A Year Ago

Today i woke up "early" at 8am. Ran errands for a few hours. Went out to lunch with Geoff. Browsed Floor & Decor making a game plan for remodeling our bathroom. Met up with friends and took their picture and went out to dinner with them. Came home and started working again. This has been my routine lately.
Wake up around 10am and go to bed around 2am.

Exactly one year ago today i quit my safe, m-f, 7-4, family ran business, job.
For a long while it was like having two full time jobs. Working with Shade Tree Films was (and is) a blessing. And then starting LPP with them and eventually taking over it fully. Id come home from a long commute from yucaipa at the STF office and start working on a LPP film until midnight to wake up at 5:45am and do it all over again. Id probably be dead if it werent for Geoff and i carpooling everyday and him taking the morning shift. After a few months of that schedule i had a breakdown and cut my hours even more from STF so i could try and keep up with the backlog LPP was accumulating. Still there? Good. After Geoff got a new job at South Hills Church (another blessing) and i lost my carpooling buddy, i went commission with STF and started working from home and gained like three extra hours of sleep a day!
Ive never loved my job more than i do today. Ive never loved my life more than i do today. Ive never been so blessed and felt favor like i do today. Our business is growing and we are now partnering up with EPlove and offering photography (<--even more freaking favor on us). I freaking love photography. Hope to have as many, if not more, photo weddings as we do video.
Our marriage is in a better place than its been in a while. I think its because we both get plenty of sleep now and feel more sprightly ;) no babes in the near future. though, seeing G play and wrestle with our friends kids makes it difficult at times. He's gonna be a awesome dad.
I guess the whole point of this post is to say that a year ago i decided to not live in fear anymore. I didnt live in fear that i would fail because i didnt except us not succeeding. I wanted this really bad and ive we've worked really, really, really, hard to be here.
One year ago I chose to live in love.

Thank you for supporting me. I love you.

One year later...

So Geoff and i just celebrated our one year anniversary. Can i just say, i told you i wasnt pregnant. We were married 3 months after we got engaged and a few people (who clearly didnt know us that well) thought i was knocked up. False.
Marriage is a lot more of everything than i could have ever realized. Some days i think ive married the easiest going person in the world and other days it feels like the most stubborn. We have changed so much within that year and learned even more about each other that i cant even imagine what the next years will unveil. I'm not going to lie, this year felt like two but i think its because of all the stuff thats changed since then. In hindsight, theres some things i wish i could do differently that may have made the transition from individuals to a team who has to share everything much easier...

1. Buy everything YOU want before you get married. Sounds selfish and shallow, i know. But once you get married the money you make will be both your money. And unless you are blessed with a lot of it, your going to have to ask if its OK with your spouse to spend both your money on something that only benefits you. This is still the hardest thing for me to adjust to. I cant just buy a dress from target or f21, expensive skincare products or tan without seeing if Geoff is cool with it. And lets be honest, he is a tightwad with money and not a chick so he doenst understand why i want another new dress or iphone when i have a perfectly fine one from a year ago. If you are engaged, make haste and buy all the pointless crap that makes you happy before you get married. 
2. Save all your money. Singletons, i know what you're thinking but i promise you you wont get that much from your money dance and in wedding gifts. When you get married its like this evil bill fairy will appear and things that you didnt account for or something expensive will need repair and boom, there goes a few grand. Stressing about money is the worst thing to fret about in general let alone something that might be on the back of your mind when you are going to bed to get frisky. You cant eat love and it doesnt pay the bills. 
3. Double Vanity. No matter if youre renting or owning, make sure your bathroom has a two sinks. Beard trimmings, toothpaste and counter space wars. This is no joke.
4. Let him play video games. And guys, let her do her thing too. You both need time apart from each other that isnt work related. Sometimes you just need to check out of life for an hour so you can regroup and be yourself. Sure, the timing may not be right because you want to complain and vent, but we all need to hit that reset button now and then so we can have enough patience to still like you. 
5. Close the door behind you. Keep the mystery alive because once its gone its gone. And once a dude realizes its cool to fart around you or pee with the door open, things only get more graphic from there.
6. Register for a cork screw.

In one year together we bought a house, made it a home, started our own business, stayed debt free, stayed true to our no kids pact and have become closer together than ever. I am seriously so in love with Geoff still. He is the manliest, sexiest, funniest, hardest working provider to me and i still cant believe he wanted to marry me out of all the other smart, funny and beautiful girls he's ever known.

Best year ever!


ps- hawaii vid coming soon!

cool guy

I love it when Geoff tries to act like rico suave while doing things.

And then he smacks the squeegee into the car antenna and it bounces the squeegee into his chest

and loses all cool guy composure.

Love it.

4 day weekend

So i am totally for four 10hr work days in order to have a three day weekend. When i get four days it seriously feels like a mini vacation to me. Especially when its as fun as the last one was.

I got out of work early last wednesday and was so excited for the holiday weekend that i broke out my old christmas tree. I figured waiting till the day before thanksgiving was long enough.

