We’re ENGAGED!

I wasn’t having the best of days yesterday. I threw on some sweat pants and an old camp counselor sweatshirt and headed to my 8 a.m. class exhausted. What made it worse was halfway during work (which is immediately after 3 morning classes), I realized my carrots had wilted in my lunchbox. If you didn’t know, I’m currently a blogger for HerCampus.com and SELF magazine’s “Lose the Freshman 15” program and without my snack, I was short on calories for the day. Aka. By the time I got home…I was dying and half asleep.

So as I made my Kashi frozen dinner, I called my mom around 5:00. But mid-convo I had another call come through. DeDee, who doesn’t usually call at this time, was on the other end with what sounded like incoherent sobs. All I could make out was that she wanted to stop by, so I immediately ended the convo with my mom and started picking up around my apartment.

But… she happily came to the door– nothing wrong with her at all– and smiled while handing me a clue:

“Where is the absolute first place you go when going on a road trip with Addison.”

I just looked at her. “DeDee…I have no idea what this means. I’m hungry and lightheaded.”

My initial thought was the bathroom (which Clayton agreed with me!), but it turns out it was the car. DUH. And Oh! His keys were magically on my counter.

“You might want to change,” DeDee said. She recommended a dress. I knew something special was happening (thanks for helping me not get engaged in a sweat suit, DeDee!).

We went to the car which had another clue which prompted me to to go to his house to look for the clue behind his Link  shield which he keeps mounted on his wall (from Ocarina of time). The next clue told me to go to the game room where we first met, but being tired and hungry, I didn’t want to drive.

Luckily, his roommate volunteered (or so I thought) and he drove me to the Student Union where I found the next clue stuck to a dart board with a dart. Now…this clue I totally didn’t understand.

“I’m in need of a good scratch, but I don’t itch. When you find me, you can’t scratch me.”

Huh? So I called up DeDee because I figured she had some doing with this and begged for some help. Eventually she helped me realize that it was referring to scratch off tickets (which Addison won’t let me buy lol). She suggested that Shinners (the roommate who drove me) knew where to get a good one.

So we drove to Hess where I went into the gas station where my friend actually was working (fun fact: He wasn’t in on it at all. It was a coincidence entirely!) and he and his coworker both said in unison, “Ask your driver. But don’t scratch it.”

SO I asked Shinners. Yup, in on it the whole time. He pulled out the clue with a scratch off ticker from his glove compartment.  This clue said:

“If Boone had a Hollywood sign, it would go here.”

I thought I knew exactly where that was, but before I could ask Shinners to take me there, Clayton runs out of the gas station shouting, “Out of the car, Nikki! You’re coming with me!”

So we got into his big truck and he drove me up the mountain where lo’ and behold. ANOTHER CLUE! Now, this clue was extra exciting:

“Ok…it’s time to get serious. Where would your perfect engagement take place?”

THE GAZEBO ON RIVER STREET! So we hurried along only to find— Clayton’s girlfriend and my friend Megan. Talk about let down (sorry, Megan!)

Her clue confused me too. At this point, my tummy was really rumbling so my cognitive skills were not entirely up to par:

“Tomato, Minestrone, chicken noodle + Michael Scott.”

Huh? They weren’t going to help me this time and I had to guess for myself. I thought maybe I had to go to my brother’s house since his name is Michael Scott and he makes Italian food.

Wrong. Luckily they helped me out when I wanted to go there. Turns out it was a re-bus to mean: Soup– Office. Ah-HA! The Supervisor’s office in the student union.

Yup, taped to the supervisor’s office door. This clue really threw me through a loop. It basically told me to go to the sex shop in Boone?!?!

Yeah…this had to be someone else’s idea. Addison won’t even look at that place when h e drives by it. Maybe they were trying to throw me off? Megan sure was trying to throw me off saying that the end wasn’t what I was expecting and she was going to laugh. I figured she was right. Shouldn’t get my hopes up, after all, he already faked me out once.

So Megan drove me to Night Secrets and there we found the happiest, beaming cashier lady ever. She hands me a clue and says, “You’re a lucky lady! Congratulations!”

I smiled. Immediately Megan says, “Congratulations for what? Getting the clue right?” At this point, the cover was definitely blown.

The clue was “Where did we go for our first fancy date. Hint: Meow, Meow, Meow. HOT!

