The Story of Us, Part 5

This is the story of how I came to meet and marry Daniel… he might disagree with some of the details, but that’s okay. This is how I remember it…

Part 5

I’ve always heard that it’s such a big deal to “meet the parents”… well I’ve figured out what you do to get past what could be a very awkward, tense moment – you meet the parents before you seriously start dating! Takes so much of the pressure off… Lucky for me, that’s exactly what happened!

After our ride back to campus, Daniel decided he wasn’t sick of me yet so he invited me to a soccer game that night… the only catch? I’d briefly meet his parents before they headed back to Connecticut.

Meeting Danny and Cindy was great. There was no pressure because Daniel and I weren’t even really dating and I had the whole “she’s going to THIS college, so she can’t be all that bad” thing going for me. So we quickly said Hi to his parents and then headed off to the soccer game.

Collegiate soccer at PCC was as big as it gets. There were HUGE rivalries. Daniel chose his fraternity wisely… his collegian was good. Really good! So this was only the first of many soccer games Daniel and I would attend. There was nothing better than snuggling up under a blanket on a cool night (PCC-style: as close as you can get without looking suspicious), drinking hot chocolate, and watching a soccer game.

The game ended and after spending the whole day together, I still wasn’t ready to leave him just yet. I thought he might be feeling the same way. I swear it took about 20 minutes to say goodbye that night…

The Story of Us, Part 4

This is the story of how I came to meet and marry Daniel… he might disagree with some of the details, but that’s okay. This is how I remember it…

Part 4

I could tell from being stuck in a canoe for a few hours with Daniel, that I definitely wanted to get to know this guy better. He was so sweet, his gorgeous blue eyes made me want to stare at him forever, and he just seemed to absolutely love life. There was just something different about him that I couldn’t quite figure out. And it didn’t hurt that he seemed to completely hang on my every word.

Looking back on our days at PCC, I recognize that there were a lot of religious rules and establishments that I completely disagree with. However, I do believe that PCC was the absolute, most perfect breeding ground for building a lasting relationship with someone. Every little thing seemed to mean so much more. Relationships were slowed down, you were forced to actually have conversations and get to know each other. There was no rushing anything because you weren’t allowed to do anything.

That said, I remember on the bus ride back to the college from our first date, Daniel gently laced his fingers through mine. I don’t know if it was the adrenaline from knowing we might get caught, or my inkling that this might be the beginning of something incredible, but I definitely had butterflies the size of seagulls that day!

Stay tuned to hear what happened later that day…

We survived our camping trip!

Even though Daniel isn’t exactly a redneck, we did survive! We actually did QUITE well for ourselves if you ask me

Friday we set up camp and pretty much had the whole place to ourselves… it was a little cold but since we don’t believe in roughing it.. haha.. we brought an extension cord and a heater We stayed toasty warm and comfy (especially since we brought a futon mattress with us)!

Saturday we wandered around the village at Indian Springs, found this adorable whimsical garden to walk through, got some great ideas of how to build a pergola, strolled through a few shops, and THEN the real fun began!

We decided to drive down this one little street just to see where it went… one of the perks of having nothing to do… and found that it led to the Indian Springs Group Camp. We decided that we really should check it out in case we ever wanted to rent it for our students or something. AND you will never guess what we found!! LARPERS!!!

If you’ve seen the movie Role Models or watched the show Beauty and the Geek, you know what Larpers are. It stands for Live Action Role Playing or something like that… basically these people dress up like different characters, monsters, whatever and go around living in this little make believe world. They cast spells on each other by throwing bean bags, wear little pointy ears and weird costumes, and attack each other with foam swords.

It was all I could do to keep myself from sitting there all day and watching them… just fascinating! The first time we went by there, there were only a few people wandering around so we managed to get a picture or two… the second time (yes we just had to go back) they were EVERYWHERE! Little intimidating… I thought for sure we were going to be attacked (by foam swords) any second!!!!

Anyway, we headed down to High Falls State Park to eat at this great little catfish place, stopped and stared at the waterfalls, managed to run into Blake, Katie and their families (small world), and almost walked on top of a snake before deciding to head back to our little campsite!

Saturday night was not as serene as Friday night since all of the rednecks from Thomaston, Georgia decided to camp out RIGHT NEXT TO US!!! Yeah… fun times! They were drunk before they arrived and had about 15,000 screaming kids with them… the sounds of the water nearby was replaced with cursing men and women, screaming babies, and their teenage kids trying to knock down all of the trees in the woods… and don’t forget the fireworks being shot off over our tent at 3 am!

