on finding love (our four year anniversary).

I once liked a boy who took me for granted. I let it happen, knew it was happening, and still held on. When I came out of it, I felt stupid and naive and taken advantage of all at once. It didn't feel good. I liked a slew of boys in high school. Sometimes the feelings were reciprocated, other times they weren't. But even if they were reciprocated nothing came of it, which almost hurt worse than no feelings at all. I still listened to love songs and believed they were meant for me.

It was crush after crush after crush until one day I just stopped. Stopped it all. If someone wanted to find me, they could do the searching. I think everyone around me (including Jeffrey) knew before I did that Jeffrey would be the one. And it didn't happen instantly. I didn't know at any one particular moment that he was it. I think it was different because we were young and at seventeen years old I wasn't looking for a husband. It was a million little things that added up to one big thing, and that's how I knew.

Whereas in the past I searched for boys to like, Jeffrey came as a complete and total surprise to me. I do believe that is how I fell in love so quickly with that charming boy. Looking back, he was there all along. As a matter of fact, I liked him several times, on and off, before the summer we started dating. I was in a good place that summer. I felt confident in myself and myself alone. That's the only reason it happened, the only reason I was open to it. Before that I was too wrapped up in my own head for magical things like this to happen. It was a series of many, many tiny events that gave way to this big one.

And all those crushes, the reciprocated and un-reciprocated, didn't matter anymore. They never really mattered. Because all along it was written somewhere that Jeffrey and I were meant to be. Because I was open to loving myself before loving someone else. Because I realized that the boys I liked previously just weren't meant for me. Because Jeffrey never gave up on what he knew could be great. Like I said, small events that made up a big one.

Four years ago today, Jeffrey asked me to be his girlfriend on my front porch. And I said yes. It's funny that such a small word changed my life so totally and completely.

If I could say only one thing to young women who get crushes on boys that take them for granted, it would be this: Stop looking. Just stop, and it will come to you in a rush so big and unexpected, it will knock you off your feet and take you somewhere better.

I know and believe this with my entire heart because it happened to me.

Happy Anniversary to the one and only boy who showed me just how wonderful love can be. I love you.

Valentine's Day Picnic

I really should be doing work right now, but I'm protesting it in the name of Love.

I had a lovely Valentine's Day and although I spent most of the day apart from my Valentine and although a cold was creeping into my system, I'll will forever file this day away as one of my favorites with my love.
I should probably stop saying that, though, because I file most days with Jeffrey as 'one of my favorites.'
Homemade, heart-shaped Pizza. We have an undying love for pizza. It's actually kind of disgusting. Our grocery store bakery makes special orders so we requested that they convert our favorite bread into pizza dough and they willingly obliged! It was a nice twist on the old classic. The heart-shape was his mom's idea. :)
This salad was kind of thrown together because we didn't have our favorite components on hand. It had strawberries, Parmesan cheese, and sunflower seeds and we used our favorite, local dressing. Very delicious.
A good picture to capture our entire picnic and, of course, I can't deny that handsome smile.
And I insisted on wearing pink tights. It's a rule that you have to wear pink, red, or purple on Valentine's Day, right?
I begged Jeffrey to bring the tripod, but I honestly wasn't happy with the way any of our pictures turned out, except for this one and it's even a little blurry. Oh well, we'll have to try it again sometime!
And the picnic blanket I embroidered last Valentine's Day.
This year, we bought a tent for Valentine's Day, but I had to have some kind of surprise. After all, Valentine's is one of my very favorite holidays. I baked him cupcakes, and he baked me cookies! We also had Chocolate Covered Strawberries, so we were on some kind of sugar overload. I will post the recipe for these another time. They were probably the best thing I've ever made!


It was a lovely holiday.

xo, R.

a lovely weekend.

i went home this weekend and we had a really nice time.
jeffrey and i shared a root beer from the bottle on the way home.

{his attempt at the 'elvis face.'}
we listened to old crow medicine show and the avett brothers.
my family got thai food take out and played bananagrams.
my mom and i fell in love with this blog.
my dog cuddled up to me and stayed with me all night.

{he thinks he's too good to pose for pictures.}
on saturday, we got my computer fixed at screwbox solutions (probably one of the finest shops i have ever been to.)
we ate lunch at smoke.
we ooh-ed and aw-ed over every piece of merchandise at indigo bee.
we bought sharpie pens (my dad and i are newly obsessed!).
i went out to dinner with my two best friends, sara and alex.
my mom and i stayed up late sharing creative ideas.
my dog cuddled up to me, but was being a bed hog, so only stayed with me half the night.
we woke up on sunday and made german pancakes. highly recommend.
we also made paula deen's apple cake. also, highly recommend.

{paula deen's cake required that you poke holes in it so that you could fill them with a buttery sauce.}
my mom and i went to target, our favorite place to shop — especially together!
we bought dove chocolates for valentine's day.
jeffrey and i drove back to school and shared fries and a coke from mcdonald's. it's practically tradition by now.
i hope your weekend was just as lovely! xo

Love.

Who can say whether or not love is coincidental or fateful or pre-determined?

All I know is that it really doesn't matter because I found love in an amazing guy and sometimes I wake up in the morning and think to myself, "Oh my God, how did I get so lucky?" My boyfriend is a stand up guy and has done everything in the world for me. I never thought I would meet someone who truly knows me inside-out. Sometimes he even knows me better than I know my own self.

He lets me keep his big, green sweater.
He lets me eat all the ice cream I want.
He gives me kisses on the cheek.
He gives me kisses on the forehead.
He gives me kisses on the nose.
He dances with me in the hallway while no one is watching.
He twirls me around when I ask him to.
He encourages my hopes.
He believes in my dreams.

He makes me the best version of myself.
I am in love with the most incredible guy and I love it.
xo

anniversary flowers.

My boyfriend bought me flowers for our 2 and 1/2 year anniversary.

I love flowers.
And I love my boyfriend.

This morning when I woke up my flowers were wilting. I finally had to get rid of them.
Their company was much appreciated.

They still looked cute even in their wilty-ness. It's probably impossible for daisies not to look cute.
xo