Our Story

Andrew and I have been together for about seven years now and in that time frame, we’ve accomplished quite a bit together. In the day-to-day grind, it’s really easy to lose track of it all. Looking backward we have quite a bit to be proud of. We’ve had a baby, bought a house, graduated with two different degrees (my undergrad, his master), changed jobs three or four times, had two surgeries, traveled to four different continents, and moved about five times. We’ve had a lot going on considering it’s been less than a decade.

In the spirit of Valentine’s Day, I wanted to share a bit about us and how we met.

Andrew and I met on half of a blind date. I didn’t know about him going in but he knew all about me apparently.

Some backstory. When Andrew first moved to Seattle, he had a job working for a man who is good friends with my father. I had also just moved back to Seattle after living in New York around the same time. Apparently my father’s buddy really talked me up thinking that two young people so recently moved to the city should connect.

Fast forward to dinner. I was told “let’s go meet Steve and Vicky for dinner tonight” not knowing that there would be an additional guest at dinner. When we arrived at the restaurant, low and behold, there was a tall dark blue-eyed addition to our party. Andrew and I were introduced and then proceeded to sit as far away from each other as possible and say nothing else to each other all evening. When dinner ended, Andrew asked for my number so we could talk further and I not so graciously said: “ok, I guess.”

A couple of days later, Andrew called me so we could set up a time to get coffee. When we finally did meet for our first official date, we chatted for several hours. I’d never actually dated before so it was all very new and exciting. We went on another dinner date a couple of weeks later. Neither of us remembers much of it except that Andrew picked me up from work and that the restaurant in the Green Lake neighborhood of Seattle no longer exists.

The rest you can say “is history”. We’ve had plenty of notable adventures in the past seven years though. From country swing dancing at bars and weddings alike to road-tripping all over the west coast and rocky mountains, we’ve had a pretty good time.

Like I mentioned earlier, it’s easy to lose track of all that we’ve accomplished individually and together in these past seven years but when I actually sat down to do a “decade in review” this past December, I realized just how much we crammed into a few years. No, we didn’t cure cancer or develop the next greatest gadget but to me all the things we accomplished, from having a baby to buying a house to graduating from school to starting this very blog, have been standout moments that I’m incredibly proud of.

If you’re interested in reading a little bit more about our story together, you can see all the NWBlonde Wedding archives here.

xo – Ana Luiza