It’s hard to believe that it has already been three years that Allan and I have been together. Time really does fly when you’re having fun! On Wednesday I spoke a lot about authenticity… and I am so happy that one of the things in my life that is very much authentic and the same online and offline, behind closed doors or in public, is my relationship with Allan.

This long weekend, we’re off to Tofino for some sun, relaxation, time with friends, and of course, much needed surf to celebrate our three year anniversary. It feels like it’s been way too long since we’ve been in the water and I’m looking forward to kick-starting a summer of surfing! We’ll be staying at Ocean Village in Tofino.

When Allan and I first met at work at the very first video game company I worked at, we were friends for nearly a year before we started dating. I pretty much had to bribe him to go out with me… but it worked, and we’ve been together ever since.

I honestly thought we would get bored of each other with the amount of time we spend together. The very three months of dating we were together almost 24/7 and well… three years later, not much has changed. It blows my mind that we’re still not sick of each other.

We have the same interests… we love surfing, snowboarding, cooking, scuba diving, relaxing, golfing, and now, even mountain biking together.

We hang out with each other’s groups of friends together.

We introduce each other to new things.

We travel together.

We have fun together.

We’re not perfect by any means… every relationship has ups and downs, and ours is no different. But we do manage to resolve our disagreements quickly, and try never to go to bed upset. We’ve worked extremely hard on our relationship… we’ve set aside time to work on problems, we’re gone through tough times together, we’ve done exercises, read through relationship books and workbooks, and even made sure to do a few counselling sessions a couple years ago. It’s made a world of difference, and I can honestly say our relationship is very strong, healthy, and happy.

Nothing comes easy, that’s for sure!

What’s I’ve realized most of all (thanks to my friends Kim and Liv), is that it’s a relationship worth fighting for. And when I think about it that way, I know that we have to put time and effort into it to make it work. But it’s worth it. And most good things in life you have to work and fight for.

We’re so compatible in terms of interests, personalities, values, lifestyle, humour, romance, and careers… that I honestly can’t imagine my life with anyone else. I know he’s the one. I can’t even count how many nights we’ve gone to bed laughing so hard that our pillows got wet with tears.

Allan is incredibly creative, smart, kind, generous, hard-working, athletic, and so so funny. I feel so very lucky to be with him. It’s weird to get off work and miss each other so much during the day that when he comes to pick me up, it’s like a big reunion. Every frickin’ day!

So here’s to you Allan…. Happy Three Year Anniversary! I can’t wait to surf with you this anniversary weekend, and have many more surf weekends throughout our lives. I love you.

I know I don’t write a lot about my personal life, on my blog, as far as personal blogs go But I thought I would deviate a bit from the norm to write about something close to my heart. And I know I don’t post many photos of myself, so excuse the narcissism but it’s necessary to talk about my time together with Allan.

Yesterday Allan and I celebrated our second year together. It seems like it has been a lot longer… I guess we’ve just done so much together in such a short period of time. He’s the centre of my universe and I can’t even begin to tell you how much he means to me, and how happy he makes me.

I never thought it was possible for two people to spend as much time together as we do. We’re together 24/7, much to the chagrin of our family and friends. The weird thing is, we just don’t get sick of each other. We drive to work in the morning together, and drive home together. And we miss each other all day until we see each other for the ride home. We surf, snowboard, play video games, and cook together. We have pretty much the same friends, and we get along well with both our families. We travel together, go skating together, do errands together… it’s a little overkill, I admit. But for some reason it just works.

He often complains I don’t write enough about him on my blog, so I hope this makes you happy, Allan

We first met at work, believe it or not… yes, the office romance. We both worked at the same video game company and were good friends for about a year.

We first bonded over snow sports in Steamboat, Colorado when we flew there with a couple of work friends for a trip. Yes, believe it or not I was a skier. And I couldn’t help but follow his snowboard around on my skis.

We started getting to know each other better from numerous work parties, social circles, hockey games, and a number of activities.

It wasn’t long before we planned our first official trip together where we ended up becoming a couple… to La, Push Washington. (Yes, this was before the Twilight insanity) A surfing trip and a sightseeing trip…

We ended up staying at the Quilete Reservation, we surfed a couple times, went to the hot springs and Hurricane Ridge, and walked many forest trails.

Eventually it was full blown surfing trips that summer to Tofino with friends.

He taught me how to skimboard.

He showed off a little with his surfing skills while I was still learning

He forced me to conquer my fear of heights and made me bungee jump…

He definitely had balls of steel…

… and helped me grow my own

He knows so much about nature, camping, common sense… he found these carniverous plants for us in Tofino.

We went to Costa Rica together…

Got our PADI scuba diving licenses together (in Vancouver) and went scuba diving together in Costa Rica and Catalina Island…

We’ve had many, many beach walks…

And lots of snowboarding days!

And had the chance to party in Vegas.

We went on a month long road trip to Portland, San Francisco, Tahoe, Mammoth, Santa Barbara, Los Angeles, Disneyland, Catalina Island, the Grand Canyon, Las Vegas, Snowbird in Salt Lake City, Boise Idaho, Wenatchee Washington… and we surfed and snowboarded through the USA.

We like finding secret camping spots…

And Allan definitely knows how to attract the ladies

He’s also good at hacky sack…

He also happens to be one of the kindest people I know. Extremely smart, generous, and very very funny. He always finds a way to make me laugh. He knows me better than anyone else in the world world.

And, he has very very sharp teeth.

I love you, Allan! Happy Two Years!