And Now For Some Happy News...

I’m going to be an auntie again. SOON! My brother and his lady are expecting their first baby in a couple of weeks and I’m so excited :)

It really does my heart good to see my brother so happy and at peace. It took him some time to get to this place, but as they say… it was all worth it. Kim is a wonderful girl and they are really great for each other. It took me some time to warm up to Kim… it was a while before I met her in person and to be honest, my brother hadn't had a ton of luck in the love department. I've always felt protective of both of my brothers, and I've never really connected with anyone he's dated. He would tell me how great she was and of course I was happy that he was happy but I didn’t actually meet her for almost a year after they met each other. I was actually prepared to be underwhelmed. And I couldn’t have been more wrong.

Kim is smart, funny, confident, warm, generous, and loving. She’s strong, creative, and believes in making things rather than buying things. Bob and I were definitely more than impressed and couldn’t be happier for Eric. They are kind to each other and treat each other with respect. They are proud of each other and take care of each other. It’s good.

And now… they’re going to be parents! This kid is going to be very lucky… his parents are already very devoted to him and he will be surrounded by so much love and happiness. He’ll have his cousin Vinny to teach him a thing or two, as well. Vinny’s my brother Nick's son and he’s the sweetest 6 year old you’ll ever meet. One look at his blue eyes and you’ll basically do whatever he wants. Ice cream? Sure, kid. Pony? I don’t see why not.

Kim is already bringing my brothers and dad together for family time - things like pumpkin carving parties and cookouts. Living so far away from them, it’s tough not to be there for this stuff, but they’re pretty good about taking pictures and sharing them. Now I just have to talk them into video chat! They can set me and Bob up on the table… it will be just like we’re there.

Hmm... maybe they’ll set me up for the delivery…

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It's That Simple

“You know, you just make a choice about who you want in your life. It’s really that simple.” That’s what I said to my brothers this morning as we were driving to breakfast.

This weekend, my father, brothers and nephew were here to celebrate our marriage with us. We had a small gathering of close friends and our immediate family. Some friends they knew, some they were meeting for the first time. My family just kept telling us how great our friends and my in-laws are. And my in-laws kept telling me how great our friends and my family are (they all really hit it off, which was very cool - my dad and Bob’s mom were making plans to get together when she's vacationing in Florida).

As I looked around, I realized that yes... our friends and family are pretty great. I’m talking about people who are just so excited for us - and genuinely so. We love these people, and it’s not an accident that they are in our lives. They’re good to us, and each other. They’re funny, smart, kind, supportive, and positive.

I like to think that they choose to have us in their lives because they feel the same way about us. I hope that we always do the same and that they feel that we are good friends to them, as well... that we are supportive, positive forces in their lives. I’ve had some experience with negativity in others, and it’s just not something I tolerate well... and so I’m hyper aware of how important it is to support the ones you love.

I haven’t always been a good friend... but I’ve paid attention to my lessons, and I think I’ve learned from them. That goes for all relationships... pay attention. As I was just saying the other day, “the universe just keeps throwing it at you 'til it sticks”.

This morning, my brothers were telling me how refreshing it was to be around such good, happy people. That’s when I told them how I feel about it. You really do have a choice about who you spend your time with. Wendie wrote this post about toxic people a while back. It’s an interesting read.

Life is a series of decisions... roads you can take, or not. You can CHOOSE to be happy. You can CHOOSE to be successful, whatever that means to you. You can CHOOSE to be lonely, or to have a life full of love. It really is that simple.

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Things That Made Me Happy This Week - Aug 16 2009

• Spending the whole day with my guy on Saturday - work free!
• Finding (and loving) Gruxy's new vet
• Watermelon
• Another great session with Gruxy's wonderful trainer, Erika (that's her in the picture above)
• Dinner and DVDs with Julie (that's her with the boy in the picture below)
• Learning of Kelli Campellone's Best of RI Editor's Choice Award
• A very sweet email from Bob's mom
• Plaid and Stripe pet shop in Providence

Gruxy's a ladies man. It's true... he has two girlfriends. I didn't know how to tell them about each other, so I thought maybe if I just posted the pictures here they'd put two and two together. I'm sorry ladies... he's kind of a player.

Just a few mushy moments here, if you don't mind indulging me...

3 1/2 years ago when I met Bob, I was a somewhat traumatized soul when it comes to mothers-in-law. Not that I'd been married a bunch of times, but former boyfriends did have mothers and let's just say... the relationships were a bit of a challenge. The one that stands out the most was a very judgmental, intrusive woman who just saw life completely differently than I did. We just didn't see eye to eye. It made life difficult and once the relationship was over, I was left feeling a bit... well, traumatized.

Bob kept telling me his mother was different, she was so great... non judgmental, open, loving, supportive, not intrusive... of course I thought to myself "sure, they all think their mothers are perfect". I was not ready to meet her, though he wanted me to fairly quickly. I met her a couple of months after we met...

From the moment I met Laura, and every moment since, she has been open, kind, warm, supportive... all the things Bob said she was. She never misses an opportunity to tell me how happy she is that Bob met me, and to thank me for making him so happy. The email she sent me this week is not unusual... I've received many emails like it from Laura over the past few years. I feel like the lucky one... I'm marrying into a wonderful family. Laura's best friend Lisa is a big part of our lives as well, and she's every bit as loving and supportive. And Bob's brother Justin... basically a younger version of Bob. A great guy, and a great brother to Bob.

In just over a month, I will marry the man of my dreams. There are times when I wish we had met earlier in life, so that we could have more time together, but then I realize that if we had met earlier, we may not appreciate what we have. And I'm so thankful for what we have.

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I'm Dizzy from All This Spinning

I know I haven't written much lately… it’s because I’ve been so busy! Bob and I had a big weekend. We got engaged AND brought home our new puppy!

Late last week, a new friend and co-worker, Luisa, came to my office to ask me to talk her out of getting a new puppy. Seems her friend is an animal control officer and Luisa had told her to let her know if any dachshunds arrived, because she loves them… well, one did. I said “wow, that’s the kind of dog we want, too!” And that was it… we were off. Luisa told me we should take him, and I told her SHE had dibs! But she insisted that the time just isn’t right for her with her schedule and that we should adopt him. After a few days of discussion, Bob and I decided to go meet him on Saturday morning. We immediately fell in love and made plans to bring him home on Monday.

We spent the day in Boston. The Dave Matthews Band was playing at Fenway Park and of course we had tickets. DMB brought Bob and I together… we bonded immediately when we met over this band – I had been to about 7 concerts when we met, to Bob’s 13 I think… I could make this whole post about that alone, but I won’t :)

The concert was fantastic. They played tons of songs from their new CD “Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King,” which was dedicated to their founding member and saxophone player, Leroi Moore who passed away last year. “Grux” was his nickname.

Six songs into the show, Bob proposed! It was a very special moment, during one of the songs that means a lot to us. And somehow, even with all those people around, it managed to be a very private moment… like it was just the two of us. I couldn’t imagine a more perfect way for us to get engaged. We’re very happy and excited to finally make it official!

We spent Sunday sharing our big news, getting the house ready and shopping for stuff for our new boy. We spent a lot of time at Whole Foods inspecting treats. It’s important to us that we get treats that are grain free. I’ll write a separate post about what we decided, and what we feed our animals for those interested.

We picked up the new puppy on Monday… and 4 days later, we are starting to settle into a routine. He’s a joy… so smart and sweet. We got so lucky….

Meet Grux! :)

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