The final countdown is on!

Well, everyone, the wedding is in 6 days! I must have been asked no less than 100 times in the past 2 days if I'm nervous or freaked out about this and the fact is that I have never been so ready for anything in my life.

I thought maybe as I'm entering into my final week as a non-wife (and because my intro post totally lame-o compared to everyone elses'), I would post about how M and I ended up meeting in the first place.

Our story kind of started in 1995. We went to the same high school, but I was a too-cool-for-you senior while he was a lowly junior. So we didn’t really know each other, though I remember seeing him around in the halls.

He looked totally different when our paths crossed again 8 years later at a local bar at Halloween. I was wearing an angel costume with a 6 foot wingspan (most ridiculous idea ever…I could barely move and my best friend had to get my drinks for me the whole night) and talking to a wonderful friend of mine who also just happened to be an old roommate from college. Suddenly this cute cute cute guy came up and started talking to him. He was dressed as Shaun from Shaun of the Dead – one of my most favorite movies; how could you deny a romantic comedy with zombies? – so I obviously had an instant crush on him. Our friend introduced him as his current roommate and we exchanged pleasantries. As he walked away, friend told me something to the effect of put-your-tongue-back-in-your-mouth-he’s-got-a-girlfriend. So that was that. He was awfully nice though (and gorgeous – what a combo!) so we became friends.

Fast forward 3 years and I’m single, living in LA, and stalking around on MySpace (because didn’t everyone do that at one time or another on MySpace?). I came across his page and spent some time reading and looking at his pictures. He was so gosh darn good looking and oh boy he was single now too! A whole lot of good that did me on the other side of the country! Fortunately, however, I had my annual trip home for Christmas and New Years coming up and our mutual roommate started making all these jokes about how he would try to get us together. I brushed him off because I figured I would never be so lucky.

Suddenly it seemed as if I would get my chance. The guys were having a New Years party and I was invited! I showed up and nearly passed out when I saw M. I hadn’t seen him in person in at least a year and he looked so handsome, and was wearing a bowtie no less. The party was fun and I flirted to the best of my socially awkward ability (thanks, liquid courage) and finally, while we were alone upstairs for a minute, I pulled the boldest move of my life and kissed him.

He kissed me back.

And that’s the story of how I met, stalked, and fell in love with my husband-to-be.

Thank goodness I was tired of living in California. I moved home 6 months later. We were engaged on February 3rd, 2009 and I can't wait to share everything about our wedding with you! (OMG. THIS SATURDAY!!!)

Greetings!

Apparently, I am "tardy for the party", as one of my favorite "housewives" (Kim from the RH of Atlanta) might say, so here goes!

I'm the fourth, and tardy, wife Meghan. I was born and raised in Chicago (Chi-Town, represent!) and I was just recently married this past July to a handsomely quirky man, Michael. Meet Mikey:

Our "how we met" story is super long, and may or may not involve Snoop Dogg jokes, getting stranded in the rain, and a very intoxicated friend (Umm, hi, Christy) telling us we should date. But the long and short of it is this: we met at a wedding!!! We both stood up in a friend's wedding. It took several jokes and my vast musical knowledge to impress this cool cat, but it worked, and he asked me out. He made me dinner at his apartment on our first date, where I totally thought that he might be a serial killer and had a "back-up plan" in case he was (umm, hi again, Christy) - but don't let the beard deceive you. He's perfectly harmless:)

After 9 months of dating, we moved in together. Mike was my first super-serious relationship AND my first real roommate after college. I honestly never pictured myself "moving out" by "moving in" with my boyfriend - AND moving from the Chicago suburbs to the city itself. I definitely shocked myself, my parents AND my friends - but it all worked out in the end. We lived together for over three years before Mike proposed, and we were engaged for a year and a half before we were married.

Our wedding was off the chain, as my students say. It was big and bold, and I loved every second of it. We definitely prided ourselves on having a very "us" wedding. It was full of wonderfully quirky moments. For instance, you're probably wondering why I am posting a picture of our backs.

Well, it's because at this very instant, I am mouthing to my friends that MIKE FORGOT TO TURN OFF HIS BLACKBERRY DURING OUR WEDDING. He realized this about halfway through our mass. I was horrified at the time (and luckily no one called), but now I can look back on it and laugh. A little.

Or here. Only Mikey would say something incredibly inappropriate when the photographer tells you to "whisper sweet nothings" into your wife's ear.

Sigh. I love this man.

