Making up is NOT hard to do...

The past week has been rough on the both of us. My family came into town from CT for the week and I just had to spend some time with them. It was a bit of a sacrifice when it came to my husband, my dear, my Ryan. I felt really bad for leaving him and coming home in the wee hours of the morning. It was hard because I missed Ryan so much, but I also knew that my cousins would only be here for a week and I wouldn't see them until 6 months from now! I did what I could to take care of Ryan and make it so nothing really changed for the week, but it was challenging. I still made breakfast for him, but I was lagging a little on keeping up with the some chores and packing lunch...dinner was almost out of the question. It was hard for him to go out since he was working.

Anyway, some disagreements and a few love quarrels, but in the end we really just missed each other - A LOT! Ryan was very understanding of the situation and I believe that he saw my efforts to keep him and my family happy...which is not the easiest thing to do! I know that ultimately he is my first priority and he is my world. I thank God for his love and patience with me. He has such a big heart and a kind soul ;) I wish that every woman I know finds a man like him!

The lesson I learned, is that you can never have enough of your man. Always show him how much you love him, cater to his needs, and even when he's not accepting of an apology at the time it is given...keep trying and he will come to grips with the fact that he simply cannot resist your charm ;) On a serious note, one thing we've always remembered is to communicate everything to one another. It's the key to making a relationship work. Never let the sun go down on your anger...I may have said that one time before, but it's true! Cuddle in bed and hold each other as long as you can...you never know when things might take a turn for the not so good...

My family is now gone and things are getting back to normal fairly quickly! I love spending time at home with Ryan. Our first night together again we watched 21 and The Other Boleyn Girl and ate Pad Thai at HOME! I love it!

I love you Ryan. Thank you for letting me spend time with my family and for putting up with us the whole time! I love you!

Making up is never hard to do...you just gotta do it...no matter what time of the day it is...just do it and you will slepp much better!

Opposites Attract

Paula Abdul was my favorite entertainer as a child! One of her songs and videos I will never forget is "Opposites Attract" with the cool cat ;) No matter how different we are we end up coming together because opposites attract. Ryan and I have come to appreciate our differences as they make us who we are. We've come to realize that what we saw in each other, is what we actually wanted in ourselves. For example, Ryan is the more reserved and conservative type of person, very mellow. Myself on the other hand is quite the opposite. I am a talker and most of the time not afraid to put myself out there. Whatever the case, our characteristics offset each other to make our relationship "colorful."

It's always interesting to see how we pick up on each other's facial expressions and slang. I guess what I'm trying to say in this post is that we should embrace our differences...the personalties of our significant others because those are the things that make us who we are as an individual and as a couple. Learn from each other, give and take from each other and learn to laugh at the things you may have found annoying when you first met, but now can't live without!

Check out the cool video too!

Dating after marriage...

Many people may think that the flames of love begin to dwindle after marriage. Ryangela begs to differ. Our relationship has never been better after being married for almost two years. Just as a great wine comes with age, relationships, if they are the right ones, also improve with age. It's something as a couple you have to want and keep working at. This is why we encourage dating! No matter how busy you may get or how much money you have in you bank account we recommend having a dedicated and consistent date night. Set aside time to build your relationship, to build each other and to just hang out.

Last week Ryan and I had a great night out on the town. We had dinner at RA Sushi downtown (which was great). I've been wanting to eat there only because of the initials RA for RyAngela :) I know corny...Then we headed over to the House of Blues where we had reserved seating to watch Lyfe Jennings! This is hands down the best concert we've ever been to and probably will ever go to. We've been following him for the past three years now, haven't missed a show here in Diego yet! After the concert we walked around the Gaslamp area, not really Ryan's thing, but totally my thing...at least until my feet start to hurt. We just weren't ready to go home and call it a night. I didn't want the night to end so we ended up driving to a little place called Extraordinary Desserts! Lovely little place on 5th Avenue that stays open late where the desserts are...just like the name says...extraordinary! We had great coffee, Ryan's was quite strong, great dessert and great conversation as we reflected on the evening!

We just had a wonderful time and although we splurged a bit, it was well worth it. It's times like these that we always look forward to. Times like these that motivate us to work harder to get to a place where all we have to worry about is what we're going to do today!

Our advice is to do something you both like and don't be afraid to show each other something new...a side of you your significant other hasn't quite seen before! Use your dates as you did in the past - to learn more about each other and to enjoy one another's company. The best part about dating as a married couple, is that you can go home together and you don't have to worry about whether you made a good impression or not! Besides, you know when you get home - you're both going to get some :)

The reason's why I want to marry you...

Before we got married, we went through 13 weeks of pre-marital counseling with our pastor. We recommend that everyone getting married or thinking about getting married do this. It helped us out so much. We already communicated well before taking the counseling, but we learned so much more about each other each session. A lot of the things we learned didn't apply until we were actually married, but it prepared us for certain situations we may have not anticipated.

