Hotel Indigo is probably the most amazing hotel I’ve ever stayed in. It was literally a 5-minute (or less) walk to everything downtown (so we rarely drove over the weekend), and the room was beautiful with the most amazing view of the mountains.

Not only that, but the staff was very welcoming, and after tweeting pictures of breakfast from the hotel restaurant (@PhiBarAsheville), the man who tweets for them came to our table to introduce himself AND we’ll be getting a twitter discount–see, twitter is good for something!–during our next stay at Hotel Indigo (@AVLindigo151). (Believe me, there will be more trips!)

The food in Asheville has always been my favorite part, and this time it was no different. We ate at Early Girl Eatery, Laughing Seed Cafe (twice!), Tupelo Honey Cafe, Bistro 1896, and My Father’s Pizza (on Black Mountain). We ate a delicious and filling breakfast every morning at our hotel–I had a bagel with cream cheese, a HUGE fruit & yogurt parfait topped with granola, and a large cup of organic chai while Husband enjoyed a scone with his parfait and water.

Friday evening, while we were waiting for dinner at Tupelo Honey Cafe, there was a drum circle going on in the park right next door. We were able to enjoy some (free!) entertainment while we waited fifty minutes on our table (we wanted to sit outside, so we opted to wait as long as that took), but it literally felt like ten minutes. Earlier in the day, we went to Laughing Seed Cafe for lunch. It’s an award-winning vegetarian restaurant, and I admit, I was a little nervous to try a vegetarian dish–I didn’t know what to expect!.  tried their Tico Burrito (It had tico tofu, sour cream, avocado, cheese, and I can’t remember what else), and it was probably the most amazing thing I’ve ever eaten. It was so full of flavor! Along with my burrito, I had a blue corn chips and a salad with creamy ranch dressing. I drank an herbal tea called Berry Bliss that was sweetened with honey. We even liked it so much that we went back the next day for dinner (I had whole grain risotto with grilled tempeh–amazing!).

Saturday evening, we walked by the same park that had the drum circle the night before, and a jam band was playing. I just love how everyone gathers together to enjoy music and creativity. People were dancing around and smiling–it was lovely. I tried to get a video, but I wasn’t close enough, so it didn’t turn out too well. Ah, maybe next time!

Sunday morning, we had to leave, but we didn’t want to end our trip too quickly, so we made our way to Black Mountain. It’s maybe a fifteen minute drive from downtown, and we absolutely love the small-town feel of it. We got there before anything opened, so we walked around some and enjoyed the quiet. I ended up buying a few gifts for my family there, and we also ate at My Father’s Pizza. Honestly, they have the best pizza I’ve ever had. Eventually, we made our way home (we live less than three hours from Asheville), but I’m already hoping to go back next year, if not sooner.

This trip was the perfect way to celebrate our 2-year anniversary and begin our third year of marriage. I couldn’t ask for a better place to be. I absolutely love that Asheville is a big city, but it’s a relaxing, laid-back city. I’m already looking forward to our next trip back.

June 17 – Happy 2-year Anniversary! from Megan Hill on Vimeo.

Two years ago, Husband and I woke up the morning after our wedding and made the 3-hour drive to Asheville, where we stayed in a cute bed & breakfast. While not necessarily perfect for a honeymoon (it being very close quarters and all), it was still perfect. The breakfast was absolutely amazing. The room was stunning (with a clawfoot tub and exceptionally comfortable bed)! The owners were friendly and welcoming. It was a wonderful experience.

Last year, we stayed home for our first wedding anniversary. We were just moving into our own house, and we were planning on going back to school, so we didn’t really have time to plan a vacation. This year, though, we were ready to go back to Asheville. It is probably one of our favorite cities–one we’d actually consider moving to one day. This year, we’ve decided to stay in a hotel–Hotel Indigo. It’s atcually a fairly new hotel, maybe around a year old, and it’s in the heart of downtown, so we’ll be able to park the car and walk everywhere we need to go. It’s perfect for us, since most everything we enjoy is downtown, especially the restaurants!

