My Love Story

Today is a huge milestone for me because this day last year I met my boyfriend Philip for the first time.   This is also my longest relationship, I had an on/off “thing” for 2 years in college but I don’t count that because he sucked!  We chose today to celebrate our anniversary instead of when we actually became official because it was only 10 days later.  Yea folks, he moved quickly to lock me down.  We both had this instant connection, even the few text messages we shared before meeting it was just so easy and natural. We both fell hard in love quick but also became best friends.

Our Love Story

It all started back in September of 2012, my coworker/friend had just met her boyfriend, now fiancé on match.com.   I still didn’t know a ton of people so I figured why not give it a go and you can’t go wrong with free drinks and food, right?  I had gone on three dates which progressed from awful to okay.  Why was it so awkward?  As a girl on match its absurd at how many emails a day you get, I seriously couldn’t keep up.  So I figured I’d give it another week or so and that’s when I get an E-Mail from this fella name Philip which said “Hey, I’m getting off this thing but you were one of the girls I wanted to talk to, here’s my number if you are interested. “  Real smooth, right?  Yea, not.  So after reading his entire profile up and down I decided that I would text him but not till the next day.  So many stinkin rules with dating, I’m honestly glad I’m over that. 

After 6ish hours of texting back and forth he invited me to meet.   Texting with him was so easy, we talked about New York, what we did, our bucket lists, and how we were going to look up one another on Google.  My hot spot at the time was the brewery within walking distance of my apartment so I suggested that we meet there.  On Wednesday, the 12^th I headed early with my roommate for a drink just to calm the nerves before meeting this guy.  That 1 drink turned into 2 and neither of them helped calm me down, I had butterflies and I think a few birds flying around in my stomach.  I saw him walk in and my first thought was, YES he is even cuter than his pictures!  After hours and hours of non-stop talking on both sides he walked me home and gave me a good night kiss.  And let me tell ya that kiss was unforgettable!  I couldn’t wait to see him again and at the end of the night he asked me to hang out on Friday to go to the Irish Fest in downtown Indy.  Another successful date that ended with a kiss for the books and we even ran into my brother and his wife. 

First picture together at Edward Sharp 

Little did I know that he lived an hour and 20 minutes away, which is way farther than I would have liked.  On Saturday we had been texting all day and he invited me to come over and show me around where he lives.  I didn’t leave till Monday morning…  He showed me his place, I met his dog Mouse,  drove me around his town, stopped at a few local bars to meet up with one of his friends and fiance  took me to his Company and gave me tour, which was probably my favorite part because his face just let up talking about what he does.  We have hung out every weekend since then unless we were away on business.  On September 22 we were out with some of his friends for a birthday party, he asked me to be his girlfriend and I said yes.  

I remember calling my mom a few days after and I said “Mom, I am going to marry this man”  and I’m pretty sure she said something like “dang girl, slow down but I’m happy you feel that way. “   Though we aren’t married or even engaged yet, we are heading in that direction in the future.   There isn’t a doubt in my mind that someday we will be.  I have a feeling with him that I have never had with anyone.  People always say when you know you just know.  I had never felt that way before until now, it is just so hard to describe until you yourself actually experience it.  It’s an amazing feeling and I hope that everyone gets to experience that “when you know you know feeling.” 

Yes, we fight and drive each other nuts sometimes but we laugh about it afterwards and learn from it.  It hasn’t all been rainbows.  My family actually had a hard time accepting him for his different political views.  That was a rough patch we had but we survived and my parents and family have gotten to know him and love him now. 

The fam and I at Christmas!

 

Philip is truly my everything.  And I know its super cheesy but he just makes life so much better. I still get those mushy gushy feelings that I had when we first met.  He's my boyfriend, my best friend, they guy I tell everything to (and probably share way too much info), the person I trust the most, the person I look up to, the guy that motivates me to be better,  the guy that can put a smile on my face in an instant, the guy I can snuggle with every night, the guy I turn to when I'm feeling down, the guy that that loves me for who I am, he's the guy I can't wait to come home to, the guy that supports me, the guy I still find myself checking out, the guy that I fall asleep next to every night, he's the guy that still surprises me every day, he's my opposite  he's the person I like to hang out with the most, he's the guy that I love to the moon and back, he's my guy. 

One Year Recap (Favorite Dates/Memories – These might be more for me just to document)

1.   Irish Fest (2^nd Date)

2.   Edward Sharp and the Magnetic Zeros (3^rd date and my treat)

3.   Birthday Party Bus (The night we became official)

The night we became official! :)

4.   Gala Fundraiser for lupus. 

5.   Trolly Birthday Party

6.   St. Elmo’s for many dinner dates and our shared love for shrimp cocktail

7.  Road trip to New York for Christmas.  Stopped in Detroit to visit a friend, drove through Canada, stopped in Niagara Falls, saw one of his stores in Buffalo and then stayed with my family for Christmas

8.   Ithaca Beer Co

9.   New York City

10.  Bartrom Wedding

11.  Antiquing

12.  Kentucky Trip to check out the Bourbon Trail

13.  Floor seats at the Pacers Game.

14.  My first NFL game to see the Colts with his family

15. Biloxi, Mississippi for a long weekend trip on his parent’s boat, lots of jambalaya was consumed

16.  Trip to Columbus to visit friends and attend a Hockey game, which I have no recollection of being at…oops

Yea, I don't remember this....

17.  Taking my nephew to the Children’s Museum together

18.  Cooking for our first dinner party

19.  Weekends at the Lake with friends

20.  Dinner dates at Joseph Decuis

21.  Moving in together (February 15th)

22.  Owning our first dog together, which has been very challenging because we have a devil dog

23.  Chicago Trip for my birthday

24.  When he plays the piano for me

25.  Irvington’s Halloween Festival with Mom.

26.  My favorite is when we dance around the house with the music blasting before heading out somewhere.

27.  Watching the Soprano series for 3 straight weeks

It has been an incredible year and I am truly blessed to have found that balance I needed in my life.  We have done so many fun things and we really do have the best time together.  We are going to celebrate this weekend by going to Indy for the day.  The Irish fest is this weekend so we are going to check that out again, visit our favorite antique mall (he’s on the hunt for a vintage Herman Miller Eames Chair), have a few drinks at Black Acre Brewery (where we met on our first date) and end our night at St. Elmos for dinner. That to me sounds like the perfect way to celebrate our love for each other.  Another item to cross off my 101 Things in 1001 days list. Oh and bonus, he sent me flowers today at work! :)