how i met my fella

It was nearing the end of fall and you know how that goes, you start getting a little bored with the increasingly chilly weather and you wonder what you're going to do all winter long. I had spent the summer with my girlfriends, going out in the city on the nights Rylan was with his dad. But pick up lines probably work better when you start with "hey baby" and not "I have a baby." (Disclaimer: "Hey baby" isn't really okay either.)

I honestly worried a lot about ever finding someone. I worried about the right time to start dating. I worried about how to balance being a mom and being a girlfriend if I did find someone. Mostly, I worried about Rylan and how dating would effect him.

I had a weirdly personal conversation with a former single mom that worked in the J Crew dressing room (this happens to me all the time!)  who met her now husband on eHarmony. She was a year or two older than me and super friendly and outgoing. She told me to go home and do it, it was the best thing ever. But I just didn't have the gumption yet.

So one night after a few glasses of red wine I started thinking about that girl, her advice and putting myself back out there. I mentioned it to my friends, who were also drinking wine, and they encouraged me to join eHarmony too. A few clicks and a lot of money later, I was reviewing my matches.

When I woke up the next morning (read: sobered up), I called and tried to cancel but the kind folks in customer service convinced me to stay a few more weeks. But after a couple days I was feeling even more overwhelmed. I had one night a week without Rylan and I refused to leave him with a sitter to accommodate my dating life so it didn't leave me much time to go out. All I can remember thinking is, I don't want to do this. I don't have the energy to date a bunch of guys. Ugh.

After my first "phone date", it got worse. I was all kinds of trauma-tized. "Mike" talked non-stop about himself and mentioned the female uterus several times. I actually took notes during the call to share with my friends, poured a (strong) drink, and convinced myself I was being punk'd.

The same week, I was matched with my baby daddy. End scene.

After that I had all but written eHarmony off. I decided this wasn't really going to happen this go around and I should think about taking it easy and trying again in a year or two.

So I was looking through my matches, hope extinguished, when I opened a communication and looked at this guy's profile. A volunteer firefighter with two labs, we seemed to have a ton in common.We started talking and I grew to be more and more excited each time I opened my email to see something from him there.

We continued for almost a month before he asked me out. And while that may seem extreme, I was all kinds of okay with it since I had more than a rocky start with online dating. A new outfit, a shot of bourbon and a covert Google search to make sure he wasn't a convicted felon later, we met halfway between our places after work one Wednesday night.

The first thing I saw when I walked in was cowboy boots. Lord knows I'm a sucker for some boots.

As it turns out, it was Ian wearing them :)

          

crap, I think I'm supposed to be planning a wedding

This is HOW MUCH? Is it too late to elope? Does everyone say that at some point during their engagement?

Ian and I knew pretty much as soon as we started dating that we were each other's biggest fans. We made it officially forever last summer and our wedding is in June, about 10 months after the proposal. I've been back and forth a lot thinking about a wedding - from a big day with everyone there to eloping and keeping it to the most important people in our lives. I swore up and down that I wanted it super small and so we compromised in the beginning and aimed for a 50 person guest list. But once we started writing just family down it became clear that we were going to have to cut some to make that number and everyone wasn't thrilled about that... understandably. So we had a choice - either really elope with the two of us or have a bigger wedding than 50 people.

And so here we are, 120 invited guests and a really expensive dress later :) Oops, I'm that bride. The one that got caught up in all the pretty and has to stop herself before ordering $1,200 in table runners.

(They are amazing, can you blame me?)

The last couple of months I've kind of slacked off. And not because I'm not excited because I AM. I cannot wait to marry Ian! But it seems funny to be doing all this when we already feel married. We live together, we parent together, we're a family together. We want to buy a bigger house to grow into together (and please Lord let it shorten our commutes) but we're spending all this money on one day when it could be a down payment on that house. It almost feels like we're going backwards a bit, just to get that fairytale moment...

But hey, if you're going to do it, make it real nice y'all! Somehow we're only four months away and I couldn't feel more behind. I still need shoes, a veil, programs, ceremony decor, escort cards, favors, out of town guest bags and flowers. Yup, no florist yet, which seems semi-important. Y-i-k-e-s.

Here is a sneak peek at the things that have that have inspired the details so far... even if I haven't actually finished them yet ;)

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first comes baby, then comes marriage! wait...

I'm Megan. A twenty-six year old from Southeastern Virginia who misses home a heck of a lot.

The thing is, I did life a little out of order. When I was twenty-three I discovered I was pregnant with my boyfriend at the time and at twenty-four I became a single mama to a perfectly handsome little fella. I moved away from the city where I had spent my few post college years and settled into a house in the 'burbs.

Meet Rylan.

He is the best thing I've ever done. I ask him for about 100 kisses a day and he'll give me about 50 of those. Not too bad, right?

Meet Ian.

I'm gonna marry this one in June of 2014 and it couldn't come fast enough. I ask him for 100 kisses a day and he gives me 200. A genuinely sweet heart with the same sarcastic sense of humor. I met him when Rylan was a year old and there isn't an ounce of doubt that this was always supposed to be my family.

We live in Northern Virginia but we love to share a drink and talk about moving back home. It worked out that Ian is from Southeastern Virginia too :) One day... but for now we're happy that we're all here together.

We have two labs that Ian rescued before we met. A special needs black lab named Finnegan and a huge snuggler, Riley Joe. I've never met a guy quite like Riley - his favorite pass time is spooning. Like legitimately forces you to love him and if you're not doing it enough he's going to let you know.

Ian and I both work for the government which is totally exciting, right? Nope, nope it's not. But we like to think that's where the boring ends. I love finding the perfect sparkly statement necklace, constantly changing our decorative pillows and the cinnamon rolls from Cici's pizza buffet. Wait, what?

Welcome to this ol' blog and feel free to join in. We even throw a little dance party now and again.