Our favorite part of Asheville is the cuisine. One of our favorite restaurants while we were there was Bistro 1896. We were able to eat outside, and it was beautiful. We’re definitely planning on eating there again. We have a list of a few restaurants that we plant to re-visit, but we’re also looking forward to trying new things now that we know our way around a little better.

After our trip, be prepared for photos and recaps. I’m just so excited to be in a place that feels like a home away from home!

Is there a city that feels like a second home to you?

What are your middle names?
Leigh & Tyler.

How long have you been together?
Such a hard question to answer. We’ve been dating since January 13, 2007. We’ve been engaged since November 6, 2007. We’ve been married since June 17, 2008. However, we were emotionally “together” long before we started dating.

How long did you know each other before you started dating?
Before we officially started dating, we had known each other for two years.

Who asked whom out?
He asked me if I was his girlfriend, so I guess he asked me out in a way.

How old are each of you?
I’m twenty (twenty-one in less than two weeks!), and he is twenty-two (twenty-three in a little over a month).

Whose siblings do you see the most?
Hmm. Maybe his? He has a younger brother that lives less than one minute from our house. My siblings (a younger sister and younger brother) live about 15-20 minutes from us.

Which situation is the hardest on you as a couple?
Probably balancing out our schedules.

Did you go to the same school?
We went to the same high school, though he graduated shortly after we met. 

Are you from the same home town?
I’m actually from Florida (though I moved to Tennessee in 2001); he’s lived in the same town his entire life.

Who is smarter?
He is so much smarter about random things. I’m pretty much only “book smart.”

Who is the most sensitive?
That would be me.

Where do you eat out most as a couple?
It just really depends. We don’t have one specific restaurant we eat at all the time.

Where is the furthest you two have traveled together as a couple?
Florida to visit my family (about nine hours away).

Who has the craziest exes?
Luckily, we don’t deal with exes. We both have them, but they’re not people we have to come across often. Thankfully. (We each only have one significant ex, and we haven’t talked to them in years.)

Who has the worst temper?
Probably him … I usually don’t get angry very easily, though I’ll cry at the drop of a hat.

Who does the cooking?
We both do. When we lived together before getting married, he cooked most often. Now, we both share the task.

Who is the neat-freak?
Honestly, neither. We have our moments of neat-ness, but we can be pretty messy. I think I’m more organized in my head than he is. (I even keep a mental schedule of what HE has to have done!)

Who is more stubborn?
Husband. Boy, is he stubborn! 

Who hogs the bed?
I like to think we share it equally.

Who wakes up earlier?
Me. I wake up around 5-5:30am (for work), while he wakes up hours later sometimes.

Where was your first date?
Oh, geez. What would I consider our first date? I mean, we went out with some friends a year or two before we started dating, and he paid for me. Our relationship has always been so backwards. For instance, we knew we’d get married BEFORE we even started dating. I think we meant so much to each other that we wanted to wait until we KNEW it would last.

Who is more jealous?
We’re both jealous people, I think, but I’d show it more. Luckily, we don’t have anything to be jealous about right now.

How long did it take to get serious?
A day? Like I said, we told each other “I love you” before  we started dating. I think it was serious the day we met, though we didn’t realize it right away.

Who eats more?
Husband.

Who does the laundry?
I usually do, but he helps out if I need him to.

Who’s better with the computer?
I know my fair share about how a computer operates, but he knows more of the WHY it operates.

Who drives when you are together?
It depends on which car we drive. Even then, we take turns. 

*I saw this over at Amber’s and Rachel’s.

There, I said it. Honestly, I’m not even sure why I’m stressed. I guess it could be the fact that my hours at work are flip-flopping each week. Or the fact that I feel like I have little time to relax. Or the fact that I procrastinate, letting all of my school assignments pile up until the day before they’re due. (I still hold firm that I work best under pressure.) Or the fact that I made a C on my first English paper. (Okay, maybe I don’t work best under pressure.)

