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. 

Exploring Locally | GF & EGF

This last weekend Eric and I decided to commit to walking and exploring local areas over the weekend as a way to get out and live a healthier lifestyle. This last weekend we took it upon ourselves to head out to the Lincoln Golf course and walk the trails. 

First thing I thought when seeing the course is that it looks like a fun time, and it is. There are putting areas free to kids to practice, trails open to the general public that link up in East Grand Forks (EGF) and Lincoln Park and of course the fact that it's less than 10 minutes away doesn't hurt. 

So the biggest thing I can say about living in Grand Forks is that I can literally walk to Minnesota any time I want, and we do quite frequently! We hopped over the Red River to East Grand and enjoyed a leisurely stroll through the woods. Ironically we were near a "Rhinehart" road and since Eric is a Reinhardt we kinda giggled about that. Below are some shots taken both Saturday and Sunday. 

I can't wait to further explore our town and to hopefully find some nice spots for holiday and fall portrait sessions! 

What did you do this weekend?