little love story

I have about a billion and one things I could blog about...my birthday this past weekend, wedding updates, those weddings I went to this winter (that are so far delayed), life in general, a baby shower I'm super duper excited about co-hosting, babies on their way, the list goes on....creativity is swirlling in my head NONstop these days - creativity needed for the real life happenings mentioned above, not so much for blogging...

So with all creativity sucked out of my skull I bring you a fun link up instead!

You can read all about "Our Story" here. But these are the basics!



1. How long have you and your significant other been together? not that long! We officially met in May of 2009 (I think...?) then went on our first date in August of 2010 and after a few months of stupidity on my part our second first date in January of 2011.

 2. How did you meet? {What's your "love" story?} Technically we officially met through my college boyfriend (we'll call him AH, I really hate the term "ex" bf) I tell people we met through our friend Wade though because it just sounds better...Wade invited me and AH to go out for a friends bday in Houston. Travis was there. End of story (except not hardly!) Although May 09 was our first official meeting, we crossed paths a billion times in college.   

3. If married, how long have you been married? If not, is this the guy you hope to marry? {do tell} Yep...I'm marrying this guy in 240 days!! EEEEEEEEE!!!!!

4. If you are married, where did you get married at? Big or small wedding? If not, where would you like to get married? And will it be big or small? We are getting married at Briscoe Manor near Sugar Land. The venue is stunning.  No other words.  Our wedding will be much, much larger than I ever imagined.  I'm talking big...like the Chinese population.  Apparently being from a small town means you invite well, the whole town.  Doesn't help that he has a gigantic family either.  Let's just say that his side will TRUMP my side (which will practically consist of only my closest friends and family) Either way though, I know when all is said and done there won't be one thing I will want to change.  Having so many people there that love and support us will be incredible! And in my humble opinion I think the party will be completely badass. (I don't have another words for that adjective)

 5. Do you have any nick-names that you call one another? Do share!
I call him Trav, T, sometimes Travis, and that's pretty much it.  Babe in text messages from time to time.  He calls me babe and Tiggles (NO idea where that came from) When I think about it, I think the only time he calls me by my name is when I'm not paying attention (frequently, but I am getting better he says!)

 6. Name 3 things you love most about your honey.
-his loyalty and the way he takes care of everyone/thing around him
-his voice...he should seriously narrorate a show about hunting or fishing or oil
-his size...we will make some LEGIT football players - and he will be the BEST dad!

7. Tell us how he proposed? Or your ideal proposal? T proposed at my bayhouse in Rockport, TX.  I was a big ole hott mess so the deats are quite vague.  You can read about it here and then read about how I was a complete basket case afterwards here

 8. Is he a flowers and teddy bear kind of guy for v-day, or strawberries, champagne, and rose petals? umm neither...T is not a big romatic (in the typical sense of the word anyway) and he def does NOT wear his heart on his sleeve but I'm worried the big baby won't be able to keep it together at the alter...
He's the most passionate man I've ever met but you have to really watch him to see it. It's definitely more in his everyday actions and words.    (not to say I won't possibly get a great gift from him...he's a giver)

 9. Are you a sunset dinner on the beach kind of girl, or pop a movie in and relax on the couch? This really depends on my mood. On a Friday night I'm usually a couch girl but come Saturday I'm all about dinner/beach (except I'd prefer an awesome "doing" date like driving range, a new adventure, a new place, etc)  


10. Tell us one thing you'd like to do with your significant one day. If you could do anything? Go anywhere? HAVE HIS BABIES!!!!

11. Tell us what you plan on doing on this Valentine's Day. well...we were supposed to be in COSTA FREAKIN RICA.....an extremely generous engagement/wedding gift from this awesome man, Mike he works with...

 

BUT, ever so sadly....it was NOT doable.  There is no way in hell I can take off 4 consecutive days of work with all these days I've already taken off....my kinder babes have to make it to first grade!  Luckily, he said it's an open invite so we're planning on making the trip this summer! (man, to have the life of a man that can just hop on over to Costa Rica and fish on his flippin yacht on the reg...must be tough)

So no plans...we won't be together and Valentine's Day falls right inbetween our birthdays so it's likely we won't do much to celebrate ever. I'd be happy to spend every Feb 14th with take out and a couch with my husband for the rest of my entire life.  