Both nights of Tuesday and Wednesday were my breaking point(s). I arrived home after work (I’m on the 3pm-11pm shift this week), and Husband was busy doing homework. He’s a procrastinator, too, I know this. It irked me, though, that he wasn’t waiting for me when I got home. I just felt a little bummed out because I really haven’t seen much of him all week, and I wanted to spend some time with him, cuddled on the couch while watching Gilmore Girls. I’ve almost felt like roommates rather than Husband and wife.

Needless to say, I was mad at him for mostly stupid reasons … but with both of us stressed out of our minds (a recent death on his side of the family plus school and work), we tend to take it out on each other. Last night, we sat up until nearly 5am, talking. It was mostly back and forth, but in the end, I think it made us both feel slightly better to vent.

For the most part, I don’t discuss negative moments in our relationship, but sometimes, I think it’s necessary. We all have those moments. It doesn’t make us love each other any less; what proves that is the fact that we stick through it, and after it’s all said in done, we cuddle in bed together for the night, holding each other’s hand.

Reasons I love Husband (Well, some of the reasons … in no particular order):

-Yesterday evening, I hugged him, and he held my hair between his nose and hand while saying, “You smell so good.”
-Also yesterday, he said, “I have a lot of like in me for you.” Awww.
-He goes with me to see movies he doesn’t necessarily want to see. (The Ugly Truth, for example. However, he did end up liking it!)
-He puts up with me when I cry over nothing. (This happens often.)
-He kisses my forehead when he thinks I’m sleeping.
-He can be sweet and mushy. (Don’t tell him I told you.)
-He listens to me talk about blogging and twitter.
-He watches Gilmore Girls with me (we’re halfway done with season one now), and he LIKES it. (He might not want me to admit that either.)
-He’s letting me get a kitten! (Yes, we’re getting him on Friday. I’m excited. It’s a little boy, and I’m still thinking of a unique name. Suggestions?)
-He tells me I’m pretty on days that I feel ugly (without him even knowing I feel that way).
-Even when he isn’t tired, he lays down next to me when I want to go to bed at 9pm.

(To be continued, I’m sure.)

If you could have any wish or any experience, Patch Adams style, what would it be?

To live a happy, fulfilled life … and bring that happiness to at least one person throughout my life.

How did you and your husband meet and get together?

I have a love/hate relationship with this question. I love being asked it, but the story can be long and confusing. So, sit back and relax.

The summer before my sophomore year of highschool (living in TN), my granny was diagnosed with lung cancer. In an attempt to cheer her up (and make her feel better), Dad decided to move us back to Florida to be near her. (I had a boyfriend back in TN and we continued to date the entire time I was in Florida.) During my time there, I started a xanga account to keep my friends updated. (It was mostly filled with angry posts about how much I hated being there and how upset I was that my best friend [Granny] was dying in front of me. Unfortunately, I’ve since deleted that xanga [dang it!], so I’m unable to show you posts.)

Granny passed away in August, but my family still wanted to attempt starting a life back in Florida. I started school (my sophomore year), and it was one of the hardest times in my life (thus far). By the beginning of the new year, though, my parents had decided that they missed Tennessee too much, so they told us we’d be moving back. I was beyond thrilled, and I wrote in my Xanga about it. Later, I received a comment from a boy that I didn’t know (under the name Jimi Higgenbottom). He told me that he was glad that I’d be moving back and that he was glad I was finally happy. (Apparently, he had been reading for a while, though I had NO IDEA who he was. I actually assumed he was some boy that maybe went to the Univ. of TN who had just happened upon my little blog.) It was odd that someone I didn’t know actually cared that I would be happy again.

Fast forward to February (still my sophomore year); my family moved back to Tennessee. It was surreal. The first night, I went to a “welcome home” party, but I realized how much things had changed. I thought my friends had changed, but it wasn’t them. It was me; I had grown up. I felt awkward.

I started school a day or two after (details are fuzzy) at the same high school I had gone to for my freshman year. The counselor let me choose my classes, so I picked each class based on the classes my friends had. By the time sixth period had rolled around, I had so many people coming up to me saying, “Hey, you’re that girl that moved to Florida and came back. Blue eyes.” (My name on xanga was bluexeyes88–haha!) Apparently, a lot of people had been reading. (It was odd.) I had several friends in my sixth period, including my sister.

