{Why Girl Friends Are Amazing}

At this point, I am suddenly addicted to writing for this blog. I am constantly thinking of different things I can write about and writing down different ideas. But the idea that kept coming up in my head was just why girl friends are amazing, because of my post of {Why Husbands Are Amazing}. And no, I don't mean girlfriends, but girl friends. I don't spend tons of time thinking of the different reasons I post about for each of these, but instead just write the first things that come to my mind. 

1. Sleepovers with girl friends aren't ever boring. They're full of laughter, eating the best food, girly gossip, serious life talks, and chick flicks.

2. Girl friends will tell you if that dress doesn't look perfect on you.

3. Girl friends are fun to take pictures with.

4. Wedding are 100 times more fun when you're with the girls.

5. Mani-pedi dates aren't as fun with a man.

6. Girl friends constantly let you know how much they "loooooove you" and how you are "soooo gorg".

7. Girls are usually more fun to dance with. Sorry boys.

8. Girl friends give you cute, meaningful "Happy Birthday" shout outs.

9. You can share clothes, shoes and accessories with girl friends.

10. And on that note, girl friends usually always let you know about the great sales they find.

11. Girl friends will do your hair and make up for fun.

12. Girls Night Out is practically the best thing anyone has ever come up with.

13. If you post an even remotely sad update or tweet, you'll get a text in approximately 3 minutes from a girl friend asking what's wrong.

14. Girl friends make the best lunch dates.

15. Even though you sometimes go through rough patches and arguments, you know your girl friends will always be there for you.

Now I had a point in my life where for about a year I rarely did anything with the girls. I hung out mostly with guys at that time, and don't get me wrong, guy friends are fun too and I had a blast with them, but every girl desperately needs that girl time. Looking back, I wish more than anything that the thing keeping me away from hanging out with my girls didn't keep me away. Never allow any guy to take over that much of your life that you don't get your time with the girls. It won't ever be worth it. But now, I feel closer to them than ever and can't wait to see where life takes all of us!

{May 2011}

{Why Husbands Are Amazing}

It is currently 1 in the morning on a Saturday night, and Mike and I are right on the weekly schedule. Every Saturday around this time, Mike logs onto Xbox Live to play Call of Duty: Ghosts with his sister Nichelle and brother-in-law Andrew, and I play around on my phone or laptop and usually eat, then fall asleep on the couch until he is done. About a half hour ago, however, Mike was asleep on the couch and I was actually sad because I felt that the night had ended early. So, I turned COD on, woke my husband up, and handed him the controller.

Now, I know most of you girls probably think I'm nuts at this point, but I actually really like our late night Saturday routine. Instead of having an agenda, going to bed or working, I like just sitting here and paying attention to my husband as he is doing something he loves to do. Mike honestly doesn't even play that often, mostly just these Saturday nights. But since we have gotten married, this is what almost every Saturday at one in the morning has consisted of, and I honestly do LOVE IT! 

So, how I got the idea to write this is just because I am sitting right next to and slightly behind my husband whom I love very much and I can't help but to think why husbands (and boyfriends too) are just so amazing.

1. Husbands are strong enough to carry you to bed when you fall asleep on the couch

2. Husbands seem to always be awesome at BBQ-ing

3. Husbands usually always are the ones driving when both of you are in the car together

4. Husbands tell you that you are pretty, even when you're wearing sweats, a big t-shirt, glasses and no make up

5. Husbands make the best gym partners

6. Husbands insist you spend money getting your nails and hair done, just because they know it makes you happy.

7. Husbands will watch 10 of your chick flicks before you watch one of their action films, just because they love you.

8. Husbands always let you pick off their plate

9. Husbands know the little things that you love, like stuffed giraffes or fruit cocktail..

10. Husbands don't mind that you have a huge bowl of mint chocolate chip ice cream "because you're a emotional girl" (that's always my excuse)

11. Husbands randomly get you flowers and use the cute, cheesy line that we all love that "the flowers aren't as pretty as you though"

12. Husbands always let you order whatever you want when you go out to eat

13. And on that note, it's super impressive when your husband automatically knows how to order your burger when you are in the bathroom. (Medium well, no tomato, pickle or onion, with fries and a side of ranch. He actually impressively did this when we had only been dating like a month).

14. Husbands will take selfies with you, even if they don't want to.

15. Husbands know EXACTLY what to do when you are sad and know that their hugs pretty much make everything instantly better.

I could go on and on and on (believe me) about why husbands are amazing, but I thought that 15 was a good number to end at. Now, I know that some people think these all aren't true. They may not be about your husband, but they are about mine. And I am sure that there are some things about your husband or boyfriend that you love that my husband doesn't do. But this isn't about comparison; it's more to just state some things that I love about my Michael Anthony Gabriella and why I am the luckiest girl in the world to have found him. I hope everyone is happy in the marriage they are in and always remember the reasons why you got married.

