Our great friends Trevor and Lori came in town last weekend to visit us. We were so excited because we always have such a good time with this couple… when we get together we tear up whatever town we are in… ha! Anyway, we were playing Pictionary with them on Friday night (a game neither of us had really played), and Tres and I were KILLING it… it was like we were inside each other’s minds! After we had gotten like five in a row and only had been playing for like 10 minutes, Lori said, “Its OFFICIAL… you two are definitely meant to get married. You think exactly the same!” I laughed and thought… she is so right. I feel that way daily with Tres. I know it’s cliché to say “that person was made just for me,” but I truly believe Tres was, and I was for him. Before Tres was in my life, I always heard engaged girlfriends say, “When you know, you just know.” That also may make the top 20 cliché love quotes, but it’s also very true and impossible to understand until you find THAT person. It’s almost like when you find this person, you don’t even have a choice… it’s so obvious that they are the person for you that if you didn’t want to commit to them, you would be just plain stupid! "On a Boat" in Cabo San Lucas
Sometimes, Tres does read my mind, and I read his. It’s just as simple as… words will be about to escape my mouth about my thoughts on something, and he will say the same thing I was about to say. We can be riding in the car or sitting at home in silence – not having talked in 20 minutes or so, and I will just start thinking about how I loved a movie we saw three days before, and he will say, “That Up In The Air Movie was the best one I’ve seen in a long time.” Sometimes it just makes me laugh, and I always have to tell him I was JUST about to say the same thing! It even goes back to before we were together. The first day I ever hung out with him, we were sitting around a group of friends conversing. Several different subjects came up, and when they did, I would go to give an opinion about it, but Tres would beat me to the punch, saying exactly what I was about to say. I don’t remember what all was said, but I do remember it happening like three different times in a 30 minute period and me calling Ginger and saying, there is this guy I met, and we have like the same opinion and thought about EVERYTHING! I went on a date with him two weeks later, and it’s now just a little part of our love history book. At our hotel, ME Cabo in Mexico 
If I had a big bottle of ice cream sprinkles, I could pick every morsel out and give a reason I love Tres - our weird mind interconnection is just one of those sprinkles. A lot of times during wedding planning, people get mixed up in too much planning and forget the reasons they are getting married. I have vowed not to do that and am reminded every single day why I love the man I am marrying. Here are the main reasons I am so blessed:
1) His character. I remember my dad, Cliff, once saying, “Character is what a person does when no one is watching.” Tres is a perfect example of this, and he doesn’t even try to be – it’s simply just the person he is. He, no joke, always does the right thing… always! One moment that sticks out in mind is our last plane trip when this woman couldn’t get her luggage to fit in the overhead bin. While everyone just stared at her or did their own thing (including me), Tres jumped up out of his seat to help her. He does stuff like this all the time. He is also a definite “rule follower.” I can want to break them sometimes, but he keeps me in line! He doesn’t strive to follow all the rules, think of others, or do things morally right – he JUST DOES IT because that’s him!
2) He’s a people-person. Most people are at least somewhat people-persons, but not all of them are liked back by everyone. People like Tres… period. He has a way with conversing and socializing with people that is rare. I think when people met him they not only like him but also respect him in a sense. I tell him all of the time I am jealous of his charismatic ways.
Our first (and last... because I'm a scaredy cat) Hot Air Balloon ride... Palm Springs, CA 
3) He wholeheartedly loves me. My friends laugh and say they don’t know how he could ever put up with me, but no matter how crazy or silly I can be - he loves me to the core. My family has said, when he looks at me, there is love in his eyes. I know this, because I see it every single time he looks at me!
4) He treats his mom like gold. What did your mother always tell you? Watch how a man treats his mom, and that’s how he will treat you. Well, sisters of America, whether you want to listen or not – YOUR MOTHER IS RIGHT! Tres loves and respects his mother and would do anything in the world for her. He treats me the same way. Surprising? I think not!
Mt. Vernon, Washington, DC
5) We have a solid relationship. Tres and I are together almost 24/7. We do absolutely everything together, and it never gets old. I’ve heard if you spend too much time with someone you can get on each other’s nerves and start arguing. Tres and I have been dating 2 ½ years, and I can count the number of arguments we have EVER had on one hand, and they lasted ten minutes at the most (and were probably because I started them… haha)!
6) He’s a gentleman. Chivalry is not dead, ladies, and if someone tells you that, tell them they can come talk to me! I have never been the type of gal that needed any man to “take care of me.” As a matter of fact, in my cynical college-days, I was a border-line feminist. Oh boy did Tres change my ways of thinking! I am now as old-fashioned as he is in these thoughts. I love the fact that Tres thinks that as a man, it’s his job to take care of everything. I do my job too… domestication is finally coming into my life!
