A Love Story: 4 Years Ago Today...

It was my first semester in college and the first time I ever left home. I hardly knew anyone in Orlando so whenever there was an opportunity to get out and make friends, I was all over it. I was invited to go to a student organization meeting with the promise of free food, games and a chance to meet other freshies as well as some seasoned students. So I went and dragged along a dorm friend with me. We sat down, waiting for the event to begin and the next few moments later, I found myself beside the man who's never left since.

I started the conversation exchange. Something about the papers the meeting coordinators passed out asking us if we wanted to join a big brother or big sister program. From there, it was the usual “what major are you in” and “what do you do for fun around here” kind of stuff.

The meeting began; food first, then games. So we got up and someone he knew joined us in line. “Are you going to play at the meeting?” he asked Joshua. That sparked a little something in me and I asked him if he was in a band.  “No, I just play guitar” he said.

 Yep. There were definitely some fireworks shooting off somewhere at that point. You see, I’ve always had a thing for a guy who plays guitar. He swears up and down today that I was bug-eyed the entire time we talked about it. I deny it every time, but deep inside, I know it’s true.

The meeting ended and we exchanged names again before leaving. That night, we both walked away with smiles on our faces and a new day to look forward to. 

How did your love story begin?

Way Back When

Isn't it fun sometimes to look back on old photos? Well, last night I was hunting down photos I haven't seen in a while (maybe they are lost forever? *sadface*) and I came across these. Here we have a couple snapshots of when Joshua and I first started dating.

This is our "look-off-into-the-sunset" photo and awkward heart hands pic.

Seeing these and going through others taken around the same time brought back a flood of memories. It was the honeymoon stage of our relationship; we were inseparable and simply head over heels for each other. After nearly 4 years, I still feel the same way.

Love More

Distance is just a test of how far love can travel

Distance never separates two hearts that really care

Distance means so little when someone means so much

I thought I'd share some long distance quotes while continuing to expand on my earlier Smitten post; share some quotes, a little story and encourage us to love more. Let me know if you'd like to feature a story! 

Yesterday I received a love note in the mail from Joshua. Even though it was a simple letter, my man of a few words, it made my heart flutter. But we are still in the Abyss, aka living miles apart and not knowing when we will see each other again. That's the hard part. There's no counting down the days until we'll see each other again. But on the plus side, we're learning to compromise, getting creative with our date nights and getting over the "comfortable stage". All we know is our time together is never enough and that this will all work out in the end. 

Anyone else in a long distance relationship and have some advice, or want to vent with me about how it kind of sucks or share the great things about it? 

Images via 1, 2, 3, 4

Thoughtful Thursday: Long Distance

We've been together for three years. Four this year. When we're together, we love to just bum around and watch shows.  We love spending the day together. We just simply enjoy each other's company. A few months ago, I graduated and got a job, and everything we knew was flipped upside down. We now live 2 hours away from each other when we were just 2 minutes apart in Orlando. As this month comes to an end, and he gets closer to graduating, the distance between us will only grow more. It's going to be a difficult living apart for who knows how long and managing our relationship long distance. But I think this will be good. I'll definitely need some help, but it'll be good.

These pictures are the outtakes of our photo shoot a couple weekends ago that I promised I would post. We're just being silly. When I look back at them, I remember how much I loved that day. Despite having to trudge through some weeds and twigs scratching at my legs and encountering wasps making themselves at home by our feet. It was a lot of fun, and I think even though we were goofing off while the camera snapped away, we were fortunate that it captured who we are. They will be a constant reminder keeping me strong throughout our separation. We've only got a few more times to be together before we enter into the abyss. Yes. I think that's what I'm going to call our long distance. The Abyss. 

Walk in the Park

Date nights are rare these days... but when we have them, they're pretty simple. This weekend Joshua came in town and we took a walk around Crescent Lake Park. I was lucky enough to get really close to these geese ( I think that's what they are?). They actually walked right past me as I was trying to take a picture of them. So cute! 

