The Beginning of Team Brady

Brady and my anniversary is this coming Sunday, October 11, 2009. I think that's a Sunday. I can't believe it's been a year since we got married. This past year was crazy, new house, new dog, new job for me, etc. It's been a great year though, and I'm looking forward to many wonderfully happy, blissful years of marriage with my fabulous husband. Wow, I just made myself throw up in my mouth a little.

In honor of our upcoming anniversary, I wanted to chronicle how Brady and I met, started as a couple and became engaged. This post will be the story of how we met and our first couple dates.*

We met in Fall of 2003 at Chapman University School of Law. During the first year of law school, the first years are divided into tracks, you have the same classes with your track for the entire year. Brady and I were in the same track. Chapman is pretty small and the tracks even smaller, so we became acquainted pretty quickly. I remember the first week of school or so, scanning the classroom seeing if there were any potential dating prospects. I thought Brady looked promising but then learned he had a girlfriend. Damn, the good ones are always taken! Brady and I started actually hanging out during our second semester of our first year, with our respective girlfriend and boyfriend. Yea, I know, awkward. But I can assure you, that there was absolutely no funny business going on, we were just friends and got along well. In fact, I remember telling someone, "It's so nice to have guy friends, you can't have guy friends in college because they just want to get in your pants. But look at Brady, he's my friend and he doesn't want to get in my pants at all."

Fast forward to our third year. Our respective relationships had fizzled out and ended (or imploded in my case). I know I've posted about how he asked me out, at least I think I have, anyways I can't find it so I'll recap. During our third year, I had been pretty much absent from the law school scene with the exception of going to class. One night, I ran into Brady who remarked that he hadn't seen me in a while. We chatted and it came up that I was single. It was within in days that he asked me out to dinner. My reply, "like on a date?" said with all possible shock and snobbiness. I told him I didn't think that was a good idea and didn't accept. The problem was, (1) we had been just friends and I truly was shocked that he asked me out, and (2) I actually wasn't completely single, I was seeing someone but it was not serious at all, I was more attached to the guy's DVR than the actual guy himself.

Brady and I continued to talk and he mentioned that the offer for dinner was still on the table. Two about-to-be lawyers dating, it's so romantic. Eventually, I asked him if he wanted to still have dinner and he did. We went to the Quiet Woman and had an amazing time. Although I ordered this chicken dish, simply because it came with stuffing and I didn't like the chicken which was obvious because I didn't eat any of it. Brady dropped me off after dinner and walked me to my door. And then he kissed me good night. I ran into my apartment, I was in shock and a little tipsy. We had ordered a bottle of wine with dinner, um yeah, Brady doesn't really drink wine. So basically I had a bottle of wine and some stuffing for dinner. I woke up my roommate, Annalise, yelling "Brady just kissed me!" And then I debriefed her about the date, probably over a glass of wine. I really liked my wine back then.

So we had a great first date, naturally Brady asked me out on another date. And I said no. Actually I said I had to "focus on school." Which was kind of lame. Really, what I had to do was get rid of DVR guy. And even though Brady just wanted to go on a second date, I felt that the decision to go on a second date was bigger than that, that if I was going to go out with him I should be ready to be in it for the long haul. We kept talking, he kept asking me out, I kept saying I had to focus on school. As we talked, I started to feel a real connection with him and wanted to explore it. But I had concert tickets with DVR guy and I couldn't get rid of him before that, I just didn't even know how to deal with that. "Um hey, DVR guy, can you give me back those tickets I got for you, cause I like this other guy better and you are kind of boring, and uh yeah, I'm going to need those tickets back." That was not going to work.

So about six weeks passed in between our first date and our second. The concert passed and I decided that I wanted to go out with Brady. He had sent me an email telling me that he thought we had a great first date and that he wanted to see me again. It was very well-written. My mom said, "he's either crazy or your soulmate, you probably should go out with him and figure it out." I agreed with her. We were talking pretty much daily at this point and he mentioned that he was going to Vegas for the weekend. By himself. So I slyly said, "I love Vegas, I haven't been in forever, I would love to go back." I pretty much invited myself to Vegas with him. After I said that, he officially invited me to Vegas and we had our second date planned. Crap, I still needed to get rid of DVR guy, who ironically was in Vegas. So Brady and I were set to go to Vegas that weekend, I think this was Monday or Tuesday when I talked to DVR guy. I called him and said, "so this isn't really working, I need to focus on school." The old "focus on school" works every time. And with that DVR guy was gone. And I stopped watching Lost, he had been recording it for me while I was in class. Moving on from DVR guy was a fantastic decision, I got a husband and Lost got really stupid at that point.

So Brady and I went to Vegas. He picked me up on Saturday morning. He even asked me what I wanted from Starbucks and brought it to my door. Back then my drink was a venti zen green tea, two bags with an inch of soy. A little complicated, but he got it right! Things were looking promising already. We had a fantastic time in Vegas. We stayed at the Wynn, ate dinner at Sushi Roku, shopped, had drinks, a damn good second date. The conversation was effortless, it just fetl really comfortable. That night, after a few drinks, I told Brady that I thought we were going to get married. And he didn't run! Amazing!

This is our first picture together in the gardens at Bellagio. This was about 3 1/2 years ago. I would like to note that dress now fits again. In fact, I wore it a couple of weeks ago.

So became the start of many Vegas trips, and the beginning of our relationship. That first trip to Vegas, Brady shopped with me for about 6 hours, that never happened again.

*Please note that this is the version of the story according to me. Brady maintains that I asked him if the offer for dinner was still on the table, implying that I threw myself at him like a shameless hussy. Please also note that Brady can be full of crap at times.