Till Death Do Us Part...

Will you take this man, to love, honor, and cherish, till death do you part?

Such a simple question that carries such weight. It seems that there are so many people in this world that have said these vows only to find that the death do us part portion of the vows are forgotten so very easily once life becomes to hard to bare. We make decisions and choices in this world on a daily basis to fight, to love, to honor and to make a relationship a priority in ones life and this has to be something that we do consistently and honestly. NO ONE EVER SAID LIFE WAS EASY... so why would one think that marriage would be. Life is tough and only the ones that make an honest effort to be in it everyday come out a winner. I have watched the disipation of many a relationship over my lifetime, some deeply personal and others from the outside and though all seem to have a different reason for falling apart I believe whole-heartedly that all stem from one reason: EFFORT!

There was a reason that you fell in love with this person and wanted to at one point spend the rest of your life with them and that love never really falls away unless we allow it. Love takes work as do relationships. It would be nice to think that people should be able to just come together and if it is right it would be easy... But to me easy is nice, but what is the payoff to knowing that little effort was ever required of one in that partnership... Just like work, sports, and anything in life, you get out what you put in.

So in honor of my freind Rhona Madrid finding the one that she is so very lucky to spend the rest of her life with, I dedicate this post to her and to all those people that realize that the risk and the effort are well worth it... Love is all that we have to make this life worth going through.

Ahhh... Karma

The philosophical explanation of karma can differ slightly between traditions, but the general concept is basically the same. Through the law of karma, the effects of all deeds actively create past, present, and future experiences, thus making one responsible for one's own life, and the pain and joy it brings to him/her and others.

I would like to say that I feel some sort of empathy for the Los Angeles Lakers but then I would be lying and God would hate that. I feel nothing for the Lakers and especially their ring leader a one Mr. Kobe Bryant. My main thought is that this is what you get for parading your little girls around like they were the second coming and allowing that wife of yours to continue to shelve her dignity and self respect. But hey who knows maybe Kobe will be able to talk enough shit again so that we can speculate for the off season whether or not the Lakers will finally trade his sorry ass and shut him up once and for all!

I dedicate this song to my cousin Matt... There is only Love.

I'm Yours - Jason Mraz

Well, you done done me and you bet I felt it
I tried to be chill but you're so hot that I melted
I fell right through the cracks, and I'm tryin' to get back
Before the cool done run out I'll be givin it my bestest
and nothin's gonna stop me but divine intervention
I reckon it's again my turn to win some or learn some

I won't hesitate no more,
no more, it cannot wait, I'm yours

Well open up your mind and see like me
Open up your plans and damn you're free
Look into your heart and you'll find love love love love
Listen to the music of the moment people dance and sing
We're just one big family and
It's our god forsaken right to be loved loved loved loved Loved

So, I won't hesitate no more,
no more, it cannot wait I'm sure
there's no need to complicate our time is short
this is our fate, I'm yours

*scat*

Do you want to come scooch on over closer, dear?
And I will nibble your ear.

I've been spendin' way too long checkin' my tongue in the mirror
and bendin' over backwards just to try to see it clearer
but my breath fogged up the glass
and so I drew a new face and I laughed
I guess what I'm a sayin' is there ain't no better reason
to rid yourself of vanities and just go with the seasons
It's what we aim to do
our name is our virtue

But I won't hesitate no more, no more
it cannot wait, I'm sure
(There's no need to complicate
our time is short
it cannot wait, I'm yours 2x)

(No please don't complicate, our time is short
this is our fate, I'm yours.
no please don't hesitate no more, no more
it cannot wait, the sky is yours!)

well open up your mind and see like me
open up your plans and damn you're free
look into your heart and you'll find love love love love
listen to the music of the moment come and dance with me
ah, la one big family
it's your God-forsaken right to be loved, loved, loved, loved
open up your mind and see like me
open up your plans and damn you're free
look into your heart and you'll find love love love love
listen to the music of the moment come and dance with me
ah, la happy family
it's our god forsaken right to be loved loved loved loved
listen to the music of the moment come and dance with me
ah, la peaceful melodies
it's you god forsaken right to be loved loved loved loved...

Buenos Aires... In like 10 months.

In an attempt to get the show on the road, so to speak, we moved up our wedding from May of 2009 to October of this year. Though this was exactly what we wanted it was not quite what our pocket books had anticipated, so the honeymoon was something that we had to delay in order to be man and wife in October. But, drumroll please, we have decided on a location that I believe to be amazing and I cannot wait to go... Buenos Aires here we come! The home of Evita Peron and the Tango is going to be the place that we celebrate our honeymoon... in April of 2009.

At first it seemed a little odd to wait so long to go on honeymoon but then I realized that it will something great to look forward to and I cannot wait. I have started the searches for places and things that I want to see and here are a few photos of the beauty and culture that awaits us.





Below is the Hotel Cocker that I totally want to stay at because of this room alone.


I can only hope that I look even half this good when I attempt the Tango, oh and we will be doing that, no matter what Paul may think.

Anna Quindlen... My Sister will love this one.

Many years ago my sister introduced me to the wonderful Anna Quindlen, who is a writer for Newsweek and about a month ago some amazing stranger decided to sign me up for a subscription to this magazine and I ran across an article today that I cannot not help but write about.

Titled "The Same People," this article is about the victory that the gay community has had over same sex marriage in the California Supreme Court system. If you know me you know that I have always been a proponent of human rights and equality for all, that being said I would like to quote a couple of lines from her article.

"Before you could say Jonathan and Andrew request the honor of your presence, opponents were suggesting that civilization would crash and burn if two guys could register at Pottery Barn and raise kids in a ranch house..."

"... this folks vowed to find a way to protect the sanctity of hetero marriage, that time-honored staple of sitcom mockery and savage custody fights. Polls showing opposition to gay marriage were proffered to prove that the court had overstepped its bounds, ignoring the fact that the most sacred business of judges is not to ratify the will of the majority but to protect the minority from its tyranny."

"Gay men and lesbians have prospered because they've refused to acquiesce to the notion that they should hide their lives from public view. Two by two they've adopted children, bought homes, volunteered in their communities and slogged through life together just the way hetero couples do, except without the preferential tax codes, inheritance rights and the automatic assumption that they can make decisions for one another in emergency situations."

"Here is what I do not understand: is there so much love and commitment in the world that we can afford, as a society, to be contemptuous of some portion of it? If two women in white want to join hands in front of their families and friends and vow to love and honor one another until they die, the only resonable response to that is happy tears, awed admiration and societal approval."

"Someday soon the fracas surrounding all this will seem like a historical artifact, like the notion that women were once prohibited from voting and a black individual from marrying a white one. Our children will attend the marriages of their friends, will chatter about whether they will last, will whisper to one another, 'Love him, don't love him so much.' The California Supreme Court called gay marriage a 'basic civil right.' In hindsight, it will merely be called ordinary life."

I will marry the man of my dreams in four months, and all I had to do was find him. To be born with certain rights and then to once you declare a certain aspect of yourself to the world, lose them is so terribly hard for me to fathom. In the great words of Ms. Ellen DeGeneres "We are all the same people, all of us."

My Ode to My Love ... Paul

In My Life. The Beetles

There are places i'll remember
All my life though some have changed
Some forever not for better
Some have gone and some remain
All these places have their moments
With lovers and friends i still can recall
Some are dead and some are living
In my life i've loved them all

But of all these friends and lovers
There is no one compares with you
And these memories lose their meaning
When i think of love as something new
Though i know i'll never lose affection
For people and things that went before
I know i'll often stop and think about them
In my life i love you more

Though i know i'll never lose affection
For people and things that went before
I know i'll often stop and think about them
In my life i love you more
In my life i love you more