Double Exposure: February 14, 2012

In honor of Valentine's Day, I wanted to share with you our love story.

In 2002, Kelly and I were both enrolled at West Chester University. He was studying to be a history teacher and was a member of Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity. I was a music major and decided to pledge Alpha Xi Delta sorority. We both happened to be enrolled in the same Educational Psychology class. On the first day we went around the room introducing ourselves. I happened to be taking the class with my roommate and 2 other friends, and I remember when Kelly introduced himself I started giggling to my roommate that I could never date a guy named Kelly. Not to mention that he hated that class and sat with a scowl on his face the entire time. It's strange how Kelly and I never really had contact before then because his fraternity and my sorority hung out all the time. Besides being in the same class together, the only thing I knew about him was that no less than 3 of my sorority sisters wanted to date him. Of course Kelly was clueless and didn't know any of this.

Christmas 2002:

February 2003 (my 21st Birthday) - Kelly singing "I Only Wanna Be With You" to me:

Greek Games:

Fast forward a couple of weeks. My sorority formal was coming up (and being the social chair I was in charge of planning it). At the time I was seeing this guy named Kevin. He was not my type (short, skinny, etc.) and therefore I really only wanted to be friends. I took him to my formal anyways, since Kelly happened to be going with one of my sorority sisters (if you're reading this, hi Erin!). Kevin showed up to the bus that was taking us to the formal already drunk. Yeah, that was the end of that "relationship". I spent the night hanging out with/dancing with Kelly (sorry, Erin!).

Fast forward another couple of weeks. A huge snow storm hits campus. Being in the Greek system, snow storm = drinkyourfaceoff. One of the Sig Eps, Brian (or as we called him, Brivis), declared that the party was at his house. A lot of beers and a few games of Kings Cup later, Kelly and I were an item. Kelly graduated in June 2004, and we got an apartment together with our friend (his fraternity brother) Will. I graduated that December (I switched my major so I was behind), and once I graduated I moved back to NJ.

Once Kelly's lease was up in West Chester, he moved to New Jersey to be with me. We first lived in a crappy 2 bedroom apartment with no central air that was right above the boiler room. Yeah that sucked. Once our year long lease was up we got the hell out of there. Then we moved into another 2 bedroom/2 bathroom apartment that was a little nicer but not much (at least it had air though!). We were there for what seemed like forever when Kelly finally proposed to me. At that point we were dating for 4 1/2 years!!! It was about damn time!!! He proposed to me at the school I was teaching at in front of my students. I knew we were getting engaged (I picked out the ring) but I didn't know how or when he would propose. It was perfect :)

This is right after our engagement at my school:

We were married on June 28, 2008 at this awesome Portuguese restaurant (neither of us are Portuguese...we just really like the food). We had 130 of our closest friends and family (lol) and had an interfaith ceremony that was performed by the Cantor who performed my Bat Mitzvah and a family friend who my mother met when she gave birth to me (they shared a hospital room). Everything was wonderful (besides the cake melting, but that's a different story), and we ate and drank sangria all night long. Our honeymoon was spent in Europe - 3 nights in Barcelona followed by a 7 day Mediterranean cruise to Malta, Naples, Rome, Florence, and Nice. It was the most amazing trip I have ever been on. I want to move to Barcelona!!!

Getting ready for my bachelorette party:

My bachelorette party at the Borgata in Atlantic City:

I won $500 playing 50 cents in a Wheel of Fortune slot machine on our way out of the casino!

Our Wedding:

Our Honeymoon:

After 3 years of living in the better but not so great apartment, Kelly and I took my parents up on an offer to move into their basement so that we could save money for a house. We paid them rent, but it was much cheaper than paying for an apartment and it was closer to both of our jobs. While living at my parents' house, I got pregnant with Jackson. Yeah, I know how that sounds. But too bad. At least it put a rush on us to get out of my parents' house (and trust me, we were already in a rush - and so were they!!!). We got a townhouse in the same town that my parents live in, and moved in 13 days before Jackson was born (talk about stress!). My pregnancy with Jackson was pretty non-eventful up until the day he came. I'll save that story for his birthday post.

10 months after Jackson graced us with his presence, we got a pleasant surprise...I was pregnant again!!! Abigail was not the easiest pregnancy (9 months of "morning" sickness followed by a c-section). I used to call her the Kraken because she was a freaking beast in my belly (I saw the saying/picture when I was in a liquor store - not buying liquor for myself don't worry!!!). I'll save her birth story for her birthday.

And that brings us to today. Kelly and I are still in love (Well I am. He had better be.). Our kids are amazing, and we're still in our townhouse (which is way too small for the four of us btw). I love my funny little Valentines.

Sitting like a lady: