An Anniversary Aproacheth...Part 1 of however long it takes me

This month is going by fairly quickly, which means that I am going to have been a married woman for 2 years when the 27th springs upon us. When we think about our two years of married life, Branden and I agree that it has to be much longer than just 2 years! We have lived in 3 countries in this time and my head is still spinning from thinking about how we managed all this. My wedding day may have to be a 2 part blog just to list all of the crazy things that went horribly wrong and could be considered what nightmares are made of...but you will have to wait until my anniversary to read about it! *insert evil laugh here*

I figured I would start with the basics. Branden and I get asked all the time how we met and we always have to look at each other to figure out where the easiest place is to start. Normally it goes something like this:

Back in December 2006, I was invited by a friend of mine to go to a Christmas party, which was basically going to be a bunch of homeschoolers that were a few years younger than me that I didn't know. I was a public school brat that couldn't resist a good homeschool joke and cringing at the sight of jean jumpers on girls playing baseball. Plus I have social anxiety so a group of strangers is like being thrown to hungry sharks after having a fight with my razor while shaving my legs. Ultimately, I was convinced to go and strangely enough, I met a tall, dark and handsome stranger that had the most amazing smile I had ever seen...then I met Branden. Ok, I kid, I kid! It was Branden, and we hit it off playing Taboo on the same team. As most people figure out fairly quickly after meeting me or reading my blog, I have an odd way of thinking. My parents used to tell me that nobody thought as crazy as I did, but as Branden and I became some of the only people to guess each other's words in Taboo, I realized that I had found someone else like me. We rocked that game! Our team shot ahead and a lot of it was to do with the fact that our thinking synced up brilliantly (or maybe our team was cheating but I don't think either of us would have noticed if even a bear came in and ate away our competition). We chatted a bit and I discovered that he was a guitarist in a band Zeo Doxa and was working on his bachelor's degree in the Seattle area (about 3 hours drive away). I also learned that he was 3 years younger than me and drove a very nice BMW.

We left that night and life went on as if that magical blip was a lost moment. He did tell me that he told his mom that for days after that night he was kicking himself because he didn't get any contact details from me but if it was meant to be then we would somehow meet up again. Almost a year and a half later in March 2008, I was surfing around my friend's friends on myspace (there's a word you haven't heard in a long time!) and lo and behold, I came across Branden! I am not a forward girl at all and was so done with relationships and boys (especially ones younger than me), but for some reason I had to write him. Luckily for me, it was his birthday so that gave me a good reason to start chatting. I sent him a quick little note along the lines of "Hi. Happy Birthday! I don't know if you remember me but we met at a Christmas party a while back. How is college going?". This was on the 30th of March and started a flurry of long emails back and forth over the next 2 weeks. Every day I would be so excited to go to work and log onto my email to see what he had written me (that's what work is for, right?). I didn't have internet at my house, so soon he asked for my cell phone number and then started hours of long phone calls.

Our first official date was a couple of weeks later and arranged when a friend of mine was going to Seattle to get her hair done and wanted me to go along, but she would be in the salon for hours. Branden offered to come meet us and keep me company. He took me to Ikea which was actually really fun for a first date, and he later revealed was a way to see my tastes and get to figure me out more! It also happened to be an incredibly hot and sunny day in April (random in rain country), and so being in an industrial park area, we found a big grassy lawn in front of a random parking and laid in the grass and talked for about 2 hours. It was a perfect date, and by the 21st of April we were 'official'! In May, our amazing summer together started after he graduated and moved back home.

                                               Branden's graduation May 6th, 2008

Stay tuned for the amazing summer, when we 'knew', an amazing proposal (video included), and an engagement spent in separate countries!

Click to read Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4