Where It All Began

5 years ago today I was sitting in a classroom, impatiently waiting for my capstone class to begin. I was taking an executive international business certificate program with a few coworkers, because it was a great opportunity to get more educational exposure (and to be honest, was paid for by my company and would look killer on my resume). But frankly, I wasn't anxious for the final class to end and to receive my completion certificate- I was anxious for him to arrive.

That handsome boy, who had kept my attention way more over the last 3 months than all of the brilliant professors I had been learning from, hadn't arrived yet. And I was slowly working myself up into full panic mode.

The plans my girlfriends and I had meticulously hatched on the car ride over, to to get his number "so we could have a little class reunion meetup at a bar once the program was over", clearly wouldn't work if he wasn't actually *in* class. The stress of it all!

But true to form, he arrived a few minutes late. And for the first time in a semester, took an empty seat next to me.

My face flushed. I flashed a nervous, shy smile. And my pen started to shake slightly in my hand as I took notes.

Then, somehow, it began.

On the graph paper I was taking notes on (and by notes, I mean making a To Do list- vacuum, pack lunch, book hotel for Collin's wedding, figure out NYE trip), I passed him a quick note:

"Julie has a cannoli in her pocket"
(Julie was one of my girlfriends in class, who had smuggled desserts from our pre-class dinner into the auditorium)

He scribbled something back.

Back and forth, the little yellow piece of graph paper went, filling with teases and torts and snippets of personal information.

"Your job may be interesting, but that doesn't mean the person doing it is interesting... I'd have to learn more about you" he wrote.

"So, now you know how to run the world, eh?" I later jabbed back.

The professor, one of the most influential people at the graduate school, glared at us during her lecture as though we were two insolent schoolchildren. But that little yellow piece of graph paper continued to be passed, twisted and turned this way and that to find blank spaces among the increasingly crowded writing.

The final class ended altogether too quickly, with the distribution of completion certificates, and an impromptu group photo.



Our grand plan for a suave phone number exchange became a little muddled, but the handsome boy and I ended up exchanging e-mail addresses before leaving for the evening.

Little did I know that 5 years later, I'd be waking up next to him.

I still have that little yellow piece of graph paper.

xoxo,
Lulu

(PS- I wrote this, no less than 4 of all-time songs that remind me most of him came on my Pandora station. All a part of the greater plan, no?)

Housekeeping!

Good morning to you!

A new month, a fresh start, and the *holidays are here*!!!!

I'll be doing a little bit of housekeeping on the blog over here this weekend, including a clean up of the label categories to make navigation easier to handle. So, apologies if your e-mail subscription or Google Reader starts sending a bunch of random archived posts your way. Just think of it as a fun way to dabble in the archives over here, eh? *wink wink*

Here's hoping you have a fantastic weekend!

xoxo,
Lulu