12. Are you asking for anything this Valentine's day?

Nope, unless of course he wants to get me diamond stud earring or something amazing! Just kidding, kind of, I was spoiled on my bday. If I could have anything for Valentine's Day I would have the calendar fast forward 235 days!

13. Give us one piece of advice of keeping a relationship strong and full of love. COMPROMISE. Stolen from Brynn but so very true!

14.  Show us a picture of what love means to you.

  True love. I hope this is me and T in 50 years.

11.17.11

The day I got engaged.

As I posted before, I had a feeling a proposal was in the very near future. I waited each weekend in October thinking "maybe this is the weekend". October came and went and before I knew it November had practically vanished. Our schedules are about to get crazy busy (out of town/country weddings basically ever non-holiday weekend from now until April) and because a dear friend mentioned that he had planned to pop the question before Thanksgiving I had a pretty good idea it would happen.  

On the way to Rockport I had convinced myself this wasn't going to be the weekend. I was sure he was just trying to throw me off and I was positive he hadn't asked my dad or purchased a ring but the moment I pulled up to our cute little bay house and he walked outside to meet me, I knew what was about to happen.

I wish I could remember much after that.  He walked me into the house, sat me down, which instantly led to tears...the rest unfortunately is a huge blur, he talked to me for a bit, got a knee, pulled out a box, asked me to marry him, I said "YES!", and just like that, we were engaged! I have no photo documentation of details or anything but I have this big honka rock on my finger that is a constant reminder of the night I became a FIANCE!!

11.17.11

Bear with me...these next few posts are for my memory - they're lacking all the fun of a typical post like pictures, etc.  Those will come soon!

Our Story

I know I promised a post on the engagement and it's coming!! I also have about 10 more thankful for posts (that I'm still doing even though Thanksgiving is over) and other wedding related news but I thought I'd first start with the story of me and Trav. This is more for my benefit than yours but feel free to read along...I happen to be absolutely in love with the way this story pans out.

In college Travis and I were both in serious relationships. We didn't know each other but had mutual friends. My boyfriend at the time lived with a guy named Wade.  Wade and Travis were friends from class and I remember this big red head (enter: Travis) coming over to the boys house to study or get notes, etc. from Wade.  I've always loved a big guy and strangely a guy with red hair (I mean, do you know a red head that is not a total blast?!? I don't!) but I obviously I didn't think much of it because I had a bf.

There is no doubt we partied at the same parties and frequented the same bars all through college but these encounters never really stuck (I was dating a really good guy and he was dating a witch of a girl) we had other things on our mind.

Fast forward a couple years.  We were both out of college. I had decided to go out with Wade for a birthday celebration of a guy I didn't know.  As soon as we got to the house we were meeting at out comes this incredibly drunk red head, the same guy I remembered from college. I was no longer in a relationship and I immediately was attracted to this guy that was being, simply put, an asshole. As soon as we got in separate cars I asked numerous times, 'Who is that asshole with the red hair?" I remember going on about what a jerk he was being (I couldn't tell you how he was being a jerk, chances are he wasn't. I am not one to outwardly flirt with people and I guess I was annoyed because he was not showing the slightest interest in me, which I found read as jerky.) Wade informed me his serious girlfriend had just broken up with him, he totaled his brand new King Ranch, and one of his retrievers had run off ...all in the same week. He was living the life of a sad country song and he was in town to drink his sorrows away!

After that night some serious facebook stalking ensued for about a week or so.  I learned from creeping that he lived in Victoria, about a an hour and 45 minutes down the road from me, but came in to town quite a bit.  I was in talks with my ex boyfriend at the time and nothing much came out of the facebook stalking. He went back to being out of sight, out of mind.

Fast forward another couple of years and I'm reading a message from him. I was very excited but there was a lot of beating around the bush. I wasn't quite sure the point of the emails we were sending.  They weren't flirty or even chit chatty.  From what I remember they were literally about nothing. After about a week of waiting for him to ask me out he finally said he was coming through town and asked if I wanted to grab lunch with him.  This in my mind was a very friendly outing, nothing more. After lunch he walked me to my door, as soon as the door closed I did one of those silent screaming, jumping up and down bits. I had found the perfect man and I was SOO excited! 

I randomly invited him to come with me and all my best friends to my families bay house in Rockport, TX the following weekend. This was risky. We are a very close knit group and rarely have new people join without some ridicule. I would never normally do this but I knew there was something about him that would just fit. And I never though he would actually come! I was nervous the whole way there and was actually wishing I would have never invited him.