And I love YOU for following along with The Wife Diaries. Cheers to Krysten for this amazing idea, and the Laurens for joining the fun! I am really excited and honored to be a part of this new adventure, and I hope you'll find it to be helpful, humorous and heartfelt. And full of weird, quirky moments:)

Hiya!

Okay okay, I have been meaning to do an entry for awhile but between my crazy weekend and then getting sick I put it off.

But here I am! When I first came up with this idea I was uber excited about it. Plus a little proud of myself, hehe. I'm super excited to not only talk about all things marriage with some wonderful ladies but also to hopefully help out some readers too!

A little about my husband, Dustin, and me.

This is something that I don't normally say. Dustin was supposed to be a rebound guy. And I'm pretty sure I was supposed to be a rebound for him. We met in 2004 and I was trying everything I could to get over my ex. And Dustin and his current girlfriend were breaking up. We were friends. And more than that. Sometimes I found myself in his bed. I'm not entirely proud of admitting that.

What I will say is that although I was confused about a lot of things that year, one thing was certain: I did really like Dustin. Sometimes he drove me nuts but he also made me laugh, he listened to me and he was a friend.

What started as something that could have been a mistake for me ended up being the best mistake I ever made. Dustin and I have been together since 2005 - about four and a half years. And we've been married for about a year and a half.

Throughout all of our ups and down he has been the constant rock that has kept me going. And I'm so lucky to have that!

Anyone who knows Dustin and me knows that he is the laid back goofball that everyone knows and everyone likes. I am the more serious, emotional one that can either be your best friend or your worst enemy. Dustin brings out the silly side in me and I try my best to bring out Dustin's serious side - but it's sort of small.

ANYWAY! That is us! A little intro about the hubs and me and our little life together.

hello.

Hi.

My name is Lauren (H.).  I'm definitely not a marriage pro, but I'm excited to get some dialogue going on marriage over here and I'm so glad that Krysten decided to start this blog.  Such a good idea.  She's a genius, no?

So, before I get into anything, I thought I'd give you a brief run-down of my relationship with my husband Craig....how we got together, etc., etc....

We met in the 4th grade.  Didn't like each other.  At all.  Through forced time spent together with our families on snowboarding trips we started dating my senior year of high school.  We dated for five years and then got engaged.  Got married in December of 2006, so we just celebrated our 2 year anniversary.  If you've been doing the math on this that's about eight years that we've been together.

I'll also tell  you something that is very important to know in order for you to understand where I'm coming from when I talk about some of my early marriage experiences.....

Craig and I were virgins when we got married.  This is something I'm proud of.  Not something I'm pious about, and not something I generally broadcast to the masses, but since this blog is about marriage I thought it was appropriate.  We never lived together before getting married either.  It's just a choice we made and I'm glad we made it, but I will say it definitely made it very interesting (to say the least) when we finally did get married and lived together for the first time.  And let's just say that sex definitely brought in a whole new dynamic as well.

I experienced a lot of surprises when we first got married.  Living with someone 24/7 is apparently a whole new ball game....even if you've known them for six years.
As I thought about all of the ups and downs we experienced during the first year of marriage, I was curious to know:


*What were some of the "surprises" you encountered when you first got married?


*If you're not married are there any "surprises" you're worried about?


*Any questions you have about marriage, or any topics you think we should cover?


SO....this is just my little introduction, but I wanted to get the "blog rolling" so to speak.  Hope you guys join in on the marriage discussion!

xo

{Lauren}

Making myself at home!

Hello ladies and any gentlemen that may have accidentally found themselves on a blog called The Wife Diaries! I'm Lauren T (aka: Salt) and this is my inaugural post.

First of all I feel like I should let you in on a little secret. For the time being, I'm somewhat of an impostor over here. Why? Because I'm technically not a wife yet.

Please don't shun me...we just met and I thought this was going so well.

In my defense though, I will be a wife like really soon. My hubs-to-be, Mike, and I are having a destination wedding in Turks & Caicos a mere 2 WEEKS from tomorrow! Can you believe it? If you can, please explain it to me because I sure can't. We've been engaged for a little over a year and it's been every bit as magical and full of sparkly hearts and stars as I could have ever imagined. This is probably because we have a coordinator largely planning the wedding for us. I seriously don't know how brides that plan their own weddings do it. It looks really hard and I may or may not be just a tad lazy.

One thing is certain though: I am very much looking forward to my "wife" title and I could not have found a more wonderful man to call "husband". I'm excited to share some stories from the end of my engagement here, as well as some pictures and fun stuff from our wedding, and then settling into my life as a very newly newlywed.

People keep telling me that married life is sooooo different. I can't wait to find out for myself!