Oh well, we did have a great time listening to their crazy conversations (what we could understand of them)… I’ll admit I’ve got a southern accent myself, but what they had was almost unintelligible .

So our weekend was so relaxing (well mostly) and much needed! Think we’ll try that again sometime…

The Story of Us, Part 3

This is the story of how I came to meet and marry Daniel… he might disagree with some of the details, but that’s okay. This is how I remember it…

Part 3

I grew up across the street from a lake and my Dad had a gorgeous canoe. I know nothing about canoes, but in my expert opinion that canoe was the most beautiful one I’ve ever seen. Sometimes when my sister and I were feeling incredibly strong and powerful we would heave that canoe that must have weighed at least 437 pounds on top of our heads and walk as quickly as possible down our steep driveway, down the road, and to the lake access area before our little arms gave out. We would shove all of our brothers and sisters (six total) into that canoe and paddle halfway out into the lake. In all of our canoeing years we never once flipped that canoe! So I guess you could say I had a little bit of experience maneuvering a canoe.

Interestingly enough, my first date with Daniel was canoeing. My sorority had several planned outtings a year. Daniel was pretty buff in those days as well, so I knew he’d be able to successfully keep me out of the water and he seemed to be a lot of fun. I can still remember what he was wearing that day… his red polo shirt, jeans, Yankees hat (of course), and a black windbreaker jacket – totally HOT! Back in my superficial days, this was a huge deal and I was oh so excited to have the hottest guy as my date for our outting!!

I’m not sure if Daniel had ever been in a canoe before, but he paddled us around like a pro! He still teases me that I made him do all of the rowing despite my experience with a paddle… I remember at least paddling a little bit, but whatever. By the way – any man that will push you around in a canoe for several hours is a keeper

So there we were – stuck in a canoe together completely alone for a few hours. Definitely had some time to talk and learn a little bit more about each other. I wish I could remember what we talked about. All I can remember is thinking of how cute his grin was when he was mischievously trying to tip other people out of their canoe…

The Story of Us, Part 2

This is the story of how I came to meet and marry Daniel… he might disagree with some of the details, but that’s okay. This is how I remember it…

Part 2

I began to notice after our brief little mall encounter, that I just “happened” to see Rachel’s brother more and more… while eating lunch, he would just “happen” to come over to talk, or while hanging out at the Commons, he would just “happen” to walk by… yeah I’m no fool…

Through these brief little encounters, I learned a little bit about this mysterious guy… his name was either Daniel or Dave. Sadly it took me about two months before I would get his name right and not confuse him with his friend. That’s mean huh? He was a sophomore, missions major which I do have to say scared the absolute snot out of me! I wasn’t exactly at the point in my relationship with God that I would be cool with marrying a missionary and living in a 3rd world country yet.

This is where I know a little conspiracy developed that will forever be denied on the part of Rachel and Daniel…

Rachel all of the sudden wants to go to church with me… so me and my roommate agree. We show up at church and low and behold Daniel is there too! Sounds like a set-up to me… right?

Anyways, Daniel and I sat together and goofed off a little bit during church (nothing’s changed, huh?) and hung out afterwards for a little bit…

During this time I decided he was not only a hottie but a really nice guy too. I remembered my sorority was having a fun outting the next Saturday and invited him to be my date… yeap I officially asked him out first!! And you know I never realized that until now. wow I guess it was only fair since he’d been stalking me for a few days just kidding babe – I know you weren’t really stalking me…

Stay tuned for details about our first official date

The Story of Us, Part 1

This is the story of how I came to meet and marry Daniel… he might disagree with some of the details, but that’s okay. This is how I remember it…

Part 1

It all started because Rachel (my suite-mate) had a car… you see, this is how conversations went in college when you met someone… “Hey, what’s your name? What year are you? and Do you have a car?” These were just the priorities of the day I guess…

Rachel was one of the lucky ones that had access to a car…this meant FREEDOM!! She was able to get off campus, go to the mall, beach, wherever… It also meant she had moochers trying to finagle themselves into her car all of the time I guess I was a moocher.

One day I mooched myself into a trip to the mall with Rachel and was having a great time being OFF CAMPUS!!!

Now let me stop and give you a weird random PCC rule… apparently boys and girls have the worst kind of cooties at PCC. Boys and girls cannot be trusted to speak to each other unless it’s in the complete daylight, you have at least several hundred other college students around, and only in the confines of the main areas of the campus. Additionally, it was a BIG no-no to speak to a member of the opposite sex off of campus.

