miss emma.

today we had an assignment to visit samuel johnson's house which is pretty boring so we decided to spice it up by dressing euro chic. let me explain euro chic to you. it's how every female london native between the ages of 16 and 25 dresses. incredibly messy buns, thrown together/mismatched outfits, tights, boots, chunky scarves, heavy makeup, torn denim. this is our take on euro chic:

(i love audrey in this.)

(i did not get the no-smiling/look-euro-chic memo.)

we are such locals. after the samuel johnson house, which was extremely exhilirating (not), we came home and had dinner and then went to the waffle stand. we walked by first and the waffle man had no strawberries and we were so bummed and a little peeved because they didn't close for a half hour and so they should've been prepared to serve their customers. we went to the atm and then came back and low and behold, the waffle man had gone to the nearby store and purchased some strawberries for us. he then told us about how he had gotten no service all day and had been so bored until we came. and then he took our picture as we sat against the wall and enjoyed the most delicious chocolate strawberry waffles imaginable. and then, when all of the shoppers saw how satisfied we were with our waffles, they wanted some and the waffle man was busy! he had a line. all because of us. i may or may not have eaten a second waffle. it really is that good. moral of the story: don't be quick to judge the waffle man. he might surprise you with unexpected strawberry goodness.

as we were sitting and eating our waffles, one of the girls asked how david and i met. which is a funny story. he gets embarrassed when i tell it, but i'm going to do it anyway because he's halfway around the world and there's nothing he can do about it and truth be told, he is terrible at holding grudges. 

so here's the story, as told by me, which is the only true, reliable version:

i was a junior in high school, and had just turned sixteen years old. a dear friend of mine, ryan pinner, who is now serving the Lord in a faraway place, was throwing a party at his house over christmas break. the pinners throw some rockin parties and i went with two of my friends and they had the chocolate fountain going, the jacuzzi and pool heated, a dance party in their rock cave, marshmallows roasting by the fire pit, etc. the pinners are great hosts. this is totally off topic. anyway, i was in the rock cave, being cool, talking to my cool friends, etc. david was at this party too. david has this friend named markie hobbins, who has openly loved me since we were fourteen. it was always kind of a big joke to everyone, and sometimes i would hold markie's hand to give him a thrill, and all of markie's friends, including david knew about his crush on me. david, being the lovely friend he is, decided to make fun of markie's crush on me by grabbing me in the middle of the rock cave dance party and mockingly freak dance me, in front of everyone. i was mortified and angry and i probably said a lot of things like "ew gross get off of me ew gross stop" and david said a lot of things like "ooooh yeah baby uhh" and then i finally shoved him off and immediately went inside the house to complain to chuck pinner, ryan's dad, about how i had just been raped in his rock cave. chuck offered to throw david out of his house but i figured i could take care of it myself. when the party was over, and we were walking to our cars, i was purposely giving david the dirtiest looks i could produce. he knew it, and thought it was hilarious and said "dang girl you look good when you're mad" and "that girl is so mean but she's so hot." charming. for the next year and a half, i knew who david was and i thought he was gross and whenever i would see him, i would stare him down. time passed, we grew up a little bit, and the summer going into my senior year, i actually started to date that markie hobbins, which forced me to get to know david. i was reluctant at first, for good reason, but as soon as i gave him a chance, i loved him. my fling with markie eventually ended (which had nothing to do with my relationship with david, for the record), and david and i continued to be friends, and on november 1, 2006, our friendship turned into something much more. 
it's hard to explain the type of magnetism that i've always felt with david. it's like he's the only person i ever want to be with and he's the only person i ever want to talk to and it's been like that since the day we got together. he is truly my best friend and that's why our relationship is so incredible, because i'm in love with someone who i never want to be apart from. in love with someone who makes me feel beautiful and someone who makes me better and smarter and kinder. someone who is my perfect match.
 it's been three years and five months of us together, and every day i am so glad. 
dating markie hobbins was the best thing i ever did. 

ps. on a totally random side note, click here to see how incredible my mother is.