Thought I might switch it up a bit and share a session of US! Say whatttt. I know it. When we first got to Charlotte, Hawksbill Mountain is the first hike we went on! We revisited it recently and had some pictures taken by the fabulous Lily Boslau. It’s also a great experience to be on the other side of the camera and I highly recommend it to any photog.

And why not share a little bit about my other half while we’re being all personal and what not? My couples share the most special time of their lives with me, so I figured I should share a little too. :)

Well goodness really, I don’t know where to start. I mean I’ve known the guy since I was 15 sooo. I’ll try the short story…Jake’s neighbor he grew up with went to my school and was one of my close friends in high school. She had brought him to a homecoming dance as friends for fun - they were practically brother and sister growing up. So the DJ announces the last song and out of no where Jake appears (who I had known was my friends neighbor but never officially met). He asks me to dance with him, I say yes of course, I mean, ya’ll he had biceps even in high school.

ANYWAYS, nothing transpires until we meet up at the friends house one night to all hang out and watch movies. We kissed on the back porch and the next day he asked me “to go out with him”. Cause that’s just how you asked in high school…eye roll. And just to be clear…we didn’t even know each others last names yet. IT’S FINE, ya’ll this was high school, nothing was that serious.

Except, it lasted almost three years. I say almost because we did in fact break up for two whole years. I know I was young but honestly that was one of the hardest things. Fast forward two years, we found ourselves both back home during a summer in-between college. We realized we were each other’s best friend through and through and even two years apart, while dating other people, didn’t change that.

So then, he moved to Texas (from Maryland where we both lived).

And then, he proposed.

We did the long distance engagement (highly DON’T recommend, terrible idea), got married and the next day got in our car with my uhaul attached and moved me down to Texas on our “Honeymove”. (Also highly don’t recommend that - the moving across the country the day after your wedding part - not the getting married part, that was the best idea I ever had.)

SO that was the very teensy tiny shortest possible snippet of our story because well, this is a blog not a 3 part book series. Since, we moved from Austin, TX to Charlotte, NC and are going on our FOURTH year of marriage which is totally blowing my mind. He’s been making me laugh every day since.

BUT, I did want to give him the chance to chime in, so he’s some questions he answered:

QUESTION: What were you thinking when you asked me to dance at homecoming?

ANSWER: Honestly I had a rather unsuccessful evening. I just thought this was my last chance to say I danced with a pretty girl at homecoming. Little did I know that dance would change my life.

QUESTION: Am I any different than 15 year old Erika?

ANSWER: Yes! More driven, more type A, smarter, bolder, better in every way and always better than the day before.

QUESTION: Who is the better cook? 

ANSWER: You for sure. I'd eat chicken, broccoli and potatoes most days if it were not for you. 

QUESTION: Who is funnier?

ANSWER: Me.

QUESTION: If you were teaching a crash course in "Loving Erika Packett" what are 3 rules/guidelines to live by?

ANSWER: Clean up after yourself, do chores proactively not reactively, don't take her to the movies.

QUESTION: What is one of your favorite memories we've created together?

ANSWER: Living in Austin with you was a dream. It was just so...us.