Well while we were sashay-ing our way through the mall, Rachel broke this MAJOR RULE!!! She spoke to a boy in the mall!!! Oh. My. Gosh. It was more like a “Hey” and keep walking… but still I thought for sure she would be shot on the spot as soon as we returned to the campus.

So obviously I questioned her sudden rebellion because I was concerned she would be kicked out and NOT because the boy she had spoken to was completely HOT. She replied that he was her brother. So we went on our merry little way…

Little did I know that her brother had taken notice of me and was planning on weaseling his way into my life…

A few good reasons…

I was thinking the other day that I really should print off all of these little silly posts and keep them somewhere for a couple different reasons…

1) In case I ever get Alzheimer’s, Daniel can read them to me to remind me who I am – just like in the Notebook! haha

2) For my future children to read and maybe get some  insight into who mom and dad were pre-kids

3) I’m so forgetful, it’s nice to have a reminder of what God’s doing in my life and the things I’ve battled and survived…

So yeah… think I’ll start that

Farmer Tiff…

Yeap I said I wasn’t going to do it… I said I wouldn’t even look at it… that I knew I didn’t have time for it… BUT I did it anyway

I decided to just take a peak and now I’m an all-out addict. I started my own little farm on FarmTown (facebook app)… and it’s ridiculous the amount of time I’m spending on there now!

What’s worse? Daniel’s teasing is getting quite obnoxious… I just don’t understand how he can’t find it hilarious that my chickens were running wild the other day, or that I had a “stalker” on my farm who wouldn’t go away, or that my chickens like to stand on top of my sheep and walk around, or that when you walk up to one of the pigs, they flop over and start snoring… just makes me giggle a little!

Guess all he can understand is that I’m taking up his precious online poker (for no money) time haha

Anyone have a second computer their not using? haha jk

Ya’ll pray for us…

Daniel and I try really hard to get away for a weekend during the Spring each year… just the two of us. Well this year, we’re trying to conserve as much dough as we can. So we’ve talked so many times about how much fun we have camping with other people… so we decided to try it on our own.

Should be interesting… hopefully we have everything we need and Daniel’s able to start a fire and all that. I thank God Daniel’s not a crazy redneck, but that also has its disadvantages, one being: I’m not too sure how we’ll do out in the woods. I mean he doesn’t even own a pocket knife! haha

I’m sure we’ll survive and have a great time! I’m SOOO looking forward to getting away from everything, doing a little sleeping in, relaxing, hiking, and whatever… If only I could convince Daniel that we really should take the hammock with us

Speaking of good ole pcc

I don’t know what the deal is, but I feel like Daniel and I have been reminiscing more and more about our college days lately… man we’re getting old! boo

Anyhoo… there were a LOT of things about PCC that I definitely disagree with, but even with all the bad, we had a lot of good times… here’s a few of my more fond memories that have made me smile lately

• Good times in the dorms… I was pretty dang silly in those days and I’m pretty sure we did some things that absolutely made no sense at all… I’m thinking a lot of the time it seemed like a middle school girls sleepover in our suite!
• Meeting Rachel which meant I would eventually meet her hot brother, my now husband (even though no matter what they tell you, they DID trick me into our first date)
• Hearing Rachel tell of her first impression of me – Most of ya’ll know I have a HUGE family and of course I brought ALL OF THEM with me to see my room and meet my roommates/suitemates for the first time. I can imagine that would be pretty overwhelming! I think she KNEW that my silliness would end up driving her crazy…
• Rachel – remember “swimming” in our flooded rooms during the hurricane?
• Daniel and me had our first kiss in a Chili’s bathroom! Romantic, huh? Don’t tell PCC  haha Wonder if that’s why it’s our favorite restaurant!
• Playing on the muddy soccer fields in the torrential rain
• Getting out of my little town and meeting so many different people from around the world
• PH – Oh I miss PH… I have shoeboxes full of little love letters that Daniel and I wrote to each other and had delivered through the PH system
• Listening to some of the greatest preachers of today’s time!
• Driving to the beach or anywhere in Daniel’s old Beretta with the crazy LOUD system with the music cranked UP!!
• There is NO better people watching place than outside the Commons at PCC!
• Spending hours in the library researching for my Business Law class… yeah I’m a nerd! Definitely would have been a paralegal if I hadn’t gotten into healthcare!
• Trying to sneak past the retarded people who would rat on you for breaking the dress code
• Being forced out into the big wide world to see how I fare without the parentals… was one of the biggest growing periods of my life!
• Sneaking around trying to make out with Daniel without getting caught and late night phone conversations

That’s just a few good memories…