He liked it, so he put a ring on it

If you are still reading and following, bless you. Bless you for being so loyal to someone who talks a big talk about blogging more and then you don't hear from them for another 2 months. I have good intentions, possibly, just no follow through. I could give you a million excuses, but I'll save you the time.

The past month or so has been a happy one for me. There are several reasons. It has also been a difficult one for me. Coming into the Christmas Season, I am trying to keep my mind focused on what is important and on the good things happening in my life.

Let's start with the good awesome news that I have to share! Most of you have read about mine and Matt's story. If you haven't, you can check it out here. So, now that you know the first part of our story, let's talk about the next part. At the end of that post, I mentioned taking things slowly. We did just that. Unfortunately, there have been some very rough patches over the past year. There are several people out there that do not want us to be together and have tried to make my life a living hell. Well done, ladies. It was. But, I knew that Matt and I were meant to be together and I loved him enough to let things go. It has been a hard road to where we are now, but every obstacle has been way worth it. What goes around, comes around, as Justin Timberlake would say.

The past year, Matt and I have had some great times and some really hard times. I have been a very happy girl to be with him again. The really hard times have brought us so much closer. In July, we found out that Matt's Mom had cancer. Less than a week later, she had passed away. There are some conversations that she and I had during that time that I will cherish forever. They are some that I wish to keep to myself. I haven't told my closest friends and I haven't shared them with Matt. I will tell you that before she and I had these conversations, there were some doubts in my mind that I was well-liked and that she was glad that we were back together. After these conversations, I know that she loved me and that while Matt and I were apart, she hoped that we would get back together. I made promises to her that I intend to keep forever.

The past year might have had some really tough times, but we have also had a lot of fun together and have gotten to know each other all over again.

I tell you all of this...to tell you the awesome news. Matt made me the happiest I have ever been by getting down on one knee and asking me to be with him forever! November 5th will forever be one of the happiest days of my life. I keep staring at my PERFECT engagement ring and I get butterflies when I think about it all. We had talked about marriage, so I knew that it would happen eventually, but had no idea when, where or how he would do it.

So, the story, huh?
When we first started dating years ago, Matt took me to Nashville for my birthday. We stayed at the Opryland Hotel and rode a shuttle downtown. By the time we were on the shuttle, we had already had a few drinks and were being silly. The shuttle driver was a very large black southern man who talked the entire time on the intercom. He dropped us off downtown by Hard Rock and the river. There's a huge guitar out front and he kept calling it the "gitahhhh". We cracked up about it and still to this day laugh about the way that man said guitar. While we were broken up and one of us would be in Nashville, we would text each other about the big gitahhhhhhh.

Flashforward to real time. We had tickets to a Titans game on a Sunday and decided to go down on Saturday to go out to dinner and hang out on Broadway. We went downtown and tried to eat at The Melting Pot. It's pretty typical of us to not plan ahead very well, and we didn't realize that we would need reservations. We got there at about 5:30 (for the old timer's special, I guess) and they told us that the next available time they had was 9:30. No way could I wait that long. Fatty's gotta eat! So we decided to eat somewhere else instead. When we left The Melting Pot, Matt made the suggestion to go to the Beer Sellar to get a drink and decide where we wanted to eat. I reluctantly said yes...remember, I was hoooongry. We had a drink and when we left, he wanted to go walk towards the river to see about a concert that was going on down there. I was starting to get a little huffy at this point. I keep talking about food and when and where we were eating. He gave in and we went to eat at Wildhorse. After eating, I was happy again...and we went to walk to the bars downtown. Matt suggested we go down by the river towards that dang concert again, so we walked down there and stood by the big gitahhhhh and watched for a while. He started talking about that trip that we had taken all those years ago. I replied with, "I know. I can't look at that big stupid thing without thinking about you." He then got down on one knee and asked me to marry him. It's all a little blurry once I realized what he was doing. I know that he used my full name, I know that I said yes, and I know that instead of putting the ring on my ring finger, I tried to put it on my middle finger.

After he proposed, we spent some time just the two of us, giggling and smiling and kissing. Then the phone calls and texts began. And continued for days. We went down on Broadway and two of his friends came downtown to meet us out. What a fun, perfect weekend!

Don't worry. This time I do promise to keep you posted on the wedding planning. Starting THIS week!

To Infinity and Beyond!

My goodness! What a fun, exciting, busy weekend. I am worn out, fo reals...it will be a very long week, but it is worth being this exhausted! Friday when I got off work, I had to come home to let my brother into my apartment. His daughter had a cheer competition here in BG on Saturday and so he came to stay here. It was nice to get to visit with him if even for about 15 minutes. Just seeing him makes me feel like all is right in my little corner of the world. Do you have anyone in your life like that?

Matt got to my apartment and we packed up the car to head out. We stopped and picked up David so he could ride with us up to Paoli Peaks in Indiana. When we got there, we hung out around the cabin for a little while and then went tubing for a few hours. It was a lot of fun! I had never been before and we had a blast. It was hilarious watching grown boys act like they are 6 years old, giggling and laughing and screaming the whole way down the mountain! I didn't get a group picture and that makes me sad, but I captured some other moments.

I made my ear warmers...what do you think?

On Saturday, Matt and I got ready and headed to Louisville. We stopped on the way to visit with my cousin, Melody. It was great to get to see her for a few minutes. She is fostering a seeing eye dog. She got him when he was very little and she keeps him for a year. She teaches him commands and potty trains him. Then she will have to give him back, so that they can train him to become a seeing eye dog. His name is Baxter and he's just the cutest thing!!

We met up with Matt's step-brother, Adam and his girlfriend, Jenn for dinner and drinks. Then we went back to Adam's condo to get ready for the concert. I didn't take any pictures there. We were up pretty high in the arena and I was just enjoying it so much. Jerrod Neimann was just as good live as I had anticipated! LOVE LOVE LOVE! Darius Rucker and Brad Paisley were both amazing, as well. Great night! After the concert, we met up with our friend Clay, so that we could document him proposing to his girlfriend, Mitsy. It was neat to see and so sweet! I'm really happy for them.

I love that you can see Clay wiping away tears. That was one of the sweetest moments, I thought.

All in all, a really wonderful weekend away from BG. I can say, though...I can't wait for this coming weekend, so I can just sit on my behind and do NOTHING but school work all weekend! I need it. I hope that y'all had a great weekend, too! Anything exciting?