It all started with a wink…

{my favorite photo…courtesy of my 3 year old!!}

I Met My Match…..

When you reach your 20’s you are trying to find yourself. You are trying to figure out what you want to do for a career, maybe finishing college, taking the first steps to being independent. I had gone through several life changes and ended up back in my hometown, young and unsure of everything. I had always loved makeup, loved pampering my girlfriends (we couldn’t go out on the town without a little, okay a lot, of hairspray and a smoked out eye)…so when I found myself back home trying to discover my path, I ended up in an interview at The Aveda Institute. It was heaven-sent. I loved every moment {even when my hair ended up purple…picture Barney the dino}…I felt like I was on a good path.

Except when it came to dating. You know, 13 years ago people met in a bar, church or maybe in a bookstore…no?! What, you never encountered a cute guy browsing near the beauty periodicals?!? LOL, me either…so I did what no one admitted doing “back in the day” (I thought I was too young for that saying until a couple days ago when someone asked me if they had internet “back then” haha)…I signed up for an online dating site, Match.com. A few weeks in, I started “winking” at cute guys — think “poking” someone on Facebook. There was this one….This one guy. His picture was “ehh” but his bio was sweet, so I “winked”. Now, don’t worry, he knows I wasn’t crazy about his picture. I often remind him of the fact that it’s a good thing I wasn’t completely superficial, hahaha… but seriously, a few days in and a lot of details later, we found ourselves IM’ing (aka instant messaging again circa 1900’s to you young-ins) for hours upon hours.

My parents did not know what to think about this internet love connection. I found out later, that the first night I went to meet him, my best friend and my mom spent the entire time on the phone with each other. They were debating on which one would follow me, to make sure he wasn’t a serial killer haha. So we live near a huge lake and the lakefront is a beautiful setting for a first meeting…well, unless you think about how it was at night, dark and he could have pushed me off the seawall never to be seen again…LOL That was the kind of thoughts discussed by my mom and friend. Hilarious to think of now because he is completely normal. Buuuuuuut they kind of had a point! Hahaha!!! But I knew this guy was meant for me when we spent 4 hours sitting on the seawall and 1- he didn’t push me over (lol) and 2- I let the wind ruin my hair, that took probably an hour to get perfect! Anyone that knows me, gets what I’m saying!

Fast forward 6 months later…yes I know thats crazy quick…I was saying “yes” to my favorite man. When you know, you know, right?!? But let’s backtrack a little. So we met in May and little did I know, that by October, he had picked out my ring. But y’all he held on to this ring until Christmas Day!! When I say held on to, he had it hidden behind his dresser in his room! For months!

The day he proposed was memorable because it was Christmas Day and it snowed! In South Louisiana, that just does not happen. But it was the perfect backdrop to the perfect day. This man, he is something special. He is so sentimental and thoughtful. He was clever too. I opened presents all day, in a certain order, and I had NO clue (until he told me that night, after the proposed) that the first letter of each gift spelled out- Will You Marry Me…so think, lipgloss for “l”, an umbrella for “u”, a yo-yo for “y” (yes, I thought the yo-yo was strange, but he’s a big kid at heart!) and so on. Then he turned my mom’s walk-in attic into a winter wonderland covered in lights and roses. It is a moment I will never ever forget. Funny thing, my mom sold that house years ago, and we saw it was up for sale, so last week we went to the open house and walked right into that attic and in an instant all the feelings of my winter wonderland came rushing back. Funny how our hearts never forget.

The wedding was my fairytale. We said “I Do” in one of the oldest churches in the country, one that I always called, Cinderella’s Castle, The Saint Louis Cathedral. We weren’t sure this was even going to happen because of a chick named, Katrina! That storm rattled our community and our church and city were underwater just months before. But thanks to grace, not a single wedding detail was ruined. Everything was perfection, from the ladies by my side (much more on them later), to being whisked away in a horse-drawn carriage. We looked back and waved goodbye to family and friends and said hello to a season of new beginnings. We celebrate our 11 year wedding anniversary next month and I am more in love with this man, than I was that first night on the windy lakefront. Love, laughter, adventure, infertility and miracles…my perfect love story. I love you Van! You will forever by my always… oxox