Not even one hour after decorating it June somehow knocks it off the table. I dont know how she managed to even get to it but somehow got to the center of a 5' X 5' square table. I can only assume she was chasing a shadow one of the Christmas lights were making. I was so pissed. She broke one of the super cute cupcake ornaments Geoff's mom just got me! Luckily, the shark was spared.

We got to hangout with Chris and Es while they were out visiting.
Watched Geoff play 3 games at the corona turkey bowl in the extreme cold and windy conditions. Being around Jolene and Es made it worth it.
Had our first blended thanksgiving!

The Cook's and Brouillette's

We had the Ron's sit at the heads of the table. Geoff looks like such a prep in this photo. He doesnt even drink wine either.

mmmmm.... deep fried turkey. so healthy and easy on the waistline.

Case and Point:  World, meet baby Geoffrey.

Geoff has always been a slim dude so to see this is shocking. people joked with him and said, "wait till you get married..." but we both didnt believe it would actually happen to him. its a fact now. and i love it!

He literally farted on his moms head at this moment

Here's Pat hemming geoffs pants in my moms front lawn. He was in Kirk + Carrie's wedding and the 3-day suit guy made his pants too long and apparently too tight around the waist. 

First Dance

Theres no chance you'll ever see me black friday and i didnt even get pictures of the insane people who spent that cold cold thanksgiving night outside waiting for stores to open at 3am. Its for the birds.


Other pictures:

Sleeping Giant recording vocals for their new album. YES, Joanna is singing/yelling in it!

me recording geoff, recording lil ryan and eric, recording their vocals

name changes

Dumb me. I didn't realize that when we were getting our marriage license in march that THAT was my final name change on that particular document. For some reason i thought that was when you picked it up. idk why... just going to blame it on the wedding brain.
Ideally, i wanted to have my maiden name as a second middle name or hyphened and have the longest name of anyone i know with: Candice Marie Valdespino-Brouillette
I wanted to have what i call a 3-liner.
on Geoffs drivers license his full name is so long that it takes up 2 lines. Even with my old name is was just one. but with this improvement i would for sure beat him.
Negative on that plan now.
I got my social security card in the mail and will be going for my DL in a few weeks. Takes forever to get an appt these days. I'll also be getting a new picture taken for it which would be cool. its the same one from when i was 15. not like much as changes since then though.
Seeing my name like this kinda makes me sad. its so final. well maybe not sad, more nostalgic? idk.
still trying to master my name signature though.

and a quick vid of June:

i know, i know. im totally the pet parent of the year....

i go straight to the source and she actually loves it

cool things happening this week:

• my little brother is getting married on sunday to his high school sweetheart! im so excited to them!
• because of this i get to see my baby brother and sister AGAIN this year! 
• just bought my ticket to visit them this summer (surprise!)
• and one of life's biggest question's will be answered tonight. in redlands. at market night. thats all im sayin' for now...

you make my dreams come true

this is pretty much how i feel everyday since being married.
same context as the movie and all.


and now im going back to being a lady :x

minimoon

we stayed on crystal pier in our own private cottage with our own private back patio of the pier for 4 days. amazing to say the least. after the first day we thought how cool it would be to live there, on a pier, over the breakers. but after that first day we noticed a few draw backs you wouldn't think of like how loud it is to live that close to the crashing waves and not only can they get so loud that you cant even hear yourself pee but whenever a set comes in the whole cottage shakes! i would wake up in the middle of the night thinking it was an earthquake and geoff would just laugh at me. it was so fun! i wasnt a huge fan of SD area like 99% of people are but after this trip i kinda fell for it. i think la jolla is my favorite city down there.

favorite thing i did out there (besides geoff heyoooo)was go kayaking in la jolla. Es Kretzu said it was something we should do, so we did.
idk what we were thinking we were getting ourselves into but it was not was either of us were expecting. i kinda thought we were going to be in a bay like area with the 7 caves they were advertising but when we realized we were paddling from the beach to the buoys... it started out bad. im pretty sure i was useless the first 30 seconds of paddling. i couldnt grasp the fact that my whole paddle had to go all the way into the water thus dousing geoff (tandem kayak)with sea water hahah. we were in a race to get to the waves before they broke over us and i was kinda in a panic and i really didnt want to tip! dolphins and sealions came extremely close to our kayak and instead of going into the caves (the tide was too hide) we saw this major feeding going on in the water. i pretty sure every bird in a one mile radius was circling the water for fish.
the weather was just perfect that day and we were both doing something new together working as a team. love love loved it. i couldnt bring my camera on our lil kayaking escapade but heres some from the rest of our minimoon trip:

sham slam, jellies, star fish, before and after kayaking the pacific ocean, geoff serenading the surfers and some other goodness. 

no, thats not jesus' silhouette. thats just geoff in front of a giant magnifying glass in front of an aquarium. 

