Down in the 4th

I just got the best Facebook message ever, and it really made me feel better after those people who started a war on some message board, trash talking Lindsay and Christopher and then eventually trash talking Addison and me. And yes, I am highly discouraged that apparently every time we get within 1000 votes, someone overseas stays up all night to vote over and over again (or so I’ve been told). But hey, all’s fair in love and war.

But just so we’re all clear on this… THIS COMPETITION IS NOT WAR! Love, people. C’mon. You know  better.

But back to the email. Bryan from the eHarmony couple and our main competitor for 3 of the 4 original weeks sent me the sweetest message telling me not to give up. The part that really spoke to me though?

“Its like football. If the Mountaineers were down by just a field goal in the 4th quarter, would you leave the game?”

For those of you who don’t know about Appalachian State’s one huge claim to fame…then shame on you. I’m pretty sure it’s still in the ESPN’s 10 top sport moments of the decade reel. But basically, App State, my lovely tiny-as-heck school, somehow beat Michigan in the Big House. And yes, it was in the 4th quarter by a field goal.

I’m sure Armanti would tackle me now for getting so discouraged at times. So thanks, Bryan, for that fabulous reminder. And you know what? What ever happens…happens. And while it would be a dream come true to win, life will go on.

But in the meantime, I won’t give up. Thank you for everyone who has been supporting us. I say after all of this, let’s have a huge party. Heck, I need a vacation.

Go forth and vote! And thanks in advance!

ARMANTI EDWARDS VOTED?!?!?!

So Kristin Kirk is a rockstar and a half. She has been tweeting it up and more trying to help Addison and me out. She even tweet our former all-star Mountaineer quarterback who is now playing for the Panthers– Yes— ARMANTI EDWARDS!

Best day of my life. I wonder if he would get the whole NFL to vote for us? now that would be something!

Why I think it’s FATE…

So, to avoid being discouraged by the fact that we’re over 1000 votes behind and that I found a message board of Lindsay & Christopher’s supporters talking about “crushing” us and how they are apparently able to use proxy servers to get hundreds of votes a day…. I’m going to talk about why I think it’s Fate that we will win (but don’t worry, I’m not delusional. If we don’t win, I won’t be too disappointed.)

First FATE cue (besides us catching to bouquet and garter in August) was how I found the competition.

I’m a journalism student and my minor is all about interpreting media across all mediums. This particular week we were discussing favorite magazine ads. Now, I have about 20 magazine subscriptions because I consider them study material, so when I was asked to find my “favorite” magazine ad, I knew exactly what company I wanted to do: Simon G. Jewelry.

I hadn’t been to their site before, but every time I saw their ads with the beautiful rings tied to a tag with a funny saying like “Compromise can come after the wedding,” I couldn’t help but laugh out loud. The night of the assignment, I went to the site and found the competition. I joked with a friend of mine that Addison and I should enter, but he’s so shy that I knew he wouldn’t want to broadcast over the Internet that we wanted to get married. After all, I don’t think he had mentioned it too much to his parents at that point.

Shockingly enough, he said “yes” and I started the voting process…not thinking much of it. Soon we were in the lead from the very beginning. People had started multiple events on Facebook and my Aunt in Japan was pulling double time getting the Eastern half of the world to spread the news.

Another reason I think this is FATE is because, if you haven’t noticed, every promotional poster they’ve made for the competition has been the ring that I picked out. The couples got to pick out their own rings, and ever week, it was always mine even though I don’t think anyone else in the Top Fives had chosen that ring.

Every week we were consistently in the top five, even though almost everyone else changed out every week. By the last week though, some random couple who hadn’t been there before shot ahead by 1500 votes. I was completely discouraged and just stopped campaigning altogether. I figured there was no way we could ever catch up (I didn’t realize the voting reset to 0).

Then POW! The final round came and somehow we still made it, even though we had stopped trying. And that’s where we are now.

So I won’t get discouraged, because honestly, if it’s meant to be…then it’ll happen. If Addison is meant to buy me a ring from his own pocket (sorry, baby), then that’s the way God intended it.

Please find it in your heart to vote for us! And spread the word.