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof! We saw the play Cat on a Hot Tin Roof! Time to go Farthing Auditorium, but Megan refused to take me. Then we turned a corner and there was Kyle! (Another one of Addison’s roommates and a good friend of mine). He happily drove me to Farthing but as we’re driving down Rivers St., I turn and notice Addison sitting in the Gazebo!!! Turns out, he thought we were in front of him and DeDee, but they were actually in front of us!

We go to Farthing and at the box office is another clue: “You know Charles Wilkes? You haven’t seen him in a while. How about a quick trip?”

DeDee pulled up behind Kyle (turns out my brother was supposed to be the last driver but couldn’t make it at the last minute) and she was like “Hey! Where you headed?”

And I was like, “DeDee! I left my phone at home so I don’t have Charles’ number!”

“That’s okay! We’re BFFs and I’m going there anyway to pick some stuff up.”

Yeah…right.

Charles is my brother’s old roommate who also works at the student union with Addison and me. He actually moved into Addison’s old apartment— where we had our first kiss.

Charles happily gave me the clue. It said something like: “Remember that perfect proposal spot? I think you may have forgotten something back there…”

So DeDee drops me off at the gazebo on Rivers Street— and there he is. Addison was sitting there with a long stem red rose. He gave me the rose and said, “I just wanted a unique way of asking you to dinner.”

…..Wait. What?

And then he goes on and on about how for the past three years we’ve made so many memories and how he just wanted to remind me of some of the places that were special to us—- the game room for where we met, the top of the mountain for where we sit at night to watch Boone light up while eating fast food (I asked him about the sex shop and he said it was definitely not his idea. It was a ploy someone suggested to throw me off (don’t worry mom!)).

Honestly, I don’t remember too much about his speech because I was getting freaking excited. I do remember one part though because I interrupted him.

“And I just can’t grow old with you.”
“Wait….what??” I stopped him.
“Huh?”
“You can’t grow old with me?”
“OH! OH! I can’t WAIT to grow old with you. WAIT WAIT!”

Lol. That’s my man.

Finally he was like, “Actually…this is more than just dinner. I have a question to ask you.”

And he got down on one knee and asked.

I honestly couldn’t say anything except nod like a fool. Finally I just kissed him and then was able to mutter, “YES!” Just then, I heard cheering behind us. Some of our friends who were involved were behind us….including our photography major friend Nikki LaFaille who happened to take pictures during the whole thing.

I loved everything about my proposal and I love how Addison (w/ DeDee’s awesome coordinating help) got all our friends involved because honestly, our friends mean the world to us and without them, we would have never even won our ring. Like Addison said, our friends really do mean a lot to us in our relationship. We’re so thankful everyone of you guys!

I’m still on cloud nine and really exhausted still! Can  hardly sleep! But I am sooooo thankful to Simon G. Jewelry for helping us with our Perfect Proposal. AND I am so stoked to be the Future Mrs. Miller!

The Perfect Wedding?

The other day, my roommate and I were flipping channels when we came across “Bridalplasty.” Haven’t heard of it? Oh, it’s a piece of work- in more ways than one.

Basically a bunch of future brides (and some already married girls who didn’t get their ideal wedding) are competing for plastic surgery and a celebrity-style wedding. Each week they compete for different procedures of plastic surgery off their wish lists (yes…these girls have LISTS of what they want snipped, tucked, and tweaked). And of course, they eliminate a girl each week until there is one bride left who gets the ultimate prize: The wedding of her dreams and her ENTIRE wish list of plastic surgery.

To me, it’s a little bizarre, so of course I watched two back-to-back episodes. What horrified me though was they said to the girls they kicked off: “Your wedding will still go on; it just may not be perfect.”

UM….WHAT?! Hello, I’m sorry, but what an awful thing to say to anyone. And how does plastic surgery make your wedding perfect?

This got me thinking…what does make a perfect wedding? So, I made a list of the top 5 things your wedding needs in order to be “perfect.” And no, plastic surgery is not a requirement.

1) You get married

I mean really… if at the end of your wedding, this one thing does not get accomplished, I think you may be allowed to say your wedding wasn’t perfect.

2) You get married to a guy you actually like and hopefully love

I say it’s a win if you can go home after all the festivities and not think: “Dear God, what have I done??”

3) No one dies

I’ve heard of this happening…and I can’t imagine anything worse. If everyone gets through my big day alive and in one piece, I’m going to count my blessings.

