My Ned

Some months before Ned and I met, I posted a blog entry in my personal blog about how I only wanted to find my "Ned". I was referring to Lee Pace's character from the tv show Pushing Daisies and I posted the same clip that is posted at the bottom of this entry. The year before I had ended a long term relationship and dated casually after that, but was unsuccessful at finding that perfect someone. The one who I wanted to fall asleep next to at night. The one I wanted to wake up next to in the morning. The one I wanted to spend every day with for the rest of my life. I was starting to think I would never find my soulmate.

See, Im a very romantic, dreamy sorta gal. I do believe in soulmates. I believe in your lover/significant other also being your best friend. I believe in finding that one true love and spending the rest of your lives together. Call me old fashioned. Call me unrealistic. Call me silly. Whatever. Thats just who I am and Im not ashamed of it.

And then I met my darling Ned.



Ill admit it, it wasn't quite love at first sight. Not because I thought he was unattractive! In fact, I thought he was quite dreamy. As I like to call him, "tall, dark and handsome- without the tall." *smirk* But I wasn't really looking at that moment for a boyfriend. I was just trying to get out there and meet new people. He also had some "red flags" that threw me off. But right after our first date, I called my dad and told him all about it. I was smitten, I just didn't know it yet. Ned pursued me for the next few weeks and after our third date I knew. I knew I wanted to be with him. I knew I had finally found my Ned.

He was the one I was looking for. He was the one who could make me laugh no matter how sad or frustrated I was. He was the one who could make my heart melt with just one look. He was the one who was just as romantic and dreamy as I am. He was the one who made me feel complete. A lover and a best friend all rolled into one.



When we first started dating, I introduced him to the amazingness that was Pushing Daisies. Only the first season was out then and it was something we enjoyed watching together in the evenings while curled up on the couch. Thats when he started calling me "Chuck" as a petname. And also why, now, I refer to him as my "Ned". Because he is the one I was always looking for.



- Gan

The story of Plus One

When I was very little, I used to have these competitions with my dad over who loved who more. He would say he loved me, I would say I loved him more. He would say he loved me most, I would say I loved him infinity! And then he would say he loved me infinity plus one. Nothing could trump the "plus one". No matter what I would say, he would add the plus one to it. If I would say I loved him times a trillion, he would love me times a trillion- plus one.

When my fiance and I first started saying we loved each other, I introduced him to the plus one rule. He never could have guessed that there was something out there more than infinity.

After that he wrote the cutest, albeit a bit dorky *wink*, blog entry about Plus One. It was probably the sweetest thing anyone had ever written for me.

"Magic.

As a child, I learned of true magic playing Dungeons and Dragons. I discovered, early in the game, there were normal, forged items, such as swords, shields, and rings, and then there were objects that were imbued with... something extra - the blades that glowed when orcs were close or a suit of armor that enhanced a person's strength. Magic always meant something extra - the usual plus a little more. Magic meant +1.

Magic trumps just about everything. For example, in science, there is nothing larger than infinity - it's a concept that has no equal and no end. Infinity is supreme, practically its own damn theology, and there's nothing larger. Nothing, that is, except for Infinity +1. I love you. I love you more. I love you infinity. I love you infinity +1.

When it comes to weddings, dates are commonly referred to as +1 - you and that someone extra. Suddenly magic axes are replaced by a partner or a child or a true friend. It's no longer just you by yourself on your adventure, exploring the dark passages by a flickering torch. Suddenly it's you and your +1 - one upping infinity - being with someone else, someone extra special.

If I had a wish, a wish that knew no limits, I would wish that every person could have a little magic in his or her life - that every person could have a +1. Even if it is merely access to magical Potato Salad (+1 to constitution) or an enchanted pair of shoes (+1 to charisma), I would wish that every person in the world would have access to an additive that would shine against the darkness.

Have you found it?

Do you possess that object that gives you that extra strength to battle the demons?

Have you found that special someone that gives you the power to one up infinity?

I wish with all my heart that, if you haven't found it yet that you find your +1.

Because the only thing that's better than a world with you in it - is a world with you in it +1."

Now whenever we are across a crowded room, or a store, or a park, or wherever from each other, one of us will hold up our hands in the shape of a heart. The other will then follow by making a plus sign with his/her fingers and then the number one. Its our way of being able to tell each other that we love each other without speaking. We love each other- Plus One.

-Gan

14 months to go...

To say my fiance and I are ahead of the game is probably an understatement. At 14 months out, we have got so much picked out and decided on. Not all the little details of course, but the big important things (reception location, ceremony location, photographer, caterer...) have all been decided upon, if not already booked.

14 months left sounds like a lot of time to pull everything together, but for two people who love to plan parties, down to the smallest of details, I have to wonder if 14 months will be enough time for something this big. Im sure it will be more than enough, but when I think about all that has to be done, I get nervous. I get especially nervous because of all our DIY projects we need to complete. Im just glad I have a partner who is as excited as I am and is completely involved.

I don't believe a wedding is just about the bride. Its about the couple. Im lucky to have a fiance who understands this and wants to be a part of everything involved with putting our wedding together. Im so happy that this wedding will be a reflection of both of us as individuals, but mostly who we are together.

-Gan