New Year, New Goals
Posted
Wednesday, January 02, 2008 10:58 AM
Welcome to 2008!
I thought that with the new year, I'd finally start my blog. So...where to start?
Introducing myself seems to be in order. I'm Stacey and I just turned 24 last month. My husband's name is Mike and he is 24 as well. We were married on July 22, 2006 and will be celebrating our 2nd Anniversary this year. I work as a Financial Aid Administrator at a private, 4 year college while Mike works as a Certified Assembler (an Engineer of sorts) for a global manufacturing plant. Aside from working a full-time job, I'm also a full-time student. I hope to have earned my BA degree in Finance by May of 2009 (the end is in sight!). We have a 2 year old dog named Louis (pronouced "Louie") that is our absolute pride and joy. In terms of The Nest, I spend the majority of my time on the Money Matters board as well as the Decorating & Renovating board. They definately keep me entertained everyday at work 
Now onto the more important stuff...
I'm actually glad that 2007 is finally over. In a myriad of ways, it was a rough year; probably the hardest I've ever faced. So many things have changed in my life, including myself. I've grown up so much from the time Mike and I got married and I notice this change in myself more and more each day. I've become much more independant and my career has really taken off since last February. I've learned how to take care of a house, a yard, and a dog, to manage finances, and (the one I'm most proud of) I've even learned how to cook. Coming from someone who lived with her parent's until the time she got married at age 22, those are huge accomplishments. It's simply amazing how things can change in a year's time.
To whomever said that the first year of marriage is the hardest, I say "Amen" to that! While we were engaged, and honestly, even before then, we always thought we were on the same page with when to start a family, when & where we wanted to buy a home, how we would handle money, etc. Boy were we wrong! We have had so many fights over these issues throughout the year because we clearly had no clue. The one and only thing I would change about our engagement is that if I could go back, we would have had pre-marital counseling aside from what we got in the two meetings with our priest. If you're enaged and reading this, this is the only bit of advice I will ever offer you.
Although it may sound like it, 2007 wasn't all bad. We got to see our both of our best friends get married (to each other) in June. We paid off a ton of credit card debt. My dad completely recovered from cancer. We had a couple "mini vacations"; one in July for our 1st wedding anniversary and one in November for our 6 year dating anniversary. We finally (and I do mean finally!) managed to housebreak Louis. We learned alot about ourselves as well as about us as a couple.
With all that said, I'm very much looking foward to the new year and all that it may bring to us. With so much behind us, it can only be all smooth sailing from here, right?