The Story of Us

I've seen a lot of bloggers participating in "The Story of Us" link up from Mrs. to Mama and I couldn't resist joining! I've loved reading everyone's posts & what better way to celebrate Valentine's Day while my Valentine is traveling than sharing how I met and fell for him!

So here it is...

The Story of Us

1. How long have you and your significant other been together?  This March (March 21st to be exact) will mark 3 years since we met!

2. How did you meet? {What's your "love" story?}  I would just like to preface, Brandon & I are the exception to the rule for sure!  (If you've seen "He's Just Not That Into You", you know what I mean.  If not, ask and I'll explain!)  In true classy form, Brandon and I met at a bar in Charlotte - The Attic, which is now a bar called Prohibition.  I was out with some girlfriends & he, reluctantly, was out with his guys - he hadn't planned on going out that night, but after some arm twisting they convinced him.  Brandon approached me as I appeared to be double fisting (holding my beer as well as my friend's beer while she was outside making a phone call).  He introduced himself and asked my name.  "Hey, I'm Brandon.  What's your name?" "Michelle." "Rachelle?" "Yeah."  It was loud.  All night he thought my name was Rachelle and I had thought he said Michelle so I didn't even know to correct him.  He didn't find out my actual name until he went to put my number in his phone...."So it's R-a-c-h..?" "No, no, no, M-i-c-h.." "Ohh!  Omg!" "Haha, it's ok, it's pretty loud!" :)  And the rest is history....he followed through, called when he said he was going to and woo'd me all the way to the alter!

Not long after we started dating - May 2009 at a Knights game

Of course we needed an engagement picture outside of The Attic :)

3. If married, how long have you been married?  We got married November 20th, 2010 and have now been married for almost 16 months.

4. If you are married, where did you get married? Big or small wedding?  We were married at Grace on Brevard in Downtown Charlotte and our reception was at The Big Chill just outside of downtown.  We had about 110 people at our wedding - so medium sized I'd say?

Best & most fun day of our life!!

Our full wedding, reception & rehearsal dinner posts can be found here and here.

5. Do you have any nick-names that you call one another? Do share!  Brandon often calls me "Cuff", "Cuffies", "Cuffles" or just "Acuff" which is my maiden name.  At first I wasn't sure I liked it, now I'm a Shuck!  But it's really grown on me and I love it :)  I call Brandon "B" a lot on the blog just because it's easy, but in real life I mostly just call him "babe".

6. Name 3 things you love most about your honey.  Brandon is so disciplined in many areas of his life and I really admire that!  I love that he makes me laugh and that he takes me just as I am :)

7. Tell us how he proposed?  Brandon proposed on the first night of our vacation in Puerto Rico on April 3, 2010!  We were getting ready for dinner and Brandon was hanging out on our ocean view balcony while I finished up.  He wanted to open the champagne we got earlier that day (hindsight's 20/20 - while at the grocery store I was thinking "why are we getting champagne?") so we both had a glass of that and cheered to our vacation.  He was being so sweet and saying such sweet things.  I showed him my new David Furman (fake David Yurman) ring and he mentioned "I think we need to get you a ring for the other hand." I slapped him on the shoulder & said "why don't you get on that!!"  And about that time he pulled the ring out of his pocket!  I was shocked!!!

We followed up with dinner at Ruth's Chris which was connected to our hotel.  The tears hit on the elevator ride down :)  Getting engaged on vacation was awesome!  We made phone calls and told every one of course, but we had a few days to spend just us before the rush of seeing friends and family and planning began.  We had a date picked out and everything by the time we got back!  Some of our engagement details are here.

8. Is he a flowers and teddy bear kind of guy for v-day, or strawberries, champagne, and rose petals?  Thankfully, he is not a teddy bear kinda guy.  Haha, I'm not really a stuffed animal kinda girl so this works out!  He's a flowers, strawberries, & champagne kinda guy!

He surprised me with these delicious treats today at school!!

Brandon's definitely a romancer & I love that about him.  I think that's a love language, or should be.  He always knows how to make me feel special, whether there's a reason or just because!

9. Are you a sunset, dinner on the beach kind of girl, or pop a movie in and relax on the couch kind of girl?  I honestly can't pick - I choose both!!  Ha, obviously the whole watching a movie on the couch thing happens way more often because, well, we don't live near the beach!  But each comes with it's own greatness and I just can't choose!

10. Tell us one thing you'd like to do with your significant other one day. If you could do anything? Go anywhere?  Definitely travel.  We have Bora Bora on our Bucket list as well as Europe/a Mediterranean cruise!  Also, Brandon's never been to NYC and I think California would be really fun!  I've only every been to San Fran.

11. Tell us what you plan on doing on this Valentine's Day.  The life of a traveling salesman's wife - oh so glamourous!  NOT!  Haha, B is on the road tonight so it's just me & sweet Benson.  Have no fear, he gives really great snuggles in B's absence.  We celebrated a little early this past weekend with dinner & dessert at Crave!

Fondue was UH.maz.ING!!!  I highly recommend it :) 

My love (and a rando girl in the background!)

12. Are you asking for anything this Valentine's day?  Brandon & I have been wanting some Toms, so we bought each other some for Valentine's!

     

Some classics for the Mr & some ballet flats for the Mrs :)

Sadly, I ordered the wrong size so they're currently being exchanged!  But B's are here!

13. Give us one piece of advice of keeping a relationship strong and full of love.  I'm not sure if we're still newlyweds technically since we're past the 1 year mark, but either way, we're definitely still learning!  Some advice we've heeded and things we've learned so far are - always give 100%!  It's not 50/50, it's 100/100!  Don't keep things bottled in, listen and always say I love you!

14.  Show us a picture of what love means to you.

Our Honeymoon in Jamaica Nov. 2010

Taking the plunge, a leap of faith, the trust fall, all hand in hand :)

I hope you all felt loved today - whether it was from a spouse, significant other, family, friends or a fur baby!  Happy Valentine's Day friends!!