend said even after so many years of marriage she struggles at doing that. She asked how I did it and I guess I just felt that making that one thing into a big deal wasn't going to make the situation any better rather make us both uncomfortable and closed off. I married a wonderful, caring, and amazing guy but even he can push my buttons (and I KNOW I push his) so my moments of being truly angry at him are few and far between.
I'm looking forward to the next forty days and to share it.
Davey, I love you!
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