I don’t remember if it happened the first day or a few days later. (Like I said, details are fuzzy now.) There was a curly-haired boy with a scar on his nose. I thought he was cute (but I still had a boyfriend), so I flirted mildly. Or tried to, at least. I remember asking him for a piece of gum. I remember it being Orbit’s bubble mint gum. Someone said his name (Josh [lastname]), and it hit me. (His real name had been on his xanga profile.) Jimi Higgenbottom. The boy who was so glad I was happy. I immediately said, “Jimi Higgenbottom” out loud. He smiled and nodded, almost an I wondered how long it would take you. I loved him right then, I won’t lie.

He was a senior, so he soon graduated. I broke up with my boyfriend. I was ready to move forward, and I wanted to move forward with this new boy. He felt the same way, but he was wishy-washy. One second, he would like me; the next second, I wouldn’t hear from him for weeks. We hung out that summer (always with other people), and then I started my junior year. I rarely heard from him except on xanga or AIM. On Valentine’s Day, he text me telling me he loved me. I thought we’d be forever then. Of course, he’d disappear again.

I was ready to move on. Well, not ready, but I was forcing myself to be. I tried dating, but it didnt work out. Every time there’d be a new boy, Josh would come back around, and I’d be smitten again. Once he had me, he’d disappear again. He called me once while he was drunk and told me he loved me. I just laughed. He asked if I’d still marry him someday. I said, “sure, Josh.”

I tried dating someone else. (He was no good for me.) Josh hated him, and every time I realized things wouldn’t work out with this someone else, I’d turn to Josh. I remember going to his house one day, after that someone else said he just wanted to be friends. I laid on Josh’s bed while he sat in a chair and played guitar. My eyes were closed for the longest time, but when I opened them, he was looking at me. I decided in that moment that I’d wait for him. (I knew he had a hard time trusting people, for reasons that I won’t be talking about on this blog.)

Fast forward to my senior year, second semester. Josh and I had spent a lot of time together in previous months, but he had disappeared again (shortly). One day, he text me asking if I was his girlfriend. From there on out, I was. Then I was his fiance. Now, his wife. The wait was difficult for me, but it was so worth it in the end. What made him realize he wanted to be with me? “It killed me to think of you with anyone else.”

And it all started because of a blog.

(I actually wrote about how we met here and here. I felt like going into more detail on this one, though. To read random posts from old diaries about Husband and I when we dated/before we dated, go here.)

Last year, on the night before our wedding, we were just so stressed about everything. We ended up deciding to take a drive to Walmart, and we bought chicken salad croissants, chips, and sweet tea. We sat in Husband’s car while eating our meal, and we just relaxed. He then had to rush me to my parent’s house before midnight (so that he wouldn’t see me on our wedding day until the wedding).

Last night, Husband had to go to the church we got married in to help with the recreation part of Vacation Bible School. He was gone for a few hours, so I decided to do something sweet. (Plus, I knew he’d be hungry when he got home.) I got in the car and drove thirty minutes to the nearest Walmart to get chicken salad croissants. I rushed inside, only to find that they were OUT of the pre-made sandwiches. Bummed, I asked the lady working in the deli if they had more. They didn’t, but she reminded me that I could just get croissants and pre-made chicken salad and make the sandwich myself. (Duh, why didn’t I think of that?) So, that’s what I did. Before checking out, I grabbed a couple sweet teas, and I made my way home. (We already had the chips sitting in our pantry.)

Husband didn’t get home until after 9:30 last night, but when he did, I asked if he remembered what we did exactly a year ago. After some thought, he remembered, and I showed him my surprise. We sat together, talking about our day. We’ve been just as stressed lately as we were around this time last year, so it was nice to sit back and relax.