Biggest pet peeve: Selfishness

I’ve often been told I’m a doormat to some people. I’ll do them favors, work connections and bend over backward to ensure that something goes right for them. But when the time comes to return the favor, I always end up empty-handed.

Of course, that’s not why I do those sorts of things, and as I’ve gotten older, I’ve learned more about how to say “no” to certain requests that I shouldn’t have to go out of my way for. But the truth remains the same, I still have friends and know people who on a daily basis talk about themselves 99 percent of the time, ask for favors daily, and then tell me– oh sorry, helping you doesn’t work for me.

That’s why I love Addison. If this is my biggest pet peeve, then he- for all intents and purposes- could be considered perfect. Not once has he given me a reason not to bend over backward for him. And he’s always there to do the same.

Sure, we’re all selfish at times. I am too. But seriously, why is it that some people can’t think beyond themselves on a daily basis? I’m your friend- not part of your fan club. Treat me as such.

But on that note, for all of those who have been campaigning for us like it’s your new part-time job (Or full-time job, as the case may be), thank you from the bottom of both our hearts.

Like my roommate Hannah who is a rockstar. She posted fliers on 4 floors of a building…on every single door!

Or Julie, who went out of her way to come to my work to tell me that she had an idea about how to get a team together to go tackle certain computer labs. What a blessing!

Friends I haven’t even heard from in years are stepping up and telling me they care. People I don’t even know are letting us know they are supporting us.

And it’s people like you who make me realize that not everyone in the world is selfish and that maybe, I should just stop being a doormat and hang out with you guys instead.

That “one moment”

Taylor Swift just came on the radio with “Mine.” Now, I know everyone has their own tastes in music but bare with me for a moment. I actually really like this song, not just because I love Taylor Swift, but because I believe that every relationship has that one moment you always look back on when times are rough.

Sure, there are a million and one amazing moments in any given relationship, but don’t you find yourself sweetly reminiscing over a slightly faded memory from the beginning of your relationship?

For me, my Addison moment comes before we even started dating. We had become friends through work and mutual friends. One night, he randomly called me after we had been IMing while I was doing homework. He wanted to get ice cream.

It was around 10:30 at night, and being the prude freshmen I was, I was flabbergasted by the idea. My roommate who never got along with me completely encouraged me to get out of the room (probably because she just wanted to get rid of me, but I digress).

I mean, I had a boyfriend. Sure, not one I particularly liked and didn’t have the courage to break up with him (I had tried to before going to college and then later in October because of an issue).

But it was just ice cream. We were just friends. Why not?

So we went out for ice cream and picked up a pint of Ben & Jerry’s. I honestly don’t even remember the flavor. But he pulled out two spoons and suddenly all rosy with embarrassment like he still does today. One spoon happened to be one of those slotted spoons that are used to strain things… green beans. He was very embarrassed but I joked that I’ll take the “holy” spoon…holey…yeah…our whole relationship is based on bad puns.

We shared the ice cream in the gazebo on campus that’s near a creek and just talked. We talked about everything, laughed, and joked. It was probably one of the most carefree times I’ve ever had in my life.

Now Addison and I are busy all the time. We stress about school, work, money, long distance, family, everything. And of course, sometimes we bicker.

But it’s when I think back to that time where we just simply sat and shared ice cream, I know everything’s going to be okay. I know life is more than paying bills or worrying about work. It’s not even about feeling those butterflies or going out on fancy dates with fancy gifts. It’s about just being together. It’s about just simply being.

And I am more than ecstatic to just simply be with Addison.

The Long Distance…

Right now I’m writing from a hotel in Baltimore because I’m spending the good part of the week at an international Writing Center conference where I’m presenting at. Addi is back in North Carolina.

It makes me think back to this past year and how we’ve been apart for so long. Below is the youtube video I made for him for our anniversary, which we could not spend together this year. The song is Sara Evan’s “Perfect” because the lyrics really fit how we felt about the situation. I hope you like it.

Part of me didn’t want to go to this conference this weekend. It’s like, after being away from each other for around 8 months just this year alone, why would I voluntarily leave again?

