Eric's Birthday Weekend

This last weekend Eric turned the big 3-1 and since we couldn't head over to the Twin Cities like originally planned, we did a little local celebrating. 

Grand Forks had its annual art festival going on downtown, so after spoiling Eric with a breakfast and spending almost 2 hours at the dealership getting his oil changed, we headed that way. I'll give Grand Forks some credit with their festivals, they do a good job! Eric was excited to break in his birthday gift of a Vivofit and get in his steps, which we definitely did.. and then some.

After walking around for a bit we went down to the Toasted Frog for dinner. An amazing restaurant that never, ever disappoints. I had the grilled fish tacos and he had a steak gorgonzola pizza. Desert was a pear pie with cinnamon ice cream. The pie was eh, but the ice cream was so so soooo good. After dinner we were definitely tuckered out so we headed home because the next day we were to take the 2 hour drive to Itasca State Park with Diane, Eric's mom, to finish up the epic birthday weekend. 

The next day we woke up incredibly early to get on the road which included lots of talking, Starbucks and of course Eric and his mom pointing out that I'm a terrible navigator. I hate to say this is true, but it's because I refused to read maps and only look out windows and now I move to ND and have to watch for deer?! But I digress, while pulling into Itasca we saw this grumpy lookin' guy! Sherman is his name and no I didn't get close enough for him to snap my fingers off. 

So a fun fact about Itasca is that it is the headwaters of the Mississippi! It's a little crazy to go into the waters of the Mississippi since I spent my early childhood playing at the banks and in a creek down the way from my grandparents.. and no, the water wasn't cold. Now for a photo dump! A few things we did: Hiking the headwaters trail, taking the Charles Chester II and had some walleye chips at the Douglas Cafe. The only thing I would not do again is the Charles Chester, we figured it was an hour long ride, nope, it was 2! Took up most of our day, but because it was raining it was okay. I like to think this was a great birthday, and I'm sure Eric would agree. 

Half-Year

In 6 months of dating I've found someone who accepts me, pushes me to follow my dreams and cherishes me. 

I've never been with someone who, literally, can't stop looking at me or smiling. Someone who continually tells me how much they love me, I'm beautiful and a treasure to them. 

I waited, rather impatiently, for someone like Eric to come into my life and made a few mistakes along the way.. but goodness I'm so happy I decided to move here. I could've stayed in Washington, but I wouldn't have met the most amazing, intelligent and handsome man in my life. 

Thank you for shushing me and loving me as I am.

Here's to the rest of the year! 

My favorite picture of us :) 

LOVE YOU! 

This is Home

So a few of you may remember when I was on Twitter asking about places in SC that you would recommend to live in, and what other states you might consider? Well, Eric and I had talked about moving within the next 1-2 years.. but then people were getting murdered, riots and of course extreme weather issues happened. 

We talked then, and still talk now, about the pros and cons to living in North Dakota as a long term possibility. I definitely didn’t see myself staying here long term, but the more I look at the rest of the world, the more I really don’t want to leave. 

I grew up knowing the following:

-Real friends are few and far between. 

-Most people just want you to do things for them and have a one sided friendship. 

-It is better to be a loner. 

Guess whose parents were wrong?! Mine. 

Moving here was definitely an eye opener. For starters, most of the people here are genuine. Seriously! Second, I’ve never had people offer to help me with so much before. When I had to unexpectedly move out of my first apartment here, my friend of less than 5 months was eager to help me move! That’s insane, usually I have to bribe people, but here its just something people do. I’m not saying everyone is like this, but  a lot of people are. 

Now the other good things about ND? 

-Close to Eric’s family. 

-Good school system. 

-It has jobs, lots of them, and that’s awesome. 

-The Northern plains bubble, it’s a thing. 

Not so good things? 

-Cold. I was raised in AZ and the coldest place I’d been to before this was up in the mountains of AZ or OR.. which doesn’t even compare to this place. 

-Long distances from city to city. 

-The closest Ikea, “big” Sephora and Cheese Cake Factory is 4 hours away. 

Granted some of the not-so-great things are things that are sometimes seen as a good thing. Do I like long car rides? HECK YES! In fact, I like driving in general so maybe that’s not too bad.. the whole Ikea thing? It’s a treat to go to the cities and see friends which makes it that much better. 

I guess in all, what I’m trying to say is: This is home. 

This is where we will probably get married and someday, God willing, have children. 

Guys Behind the Blog | Link-Up

It is time for a link up with Heavens to Betsy for a Guys Behind the Blog link-up! I've never participated in this before and am so grateful that Eric agreed to participate. I won't lie, when I read his responses I got a bit sappy, so be prepared. 

1.  If you could write a book, what topic would you write about and why?

 I would write a book about the importance of parents supporting their children in any endeavor they choose, I would do this because my parents unconditional support of my life lead me down amazing paths and gave me experiences that I otherwise would never have had. I could tell stories of the amazing doors being a musician opened for me and explain the heartbreaks it brought but how those heart breaks and their support caused me to become the man I am today.  Unfortunately I am neither intelligent enough or capable of writing well enough to do this. 

2.  What is one thing on your bucket list, or one thing that you’d like to do or accomplish in your lifetime?

Get married. 

(probs to me ;) 

3.  If you could look out your window and only see one view for the rest of your life, what would you want to see?

Sunrise over the Swiss alps as seen from the balcony of my hotel room in Champrey Switzerland.

-- Can I just say that I am superbly jealous of the views he's seen? Thankfully he's willing to see most of them with me again.

4.  Imagine you’re opening a shop.  What are you selling? 

Musical Instruments.

5.  If you could have 50lbs of anything other than money, what would it be?

 Super well fit comfortable jeans!  Because I can't find any.........

6.  Time to brag on your girl…tell us one thing that makes you proud of your girlfriend/fiance/wife!

I'm proud of her because she is so adamantly independent and self sure, she refuses to let others opinions change who she is and there is nothing I value greater in this world than a person comfortable in themselves and their beliefs. 

Do you see why I was a little sappy? Yeah, this man is the best I've ever known. I feel like some of this can be read as "stubborn"

5 Things

Anniversary style!  Eric, I know that you read my blog. How? Cause I tell you, and you follow me on twitter and this is a little post for you, once a month.    1. You make the best spaghetti I've ever had.. and I've had some pretty bomb.com spaghetti. 2. I like how crazy supportive you are and that we can talk openly about things like me going back to school and big life decisions. These might sound like normal things, but the arguments I've had with others in the past... whoa huge difference. 3. Since I've met your family I've discovered that you come from one of the most amazing families in the world. No joke. 4. My dad likes you as does the rest of my family.. this is big, they strongly dislike most people. 5. Thank you for making me live in the moment and smile. I am pretty good at trying to plan my life away and you pretty much settle me down. 
Every month this will happen.. you lucky ducky.