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!

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.