As we grow up we always hear "It's what's on the inside that counts" and "don't judge a book by it's cover". However, we live in a world where that first glance begins to define if someone is "your type". Needless to say, the day I met Andrew Jordan, I said to myself "Yeah, he is cute...but is he my type"?

At that time in my life, I would have turned away the hottest thing since Nintendo, but there was just something about him. I was intrigued!

Andrew was first brought to my attention in Feb. 2018, and I immediately said "no" because I was in my "single, amazing, and I don't need a man" phase. Despite my die hard independence, he danced around in my head for months until we finally saw each other in person on 6/8/18.

We were at a wedding and, unfortunately, he never approached me. Was he shy? Was I not "his type"? I decided I wanted his attention, so me being me, I made friends with the bartenders and started a dance party behind the bar (sorry, not sorry!). Even after all that, still nothing...talk about effort haha!

I finally decided to approach him, confidence in hand (aka Rosé) and say "Hi my name is Lara, have you tried the wedding cake I made yet?"

We were inseparable for months through texts & calls, because he lived all the way in Utah. When he decided to make the big move to VA, I froze...after all, it's easy to like someone when they are far away. Was I ready for love? Was I ready to give up my single and fabulous life? The answer at the time was yes and no.

Poor Andrew, the chase was on. Andrew continued to be true to himself, honest, and the most amazing person I have ever met. We spent time together every so often, and eventually were back to talking every day. He never left my side through multiple surgeries and a few very rough days.

One day, I realized that I truly was head over heels in love with this man, and I am one lucky lady to have him by my side.

Just in case anyone is wondering - he really is "my type" and he is hotter than the inside of a Hot Pocket right out of the microwave!

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Ao longo da vida ouvimos dizer “o interior é que conta” e “não julgue o livro pela capa”. No entanto vivemos num mundo onde a primeira impressão começa por definir se a pessoa é o “nosso tipo”. Escusado será dizer, no dia que conheci o Andrew Jordan disse para comigo “Sim, não é nada de deitar fora .... mas é o meu tipo”?

Naquela altura da minha vida, eu ter-me-ia afastado da melhor coisinha desde Nintendo, mas algo me intrigava acerca dele.

A primeira vez que me chamaram à atenção para o Andrew, foi em Fevereiro de 2018, e a minha resposta foi um peremptório não, porque a minha vida era maravilhosa sem precisar de um homem para me complementar. Apesar de adorar a minha independência, ele dançou na minha cabeça meses, até o dia 8 de Junho, 2018 quando nos conheçemos pessoalmente.

Foi num casamento, e infelizmente ele nunca se aproximou de mim. Seria envergonhado? Ou seria que eu não era o “seu tipo”?

Decidi que queria a sua atenção e para tal, como eu, sou eu, fiz amizade com os empregados do bar e vai de dançar , mas apesar disso nada.... tentei haha!

Finalmente decidi aproximar-me dele, cheia de confiança (com ajuda do Rosé) e disse :“Olá, o meu nome é Lara, eu fiz o bolo de casamento. Já provas-te?

Ficamos inseparáveis por meses através de telefonemas e mensagens porque o Andrew vivia em Utah (6 horas de avião). Quando ele decidiu mudar-se para a Virgínia, tive receio, era simples gostar dele ao longe. Estaria eu preparada para amar e deixar a minha fabulosa vida de independência? A resposta na altura foi sim e não.

Andrew nunca olhou para traz, sempre foi verdadeiro, honesto, e a pessoa mais maravilhosa que já conheci. Continuamos devagar, passamos tempo juntos, até passar o tempo todo juntos. Andrew esteve sempre ao meu lado durante várias operações e alguns dias muito difíceis.

Cheguei à conclusão que amo este homem mais que tudo, e que sou uma mulher de sorte porque o tenho ao meu lado.

No caso de alguém ter dúvidas, sim ele é o “meu tipo”.

I grew up watching a lot of movies, and one thing we all see in the movies often, are love stories. Typically these stories revolve around some crazy coincidental moment where the two lovers cross paths and instantly feel a spark. Since it's a movie, obviously there has to be some big obstacle that threatens to tear everything apart at the seams, but in the end they're able to get past it and they have their happily ever after. Also, it typically involves someone running through an airport.

Even as a kid, I knew that having a real-life, Hollywood-scripted, love story was far-fetched. It turns out that real life is actually much better. Who knew!

