He surprised me.

Friday night, I unlocked the door to my house, attempting to be super sly, have my brothers bring in the television I bought for David for our anniversary. In the midst of my attempted stealthiness I walked smack into a room lit with candles, David and Romeo sitting patiently on the couch. 

So much for my surprise!

He walked over to me, Romeo running with his best cardigan on, and a homemade sign saying: 

"Will you marry my dad? Please..."

He proceeded to get down on one knee....and the rest of the details of the night are sweetly savored in my memory except for the fact that my entire family knew and were waiting back at my mom's house for us to celebrate. They never cease to surprise me. 

It was cozy, simple, and sweet. 

November 16, 2008, David and I started dating. 

November 16, 2012 he proposed. 

It was quite a night. 

He loved the television by the way. His man-cave is almost complete. 

xoxo

When we met.

disclaimer: yes...this is one of those 'how we met stories'.

I swore off men the day before we "sort of" met. I decided after one too many disappointing boys came in and out of my life that I was going to chop my hair off (yes, I pulled the drastic appearance change following a break-up). I needed a change and that change involved steering clear of any type of romance and just having fun with my girlfriends. So....we went out, all dolled up, me with my new hair and my new silk shirt that looking back, was not so cute after all.

As we were huddled in one of our dance circles; you know those right? They are almost unable to be broken, there is an invisible force field full of girl vibes, boys not allowed in these dance circles. If you try to break into this circle, you inevitably will be thrown backwards by one of us doing the booty shake or something like that, I forget. Anyway, in the midst of our dance circle and me being the somber...'oh I'm so sad, I just broke up with my boyfriend who turned out to be a total disappointing jerk' party pooper, David happened to stumble unwillingly (or maybe willingly who knows) into our dance circle, throwing our whole vibe off.

Now this is the part where I tell you we locked eyes and fell in love right then and there and it's been a sweet deal ever since...yeah, that didn't happen. As he stumbled his way into our little dance off going on; I (upholding my sworn oath to avoid men) simply ignored his attempt and Kelli (my bestest girlfriend in the whole word) decided to reenact a spectacular version of Madonna's Like a Prayer with him. I couldn't help but laugh and then quickly turn on my 'I want nothing to do with you face on' again.

I left the bar that night not even knowing his name.

A couple weeks later Kelli and I went back to the same place, on a random night after class for some drinks. As I was walking back from the bathroom to the stool where I was sitting, I felt an arm brush mine and lucky me, it was David. He followed me back to my stool, we talked, had a few drinks, and I decided that useless conversation while we were out couldn't hurt. That night I ended up giving him my number, simply disregarding my oath, and got back in my car with Kelli to go home thinking I'd probably never hear from him.

Two weeks passed, no call.

October 15, I get a phone call and a voicemail from David; wanting to hang out. He took the whole "I'm going to wait 3 days to call the girl" move to an entirely different level. (He still laughs about it to this day. His horrible attempt at being suave.) He came out with us for Kelli's 22nd birthday that night and literally followed me/us from restaurant to bar, to bar, to bar.......

and I'm kinda glad he did. He's been following me ever since ; )

After that night, it was a whirlwind of movie dates, dinners, my birthday, Christmas, and many more of those for four years following.

So, Happy four years to the one guy I'm glad stumbled into our dance circle, performed one of the best renditions of Like a Prayer I have ever seen, kept me on my toes for four years, and has been there ever since for everything. Here's to many, many more.

Love you David <3 

the lights.

Today on my drive home from work, I drove down this little hill, slowed down to go over the speed bump just wanting to get home and saw a bunch of colors coming from behind a row of trees.....Christmas lights! This home was decked out in Christmas lights, reindeer, Santa Claus, and numerous snow men. I must have had the biggest smile on my face, because before I realized it, the car behind me had started beeping and I noticed I was stopped just staring. 

One of my favorite memories from the holiday season are the lights. My parents and my yiayia used to take my two brothers and I, each and every year to Long Wood Gardens to see all of the trees and lights. 

I remember being completely swaddled in my winter coat when we left the house, only to have it unzipped by the time we got there. My oversized earmuffs that I absolutely had to wear, slowly slipping off my head as I ran to be the first one in. I loved the lights. I loved them almost as much as my yiayia. There were so many different colors but my favorite were the bright white lights that covered the trees. 

To this day, my favorite thing to do once the holiday season settles in and the chill in the air starts to overwhelm us, is to drive around in the car with hot cocoa looking at all of the lights. Yes, we have to get out of the car if I see an overly spectacular set-up, and yes we take photos in front of it. 

The first year David and I were dating I invited him over to my uncle's home for Christmas day dinner and he asked to leave early that night. If you come to holiday dinners with my family, they rarely end early so I was a little disappointed he wanted to leave early but I agreed. We got in the car and drove back towards my parent's house, and then past my parent's house. I had no idea where we were going and was a little annoyed at this point (yeah, it happens), until...I saw almost a half a mile of lights as we turned down this long road in a small neighborhood. 

There was a house with the greatest set-up of Christmas lights and decorations I have ever seen. He parked the car, told me to button up my white coat and put my hat on. We got out of the car and walked along the path this family had set up for everyone to watch the lights. David went there as a little kid, each year to see the lights. It was the best ending to Christmas. We go every year to see the lights and I get a little excited right after Thanksgiving, waiting to go see them. Thank goodness David enjoys it just as much as I do, or we may not have worked out ; ) 

Needless to say, I'm really excited to see the lights this year. 

Romeo and me.

It's official, Romeo and I are getting lonely. David went away this weekend with my dad to the mountains for some 'male bonding' I guess you could say. Romeo and I stayed home and entertained my brother and all of his THON friends that were canning around here this weekend. We had so much fun hanging out with everyone but really missed our other half who was relaxing over 'guy talk', beers, and target shooting. We know he missed us too. 

Romeo and I went shopping and bought a new winter sweater. For some reason this dog loves clothing (almost as much as his mother), which in turn, makes me spend an enormous amount of money on him. Oh well, our dog needs his own closet. 

We drove around in the beautiful weather, enjoying being able to put the windows down in November. 

Romey also had fun with his new cousin Lucca. How precious is this face? How can you possibly not love him?

Happy Sunday : )