After shooting in that field at pretty much the perfect time of day, we ventured over to Hampden-Sydney to finish up our engagement session with Ashley of V.A. Photography. It's hard to believe that five years ago at the end of October, I would walk into a Halloween party with my roommates and meet Rob. Time has really flown by.

Hampden-Sydney is so many things to us--the place where Rob studied and made life-long friends, my running destination (I'd run the six miles down Back Hampden-Sydney Road and stop at Rob's dorm, where he'd give me a Gatorade and we'd talk before driving me back), our weekend hang-out and our long-distance relationship training wheels.

Midnight breakfasts, tailgating parties with more chicken wings and oysters than you could ever eat, and cheap beer popping out of every cooler. There were stomach-aches and hangovers and country music, and there were great times with friends and big Sunday brunches in the dining hall at a huge table where we'd all laugh and eat omelets and drink fresh-squeezed juice from that juicer that you had to throw oranges into like a basketball. We stayed up too late and ate too much pizza and it was relatively un-glamorous, but we fell in love and I wouldn't trade it for the world.

When I leave on Friday and don't show up again until Wednesday, it's because I'm having a really good time doing whatever I'm doing. Usually whatever I'm doing is drinking wine, hanging out with my dog, cooking with my mom, eating with friends, laughing, sitting on my parents' dock, watching movies with my dad, and did I say drinking wine already?