The HallWay

Hey there everyone! I'm so excited to have Shannon here on the blog today! I went to school with her and she is relatively new the "big" blog world.  I've been reading her blog since she started the first one and I've enjoyed watching it grow and develop into more than just an online diary.  She's great and I'm sure that you will enjoy getting to know her!
She's newly married and loves to share her adventures with her cute new husband as they live and learn together!
Check her out!    
Hey! I'm Shannon and I blog in The Hallway (see what I did there). A little about me: I work at a marketing agency and do a bunch of yoga. I just got married a few months ago, so I blog a lot about being a newlywed, but also a lot about other topics like working out when your butt hurts, picking the best songs for a wedding, and making food that's better than Del Taco, since I'm married to a chef that I met online. And I'm taking over Katie's blog to tell you exactly what I was thinking the first time I met my husband, Colby, in real life. It wasn't in a cute coffee shop like the picture below suggests.

You can read the whole story about how Colby and I met on my blog, but long story short, we happened across each other's OkCupid profiles through a series of very lucky events that eventually led to us chatting online and through text messages for three days until we set up a real-life meeting at Smashburger in St. George. Yes, the epitome of romantic meeting places: Smashburger.

At the time, I was living in Cedar City, Utah, a tiny little college town situated 45 minutes away from the slightly bigger town of St. George. Colby was in southern Utah on vacation so we had a small window of time in which to meet. It just so happened that I had a job interview in between the two cities that Friday, so we decided to get together afterward.

My interview went well and afterward, I pulled into a gas station to change clothes and text Colby. I started driving to St. George and that's when I realized: I was on my way to meet a complete stranger that I met on the internet.

Don't get me wrong, I had done my research. I looked Colby up on Facebook and he seemed normal, and real. But you can never really be sure. On my way to meet him I thought about the fact that I had never asked him to Skype or even call. I had never even heard this kid's voice before! He could literally be anyone: a 60 year old man, a stripper, a woman... The possibilities were endless.

I got to St. George and pulled into another gas station. I was still waiting to hear from Colby about where we were actually going. Panic began to set in. What was I doing? No one knew where I was, I didn't know the city very well, and I was a young, reckless female college student. This whole thing was a trap.

I got a text from Colby and then a call. I heard his voice! It still told me nothing about him. After we decided on Smashburger I got even more panicked and called my roommate, Marissa.

"I'm in St. George meeting a boy I met on the internet so if I die and don't come home you'll know why," I blurted. I had told her about Colby before, so at least she kind of knew what I was talking about.

"What? What are you doing?" she said worriedly. "I don't know," I said. "I'm so dumb. I'm probably going to die but I couldn't just not come!"

"Yeah, that's true. He has seemed normal so far and you like him! If it doesn't go well, you can just chalk it up to better luck." (Just kidding. She said, "What's the worst that could happen?") I could think of plenty of things that could be the worst thing that could happen, but I decided she was right. Plus, I was at Smashburger.

I slowly got out of my car and walked through the parking lot toward the door, feeling more and more dread with every step. I saw my reflection in the glass door of the restaurant, took a deep breath, and stepped inside. When I saw Colby sitting there smiling nervously at me, all I could think was, "Oh good, you're a real person." And then he laughed and I realized I said it out loud.

Obviously, things went pretty well after that, because a year later we were tying the knot! So far, he's not a serial killer. And neither am I. Match made in heaven.

You can read Colby's side of this story today on my blog, The Hallway! And if that's not enough, you can always connect with me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest. See you there!