nearly 4 years later, and he still gives me butterflies. can’t i just marry the man already?

i’m moving all my things this weekend. into the first place that’s not my parents, or a dorm. 

i’m growing up super fast.

93% of the time, i feel more than ready. but then there’s that other 7%. that i’m still a little girl part. or that i can’t believe i’m on my own part. that haunting can’t stop worrying-am i going to have enough money or will i have to eat ramen for every meal - we’re never going to make any friends part.

let’s break these numbers down. 

• 1% i don’t know how to do my taxes.
• 2.5% i’d rather watch Grey’s Anatomy in bed all day instead of working full time.
• 1% i have to buy my own groceries. 
• .5% i have to go to a laundromat. (why is it spelled that way?)
• 2% insurance. i know nothing about insurance.

i need to start focusing on the 93. 

• 10% i get to wake up next to my best friend every morning. 
• 8% i get to decorate a whole apartment the way i want; not just a room anymore.
• 5% i have my own kitchen where I can cook at all hours of the night. 
• 20% evening cuddle time. 
• 7% i get to have morning coffee with Stephen.
• 16% every saturday morning we go grocery shopping together.
• 4% i can unpack all the clothes i’ve had in boxes for 5 months.
• 20% i can make a blanket fort every night and no one’s going to tell me to take it down.
• 3% i can finally settle somewhere. not having to worry about packing again.

this is a crazy ride. but i wouldn’t trade it for anything.

1. today was stephen’s first day of work.(mostly paperwork & training) I haven’t heard anything about how it went yet because he’s not done yet. but he did text me because he forgot our new zip code and to tell me that i’m his emergency contact. why am i so excited about that?

2. i’m working at starbucks today. i’m sitting inside next to the window, and there are people sitting at a table right next to me, but on the other side of the glass. i think they’re strangers and i’m doing everything in my power to figure out what this meeting’s all about without being able to hear anything. he’s probably mid thirties. i think she’s late twenties. definitely not a blind date. some sort of business deal i think. she’s got paperwork. he’s got a clipboard. i don’t think it’s a job interview. he’s wearing shorts and a shirt that leads me to believe he works for the police department. she has a contract of some sort. i think i might have seen “DJ’ on the front. but i’m not entirely sure. they seem to be having a good time. is he her wedding DJ? why am i so interested in this?

3. we get the keys to our apartment on saturday. i don’t know how or when we’re going to move our things.

4. the wedding is SO SOON. i’m starting to get really nervous. for some reason it wasn’t real until i started getting the RSVPs back. we officially have 12 guests as of now. i guess that means this is happening. 

5. i’m wearing my new hot pink pants on this rainy day. i love them.

6. an older lady just walked in wearing the cutest clothes. she’s color blocking. 8) 

7. the meeting mentioned in #2 is still happening. i have to get back to work. 

this week has been filled with nothing but love & other wedding things. 

we have gotten SO much done.

• we got an apartment. (in the city!!) woohoo!!
• stephen got a job!
• centerpieces are finished!

i didn’t think it was possible to love this boy even more.

but once again, i do. 

we signed the lease today!

we all know i love them. but sometimes i think my love for weddings can make mine a little less special. 

when i shoot weddings every weekend, and read wedding blogs every day, they become almost routine. 

i don’t want that to be. 

weddings are the most special day of any girl’s life. i want mine to feel that way. 

so for the past few weeks, i haven’t been reading blogs, or shooting weddings. so i can focus on my own. 

i think i like it.

these last few weeks have been nothing shy of incredible. and by incredible i mean exhausting. and by exhausting i mean awesome. 

i flew into philadelphia over 3 weeks ago to be a bridesmaid in two of my very closest friends’ weddings. 

(this is me. flying into philadelphia. although i might as well have driven. it would have taken less time.)

wedding #1. Lynda & Jon

Lynda was my college roommate and quickly became my best friend. we’re good together. 8) her and jonathan have been together for 7 years. SEVEN YEARS. so we’ve all been waiting for this wedding for quite some time now. 

since all of our friends are so scattered across the country, we don’t get to see each other much if at all. that’s why i love weddings. we all have to come back to each other. so at the first wedding, we all just made an agreement that from now on, we’ll have to spread the rest of our weddings apart, to make this whole friend reunion an annual ordeal. 

anyway, it was a blast. see for yourself. 

(how did a non-instagrammed photo slip in there? oops.)

so much fun. 

since the weddings were two consecutive weekends, stephen and i had a few days to relax in between. somewhere in between all the running around with friends, and dancing and screaming and no sleeping, i got sick. like really sick. like let me lay on the couch the entire day and whine sick. so i did. and i’m still pretty stinking sick. so to the doctor’s i will go. maybe.

annnywayyyyy, we took a trip up to the mountains to visit stephen’s family. and he made me breakfast. 8)

nothin like pancakes in the mountains. 8)

wedding #2 courtney & jon. these two are some of my favorite people alive. stephen & jon are super close, and i love courtney to death. they’re our couple friends. 8)

(oh, you might remember them from this.) 

their wedding was great. so full of love. and yet again, we got to see all our friends. 

take a look. 

this is katie. remember her from here?

…oops. another one.

ah. once the weddings were over, we wasted no time at all. we headed to pittsburgh. where i am writing this from.

since sunday, i’ve been staying with a friend near pittsburgh, and stephen’s been staying with our good friend david while we search for apartments. waking up with the sun to start our apartment hunt for the day.

in the last month, i have probably spent 10+ hours on craigslist looking for a place to live. (i know apartment hunting on craigslist sounds strange, but i find it to be the most efficient method)

reading about neighborhoods i’ve never been to, and basing where i want to live on crime statistics is not my idea of fun. but i was. 

i set up 5-10 appointments for us to see places for each of the 3 days we are here. today’s the third day. in the past 2 days, i don’t even want to guess how many miles we’ve put on stephen’s little cougar. and gas (in my mind, at least) hasn’t been that bad, since we have to fill it up every time it reaches half a tank if we want to get up these pittsburgh hills. so for some reason, twice the trips spending half the money seems a little more doable to me. strange, i know.

anyway. i think we found a place. think. like i know we did but can’t get my hopes up think. the more i think about it, the more i fall in love. i wish i had instagrams to show you, but i kinda had to pretend to be an adult in that moment. 

last night, david drove us around the city. showing us where to go and where to eat. 

these last 3 weeks have shown both stephen and i how much support we really have. people have been coming out of the woodwork to help us find a place to live, to give us a place to live while we have none, to talk to friends’ friends who might have a job opportunity for us. i’m overwhelmed with the encouragement and love i’ve seen.

this has been the most hectic, most stressful, busiest, most fun, most exciting 3 weeks of my life. and stephen and i got to spend them together. and we love each other more now. 

so now i head home. to sleep in my own bed again. and to work on wedding things until the hot glue gun has stolen my fingerprints. 

AHH. I’M GROWING UP!