Months worth of dating in two weeks.
How did I let it get to be the last day of January without telling you about Paul’s visit to America in December?! Yikes!
Paul came to see me for fifteen days in December. Let me tell you something about the British: they give their people incredible amounts of vacation time. We decided that Paul would fly over here while I was in my busiest time at work so that he could sleep off his jet lag while I put in some long hours at the office. I had a few busy days (think working long hours at my real job + shooting two weddings in two days) but, when it was over, I was off for almost two weeks. We had a great two weeks together. Want to see some pictures from it? Warning: I took most of these with my phone.
Paul’s first day here, bonding with Snuggles and Cuddles. Snuggles loves Paul because Paul hasn’t been here long enough to learn that, the more you throw Snuggles’ blue bone, the more he wants you to throw it for him. It’s a vicious cycle.
We wrapped some Christmas gifts together. This one is for my little cousin Ella, who lives in Chicago. Fun fact: I’ve only met Ella twice in her five years of life but every single week, I write her a letter because I want her to grow up knowing me (for those of you who have read awhile, this is Aviean’s half-sister).
We drove to Knoxville to celebrate Christmas with that side of my family. I’m not sure how this happened, but somehow, Marisa’s baby ended up in Paul’s arms and I got to snap a few quick pictures.
(Also, you should know: I’m counting down the days until my wedding not for the sake of getting married but to know how many days are left until I can start trying to have a baby.)
(Don’t tell Paul.)
(Or my dad.)
Christmas gifts waiting to be mailed to family and friends who live too far to see at the holidays.
A few days before Christmas, Paul and I went to Nashville so I could show him the Opryland Hotel. I have a weird love affair with that resort. I kind of want to spend every weekend there.
Paul and I had lunch at a restaurant at the hotel. It was the best hamburger of my life. I think I’m going to get in trouble for posting a picture of Paul with his mouth full, but thankfully, we’re 5000 miles away at the moment.
Here’s a blurry picture of me in a store at the hotel picking out an ornament for our first Christmas tree together. My London-girl bangs are growing out, hallelujah.
A few days later, Paul proposed to me. Here’s a picture of the exact spot we were at. And yes, he really did get down on one knee on one of the stones right in the middle of all that water. What a man, right?
My ring! Oh my goodness… I love, love, love my ring. I wanted something that looked “vintage” and he did not disappoint.
We spent Christmas Eve and Christmas day celebrating with both sides of my family. Highlights included watching my mother and Paul talk at the kitchen table and then going to my paternal grandmother’s house for Christmas dinner that evening. When we were opening gifts that evening, Paul was clearly overwhelmed with how much my family was blessing me and him. To give you the back story, Paul is the only child of an only child. And, his father died when he was an infant. So, Paul is used to getting Christmas gifts from his mother… and that’s about it. With me, he was opening gifts all day long. At one point that evening, he was sitting in shock surrounded by wrapping paper. Everyone noticed he was overwhelmed and he explained he just wasn’t used to so many gifts. Without missing a beat, my brother put on his best fake country accent and said “This is ‘MERICA, SON.” I laughed until I cried.
The day after Christmas, Paul and I headed to Asheville, NC to visit my friend Cara. She had graciously given us tickets to Biltmore and we spent the whole day there touring the grounds and having the best lunch at a sweet restaurant. I have always loved Biltmore, but I love it even more now that I’m obsessed with the tv show Downton Abbey.
When we got to Cara’s house for dinner that night, she had a huge basket of gifts waiting for me! She and Cousin Cate gave me the sweetest engagement gifts. See those bridal magazines in the back? Two of them were the British versions of bridal magazines! I was in heaven.
But the best part of the basket was the personalized wedding planner they had ordered for me! Check out my soon-to-be new last name. I’m so excited about my new name-to-be!
For our last few days together, we made the short trip to Chattanooga to use up some free passes to local attractions. We went to the aquarium together…
… where we spent some quality time with the penguins.
Of course, we spent plenty of quality time just sitting on the couch and talking, too, but I don’t have pictures of that. Other than the engagement, do you know what my favorite thing was that we did? The night before Paul left, we watched tv together. Yep, that was my favorite part. It was my favorite because we don’t get to do a lot of normal things together like watching tv or cooking dinner together or even taking the puppies for a walk. I am counting down the days until Paul can move here and we can just be a normal couple. Fingers crossed, he’ll be here for good in June — but I’ll tell you more about that another day.