At any rate, one of our assignments was to write the reason why we wanted to marry each other. This was such a fun exercise because when it came time to present the list to each other we were surprised and honored to hear some of the things we had to say about each other. Here's what we said:

The REASONS why I want to marry you, RYAN:

1. Because I trust you with my life and my heart...I know you won't hurt me
2. I want to marry you because you have stayed with me despite the rough times
3. You have led me to be a better person
4. You have always comforted me and cared for me in my time of need
5. You love me...and you show and tell me daily
6. I've learned to be myself around you
7. You have the qualities I'd want in myself, you're my other half
8. I want to fulfill our dreams together
9. Because you allowed me to be there for you, to be a part of your like
10. I want to marry you because you remind me of the Lord and his word
11. I want to marry you so I can lie down and fall asleep beside you and wake up beside you
12. I want to marry you so that I never have to leave you
13. You are my best friend
14. I can talk to you about anything
15. You always make an effort in our relationship
16. I have fun with you...we can laugh together
17. You're God's gift to me and my answered prayer
18. I want to marry you because you have given everything...your all to me
19. Because I can't see you being with no one else but me
20. Because you and you love make me a better person overall

The 12 REASONS why you should marry this woman named: ANGELA...

1. God's plan/gift
2. Totally opposite of who I am
3. Best Friend
4. Very supportive
   
5. Conscientious
   
6. Caring towards other people
7. Tom boyish
8. Not materialistic
9. Family oriented
10. Kind
11. Attractive
12. Loves me for who I really am and not for that I can be or who she can make me to be.
    

Can you see the difference between the reasons? It goes to show that men and women see things differently, but in the end the results work.

This Time Next Year, It will Be Different

"This time next year, it will be different," a phrase Ryangela does not take lightly...especially this year. Although we've only been married now for 1 year, 8 months and 9 days (who's counting) we have been together for almost 8 years and since then we have accomplished so much together. I was in high school and Ryan was in his second or third year in college when we met. We went through so many struggles, but in the end we were able to graduate together, get married and finally by a home together.

Those are just some of the major accomplishments in our life so far. Some people might not think too much of these accomplishments since this is what people do; however it's how we got there that really changed us. It's been said that "it's not the destination, but the journey that matters." We believe both are equally important. At times, the imprtance of the journey and the destination can also be dependent on our situation...sometimes we have a plan and sometimes we don't. Sometimes our plans work and sometimes they fail us. We can't be too focused on the destination because then we will not savor the journey; however we cannot linger on the journey and forget about the destination. Now, keep in mind that sometimes our paths change and that's okay, as long as we get to a place where we are happy.

We said this phrase, "this time next year, it will be different," year after year and something good has always happened. We have been blessed with so much during tough times as well as during good times. Just like the daisy's in my grandmother's backyard come and go with the seasons, so do our dreams and our goals. We have to keep striving for something new each year...and this year Ryangela is working on a continuous dream of ours. Our dream of working from home and having our money work for us...not having to worry about living paycheck to paycheck so we can finally move on with our lives. It's not that we aren't happy, we're just very ambitious. We're working on our own projects right now so we can finally come together and ultimately work on some projects together, whether it's making some babies or launching a new business...we're determined!

Wish us luck as we venture off into new beginnings this year. We look forward to what else is in store for us. We've only been in our condo for 5 months now and we already can't wait to have our own house.

Hope you can take away a little something from this post...if anything, just make sure you always count your blessings and to always aim high and hit the mark!

God Bless,
RYANGELA

Who's Ryangela Anyway?

We are a happily married couple ready to share our lives with the world. We want to make a difference in our own lives and in those we come in contact with. Just like you we have dreams and we have goals. We believe that by sharing our goals and our progress with you we will have a better chance at reaching them. Experiencing Life with RyAngela-Exposed will hopefully inspire you to do the same! May the blessings of God abide in us all...

Welcome

Thank you for visiting Life with RyAngela! We are Ryan and Angela and we are excited to share our lives with you! We've talked about starting a blog together for quite some time now; however, it's always been professional/business talk...so I took the liberty of starting a more personalized blog to share our lives with the blogshpere. I will admit, I used to be very skeptical about putting our lives on blast for all to see, but hey, if our advice and experience can shed some light on a troubled reader, why not! Our ultimate goal is to give back to the community and help others in any way we can. Right now, we have a revolving definition of success but it all boils down to a few bullet points:

• Own a successful business, if not a few,
  
• Have our money/businesses work for us,
• So that we can stay home, build a family, and do the things we love most
  

We don't have kids just yet, but we are planning on it. Right now we are enjoying life in our new condo (est. February 2008), attempting to be bold, living life passionately and loving each other hard.

Join us on our journey to reach our goals as we give you RyAngela-Exposed!

We leave you today with a quote from Booker T. Washington:
"I have learned that success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the OBSTACLES which he has overcome while trying to succeed."

Sincerely,
RyAngela