polar bear club

me, myself and i at crystal pier cottages (where we stayed)

its really happening

yesterday we got the keys to our first place, which is also geoffs first time ever moving. yeah, MOVING AT ALL. thats just crazy to me. sure ive moved 5x in the past 4 months but even before all that and when i still lived with my mom we were moving about every 1.75 years into a newer house. so needless to say we have a major decluttering operation in his room and throughout his garage.
he was saying how he felt like he was signing his life away after going over the 23 page contract and 10 different addendum's but i reassured him that its easier to get married than to get an apt these days and it will all be uphill from here on out.

and no, we wont be living together before we are married. i will be but he wont. after all this time i think we can wait another 3 weeks.



while i went back to work he started unloading my stuff from storage all alone. he is the man.
i was helping him bring in the couch and he slipped into a planter and i was laughing at him, being the supportive fiancee that i am, and in doing so didnt realize the curb coming up. feet stand still, my body goes forward, knees hit the cement, face plant into our new (to us) lazy boy couch, and expecting my fingers to be smashed off since im still gripping the bottom as it slams down on the cement. luckily the couch has feet so digits were unharmed. my knees and pride were not. as i was still laying there on the ground trying not to show my embarrassment tony comes around the corner, "AWWWW... did i miss it?!"
at least geoff got a good laugh!


i dont know why God continues to bless me with so much. i was driving to work thinking about how much He has provided for me lately and im seriously dumbfounded and humbled. when money starts running out or i dont know where i was going to live or what to do, He would provide me with just enough. Andrew opened his house up to me, Travis opened his house to june, larger than expected tax returns and to give me geoff as my husband, i mean seriously?! i just cry thinking about how He loves me and how undeserving i am to have His love and blessings. there are so many people who have less than what they need and i feel guilty. theres just not enough ways to show my love or thank Him.

23 more days.
(till im married, corre. :])

home sweeet home

this is our luxurious house: all 2500sqft, 4bdrm/2.5baths, half an acre backyard with a jacuzzi, back house for geoffs recording and practices and the white picket fence.

Dream home... no, but we are still excited and feel blessed none the less for being able to live on our own. geoff kept repeating, "we're really doing this, harry!" all night.

after another huge let down on a house we were fighting for we have to throw in the towel for now. its reached that deadline where theres no way we can find a house, go through escrow and move in before we're married so we went apartment shopping on saturday. This place was our first stop because they are cheap and some of our best friends live in the track aaaaand because they dont have a breed or weight limit on dogs! did you hear that? its the sound of heaven opening! WE ARE GOING TO BE A FAMILY AGAIN. geoff, me and june. its been so long since ive seen her. Junes been living with her uncle Travis in grand terrace. frolicking on their huge property, swimming in his giant pool and chasing grandma's cats from what ive heard. And Uncle Trav has even taught her how to sit still with food on her nose and is teaching her german. We signed a long lease with this apt since God only knows what Hes doing and this buying a house business is taking so long.

enter housing talk
there were 2 house in lake elsinore that we wanted so bad we were going conventional with our offers and not even bothering with FHA. so that helped us beat literally 15 offers that were all FHA right off the bat. for both houses it was the day before the seller was going to make a decision that some lame-ass cash offer would come in and steal our spot. and naturally the investor thats selling the house wants to sell their house asap so we even went with a private lender that would be able to close escrow in 15days(the usu- is 30days)! still didnt help.
we are still waiting to hear back from the bank on a house in corona thats a short sale from november. November! NOVEMBER?! apparently, the owners took a second on this house so we have to deal with two banks instead of just a hellish one. but the owners dont live there anymore nor are they still paying it so it keeps going up on the auction block and then getting postponed every month. but its a sweet house with a lot of room and potential so we are waiting for it. but now that since its coming closer to the obama money deadline we are going to have to start going FHA and can kiss standard sales goodbye.
end realtor talk.
i could seriously talk about homes all day and have been entertaining the idea of becoming a realtor but recently geoff and i have come up with an even better career path for us.
youll see eventually.

last night, after leaving multiple deposits on our apt and credit checks, we went to sams club for a stroll and dinner. we're such an old married couple already.

no i didnt surprise him, he posed that way.


now we can stock up on mass quantities of toilet paper and dog food for a good price.
plus to get your 35mm film developed is so cheap!


26 days till we dont have to say goodbye every night. cant come fast enough.

Little things

He gave me a bunch of his DVDs since I have no tv

And in exchange, when we swapped cars tonight, I made his new stereo stop flashing in DEMO mode.

Team work.


Good stuff:
Went cake tasting today mmmmm
Geoff is picking up June tomorrow from the sitters and trav is watching her
Ryan and Joanna are getting married on Friday!
I'm staying in a sweet house right now
Cassius is sleeping on the floor and sitting on command
I can move all my stuff in one car trip in my xB. Liberating.
I got a good parking spot in front of the door tonight.
God spoke to me through someone else yesterday. He told her to tell me He is listening. Always providing me with just what I need.
And I'm going to marry my best friend and the best man I know in 7 weeks!