4) You’re able to ignore the family drama

Let’s face it, there will ALWAYS be drama in some way, shape, or form if you get the entire family together. If you can ignore other people and focus on yourself and your new spouse, then your wedding is far beyond perfect.

5) You end the day happy

I’m a firm believer that happiness is a choice. So this one should be a gimme because I can’t imagine a bride choosing to be unhappy on her wedding day, but unfortunately bridezillas have taken over the world and our TVs. So skip the pity parties. Who cares that there was some mix-up or that you had to be flexible? Just be happy and everything else will follow.

Just logged onto TheKnot.com…

So…I was minding my own business checking out one of my all time favorite website, The Knot, and BAM! I saw my face in three different places! Top banner, side ad, and footer banner.

Nearly died. Not something you expect to see everyday!

A friend of mine had mentioned she saw something on the site, but I thought she just meant like the original smaller ad they ran of all three couples during the contest. Wow, was I surprised! Check it out!

A modest proposal

So, in her email to me, Lindsay made the comment that it would be nice if Simon G. Jewelry gave us all rings, maybe not $10,000 rings. But wouldn’t it be great publicity for them?

I agree, but I don’t know if Simon G. would actually do that. People keep asking me if there are 2nd place and 3rd place prizes. The truth is, I don’t really know. The information about the competition is pretty vague, so I honestly don’t think there are any runner-up prizes.

After I told Addison about Lindsay’s email, he made the comment, “Then why doesn’t whoever win just split the $5K gift card between the losing two couples, that way they can each buy themselves at $2,500 ring.”

Sweet, idea. But I didn’t think anything of it.

But then I got an email from Stephen from the 3rd place couple. Stephen is actually the only person in this competition that I’ve emailed first. I emailed him before I got the email from Lindsay, wishing him luck and how I loved that our stories were similar (poor college kids need to stick together!). Without me saying Addison’s idea, he said that him and Katie had planned on splitting the $5K with the other couples who lost too if they had won.

You know, after all this stress and aggravation all three couples have gone through, don’t we all deserve a ring? I guess it’s easier to say that when you don’t have a 1500 vote lead, but I think it’s a legit idea nonetheless.

Besides, who needs $5K to plan the perfect proposal? I’d be perfectly content if Addison whipped out the ring when we were at a place that meant something to us.

So I’m throwing it out there to the world. Why don’t the three couples end the war and make it so we all win? Thoughts? Ideas? Email me: nikkiroberti@gmail.com

And don’t forget to vote for us! Addison and I really appreciate your support.

The picture

It’s funny seeing people posting our link over and over again because one of two pictures always shows up: the beautiful ring, or the picture of Addison and me when I’m still blonde.

That picture was taken during one of our first legit dates. I say legit because, well let’s face it, when you’re poor college students, taco bell runs and ordering pizza are sometimes the best you can do (and yet, I love all of those dates just as much).

But I remember this one particularly. Addison was taking me out to eat at an actual restaurant that I’ve been wanting to go to forever. It’s an Italian place and as some of you know…I am very Italian (or at least I try to be). Wanting it to be extra special, I went out and bought a new dress that I found on sale. Looking at the dress now, it really wasn’t that cute. You can’t see it in the picture, but it was tan with brown lace and I bought a new headband and shoes to go with it.

I never do that. And it was nice to treat myself for once. A friend lent me jewelry to wear and everything. I was so excited for this date!

We had gone to the restaurant, and seeing as the floors were slick wood and I was wearing a new pair of heels (which now I never wear heels. I’ve grown wiser), I slipped in front of everyone in the crowded restaurant and Addison caught me.

A funny older man laughed as I fell into Addison’s arms right at this man’s feet, “At least you did it gracefully, sweetheart.”

I sometimes joke that Addison swept me off my feet. But really, I’m just clumsy and he’s the sweet knight in shining armor who catches me when I need him.

After dinner we went for a walk in this cute park in Blowing Rock. It was dark, so when we snapped this picture, the flash made us glow a bit. Yes, this picture is over 2 1/2 years old, but it is still one of my all time favorite pictures of us together. It was one of the firsts.

In fact, Addison sent me a picture frame when I was away in New York this summer with about 5 different prints I could choose from to put inside it. A lot of them were new pictures, but this one was in the pile. I didn’t hesitate with my choice on which one to feature. It still sits on my desk.

Addison also has a version of this in one that I made for him, except it’s a compilation of 3 different photos. I had realized early on that most of our pictures together, we weren’t standing side-by-side. Rather, we always stood with one person behind the other. I put them in a square like grid with the fourth square saying, “I’ve got your back.”