But at this conference, big things are happening. And now I may get a research grant to develop my board game idea for writing center consultation training. A woman I met here already wants to test it out!

This is why Addison has always encouraged me to go away…not in the way it sounds. Last winter I got an offer to go to DC for 14 weeks to intern at a news wire on the Hill. I told him I wouldn’t go if he thought it would hurt our relationship. He told me that he wanted nothing more than for me to go.

It was probably one of the hardest periods in my life. We fought on and off and we both had trouble missing each other for so long. And when I was offered another internship in New York for the summer, at times it seemed unbearable.

But he was always supportive. Even from the beginning. And he still is today.

I know our long distance isn’t half as bad as some people’s. When my cousin’s husband went overseas with the Marines, I was online with her almost every night. But the truth remains the same, long distance for sucks for anyone who has to deal with it.

But when it works, the end result is beautiful. Because that moment when you’re back together in each other’s arms after talking or laughing or fighting or crying via phone and web cam, you know that if you can get through that, you can get through anything.

Addison’s support and our endurance through sporadic long distance throughout our relationship has made me 100 percent confident that he is the man I want beside me for the rest of my life.

Please help us be able to get married. Vote for us to win the Simon G Jewelry “Perfect Proposal” competition.

How we met…

You can’t really say much in the 300 characters allotted in the Simon G. Jewelry “Perfect Proposal” competition section about “Our Story.” So, I made it more about how while together, we’ve been apart for most of our relationship.

But I always kind of thought that how we met was sweet too. So here it is.

My freshman year I somehow got a job at the Plemmons Student Union at Appalachian State University by the grace of God. I’m pretty sure I snagged the last opening before school started. Most of my shifts were game room shifts, and lucky for me, most of my shifts were during a time where the older students who worked at the PSU who come, chill, and shoot pool.

More than once they had to save me when I would fail the cash register and so we all go to talking and we eventually became friends. They especially bonded over the fact that I turned red int he face over anything sexual (I was a very sheltered 18 year-old).

Eventually they’d laugh and be like, “This is awesome! We have a female Addison!”

Never hearing that name before now, I responded, “What is an addison?”

Turns out, Addison was a student who was gone that semester because he had back surgery. I would hear stories about him and people would compare us all the time.

Then, I met him. Someone introduced us, but we really didn’t get to talking until one day when an older friend, Sam, made the joke that the cash register did not like me because I was virgin. They loved teasing me about how I was a sworn virgin to marriage.

Addison happened to walk up at that moment and said, “Don’t feel bad. They tease me about that too.”

I immediately jumped up and gave him a hug and said, “I love you!”

Addison, who I discovered is super shy 99 percent of the time, turned beet red and stood as stiff as a board.

Later I would find out that is when he said he fell in love with me. I, on the other hand, had a boyfriend. In fact, I would still be unavailable for the next couple of months.

But until then, Addison was probably the best guy friend I ever had (and not in the “I’m-only-here-til-you’re-single-sort-of-way.” That’s probably why he still is my best friend today.

And now I’m going to marry my best friend, except we aren’t engaged yet. We’ve been talking about it seriously since early this past spring when I was still in D.C. When Addison said we could enter the Simon G. Jewelry “Perfect Proposal” comeptition to win a $10,000 ring, I was so excited. Honestly, while the ring is pretty, it isn’t about the ring to me. It’s just one less thing to take a burden off my man.

After all, it’s not the ring I want. It’s him.

(Though I must say, Simon G’s sparklies aren’t half bad)

Please consider voting for us!

Fierce Competition. New Friends.

So, for those of you who are just now jumping in on the competition, Simon G. Jewelry’s “Perfect Proposal” competition has been going on for like a month and originally had over 300 couples competing.

There has been fierce competition the whole way, and people can really surprise you. Both good and bad.

Our main competition happened to be a lovely couple named Bryan and Kathleen from Michigan who met on eHarmony.

Now, I’m a huge fan of eHarmony. A year and a half ago, Addison and I decided to do an experiment. (we were super bored) and made profiles on eHarmony. Now for those of you who don’t know us, Addison is a computer science major and I’m a journalism. Logical vs. Emotional. Analytical vs. Creative. We filled out our profiles separately and waited for pairings.

