I'm getting married in the morning!

Ding dong the bells are gonna chime!

Only one more sleep until I become Mrs. Blake. I am so happy!!

Enjoy some photos from our wedding prep and celebrations of the last few days!

Wherever you will go

If you ask Blake his favorite movie, he might pause briefly, but he'll probably say Red Dawn, in all its 80s glory. I still haven't seen it, but I agreed months ago that I would happily see the remake with him. After a few reschedulings due to finals, we finally went last weekend.

We also had a Groupon for two drinks, two sandwiches, and two gelatos at a place in Clarendon (in Arlington), which is about 15 minutes from us and sounded like a great way to prepay for an inexpensive date. There's a movie theater in that neighborhood, so we made an evening of it.

Well, we probably won't go back to this café. The gelato was tasty, but our drink options were coffee, bottled Coke beverages, or juice. Nothing worth getting excited about, though Blake liked that his apple juice came from concentrates from almost ten countries. I was hoping for at least an Italian soda option.

The sandwiches. There were maybe ten options. Not terrible. We asked for his recommendation.

"Uhh, I don't know."

We ordered a club sandwich and something called The Virginian (no tomato).

"What kind of bread?"

"What do you recommend for our sandwich choices?"

"I don't know. I might try the croissant for the club, but I have weird taste."

"That's what I was thinking," I said.

"Then you're taste is like mine. I'm sorry. What bread for you?" he asked Blake.

"What are my options?"

"These," gesturing towards three nondescript bread baskets.

"Um, ok. White then."

And then, even though we were the only people in the shop and we ordered cold sandwiches, it took at least ten minutes for us to get them. That's more than fine for a sit-down restaurant where they have to cook something and serve other people, but that wasn't the case for plain ol' sammiches.

We were underwhelmed, but the sandwiches were fine. After the gelato, we strolled to the theater. When I'd purchased tickets earlier in the day, I'd picked some assigned seats, which we both were a little surprised about. In the building, we were a little disappointed that a theater in such a nice neighborhood was so dirty and rundown.

But then we got to our auditorium.

And found recliners.

Yes please.

The movie was entertaining, our armrests at perfect handholding distance and width, and the company the best I could ever ask for.

It was a fun and wonderful date. And in less than a week, I get to be this man's wife!

I want you to want me

In conclusion to this month's list of reasons I love my future husband, I love Blake because I choose to. No one is forcing me, least of all Blake. I'm certainly not settling just because I'm inching closer to 30 and this might be my last chance.

I met Blake and knew very quickly he was someone worth pursuing and so I chose to take advantage of that. Once I realized he was someone worth keeping, I chose to act on that as well

Every day I choose to love Blake. He is amazing and handsome and wonderful and if I actively choose to love him and be the kind of partner he deserves, I have a chance of getting to have him for a very long time.

Love is a noun. And a verb. Love is a feeling. And an action.

Love is a choice. And I choose Blake!

Because you loved me

Having been single for the vast majority of my twenties and dealing with years of vagueness and uncertainty from the guys I would like or go out with, I made it clear that one of my top requirements of the man that I would marry would be someone who would never make me doubt his feelings for me.

Blake is such a man. I love Blake because Blake loves me.

From the very beginning, I knew I liked him and he made it quite obvious he liked me too. I also hated the "will he call?/it's been two days what if he doesn't like me as much as I thought" stages, even when they do turn into something more, and we totally skipped that part.

Blake was the first of us to say "I love you." He continues to both show and tell me everyday, multiple times a day, his unwavering love and commitment to our relationship.

He is amazing. I've never once doubted how he feels about me. I truly feel this is an answer to prayer. I feel so loved and special and cared for, all the time. I only hope I'm returning that favor!

Spend a little time with me

Blake really enjoys spending time with me. Fortunately, I really enjoy spending time with him! Of course, we prefer quality time over quantity, but we will take both. It's this quantity of time that leads us to studying together or having him accompany me to campus in the evening. Or, as in the case of last Friday, willingly spending the entire day in a shirt and tie (he's definitely a jeans and tshirt guy) because I had to spend the afternoon in the Performing Arts Reading Room at the Library of Congress (darn) and we didn't have time to change after the temple. I rewarded him with pizza at We, The Pizza.

We just really enjoy being around each other as much as we can. Even in the sizable new apartment I live in and we'll share soon, with lots of space to spread out in, we're mostly found sitting right next to each other on the couch. And that works for us right now.