And that’s what I think about when I see this picture. I think about our first fancy date. I think about him catching me when I fall. And I think about how we always have each other’s back.

So please…vote for us! So we can each other’s backs forever!

But in the meantime, I thought I’d share some other pictures, to especially demonstrate our weird habit of always standing behind each other in photos (from newest to oldest):

Indeed a clean race

Okay, everyone. I know I’ll say this is the last time I’ll talk about this, but I’m sure it’ll come up again. But here goes nothing: Please, for the love of all things good, chill out about the “cheating thing.” Yes there’s a message board talking about people doing it for Christ and Lindsay. But there aren’t any rules saying generating multiple IP addresses are wrong. I know I’ve always said I’ve felt uneasy about it when people offered, and while I don’t think it’s completely fair, it’s not against the rules. Besides, life isn’t fair…so stop pretending it is.

In fact, I got an email last night from the lovely Lindsay from the leading couple of this competition. She wanted to assure me that she was running a clean campaign and in fact is doing a lot of the stuff that Addison and I are doing for campaigning.

Now apparently people are claiming Addison and I are cheating. Someone told me that somebody on another message board made a big deal about Addison and I paying for advertisments on some site. For the record: WE HAVE NOT PAID FOR VOTES OR ADS!

Believe me? I don’t care. I’m sure the other couples don’t care if you think they’re cheating either. We’re just a couple of kids in love and we know what we’re doing. We don’t have to prove anything to anyone.

That being said, I’m not going lie. I am the sensitive type, so when I see haters springing up here and there about me and Addison, it hurts a bit.

But as for people on Team Addison & Nikki, if I’m okay with the other team, then please, you be okay with the other team. Okay?

Thank you… now please continue voting! You guys are awesome and I love every one of you!

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!

Silver lining

So I woke up pretty discouraged today. Yesterday because of an awesome article in the Watauga Democrat, Taylor Swift fans and Firefly junkies wanting us to honor Joss Whedon with our future baby, we got the most hits we’ve ever had in one day! I was floored and honored!

Upon waking up today, somehow the other couple managed to get back to their 1000 hit lead again. Total bummer, and at the brink of giving up, my friends really pulled through.

Jaclyn Miller, a friend and fellow PSU leadership team member added our blog to Stumble and made this beautiful pic/poster-thing. Funniest thing ever.

Everyone at the union has this nickname type-thing for Addison based on his mood (ie. if he’s happy- he’s Gladdison. If he’s upset- He’s Saddison. If he’s cool- He’s Raddison. You get the picture).

I was also really bummed I had to leave the University Writing Center staff meeting for another meeting. Talk about stressed. But as I left, Tara Moore proposed that the entire vote right then and there on the computer lab PCs we were all at. It really made my day a little brighter considering how sleep-deprived I am.

This contest has really shown me how great friends and family are. I also am completely in-love with my community here at Appalachian and the Town of Boone. I had no idea we’d be in the Watauga Democrat yesterday and next week we’ll be in the Mountain Times!!! Also, WASU’s radio station might be airing a segment on us either this Monday or next Monday.

So instead of looking at those votes and getting discouraged when I feel like I’m running out of people to ask to vote, I think about my friends and family.

Like Addison’s mom. She’s a rockstar. I think she’s one of our biggest campaigners right now and definitely a great blessing.

So thank you everyone! All your support is really heartwarming.

That being said, please please please don’t turn this into a war. Someone told me that somebody is going on one of the message boards of a different couple’s supporters. While I super appreciate standing up for us, don’t feel like you have to do that (especially since I’m afraid people will think it’s me or Addison impersonating someone). Just let them run their race. Let’s make our race about ourselves and about Addi’s and my relationship.

But thank you and please vote! And keep on spreading the word!

Thank you Taylor Swift and Firefly Fans!!!

So I found out today that someone posted on a Taylor Swift Message board about my blog post called “That one moment” which I referenced her song “Mine” in. As a result, I got tons of Taylor Swift fan votes last night. Thanks so much everybody!

Also, the Firefly crowd is getting on board. Someone even suggested Grizwold Badger….Hmmm. Not sure how I feel about that one.

But hey! At least now we’re only 776 votes behind instead of 1000. That’s kinda optimistic…right?

Anywho…please keep voting! We’re depending on you!