She's Not Yet Married, But: Meet Emily!

I love reading about other couples. I love getting a

sneak peak into their lives and seeing how they make their situation work. Some would say that I'm nosy. Which I'm fine with. Because enough people were open enough to take me up on this guest poster series and answer with honesty, heart, and humor.

Enjoy :)

Names:  Emily and Joshua

Ages: I’m 25, he’s 27.

I live in: San Luis Obispo, California… which Oprah recently proclaimed the happiest place on earth.

I’m not sure about that, but we’ve got it pretty good!

(Oprah, you just might have been right on)

…but by next month, I’ll be leaving sunny California and moving across the country to Boston! I am a small-town country girl through and through, and can’t imagine life in a big city. Where it snows. It will be an adventure!

Do you blog? Absolutely! Check me out on: http://alongroute65.blogspot.com/

 I love making new friends and meeting people! And of course, I do my best to follow all of my beloved followers.

About what? Life. I wish I had some cool theme, like cooking or crochet or rescuing pupfish, but really I’m just an ordinary sort of girl. But I do really enjoy my ordinary sort of life, and I like to share the joy with you!

What do YOU do?  I’m full-time student, and was recently accepted into nursing school in Boston…which means that I’ll be spending most of my time studying! When I’m not hitting the books, you can usually catch me practicing  yoga, running, wandering about taking pictures, wishing I was better at photography, and reading exceptionally long, boring novels.

What does HE/SHE do? Josh does something every technical with computers and servers that I don’t understand. Whatever it is, he’s quite good at it. He’s also studying to pursue a PhD in psychology, an excellent photographer, and drummer extrodinaire on Rock Band. You can see his name on the leaderboards. No joke.

How long have you been married together? Five years now, which is long enough to finish each other’s’ sentences and wonder what life was like before we met, and for others to ask when we are getting married. We have both agreed that it’s important for us to establish my career first and that realistically it will take three to five years for me to pick out a dress anyway, so it might be some time yet…but there is no doubt in my mind that he is the one for me.

How did you meet?

Skydiving. He was my instructor, and when my parachute didn’t open I panicked and…

Scuba diving. His tank ran out of oxygen and I saved his life

…we try to come up with a new story to tell every time we are asked. So far, my favorite has been:

we were assigned to be pen-pals for a class project in third grade and kept in touch all the way through to college, when we finally met.

It sounds so much more romantic than the somewhat sordid truth:

I was dating his best friend, who turned out to be not such a nice guy. Josh and I became good friends, and he was there for me when I finally broke it off with my first serious relationship. I was there when his girlfriend at the time ended their even more serious relationship. We’ve known each other for seven years, and he’s always been there for me.

 …but we realized that we were truly meant to be when a bull moose charged at me while hiking in Yellowstone

What do you argue about the most? Honestly…we don’t really argue. We’ll debate politics, movies, and favorite characters in the Harry Potter series, but that’s just about it. The only real cause of friction is the fact that Josh is very clean and organized and I’m a total slob. Oh, and we can’t agree on music during long road trips, so we have agreed to audiobooks from now on.

Do you have kids? If not, are you planning on them anytime soon?   No kiddos yet! I can barely remember where I put my keys every day after class; a baby is just not going to be in the picture for another five years or so. But some day, absolutely- I would love two. And yes, I have picked out favorite names for my future darlings: Ethen, Owen, Noah, Hunter, Abigail, and Noelle.

(This is totally normal, right?)

No kids? Dogs? Cats? They count. Names? Bella is my cat, and she is my pride and joy. I’m not much of a cat person, but this little snuggle-bug won me over. She meets me at the door every day, loves to cuddle, and will follow alongside if I do on a walk around the block. I adore her.

And then there is Sneaks. I know everyone’s dog is the best dog ever, but really: Sneaks is the best doggie ever. She’s a stray we rescued off the streets, and such a lover. She’s nineteen years old now and was diagnosed with cancer a year ago, but she somehow won over the vet and is now receiving chemo pro-bono…and still running around wagging her tail. Unbelievable.

Who cooks the most? Me. This is not for the best- Josh is the better by far, but I have decided lately to take up the spatula and learn. Tonight, we’re having Eggo waffles. Progress is slow, friends.

I do, however, have an obsession with pictures of food. I can’t even count how many cookbooks I have on my shelves. It’s out of control!

Who cleans the most? Josh.  As I said, I’m a total slob.  Even when I do clean, he’s usually mopping up after me.

Can we peek inside your home? Share some pictures! La Petit Maizet is French for little country cottage. It’s a storage-shed turned photography darkroom turned housing for nearly broke students...and it’s just what I need. I’d show you the inside but…yeah. I’m a slob, and Josh hasn’t been over in a few days.

Where do you see yourselves in five years? Oh, goodness! I’m almost afraid to predict! So much can happen five years, and yet I know it will fly by!

Let’s see...in five years, I will be done with school and working as a Nurse Practitioner for a women’s health center.  Josh will be working on his Phd at…let’s make the University of New Hampshire. I will be decorating our rustic country home and trying not to make it too obvious that I’m copying everything out of a Pottery Barn magazine, scrapbooking photos from our honeymoon to…(Rome? Or New Zealand?) because even though we went two years ago we took so many pictures I still haven’t caught up, and trying my best to potty-train our puppy.  Family might be asking about bundles of joy, but we aren’t saying anything yet.

Oh, and there will be something far more grand than Eggo waffles for dinner.

If you could give an engaged couple any advice (assuming they asked for it), what would it be? Well now! Since you asked…!

My Grammy once told me that the most important quality is integrity. She explained it like this: if you go to the bathroom, no one will know if you don’t wash your hands- but you will spread your nasty germs everywhere.

This is probably the most unromantic metaphor ever written, but I do believe in treating a relationship with integrity. This means honesty, devotion, and respect for the one you love, but also for yourself.

Treat others with integrity, and don’t expect anything less in return.  It’s as simple as that.

Of course, communication, spontaneity, and a whole lot of faith help too!

Emily is wonderful. She lives in the same state as me now, so maybe someday we'll bump into each other and think that the other one looks kinda familiar. She sent me some wonderful pictures, but I cannot for the life of me get them into the post. I tried, I really did. So if you'd like to be able to put a face to the name, go check out her blog!

They ALSO got married!:

Caitlin
Ana
Heleen
Meghan
Justine