He's my best friend, adventure partner, and soon to be husband. And I enjoy getting every minute with him I can!

I am so smart, S-M-R-T

I love how smart and intelligent Blake is. It's certainly evident in how well he does when we watch Jeopardy or how frequently he wins at Words With Friends. But it's also clear based on the quality of so many of our conversations and intelligent conversations we're able to have about so many things. He's much more informed about certain things (politics, current events, some history) than I am and I learn something new from him almost everyday. He's very patient when there's something I don't understand (mostly politics) and he's great at explaining things. He made some really good notes when I had him proofread a paper the other day.

He's also doing really well in law school. We don't really know his grades to back that up, but he usually understands the material and recalls it easily. I'm very proud of him!

I'm so glad to be with someone so knowledgeable about so much!

Here's his first day of law school photo. So handsome!

Think of me, think of me fondly

Blake is incredibly thoughtful. Just this evening, he made a grocery store run for chicken soup and Gatorade for me and my illness. In the shopping bag upon his return, I discovered Parmesan cheese, because he remembered that I wanted it on my Caesar salad which we ate last night and will have again soon. We weren't even planning that for dinner tonight under the circumstances, but he remembered it anyway. He also brought me blue Gatorade, because as much as I like purple, I've been drinking a lot of grape Kool-aid and he knew I would appreciate variety. He's totally right.

Blake is so aware and considerate and wonderful. Getting through this illness and life in general is much nicer when he's around.

And he's really cute when he wants my attention.

I've got all my sisters with me!

Blake loves his family. This bodes well for our family! He talks with his parents and siblings frequently and always speaks highly of them. He clearly wants them to be happy and always hopes they're doing well. One of his sisters had surgery this week, and he's been doing a good job of keeping in touch with her since we can't be there in person. He's very considerate of their feelings.

When his sister Holly came to visit us in July, he made sure she had a good time and planned a really great trip for her. Today, she was in the orchestra of Mannheim Steamroller on an NBC figure skating special and was excited whenever we spotted her. Blake was so proud of her. "That's my sister!"

He's likewise getting to know and care about my family as well, which means a lot to me.

Family relationships are important to Blake and I look forward to the bonds he forms with any family members who join us in the future!

Are we human or are we dancer?

Having grown up in a home where my dad was totally willing to talk about whatever physical issues I might be plagued with and a brother who was totally unwilling, I've never entirely been sure how to address these things with the male population.

However, Blake has been totally awesome about this. I can let him know what's going on and how I'm feeling, whether it's a female specific issue or something all humans experience from time to time, like the barking cough I've had for two days now. He makes it clear that he wants me to feel good and happy and will do whatever I need him to do to help me feel that way. Tonight, it was buying cough syrup on our way home from our date. Other nights, it's rubbing my feet or warming up my seed corn heating bag. Sometimes, I get to return the favor when he's not feeling 100%.

As he puts it, we're both humans. And humans get sick or hurt or tired or have various bodily systems rebel against them once in awhile.

Being sick while single sucked. A lot. I'd call my mom and whine to her sometimes, but there was relatively little she could do. So glad that when I'm not feeling well from now on, I'll have someone there to stroke my head and say "Poor little bunny."

We couldn't hold hands one day, probably homework, and discovered this is what we were doing instead

Rock Your Body

As discussed before, I recommitted myself to fitness last year and have been enjoying the rewards. This year, I did the Mid-Atlantic Tough Mudder, which Blake totally supported (it had sold out before we even met) and was one of the hardest and most physically rewarding things I've ever done. My ankles may not be in shape to do one ever again, but I've done it. And that's awesome.

One thing I love about Blake is that he is equally interested in fitness and being healthy. Admittedly, with everything going on these last few months, our ability to work out as hard and as frequently as we might like has eluded us. I still at least do yoga or go on a walk everyday, but I do miss the frequency of a really great weights or cardio session.

Luckily, Blake and I, purposefully, have found an apartment complex with a free fitness center and have formulated a plan l. Once we live together and are saving all this travel time, we're going to work out everyday. Together.

Right now, we've given up soda for the remainder of our engagement and work out together on Saturdays. We enjoy Yoda or monkey squats, in which we use each other on piggyback for weighted squats. It's actually really fun and a great bonding time to work on improving our strength and fitness together!

This photo is from our hike to Battlecreek Falls when we were home introducing each other to our families.