Leaf fights and Paper Airplanes

I love that our engagement picture shoot had those 2 things and was such a perfect representation of us as a couple. We weren't dressed up fancy, but we had a blast, and you can tell in the pictures.

I'm sure most of you saw them, but I seriously love them, and it makes it a lot easier to be away from Tom when I have great pictures to look at. But to make it slightly more interesting, here's some pictures from when we first started dating and now. Don't we look grown-up now? I'm not, but he is for sure!

Hoedown 2008. First date party, and first or second date. 

 Apparently I am terrible at remembering relationship information. The only reason I know when we started dating is because it's exactly a month after Tom's birthday. I couldn't tell you when this was, or if we were official by then though. All I know is I was happy, and Tom wasn't too comfortable with being at a sorority party.

Dancing through the Decades 2008.

 I love this picture of us, and I do remember we were official here. Tom was slightly more comfortable with sorority events by then. He's a good sport.

Friend's wedding, 2010.

 We look so grown up! This was about a month before we graduated college, so we'd been together about a year and a half.

Engagement 12/17/10.

 Obviously I remember this date. This was immediately after we walked into our surprise party, and just over 2 years of dating.

Engagement pics, 2011

 Maybe not the best picture of us being grown-up, but it definitely shows our relationship. I'm the crazy one, but at least Tom can laugh and enjoy it. Also, I love leaves in fall. This photo and all the ones after are by InTandem Photography, and they're awesome! I've been wanting Sarah and Adam to take my wedding photos since before we were engaged, so I'm doubly thrilled with the pictures and that they're just as awesome in person as they seemed on their blog!

2011.

I love paper airplanes, and obviously Tom does too since he took the time to fold them all. Throwing them means I forget to look pretty and get way too into it, so not all the pictures are gorgeous, but they show how much fun I was having.

 Why yes, Tom throws leaves directly in my face. Isn't that a sign of affection? Let's hope so, because I honestly love the shot. This was definitely not planned. We were just supposed to throw them at each other, and before this, all mine had missed him.

I got him back though, kinda. I think I hugged him and then immediately threw them in his face. It's hard to miss hitting someone when you stand a foot away from them.

Love is all we need

Sorry if this is boring and not interesting, but if I'm gonna document my life on a blog, I need to make sure I include all parts, not just the travel and living in Spain stories.

the dreaded LDR

I'm already somewhat of an expert on relationships at a distance. Tom and I met at college, so during summers and Christmas we were separated by 8 hours and a state line. Since I moved home in December, it's been the same thing, but we've seen each other twice. This means that I'm on a first name basis with almost every non-sketchy gas station/rest stop between our houses, and I've memorized where all the speed traps are and where the speed limits change. It's a great skill to have. Easter weekend, I'll put those skills to use by driving to see Tom at his house, spend a day in his hometown to meet with the jeweler, then drive to Dallas for a wedding, and then drive back to Texas the next day. It'll add up to about 20 hours in the car, spread out between Thursday and Sunday.

In May, I have a wedding in our college town, and Tom's graduation for his master's degree the weekend after. One of those trips will be by plane, and the other will be another drive. (My car is an awesome road trip car though, so I'm lucky.)

The sad thing is that come September, getting to see each other will be so much harder. Spain is at least a 19 hour trip, depending on how I fly, and thousands of dollars. This means I'll see Tom at Christmas for sure, and maybe for a week at some point, if he can afford to take that much time off of work, and then not again until June. That's a long time, especially when we'll be still planning a wedding that will happen 5 months after I get back. It's going to be hard to have a "normal" relationship with that amount of distance and quite a difference in time changes.

Here are my methods to keep us from going crazy (please remind me of them when I'm over there):

1. Skype every weekend. It's the only time we'll know for sure we won't have work and can handle the time changes.
2. Email daily. We do this semi-regularly now, but it'll be the main way to communicate since talking on the phone/Skype is too hard to manage with work.
3. This blog will hopefully give him another view of my life....the places I go, and adventures I have that I forget to mention in an email, or don't write enough about.
4. Pictures. It's hard to only have old pictures to look at, so I plan on emailing him pictures of me in all the places I talk about and to show him my life here.
5. Being grateful for what we have. We're lucky that I can do this and that we're supportive of each other. We need to remember that.
6. Look forward to the wedding. It shouldn't be that hard...it is the day I finally get to marry my soul-mate and end the LDR.