Our Love Story

 Today, we are taking a little walk down memory lane and sharing the personal story of how Austin and I fell in love. I haven’t shared our story on here before, but when MICHELE asked me to partner with them for their Valentine’s campaign, I knew it would be the perfect fit for our love story. It’s been fun to go back and think about so many moments in time that defined our relationship. I met Austin 7 years ago, and through these years, we’ve had several defining moments for our relationship. Our story has plenty of cheesy moments, but I truly cherish every one of them. Our journey starts in college…

August 23rd 2005: College Bound

6:05 PM

It feels like yesterday that I was starting college. I remember my parents helping me move into my dorm. My dad still reminds me how many hair products he had to unload out of the U-Haul that day. After I was all settled in my dorm, I said my goodbyes to my parents. My mom cried, so I hugged her twice. I remember feeling sad as they left, but I was anxious to start the next chapter of my life into independence and adulthood. Like many girls, I wondered if I would meet my future husband at college.

October 7th 2009: The Crash

4:39 PM

My time at college had flown by. I had graduated in May and just started my second semester of graduate school. I had a few relationships throughout college, but nothing ever felt like true love. In all transparency, I had started college with hopes of meeting my future husband, but with graduation looming, I wasn’t sure that would happen. However, I had grown up a lot since my freshman year. I wasn’t a hopeless romantic who sat around moping until Prince Charming arrived. I was perfectly fine being single and focusing on school and my future career.

My course load kept me busy. I was full time student teaching this semester and was really focused on doing well in my graduate classes. One night, I was working on a very important midterm paper. Then something terrible (and great) happened…

My computer crashed. The screen was completely black. I hadn’t saved my work and it would not boot up. I felt sick. *Note to self: always save your work. Rookie mistake, Ashley!*

I can’t explain why this happened, but what seemed terrible at the time, turned out to be fate. My roommate saw this meltdown firsthand and wanted to help. She and several of my classmates introduced me to “this computer guy, Austin” who was supposed to be great at fixing computers and viruses. I knew of Austin but we never “officially” hung out. After what felt like begging him to help me, he agreed to meet me right away.

What probably looked like a GeekSquad appointment, turned out to be fun filled night of laughter and conversation. The worries of my lost midterm paper had melted away (and he was able to recover all of my work!)

October 23rd, 2009: Co-Workers

3:32 PM

After Austin had fixed my computer, we kept our conversations going. We both worked as Graduate Assistants during the afternoons on campus. He worked in IT and I worked in the Education office. During the day, we would talk over GChat all afternoon.  I always made sure to report all the computer problems to him, but only for the computers in my building. In retrospect, that sounds crazy stalker-ish, but I know he secretly loved it. Why? Because he ended up asking me out.

October 28nd, 2009: The First Date

7:03 PM

When you live in a small college town that barely has a working movie theater, there aren’t a lot of options for dates. So if he really liked you, he would drive the 45 minutes to Little Rock. And he did! We drove down to Little Rock. Knowing that I wanted to be a kindergarten teacher, he took me to see Where the Wild Things Are. We had a really great time and a lot of laughs. It was the first of many dates to come.

May 22nd, 2010: Graduation

12:00 PM

We had been dating for a while now, and I knew I loved him. We spent every day together. When graduation came, we both finished school at the same time. It was time to move back home. Thankfully, we both lived near Dallas, but I would have followed him anywhere.

July 23rd, 2011: I said Yes!

5:30 AM

Fast forward 2 years and we are engaged. I went with Austin and his family on vacation to Florida where he proposed to me on the beach at sunrise. We had a breakfast picnic of Eggo Waffles and blueberries. Which sounds strange, but nothing tastes better than engagement waffles. P.S. Austin is not a morning person. But on this day, at 5:00 AM, he was wide awake and ready to go. I knew something was up from the beginning! Thank goodness I took time to paint my nails. 😉

March 24th, 2012: Mr. & Mrs. Robertson

6:30 PM

The happiest day of my life and one of my favorite memories. What a blessing it is to be married to your best friend! Though our marriage has had it’s share of ups and downs, we are stronger and closer because of it. This love has been a beautiful journey and I am so thankful to have Austin by my side.

OUTFIT DETAILS:

Michele Deco Madison Stainless c/o

On Ashley: ASOS Pink Dress (Fit: TTS. Similar option here.) | Ferragamo ‘Miss Vara’ Bag (Similar option here.) | Similar two-toned flats here (Under $100!) and here | Nailpolish: CND Winter Glow | Lipstick: “Mother”

On Austin: Similar shirt here | Similar blazer (On sale!) | Express Dark Wash Skinny Jeans (Fit: These run a little small. Similar option here.) 

MICHELE DECO MADISON WATCH STRAP SUGGESTIONS 

My favorite feature of the MICHELE DECO MADISON watch is the interchangeable straps. I’ve shared a few of my favorites for Spring below. A year round staple is this Natural Alligator Strap, but my favorite right now has to be the Pink Alligator! It looks amazing with the stainless face.

Natural Alligator Strap | Pink Alligator | Saddle Calfskin Strap | Pink Lizard Strap | White Alligator Strap