"Will you be my girlfriend?"

It was a genuine question, but one that was mostly tossed out with the air of a joke--we had been spending time together for weeks and he already felt a lot like my boyfriend. It didn't seem like something that needed to be defined, and yet here we were, lying next to each other in the dark on what I think was a Thursday night; having a talk about our relationship. We had spoken about it before this moment--he was the kind of man with whom I automatically felt comfortable talking about anything, which was sort of a new feeling for me--but we always circled around the point, never landing very firmly anywhere.

It felt like spring in our little college town and I was wearing a blue and white tank top that I borrowed from my roommate. Earlier that day I had run the six miles from Longwood to Hampden-Sydney and then drank a gatorade while sitting on the floor of his dorm room before heading back to shower and change for whatever party his fraternity was throwing that night. And later, at the end of the party, people filed out of the house and I sat on the kitchen counter looking at him and thinking what a wonder this man is, the one I wasn't looking for but was so lucky to find.

Boyfriend or not, he had become my best friend since our paths crossed that October night in 2008.

We have been through so much together and I'm proud of us in almost every way--from grad school to new jobs and moving, long distance, then moving again. An engagement, a wedding, a life together. Rob has supported me through every step since college, and if I manage to be even half as steadfast and encouraging to him as he is to me, then I think I'm doing a pretty good job. They say that love is work, and that's true, but it isn't hard. We laugh and we celebrate everything and we love each other, and life with Rob Peterson is truly a pleasure.

Who would have dreamed six years ago that in 2015, we'd be approaching our first wedding anniversary? I suppose that in some way, deep down, we did.

“They slipped briskly into an intimacy from which they never recovered.”

— F. Scott Fitzgerald, This Side of Paradise

We moved into our Charlotte apartment seven months ago, but we're only beginning to find places for those details that really make a place feel like home. In an effort to find the motivation to finally settle in, I thought I'd start sharing some peeks of our apartment in the form of a home tour, here on the blog.

You may have seen this view of our living room setup (and a closer look at our awesome bookcase here) before, but I haven't shown you guys where we usually spend our time at home--on the couch and at the table (although let's face it, it's mostly on the couch). And a word to all of you who told me the No Dog On The Couch rule would only last a week or two--you were right.

Minted was kind enough to let me pick out a few prints for our living room and I chose this one to go above our couch-I liked the abstract, modern vibe and I thought the colors would look lovely with our couch and all the other grey and black details we have going on in this space.

On the opposite side of the living room from the couch is a little dinner table that we barely ever use unless we have company over, but I've been working from there a lot since we got Ender. I picked a similar print from the same artist who did the one above our couch, since they're both in the same room and facing each other. Minted also sent me some gorgeous fabric to use as a table runner, and finally I picked out these pretty gold foil paper trees to complete the space.

What do you guys think? Thanks so much for taking a look into our living room! It was nice having you over.

This post is brought to you in partnership with Minted.

Photos by Joshua Vasko for Freckled Italian.

I almost never buy eggplant, but the other day I picked up some pizza sauce and too much pepperoni, so I thought I'd slice one up and try to use it as the crust for some mini Paleo pizzas. It was easy and quick and really quite delicious! Here's how you do it:

Ingredients: 

• One medium eggplant
• Pizza sauce (make sure there's no sugar or canola oil in it if you're trying to go Paleo)
• Pepperoni (mini ones would be better)
• Parmesan cheese (optional)
• Several tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
2. Wash the eggplant and then slice it into rounds (about 1/4 inch in thickness). Place them on a baking sheet and brush the side facing up with olive oil. Bake for 10 minutes, flip them, brush that side, and bake for another 10 minutes.
3. Spoon pizza sauce onto each eggplant round, then sprinkle Parmesan cheese (or skip it), then layer pepperoni on top. If you didn't buy mini pepperoni (like me) then you could use an apple corer to turn regular slices into a few mini ones.
4. Top with a little more Parmesan and bake for about five minutes, or until the cheese starts to melt a little. Serve hot and enjoy!