Doing my first link up with
FromMrstoMama...
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| Me my love |
1. How long have you and your significant other been together?
We will be together 17 years officially this June. That sounds crazy and makes me feel incredibly old.
2. How did you meet? {What's your "love" story?} Paul and I grew up in the same town in NJ. We spent our entire lives living 2 miles away from one another and finally meeting in high school. We ran in different circles initially but eventually Paul and I started gaining mutual friends. He played on the Lacrosse team and I was the statistician and we also had some classes together so we started becoming better friends. At the time, I had a boyfriend, sort of- More like a guy who I was obsessed with that wasn't really ready to call me his girlfriend (he is still our friend and was actually in our wedding party!) Before long it became clear that Paul had feelings for me. I was having a hard time denying that I was falling for him and, well, the rest is history. On June 29, 1995, at a typical high school house party I told Paul that I was ready to choose him. We've been Katie + Paul ever since.
3. If married, how long have you been married? If not, is this the guy you hope to marry? {do tell} We were married 4 years this past October. Yeah, I know that sounds crazy- we dated for 13 years before we got married. You don't have to remind me! It was worth the wait, though! Let's just say there were a lot of things in our way...USMC boot camp, 4 years of college, living separately, living together, a deployment to Iraq.
4. If you are married, where did you get married at? Big or small wedding?
If not, where would you like to get married? And will it be big or small? We got married at The Grain House Restaurant at The Olde Mill Inn. I would say my wedding was intimate, though to some I'm sure it seemed like a big wedding. We had 123 guests but there were many people we wanted to invite that we could not. I actually planned my wedding in 10 weeks so we had a fixed budget and limited time to find something that met our desires. My mother was sick with cancer and sadly did not make it to see us get married, passing a few weeks before. It was a bittersweet day but I felt her presence all around me and know she was smiling down on us. 
5. Do you have any nick-names that you call one another? Do share! Most commonly- Babe. That is universal. Although these days I find myself calling him Daddy a lot :) We make up some truly ridiculous names and after 17 years together I could probably rattle off quite a list. Some of the ones he calls me are Blonde Bunny, Irwinator, and Booby-head (romantic, I know...it has nothing to do with my boobs, PS).
6. Name 3 things you love most about your honey. He loves his family. He still makes me laugh every day. He's an extrememly hard worker at everything he puts his mind to...his job, his family, his health.
7. Tell us how he proposed? Or your ideal proposal? I would venture to guess that I may be the only girl ever proposed to in a cemetery. Yes, that is correct, a cemetery. It was the perfect proposal and had so much meaning behind it. As tradition goes, a good boy will ask for the dad's permission/blessing prior to popping the question. Unfortuantely, this girl's dad wasn't here to give her boy that opportunity :( My dad passed away from cancer when I was 10. Nothing makes me sadder than the fact that my father and Paul never met. I know they would have really loved one another. The cemetery where he is buried is a place of great comfort to me. I have always tended to his grave-planting flowers in the spring, decorating at Christmas, visiting when I was lonely. Paul and I went to the cemetery together as we typically did to water the flowers and to shine my dad's police badge. While I was watering my grandparents' grave just beyond my dad's, Paul called to me to come look at something. When I turned around I saw him down on his knees with a box in his hand. It was his way of including my dad and it was the most thoughtful, amazing gesture.
8. Is he a flowers and teddy bear kind of guy for v-day, or strawberries, champagne, and rose petals? We're not huge Valentine's Day peeps but he definitlely gets me a sweet card (I'm a total card person) and usually something more functional than candy or flowers....like a zippy hoody from Victoria's Secret or something he knows I want.
9. Are you a sunset dinner on the beach kind of girl, or pop a movie in and relax on the couch? We are total homebodies. I've never even had a sunset dinner on the beach (gahhh!), not that I wouldn't enjoy it! Date night for us usually consisits of a lot of talk of big plans to do whatever, followed by just winding up on the couch with a movie. And that was even pre-baby! That's us though and I wouldn't change it!
10. Tell us one thing you'd like to do with your significant one day. If you could do anything? Go anywhere? Drive cross-country in an RV taking our sweet time visiting family and historic places. Oh, and Disney World would be nice too!
11. Tell us what you plan on doing on this Valentine's Day. Paul commutes to Manhattan for work but has to spend that entire week at Wholesaler's meeting in the city so he'll be at a hotel. We'll drive him in Monday and have dinner and probably sleep over.
12. Are you asking for anything this Valentine's day? Nothing special.
13. Give us one piece of advice of keeping a relationship strong and full of love. Compromise. And never go to bed upset.
14. Show us a picture of what love means to you.