Sleeping Bombers

So I've been missing Joshua :( He's been out of the country for a few days (in Dubai now and India later). So I thought I'd share what we've been up to lately... Sleep bombing! It's when we would take pictures with our beloved sleeping friends... and occasionally strangers apparently. It all started on our plane ride out to California in October when we saw that our neighbor was sleeping. We wanted to take as many pictures as we could of our trip and I guess for whatever reason, we wanted to document that moment. We were laughing so hard we thought we'd wake him up. Ever since then, we continued with this silly game. 

... and we sleep bomb cats too.

I love my man! He so handsome :3
I am smitten...

Bring it On Winter

This is what happens when you go to Target to buy DVDs... you come back with a cat 

onesie PJ. Well at least for Joshua and me. At first we just thought that it would be a funny

 idea for me to wear around the house. We were imagining me just bouncing around the house 

in a cat costume. But then Joshua was serious about buying it for me. And so, he did and I love it.

 It keeps me so warm and it is so incredibly funny!! Every time I put it on, I just have to laugh

 a little at myself and so does Joshua. 

I like the kitties on my feet!

Three Years with My Hunbun

Where did the time fly? Today Joshua and I celebrated our three year anniversary, in a sort of hybrid, casual style. We split the day to plan special things for each other. I got the afternoon portion, and he got the evening. For lunch, we picnicked indoors on a Spongebob blanket eating our Olive Garden to go order and reminisced. We spent the rest of the day studying, yeah... the life of a college student, until dinner. Joshua kept joking with me that we were just going to sit in at McDonald's and order happy meals! How romantic. But he ended up surprising me with dinner at Colorado Fondue.

 It's hard to believe that it's already been three years! In such a short amount of time, we've done so much and went through so much together. It's been quite a journey, and I can't wait to see what is in store of us in years to come!

Saturday Morning Market

I found my twin.

This weekend Joshua and I spontaneously decided to make our trek back home... mainly because he purchased a bow-tie collar for Benji and wanted to to put it on him. I'll have to post pictures later, he is so cute! But this morning my family, Joshua and I headed to the Saturday Morning Market in downtown St.Petersburg for breakfast. It was refreshing to explore our local shops and eat delicious food! We got to drink freshly squeezed tangerine juice, picked a geode to crack open, try Ethiopian food and finish with a cup of gelato. I think I was more captivated by how beautiful downtown has become over the years. I haven't explored the city in while and its always nice to discover new things about a place I grew up in. It's a tradition I'll have to start with my family from now on! 

How do you crack a geode?

Oh, that's how!

{Dinner for Two} Sushi

Joshua and I love to go out for sushi when we have our little dates. So instead of going out last night (due to shortness of money and probably a little laziness), I decided to try my hand at making sushi. It was a lot of fun and lots of trial and error. I made three rolls and some inari sushi. Since I was limited on what I could make with what I had, I basically made three different-looking rolls, with the same ingredients: Krab, cucumber, and cream cheese. For my attempt at a volcano roll, I mixed the krab shreds in spicy mayo and baked it for about 10 minutes (it would probably be easier with a toaster oven). The inari sushi is made of fried tofu skin that has a little slit on the side that opens to form a pouch. I stuffed some of the sushi rice in there with some crab mixture. I wanted to decorate it a little bit to make it cute for the BF, so I made a kitty and a sleepy bear out of nori. I had just as much fun eating it as I was making it! 

Cafe Comfort

Monday was quite a gloomy day. I guess it was the perfect kind of weather for the holiday, but it made me want to just kick back and relax. So Joshua and I decided to go grab a cup of coffee and some sandwiches at a relatively new cafe that opened up in Winter Park called Sleeping Moon. It was kind of hidden, nestled in a low traffic plaza. I was lucky enough to notice it in the passenger seat months ago when I passed by. So we gave it a shot to move away from the normal Starbucks that we're used to. Once we walked in, it was apparent that this would be the ideal place to work or relax. It was pretty and earthy, the decor was filled with local art. I love the string lights and their circular bar!

Turkey Day Panini (Yum!)

I love discovering new places in the neighborhood! I wonder what other hidden treasures there are around here!

Pumpkin Picking

Joshua and I went to pick a pumpkin to carve together for the first time! We passed this mini patch at the church  all the time and finally stopped. 

We encountered some funky pumpkins that kind of gave me goosebumps!

After picking through all the pumpkins we finally found a pumpkin we were happy with! Then we carved a Jack Skellington with... braces?