John McCain and Sarah Palin... Halloween 2008!
7) He loves the things I love. We are right there with each other when it comes to just about everything: travel (We make this a priority), good food and fine dining (We love a good burger joint but also love dressing up and going out nice… especially on vacation), hotels (We love staying in hotels!!!), wine (Thanks to our Napa vacay we have become red-wine WINE-Os… with an occasional white :). We will never turn a glass down!), big cities (We like ‘em all), living downtown in the city (both of us agree that we could go the rest of our lives without having a yard… we love city living... I do want a dog one day though. haha), HBO TV (Sunday nights… obsessed much), movies (at home on the couch or at the theater... during the week especially), night shows (SNL, Conan, Fallon… we like to laugh)!
8) He's so smart and dedicated. Tres gives absolutely 100% in everything he does -
whether it's his job, his friendships and family, his relationship with his future wife - he does not do anything halfway. While his MBA proves he's well-educated, that's not why I call him smart. He is just naturally a books and common sense smart guy. It probably helps that he chooses to watch the History Channel and National Geographic when I choose to watch HGTV and TBS. :)
9) We have fun together. We can be all by ourselves and do just about anything and have a blast doing it! We go out by ourselves a lot, in Memphis and out of Memphis, and we take on the town like we are with a crowd of people! We will bar-hop and stay out all hours of the night – having so much fun… just me and Tres. And when we want a more low-key night – the couch, pizza, and a movie are just as fun as hoping around the city!Napa Valley... a few days before we got engaged!
A few weeks ago, we were out and about on one of our usual night-time Memphis outings, and we got into a deep conversation about divorce and how common it is. We are both realists, so while we are like all of the couples out there who get married and don’t want to get a divorce, we realize there may be a time in our marriage when we cross a rough path. We discussed this, and Tres said, “Well, if I am going to try to make it together forever with anyone, it’s got to be you.” It made me a bit teary-eyed, and I squeezed his hand and said, “Me too.” Side note - Hopefully, this post was not too braggy on my significant other... I just think he's awesome. He will probably kill me for posting this :)
I have often heard that no matter how long you have been engaged, you won’t feel like a true bride until you pick your wedding dress out. I have never been certain of that comment, but now I am. I’ve had it on my schedule to go wedding dress shopping in Atlanta for about four months now. It seemed so far away then, but as of today, it’s only a few days away. I truly can’t believe it! I am about to go pick out the dress that Tres will see me in for the first time as his wife. I’ve had this thought in my brain over and over for the past week, and every time I think about it, my stomach turns. Nervousness, excitement, love, eternity – these are all strong words and emotions, and the realization of them has definitely come to me. I mean, you only get to pick out a wedding dress once in your whole life, and I can’t believe I am about to do this! The best part of it all though is that a man as great as Tres has picked me to spend the rest of his life with. Once I pick that dress out its official – I will soon be Mrs. Francis Xavier LeTard III !
So to prepare me to become a bride, I will have the four women there with me who have pretty much been the four most important women in my life from day one: my Mommy, my Nenne, my Aunt Gina, and my cousin and Maid of Honor, Melissa! I always heard you should never bring more than two people dress shopping, but it wouldn’t even make sense not to have all four of these women here on the special day when I choose my gown. We are not only all close, but each of them has shaped and formed me in some way to become the woman I am today. I truly believe that the advice they gave me growing up and the role models I saw them as helped me with every decision I ever made in life; therefore, having them as the voices of my wedding gown is only fitting!
Growing up, a week (or sometimes even a day) didn’t go by that me, Mom, Nenne, Gina, and Melissa weren’t all together. At one point, we all lived within two miles of each other, and going to Nenne and Gina’s house was always such a treat. I can remember sitting around and chit-chatting with them, asking them advice on teenage problems, and getting some of the best advice a girl could ever get. When Melissa was born, I was just a little girl… only about nine years old, but since she’s existed, she has been the closest thing I have ever had to a sister. Sadly, about 7+ years ago, Gina and her kids moved to Austin, Texas, so a trip down the road has become a 10 hour drive. We don’t see them as much anymore, but we try to get together as much as we can. And when all us girls get together we are a HOOT, and it’s still some of the most fun times I could ever have!
Mom, Nenne, and I had planned on driving to Atlanta to dress shop for day one, and when I got a call from Gina several weeks ago saying that her and Melissa were flying in to Atlanta to meet us, I was ecstatic! This is truly the best way I could ever go wedding dress shopping – a fun girls weekend in Atlanta with my family!
