THE STORY

Before diving into my wedding planning extravaganza, since that is essentially my inspiration for writing in the first place, I wanted to tell the story of how Jimmy and I met.  I think it’s fun to hear all about the projects and process, but to bring the people to life is just as important.

In 2002 I moved to the North Shore of Lake Tahoe during the last semester of my senior year in college.  I attended California State University, Chico so being there was about 3 ½ hours from all my friends in Chico and 6 hours from my hometown of Ashland, OR.  I had to complete an internship and figured Tahoe was the perfect place to do so…if you’ve ever been there, this is a no-brainer.  About a year after I settled in, I met Jimmy.  I had started bartending and doing internal PR at the Lake Tahoe Brewing Company and absolutely loved it.  I was 23 years old and spent my days skiing or laying out depending on the season and had surrounded myself with an incredible group of friends.  It was heaven. 

I had been given the Sunday night bar shift, which in November was usually very mellow with the local crowd dazily coming in and out– and after a Saturday night, it was a perfect way to end my weekend.  Around 9PM my girlfriend Sam showed up with about 6 guys in tow, one of which was Jimmy.  He was tall, blonde, outgoing (very cute) and instantly told me to turn off my favorite Dave Mathews CD because “my head is going to explode…his music is terrible!!”   I was taken by him.  Totally and completely, but no one tells me what to play in my bar so instead, I turned up the volume and handed him a beer.   Not even a week later Jimmy started working as one of the head line cooks and a very flirty friendship began.  

We spent that winter skiing and snowboarding, working and partying, and when summer came we enjoyed a few weeks of beautiful Lake Tahoe weather before going separate ways – me to New York City, Jimmy back home to Louisville, Kentucky. We stayed in touch by phone calls, texts and emails; even meeting up a few times back at the Lake when we happened to be there at the same time.  We remained good friends and while there was no denying the attraction between us, the many miles between NYC and Kentucky posed a bit of a problem.  

In May of 2006, myself along with four other Tahoe friends decided to visit Jimmy for the Oaks and Kentucky Derby weekend.  I almost missed my flight after staying out way too late the night before and being so delirious, I went to the wrong airport (genius).  But low and behold, I landed in Louisville as scheduled and there he was.  Just as I had remembered: fun, loud, handsome…his thick southern drawl made my heart skip beats.

That weekend proved to be the beginning of a lifetime.  We both realized that the spark from three years prior had developed into a whole lot more.  My crush had turned into the love of my life and over a year later, after many visits and vacations, Jimmy moved to Denver where I had since relocated.  And on December 30th, 2009, I said yes!