How We Met

Calvin and I did not start dating until the second semester of our freshmen year in college. When we initially started dating, we knew we attended the same high school and rival elementary/middle schools, but didn't quite realize how close our paths had crossed. 

I'll start with how we first started to interact with each other. The first time I had ever heard of Calvin was senior year of high school. He had the biggest crush on one of my friends and she had mentioned him before when he asked her to prom. Although we've attended the same high school since freshmen year, I was only hearing of him towards the end of senior year. Calvin will tell you another story. When I asked if he knew who I was, he said he remembers seeing my walking down the stairs with my friend freshmen year and he was wondering to himself who I was. I joke with him and say "mmhmm sure...", but he still sticks to his first memory of me. :)

The night we shared our first kiss

Then we happened to go to the same college. I lived on campus and my roommate was my friend from high school. She was friends with Calvin and he would come and visit every now and then. I remember him because of my friend he had a crush on and initially that was how most of our conversations started. He would ask if I had spoken to her or to tell her he says "hi" the next time I speak to her. We slowly developed a friendship which quickly took a turn. I am a very sensitive person and take many things personally. Calvin on the other hand is naturally an asshole. Now that I look back on it, he's one of the boys when you're younger and they pick on you  because they don't know how to tell you they like you. All of my friends in college, especially my roommate, knew that I didn't like Calvin because I felt like he was mean. It was the night of my roommates birthday party that things took a turn for the better. Before we left, she asked if we could just get along for her birthday. I agreed that I would be cordial to him. Well, the end result of that night was that we shared our first kiss on the third bench in front of the dorms. My friends were completely shocked! I don't think that my roommate had told Calvin to be nice too, but for some reason he was a lot nicer than usual. Throughout the night there was a lot of flirting going on and I specifically remember one of my friends pulling me aside and saying "hey, you do realize that's Calvin right?". Needless to say after that night, we were inseparable. I even remember when I told my roommate that we were officially together and she literally laughed so hard that she fell off her chair! That's how much of a shock it was for everyone we knew! 

Our first vacation together to Disneyland in Jan. 2007

Another fun story is while we were together we realized we went to rival elementary/middle schools. Both of our schools would compete in multiple sports and activities. One day we decided to watch one of my CYO cross country race home videos. Calvin jokingly said "wouldn't it be crazy if I was in your home video?" Initially we laughed it off, but when the screen panned over the starting line, there Calvin was about 10 children in between us. We thought that was pretty cool, but it got even better. As we continued to watch and wait for me to cross the finish line. Guess who was right in front of me as I crossed the finish line. Yes, you got it... CALVIN! We had to re-watch the footage a couple of times because we thought it was just so surreal. Now that I think back on it, little did we know that we would get married years down the line! It's just crazy.

It was March 19, 2006 when Calvin asked that romantic question " So what are we?" Every girl's dream right? We joke about it all the time. He claims he was nervous and didn't know exactly how to approach the topic and to make everything official. But I'm glad he asked because here we are 6 years later and happily married! It was 4 years later on my birthday that Calvin decided to pop the question. Stay tuned to find out how!

Meet The Tans

This is my first time starting a blog and I thought now would be a perfect opportunity to document the life of my little family.

Let me start off by introducing my family!

This is me, Courtney! I am 24 years old with a love for animals and all things Disney. I graduated with a degree in Child and Adolescent Development with a minor in Psychology. I love children and was a lead teacher at a preschool for 2-3 year olds. Although it was such a wonderful experience, I have decided to take a short break to focus on our family.

This is my husband, Calvin. He is 25 years old and is my best friend. He graduated with a degree in business management and is currently a general manager for multiple restaurants in the airport.

We have three fur babies: two cats and one dog. I have a huge love for Disney and named each pet after a Disney character. The funny thing is that although I named each pet before I truly got to experience their personalities, their personalities match that of the character they were named after. 

This is our oldest Meeko. She is a calico that we adopted from the animal shelter. My husband was intent on adopting a kitten. We picked three cats to visit with to see if we matched up with them. The first was a kitten that my husband picked to see and although he was precious, he was afraid of humans and desperately wanted to run back into its cage. I found that very odd and didn't feel a connection with him. Next we saw another male cat who was about a year old. He was beautiful with gorgeous colored fur and fluffy. When we sat down to interact with him, he kept trying to attack us. The volunteer at the shelter who was helping us kept assuring us that he was playing. Let's just say we ended our session with this little fellow covered in a few scratches. Lastly was my darling Meeko. As soon as they brought her out, I felt this connection. She was an absolute sweetheart. The first thing she did was walk over to Calvin and I, rubbed up against us, and then sat inbetween us just like a human. She was sitting on her bottom, leaning against us. At that exact moment, I knew this was my baby. 

I initially chose the name Meeko because her tail reminded me of a raccoon. Meeko is a raccoon who is Pocahontas' sidekick. After a few days of getting to know her, we realized how well her name matched her. She was like a little scavenger. She loves socks and loves to find them in open drawers and bring them to us. She is an indoor cat and luckily has not brought us any dead animals she has captured. But she loves to find things around the house and brings them to us. She can be mischievous, but is such a sweetheart. My favorite thing about her is wherever I am in the house, if I call her name she will be show up in a matter of seconds. Plus she LOVES to cuddle. 

Next we have Nemo, who is a Maine Coone. We got Nemo shortly after we had Meeko. At the time, we were living in a house with two roommates. One of which is Calvin's best friend. He knew someone who had kittens and was giving them away. He had brought one home for himself and mentioned that there was more. Calvin and I talked it over and I convinced him to get another kitten! So his best friend came home one day with a box and gave it to me. Inside was my precious Nemo. He was a little ball of grey and white fur. I like to call him my gentle giant. In comparison to his birth sister Melo, Calvin's best friend's cat, he was so much bigger. We let them play together and Nemo would just sit there as Melo would keep trying to pounce on him and play. Every time she would pounce on him, he would fall over and look so clueless. When we introduced him to Meeko, she was a little afraid but soon warmed up to him. She would take care of him by cleaning him and cuddling with him. It was very precious to watch.

My mom was actually the one to name him. She knew that I wanted a Disney name for him and she picked Nemo. His name fit him perfectly. Because he was a gentle giant and very quiet, it was always so hard to find him. We were constantly looking for him to make sure he was good. We were always "Finding Nemo"!

Lastly we have our baby boy Gus Gus who we believe is a Chihuahua and Corgi mix. Calvin's sister had generously given him to us as a Christmas gift. I have ALWAYS wanted to have a dog. When I was growing up, we lived in an apartment and had cats. My family has had a total of five cats, so you can say my family loves animals. We never got a dog because there was just not enough space for a dog in our apartment. So you can imagine how excited I was to finally have my own puppy! 

When we first got him, Calvin's sister Kimberly was told that Gus Gus was a teacup Chihuahua. When we first saw him, he reminded us of a baby German Shepard. As he began to grow, his ears started to stick up and were big, his body began to get longer, and his legs barely grew. He looked nothing like a teacup Chihuahua. By looking at him, we put it together that he must be a Chihuahua and Corgi mix. He is such a cutie! 

We named him Gus Gus and soon realized how similar he was. Gus Gus is the mouse from Cinderella. He is clumsy and not very bright, but loves to eat. That is my Gus Gus in a nutshell. He LOVES to eat everything and anything he can get his paws on. We love him so much. 

Well that is a long introduction of our little family. Next we will talk about how Calvin and I met, how we got engaged, and our dream Disney Chic Wedding!