Not to my surprise, my best guy friends immediately formed man crushes on him.  We had a great time that weekend and I was right, he fit right in. The boys told me on or way home that I better not mess this one up for them. (He had 100 hobbies they were envious of AND a boat - it was love.) 

The distance and another boy I had just gone out with was just one of the factors that I worried about when thinking of starting a relationship with Travis. With my friends voices echoing in my mind I sent Travis a long, dreaded text (I know, I suck) saying that I really liked him but that the timing was off and that it made me really sad because I knew I would regret it. He simply responded with "Ok. Thanks for being honest with me."

I had never been let off that easy before. His simple response made it so hard to not want to retract everything I had just told him.

Sure enough, 4 months later I found myself sitting shotgun driving home from NOLA with the "other boy" wishing with everything in me that I had just spent the weekend in New Orleans with Travis.  I FB crept on him basically the whole drive home and re-read all our past text convos.  When I read the the part saying "I know I'm going to regret this" I knew I had made the biggest mistake of my life.

Shortly after, I found the courage to break things off with the other guy and couldn't wait to try my luck with Travis. You can read about the life changing second chance here.

I mentioned before that I knew if he cared enough to respond to my desperate text, I knew I had it in the bag. I was right. I can count on probably one hand the weekends we haven't spent together since that very text. And the rest as they say....is history.....GOT HIM!
(the desperate text went something like this: "You know what I'm dying for right now? Your crab dip. Warm. With crackers. mmmmmm" to which he responded "hahaha that was random. what's up?" Crab dip is just one of the many delicious things Travis makes. Ladies, this boy can cook.)    


One problem, he was still living almost 2 hours away. I hated it but we made it work, I actually got to the point where I loved how we scheduled time for each other.  We'd meet at his bay house in Palacios on Wednesdays (a mini vacay to look forward to mid week, every week) and usually spent weekends in Houston.

Then, a few months into our relationship he called on a Tuesday saying he was coming to Houston for the night to take me to dinner and "talk about some stuff" I immediately got super excited. I knew he was getting some new great opportunities at work and I had convinced myself he was going to tell me he was moving to Houston. I already had plans for where he should move (into my apartment complex, duh) and how amazing life with this guy close by would be. Well, I was dead wrong.

We met after school at my parent's house. I had never seen him so nervous. He explained that he had this amazing opportunity at work.  A position he had hoped to have by his late 30s. A position that could potentially put me in "house wife" status sooner than imagined (that's how he sold it to me, he knows me well, haha). An opportunity that would move him from less than 100 miles away to 300 miles away. To a town I'd never heard of, Carrizo Springs, basically in Mexico. (yea, that terrifying country next to us) He told me how much he liked me (thought he was going to drop the L bomb but that didn't come until later! ha) and how he really wanted me to be in his life but he'd understand if I wasn't willing to put in the time and effort.

 I told him to do it. I absolutely hated the idea but I knew it was for the best. I hugged him for 5 plus minutes so he wouldn't see my tears.

 And here we are today.

We're ENGAGED and so, so, SO happy and full of love and excitement.

But...it hasn't been easy. In fact, at times it was really, really hard.  I never once doubted that we could do it but I'd be lying if I said there weren't tears. Probably way more than Trav's even aware of. There was a period of time that I would cry basically every time I got off the phone with him. And of course, the only person that I wanted to comfort me was him. 300 miles away. There were times I just wanted to give everything else up to be with him.

Simply put, distance sucks. BAD.

But we did it. We made it work just like he always promised we would. 

S if for Second Chances

Meet Travis.

The boy I dated briefly and broke things off with.

The boy who took me back.

My thanks for this is unending.  When I realized I had made a huge mistake I waited painstakingly by my phone for the familiar sound of a returned text (December 22nd to be exact, I remember these things - ha!).  I thought if he still cared enough after 5 months that's all it would take. I was right. The moment he responded and I had a chance to explain myself I knew my life had changed forever. This time I knew we were in it for the long haul.

...and he came just the way I like them! Big (lineman big - my favorite type!), strong, red headed (yes, love this!), so so sweet, sincere, goofy, strong willed, southern, smart, and all mine!

Most importantly he believed in us since day one and he always has the right thing to say when the distance gets to be too much.

Our first ever posed picture together (just last month!) and this is the face he makes...

Love this boy!

Has a second chance ever changed your life?