For three days, we were each other’s only matches. Crazy, right? But I digress. Back to Kathleen and Bryan.

So I thought it was super fun that they were from Michigan (for those of you don’t know, Appalachian State University and Michigan have an epic history together football-wise).

We seriously were neck-in-neck for three weeks. They’d be ahead, then we’d pull forward. Then they’d get like 300 votes at once and so I’d go out and buy candy to bribe students who had laptops in libraries (pathetic? Maybe. Resourceful? I’d like to think so).

Pretty soon, other couples started dissing both of us. Someone went as far as to claim that Bryan and Kathleen weren’t even together. Now, I’m a journalist and I pride myself on my ability to be able to find anything I want on the Internet. I knew as much as I could about this couple. I knew which blogs promoted them. Not once did I get an inkling that they weren’t together.

This same couple even dissed me saying that I have a lucky job being the Editor-in-Chief of REALITY Check Girl Magazine so I have tons of time to get votes. Dude, I’m a full time student who works 30 hours a week AND runs a magazine. I have no more time than anyone else.

So I set this lady straight, for both of our sakes.

But then all of the sudden competition got ridiculously fierce, and unfortunately our there-from-the-start competitors/friends fell out. I was pretty bummed about it. If anyone deserved to be in the top three, it was Bryan and Kathleen.

To my surprise, I recently got an FB message from Bryan wishing us luck and offering to repost our link for us.

Further proof that this couple was not only legit, but down-right nice people.

Hey, Bryan and Kathleen! I hope your life together is as fabulous as you and you have the ring and wedding you deserve!

Another couple who almost made the top three but fell out within the last three days was Stefan and Tiffanie. I didn’t know too much about them, but they seemed fun and held a good race for about a week and a half. Unfortunately, they were shockingly knocked down to fourth place after another couple pushed Addison and me to number three (before voting went back down to zero).

Stefan FB messaged me too, wishing us luck and offering support. Seriously, Stefan and Tiffanie, you guys are the sweetest. I don’t know what I did to deserve your kindness, but know that it really means the world to me (and Addi too!).

I hope you guys too get the ring and wedding of your dreams! Thanks for being such good competitors and so nice!

I guess this blog post is more of a tribute to these couples. It’s nice to know that in a world where you’re told that people only look out for themselves, truly nice individuals still exist out there. These couples were both the nicest Internet strangers I’ve ever met and both deserved to win.

Here’s to love and to hope! Here’s to being nice for niceness’ sake and actually reaching out to others regardless of whether you know them or not.

Here’s to Bryan & Kathleen. To Stefan & Tiffanie. I hope you have many, many years together.

We made the top three!!!

I couldn’t believe it when I saw it. Addison and I actually made it to the top three finalists for the Simon G. Jewelry “Perfect Proposal” contest online.

The prize is a $10,000 engagement ring and $5,000.

Competition is fierce, so while discussing joke strategies (one included road tripping across America to access every public library computer known to man. Another idea included something with Magic the Gathering…it was Addison’s idea), we thought it would be fun to start a blog about how we’re trying to win. You know… in case we did decide to road trip across America in search of more IP addresses.

I figure when this is all said and done (whether we win that beautiful ring or not), I can transition this into my wedding-planning blog. And after that? The start of our life as newlyweds.

Yes, I’m a writer. No, Addi isn’t freaking out about me writing just about us and our lives on the Internet. In fact, he helped me come up with the name.

We feel like it describes us. We’re a simple couple from a simple town. We come from simple families and simply love each other.

But together, we have big dreams and big plans. We hope that this competition will help us get a jump start in making those dreams a reality.

So, right now there’s no ring. But we’ve talked about it for awhile so whether we win or not, one is coming. But to answer a lot of the questions I’ve been getting from friends: No. We are not currently engaged. Addison wanted to wait until we actually had a ring and a plan. (He also admitted to planning on coming to my home in Florida for New Years to ask my Dad’s permission! EEP!)

Please consider voting for us, and if you’re still not convinced, keep coming back to read more about us. Maybe you’ll find it in your heart to lend us a hand and vote!