At a point in time where I was feeling like I would never find love, I was told that there was a single girl I would meet at an upcoming wedding. Honestly I didn't think too much of it, as I had been set up on blind dates and such in the past, usually with not so great results. Still, after seeing her picture, she would continue to pop up in my mind, and I grew more and more excited to meet this person.

The day of the wedding came, and in between all the chaos that comes with being a groomsman on the day of, I caught myself wondering if I would see her. Would she even be interested in meeting me? Should I get my hopes up?

As the night went on, the dancing started. Everything seemed to be going well, when I started hearing something going on close to the bar. That's when I turned around and saw Lara throwing her own little dance party over there with the servers! This definitely grabbed my attention, but I was still a bit shy and didn't know how to approach. Later on I was introduced to Lara formally as the one who made the wedding cake, and we finally got to talking. As things started winding down, we decided to move our conversation outside by the firepit.

Now, those that know me well know that I'm not the most outgoing guy, so they'll know I'm not typically the one to make the first move, but as we were hitting it off, the right moment came to make a move, and something possessed me to kiss this girl! Again, very out of character, but I'm incredibly glad I listened to my instincts!

We kept in touch for months afterwards and got to know each other pretty well. The highlight of my days tended to be coming home from work and spending hours on the phone talking to her. We would constantly talk about everything that had happened during our day and vent out our frustrations about any and everything. Quite honestly, she became my confidante.

During this period of my life I was feeling like I needed to make a change, so I ended up deciding to move out to the D.C. area to get the life change that I needed (though I would be lying if I said she wasn't a major factor).

When I first moved out, we honestly didn't see a lot of each other at first. On occasion however, we would meet up to watch a movie or get lunch, mostly just as friends. I could tell that she was struggling to figure out her feelings for me, so I was doing my best to give her time and space to figure everything out on her own. That being said, moments like watching Shrek together and eating soup together in the summer (it's a thing) just made me fall deeper and deeper in love with her.

Little by little Lara gave in to her feelings for me (it must've been my charm) and honestly, I felt like I could've jumped over the moon. To this day I feel incredibly lucky to have the love of someone as loving, kind, caring, and passionate as her.

So, not quite a Hollywood blockbuster. Luckily, it's much better...

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Cresçi a ver montes de filmes, e todos os filmes tem uma história de amor. Tipicamente essas histórias revolvem à volta de uma momentânea e estranha coincidência onde o caminho de dois amantes se cruza e ambos veem estrelinhas. Como filmes são filmes, obviamente têm de haver obstáculos que ameaçam estragar tudo, mas no fim as coisas resolvem-se e os protagonistas vivem felizes para sempre ... pois normalmente um deles acaba a correr pelo aeroporto.

Eu sempre soube que as histórias de amor dos filme criados em Hollywood são boas demais para ser verdade… mas a realidade é muito melhor. Quem diria!

A primeira vez que vi a Lara foi num casamento e como ela própria o diz, fez várias tentativas para ter a minha atenção, sem sorte nenhuma. Não porque eu não estava interessado (pelo contrário), mas sim porque não sabia muito bem como reagir. As coisas melhoraram e no fim da festa estávamos sentados perto duma fogueira, e algo dentro de mim gritava “beija-a”.

Beijei-a.

Depois desse dia, mantivemo-nos em contacto por meses e conhecemo-nos melhor. Ao mesmo tempo, nesse período da minha vida eu sentia que algo tinha de mudar e acabei por decidir ir para a área de Washington para recomeçar de uma maneira diferente ( verdade seja dita que a Lara pesou muito na minha decisão).

Honestamente, a princípio não nos via-mos muito. De vez em quando encontrávamos-nos para almoçar ou ver um filme mas só como amigos. Eu sentia que a Lara não tinha a certeza do que sentia por mim, e eu pela minha parte estava a fazer o melhor que podia para lhe dar tempo e espaço para ela decidir por si mesma. Cada um daqueles momentos fez-me ficar cada vez mais apaixonado por ela.

Pouco a pouco a Lara começou a ser recíproca ao meu amor ( acho que foi o meu charme), e honestamente, nada me fez mais feliz.

Hoje, eu sinto que sou um homem de sorte porque tenho o amor de uma pessoa Boa, Amiga, Querida e apaixonada pela vida e por mim.

Concluindo, a minha história não é exatamente como um sucesso de bilreira de Hollywood. Felizmente, é muito melhor que isso ...