From the Blogposts » inbox

Happy Birthday, Beautiful

Beautiful!

Beautiful!

Today is the day I most look forward to each year. Beautiful thinks my birthday is my fave, but it’s really hers. Sure, I get excited about mine out of celebration of kicking CF’s butt one more year and seeing what she has secretly planned behind my back, but I get more of a kick doing whatever the heck she wants and trying to surprise her.

This year has been a roller coaster on many fronts (mostly related to stress in one way or another from one source or another), but a combination of dedication and stubbornness on both our parts has us ready to take on the next 8 months of 2011 with a vengeance! So, while today may not be the most well-planned day we’ve ever had, we are sure to have fun… and I’ll see if I can slip in some surprises along the way. She thinks I don’t plan things because I’m so good at actually freaking out about some things (like presents she asks for) but she doesn’t see scheming. Yes, Babe, I scheme about your big day, too.

Since you’re reading this, presumably before I wake up, don’t rush, but let’s try to leave a little early, pack our lunch like planned, wear street clothes over our beachwear, and take a detour to eat. I am pretty sure you’ll like it.

Take a walk with me down memory lane…

[Read more…]

Fatboy’s New Life and the Journey Getting There

TogetherSorry about dropping off the map here recently. I’ve been on Twitter and Facebook, but not here just for the sheer amount of time it takes to write content that I’m happy presenting to the world. Tonight, I’m making that time, even though I have a to-do list in front of me that is absent an entry about blogging. Oh well!

Friday was a life-changing day for the Petersen house. Beautiful’s last day at her office job came to a close at 4pm EST! After months of working conditions growing worse and it affecting her physically and emotionally, we threw in the towel trying to live a double life – a life where we get up 2 hours earlier than we should and spend too much energy repairing the damage done during the week in many areas of our lives. Monday will be her first day fully participating as a co-founder of Petersen Media Group and we are totally stoked!

It has always been my goal as a husband to be able to provide for her to be able to stay home if she chose. [Read more…]

Fatboy and Beautiful Celebrate 4 Years of Bliss

Fatboy and Beautiful

Young Love - 2002

Well, not all bliss because it’s a super-rare case where a CFer has 4 years of no issues, and we’ve had more than our fair share of events in our 8 years together and 4 years with our wagons hitched in total solidarity. However, I’d be a fool to not acknowledge that they have by far been my best 4 years of my life.

No doubt

Beautiful has made her anniversary post about all of her memories of our Great Day – October 21, 2006 – on her blog, but I wanted to concentrate on my most emotional memory, which was the sum total of all of my excitement, fear, joy, and anxiety all rolled into about 20 minutes.

My best man slept over with me the night before to help me get everything ready for the day. We ran to the florist next door and got flowers to surprise her with when we walked in late that evening because we were headed on our honeymoon after lunch the next day and then headed to our church.

[Read more…]

CF Fatboy Is Mildly Depressed

DepressedI’m sorry to make this a rant/sob story of the likes of Beautiful’s today, but we’re a team, and we are in this together. What affects one of us, no matter how opposite the other is in demeanor, time wears the other either up or down until we have a celebration day or a pity party with both of us immovable until even Fatboy breaks down and cries.

When we got married, we did our budget within the first month and were not able to make the numbers match up, but we somehow made it work. We out-earned our expenses. What got us ahead were career advancements and career moves with advancements. Our expenses stayed the same until 2 major life events in the last 2 years of our almost 4 years of marriage:

  1. Buying our townhome
  2. Fatboy going self-employed

There’s some good, bad, and ugly in those two events that look like this. This is where any but of sob story ends and it’s pure facts.
[Read more…]