{How It All Started}

It seems like everyone these days has a blog, especially younger married girls, like myself. While writing may not be something I am very good at, I do enjoy doing it and thought it may give me a hobby. After all, what girl doesn't like talking about herself and her husband? ;)

When thinking about what I might want my first blog post to be about, I thought, "Why not just make it about how Michael and I first came to be?" So...That's the story I will be telling. 

On January 6, 2013, I started attending the Temple View Singles' Ward after months of not wanting to go. A few weeks earlier I decided to start attending to make some friends and put myself out there more. So, on that Sunday, I was texting my friend Jessica (previously Beaudette, now Sneed) as I showed up to the building and she said she had a spot saved by her for me. I was a little late, so I was waiting outside the chapel for Sacrament to end. Once it ended, I started walking towards the doors to enter, and out walked this super cute guy. I don't think he even glanced my way. Whatever.

I walked in to the chapel and started scanning the room for Jessica. Phew! Finally saw her in the crowd of tons of people that I didn't know. I made my way over and sat right next to her. Of course, being girls, we started whispering, excited to see each other, and she mentioned that a guy was sitting there, but that "it's okay, he can sit on the other side of me." I hear the chapel door open again and I glance back. Ooooohhhh, there's that cute guy who probably didn't even notice me. He started then walking my way, made it to my row, squeezed past some people, and took the seat right next to mine. {Butterflies} So THIS is the guy Jess was talking about. I casually mentioned "Sorry I took your seat" and he said something along the lines of "It's fine" or "don't worry about it", I don't really remember. After that, silence. We didn't speak for the rest of the meeting or all of church. 

{Picture from that day}

A few weeks later, Monday, January 21st to be exact, I attended a Singles' Ward FHE (Family Home Evening) activity. Lo and behold, I notice that cute guy from weeks earlier was there. After the activity was all over, my brother Cody said he was going to In-N-Out with some friends, so I wanted to go with. As we are driving there, this nice Mustang passes us, I mention what a nice car it is, and Cody says, "Oh that's Mike Gabriella. He is probably going to In-N-Out too." 

As we arrive at In-N-Out, I again notice that I don't really know many people there, but I do notice that the cute guy was there. I was definitely interested in getting to know him more, so I took a seat near enough to him that we could chat, but that I didn't look too obviously into him. We chatted hear and there, and I remember him telling me that he went on a mission to Argentina, because all the guys there were sharing mission stories. After a while, I decided to just ask for his name. (I'm not sure why I was always too nervous to ask him). He said his name was Mike Gabriella. OF COURSE the cute guy I've had my eye on drives the sexiest car ever. Of course. That made him seem even more out of my reach. But after all, I was about to send off a missionary in about one month's time from then and I didn't really want to make things complicated by dating other people. Mike did seem kind of into me though. Someone then asked if anyone wanted to go long boarding at the park and I noticed that Mike was kind of waiting on me to give my answer. I waited a minute to answer that I wasn't going and right after, Mike said he wasn't going to go either. At that point, I figured that he was into me too.

Around that time, Mike and I were called to be co-leaders of a small FHE group that would meet together the first Monday of every month. That excited me because I knew I would get to spend more time with him. I still remember what we did on that first FHE. Our group just kind of did get-to-know-you types of games and afterwards, played ping-pong with each other. After a while, people starting leaving and going back inside, but Mike and I stayed outside and just hit the ball back and forth and just talked. It was nice :)

On March 16th, at about 8:15 PM, I was texting Mike. We were just randomly chatting and I asked him what he was doing that night. He said nothing, asked what I was doing, and I said nothing. I then said, "What would you say if I challenged to you bowling?" and he accepted my challenge. He told me that he was going to shower real quick and pick me up at 9. He was going to pick me up instead of offering to just "meet me there"? Sweet! I mentioned to Cody that Mike and I were going to go bowling and he said, "Mike Gabriella? Yeah, he'll probably pay for everything". I thought it was pretty cool that Mike had that reputation!

I still remember what we were both wearing that night. I was wearing a British flag type shirt with tan shorts and my hair half up, and he was wearing a long sleeved white shirt with super hot Rock and Republic jeans. So, he picked me up in his sexy Mustang and we drove over to Brunswick, and he did in fact pay for us both. I even remember texting Alanna Storey, my best friend since 6th grade, that I was "on a date" with him. After one game of bowling, which he absolutely CREAMED me in, he loaded up a game card and we played some games in the arcade. As we headed back to my place, I didn't want the night to end just yet.

       

I told Mike that I had never driven a stick shift in my entire life. So, he drove me over to the church parking lot and switched me seats. I was super nervous, considering his car was super nice and I was scared of wrecking it. But, he said he trusted me. As he went over how to drive the car, he kept his hand on mine on the shift knob. {Butterflies} After I had driven for a while, I still didn't want the night to end. So, we went over to Sonic to get ice cream. (I still remember that I got a root beer float). Then, it was time for the night to sadly come to an end. 

No, we didn't kiss that night, but I'm glad we didn't. I didn't want to rush anything, and I didn't think he did either. Of course I wanted to kiss him, but it was better to take things a little slower. After all, it was only our first date, and I was hoping that there would be more to come.