Life Before Blogging: Bahamas Cruise 2005

Back with another Life Before Blogging post; this one, a recap of the first vacation Andi and I took together -- a four-day cruise to Nassau, Bahamas.

The year was 2005, and Andi and I hadn't even classified ourselves as an couple yet. We obviously liked each other very much, but were co-workers for the same company and trying to keep our feelings on the down-low. What first began as an idea for a group vacation with several co-workers, quickly morphed into plans for Andi and I to go on a four-day cruise together following business meetings in Chicago.

  

I hadn't been on many vacations, let alone traveled outside of the United States before, so Andi took the lead in booking our trip. The plan was to depart Chicago after our work meetings wrapped and "lay over" in Miami on our flights home to Minneapolis and Sioux Falls. (Andi lived in Minnesota at the time, and I lived in South Dakota.) The company we both worked for had a loose travel policy, so no one would have noticed /or even cared that Andi and I both booked long lay-overs in a city logistically opposite of our home states. The Carnival cruise ship would leave Miami, spend one day at sea and one day in Nassau, before finally returning back to port in Miami.  

Unfortunately, the best laid plans often go awry. It was mid-December and a terrible snow storm blew through Chicago on our last night in town. We trudged through the storm to attend a work dinner on the final night, followed by drinks and dancing at a local club. Nightlife was a big part of our company's culture. I think a few members of 98 Degrees were at the club with us, but the details remain fuzzy because I drank way too much alcohol that night. At some point when Andi realized leaving Chicago in the inclement weather might be a challenge, he dragged me away from the bar and back to our hotel where he spent several hours on the phone with the airline trying to re-book our trip. If we missed our flights from Chicago, we'd miss our cruise line's departure out of Miami.

I was oblivious to all of this, of course, because I was three sheets to the wind. Not my proudest moment. Andi and I hopped in a cab and headed to the airport, turning 360's on black ice covering the freeway. Some time later, Andi finally convinced an airline ticket agent to re-route us through Fort Lauderdale by telling the lady he'd planned to propose to me on our trip. (Spoiler alert: he wasn't; we weren't even dating yet!) From Fort Lauderdale, we rode on a charter bus to Miami and made it onto the cruise ship just in time for take-off.
 

For some reason unbeknownst to me, Andi decided he still liked me after all of that and asked me to be his girlfriend while we waited at the airline gate in route to Florida. I happily said yes, and we embarked onto one of the most memorable trips of our lifetime.

The trip itself was nothing spectacular; it was lovely, of course -- white sand beaches, beautiful blue water, and cruise line food buffets as far as the eye could see -- but the real magic was the chemistry between Andi and I. In those few sun-soaked days, we started our life together.

Thinking back to that trip reminds me of the many reasons I fell in love with Andi. His determination, creativity and ability to never take 'no' for an answer (to name a few) have shaped the nature of our lives today. Andi opened my eyes to a whole new world of travel and adventure on that trip, and for that I'll always be grateful.

Life Before Blogging: How We Met

I came across some old photos, and thought it might be fun to write about my favorite memories in the days before Live Inside My Bubble blog. I can't count the number of times I've looked back in my archives to remember what I did for my birthday last year, or to relive amazing vacations of the past. I love how my blog is the living diary of our life -- from a newly engaged couple in 2009, to new parents in 2011, to a family of four in 2013. I have only my memories and a few books of photographs to help me recall the 20+ years of life before I started writing everything down. So like everything these days, I want to document those old memories here to 'preserve them' in diary form. My brain is fuzzy on many of the details, but time marches on and that won't get any better. If nothing else, trips down memory lane are fun to remember.

Here's the story of how Andi and I met:

It was 2004, and Andi and I both worked for the same energy drink company. He was a marketing manager in Minnesota, and I held the same position for North & South Dakota. We were both in our early 20's and living the dream really, with little responsibility and awesome (super easy!) careers to boot. At the time we thought parts of our jobs were tedious or difficult, but looking back OMG we had it made in the shade. Most of our co-workers were also in their 20's and 30's, and the company culture breathed excitement.

In August of that year, managers from our regional area traveled to Denver for business meetings. I was fairly new to the position and hadn't met many of the out-of-state managers yet. Andi introduced himself to me on the 16th Street trolley as we both rode the bus to our downtown Denver office. I'm not sure how he identified me as a manager in the company and not some random girl on a bus, but I do remember exactly what he was wearing (white button-down shirt, light wash boot-cut jeans) and how easy it was to talk with him. Of course, part of our conversation was about my then-boyfriend which Andi teases me about to this day. If only fate would've jumped out and slugged me in the arm when it was clear I'd be embarrassing my future self!

During those few days of meetings in Denver, I watched as Andi lead our peers through his presence. He was the first one to step up and take charge of any situation -- from coordinating taxis at dinner to herding our group through the airport. When Andi spoke, people listened. He was smart and witty and genuine. I make him sound like some sort of work celebrity, but he really was inspiring! I completely adored him from the beginning.

This is one of my most treasured photographs of Andi from the first time we met. Flip phone, crisp white shirt, crazy long (for Andi) hair -- I love it all. Is it strange I want to reach out and touch that man in the photo? He gives me instant butterflies with so much anticipation for the wonderful times ahead.

One of our first photos together - August 2004

Andi and I were friends, teaming up for occasionally projects and events as we managed territories in bordering states. About a year later in the summer of 2005, we co-hosted a team-builidng event for our employees in Stillwater, MN. I think it may have been my first time visiting the Twin Cities.

It's funny to think about a time we didn't snap a million photos of the training exercises, our group dinners, the parties after hours. I wish I'd done a better job of transferring files between work computers back then as there has to be more photographs of those times.

Anyway... late one night during that meeting in Stillwater, Andi and I sat in the hallway between our two hotel rooms and talked into the early morning hours. He told me years later that he'd liked me then and I teased him for not making a move. Of course, we were both in relationships with other people at the time. 

That meeting sparked a deeper relationship between Andi and I. He mailed me burned CDs of Gavin DeGraw and Jack Johnson music to listen to in my home office, and our work conversations over the phone quickly transpired into multiple-hour personal chats.

By Halloween, Andi broke up with his then-girlfriend and by Thanksgiving I'd dumped my then-boyfriend. We didn't immediately start dating each other, but deep down Andi and I both knew there was something special between us.