Before I officially met Husband in person (we met online, though we went to the same school–I didn’t know that part, though, until much later), I knew he was special. Before we became best friends, I knew I loved him. Before we started dating, we both knew we’d get married someday. Here we are now, a year into our marriage, ready for many years to come. (I wish I could post the full-size images of our wedding photos, but the files are huge, so these grainy versions will have to do.)

(Ahem, I was wearing 4-inch heels, so I’m really not that tall.)

This blog isn’t a place where I discuss my marriage often. Of course, you all know I’m married, as I mention it in passing. I talk about Husband (aka Josh) here and there, but with very little detail, which is mostly to respect his privacy. Though I don’t write of it often, I adore being married. Yes, it has been less than a year, but it is a great feeling … Which I’m sure other married women understand.

As most of you already know, I’m only twenty. (Hey, I’ll be twenty-one in a little over six months–the first of December. Who wants to buy me a drink?) Husband is twenty-two (though he’ll be twenty-three on the last day of the year), so obviously, we’re both very young. We have so much left to learn in life; thankfully, we’re able to do the majority of that learning together. Marrying young can be terrifying–you wonder (very rarely) if it was the right thing. Then, of course, you see your husband smile, and you realize that it would be difficult to live without that smile. Even through the disagreements (luckily, ours have been minor) it’s impossible to not love that person. Sure, sometimes you may not like them so much, but that love is always there.

Husband and I are at a place in our marriage that is comfortable. I believe a lot of that has to do with us living together an entire year before our marriage. Before moving in together, we dated for only about eight months, and I was still slightly nervous around him. Before we started dating, we were almost secret best friends–we rarely spent time together alone, and sometimes we’d go weeks or months without speaking, but we knew we loved each other. It was an odd relationship, and it’s hard to explain unless you were there to see it. We even had a secret online journal in which we wrote letters to each other (even before we became best friends). (If you’d like, I may go through and find a few for you to see. Even now, when I go through and read it, I can see a love blooming–though some of the letters are heartbreaking.)

Now, there are no secrets–that mystery has gone–but there is that comfort. We know each other. We know the faults–and between the both of us, we probably have many. There are things about him that drive me crazy (not in a good way), and I’m sure it’s mutual. However, we love each other despite the faults. We love each other because of the faults. He tends to tell me that, where he is weak, I am strong (and vice versa), so we each fill in the cracks creating a whole piece.

Husband and I are completely opposite people. Where he is free-spirited, I am more grounded. I tend to be more conservative in my nature (though I agree more liberally in my political views), and he is more “go with the flow.” Husband is definitely “street smart” and he knows so many facts about everything that exists; I am more “by the book,” I suppose. Husband thinks outside the box; it’s harder for me to do so, though I try. It all balances out.

In a few weeks, we’ll have been married for a year. When you think about it, a year is so small when compared to what we’re going on–fifty, sixty, maybe even seventy years or more. It’s a step, though. It’s a step toward something greater–a friendship that is stronger than any before; a marriage that is long-lasting; a love that cannot be defined by the books.

But it’ll take years. Building blocks. One year at a time. Luckily, though, we are able to do it together.

At first, I wanted to go out tonight, but after much consideration, I asked Josh if we could just stay home. He happily obliged, and we plan to hook up the super nintendo as well as watch movies later while eating popcorn and drinking coke–something we did on our first Valentine’s Day together as well as what we did many times while we had our apartment. This is our first Valentine’s being married, and I’d much rather spend it alone with my husband rather than in a crowded restaurant or movie theater. Plus, we’ll spend close to no money. And our gifts to each other? Just being together.

In other news, I know it has been a couple weeks since my last post. I am about to start my fourth week at work, and I’m absolutely loving it. Everyone at the office is very laid back, and I’m able to wear jeans and a t-shirt if I want. It feels great to have weekends off, and once this eight-week position is up, I’m hoping I can transfer to another office because this job has been such a positive change in my life. I enjoy my co-workers, and I actually wake up looking forward to work rather than thinking up excuses for why I should just stay in bed. It’s a nice change.

Anyway, I hope everyone has a happy Valentine’s Day–whether you’re single or not, remember this: it’s a day to appreciate ALL of your relationships, not just romantic ones.