A note from Liv
So we’ve been stuck inside our quarantine bubble for 16 days now, and keeping each other sane. I thought I would share an impromptu photoshoot that I did with my ladybabe last night. This is a little reminder to find all that is poetic, romantic and lovely even in the uncertainty. To find solace & inspiration rather than be paralyzed by fear. Cling to the love you have in the people around you and acknowledge the fullness of life & love.
How did you meet?
L: This is one of our favorite questions to answer because we have vastly different accounts of our first meeting. But since I’m the one in control of the keyboard, I’ll tell you my side!
2.5 years ago, I was a newly single photographer, ready to make connections and expand my creativity. I received a message on Instagram from a girl asking me if I would ever want to collaborate. I didn’t look too closely at her Instagram, but she looked cool and edgy enough to shoot with, so I suggested we meet for a drink and talk concepts.
Five minutes into our conversation, I realized that she was the same girl that I had admired from across a cafe a few months prior.
Let me back up. Three months before this meeting-over-gin-and-tonics, I was sitting at a cafe with a client, and I noticed one of the servers at the opposite end of the cafe. I was completely taken by her beauty. And I’m not usually the type to check women out, but she was stunning.
I was caught in my head on what I would say if she came over to my table… she never came over. HA! She didn’t even know that I existed. I didn’t see her again after that.
Now fast forward to our first meeting – I had no idea until we met up that the girl I admired from across the room, wound up reaching out to me, as an admirer of my photography, wanting to create. As it turns out, upon our first meeting, we had zero chemistry! I’m one to dig deep, and her walls were HIGH. Needless to say, we clashed. But when the conversation ended, and we walked out into the alleyway behind the bar, there was the smallest spark of flirtation, and that was it.
I couldn’t get her out of my head.
We would meet for coffee and drive for six hours. We would sit on my fire escape and share feelings. And, we watched the stars through the roof of her jeep. And walked barefoot through the streets of East Coast riverside towns, under those same stars. I wrote her too many poems and left flowers on her windshield. We fell hopelessly and endlessly further into one another.
What is your favorite memory together?
L: One night, before we expressed our feelings for each other, Hunter stayed over. I didn’t sleep a single second because I was paralyzed with nervousness at the reality that this dreamboat of a lady was sleeping next to me. Around 3 am, I whispered, “pst… wanna go on an adventure?” Turns out she wasn’t sleeping either.
So we hopped in the car, and I drove her 2 hours to the beach. We went to the only coffee shop open, in pure blackness, and sipped coffee before making our way two blocks over to the beach, where we watched the sunrise. I can still see her silhouette in the distance, against the apricot sky. That was the moment that I saw the unattainable woman becoming, very much, my reality.
H: I love re-living the story of our first kiss! It’s so sweet but also a little funny and totally speaks to each of our personalities!
A couple of days after we met, Liv invited me to hang out at her apartment, and of course, we had a few drinks to calm the nerves. There was so much sexual tension, and we were each desperately WAITING for the other one to make the first move, but the night went on and nothing happened. After a few hours (and a few drinks), I left the room only for a minute, and when I came back, I was greeted with THE MOST spontaneous and whole-hearted kiss! I was completely caught off guard, and our first kiss pretty much turned into a make-out session on her bed!
What has been the biggest challenge you’ve had to overcome together?
L: Honestly? We have overcome so many things. But the key for us, and something we are still mastering, is how to show each other love in the way that both of us needs it. I can complement and build Hunter up… encourage the hell out of her, but to her, all she wants is a hug or a back rub, and that’s what will feed her soul. I work in the opposite way.
Learning how to love your partner in the way that THEY NEED is so hard and so incredibly necessary. It becomes easier over time though.
Communication is key.
H: Our biggest challenge has definitely been learning how to communicate! I’m such a tough cookie when it comes to expressing my emotions, whereas Liv is completely the opposite! Sometimes she talks TOO much! It took us a while to develop our communication styles, and there is always more work to be done but I feel that we get stronger every time we open up, even if it’s hard.
I will say that I’m incredibly grateful for the love and patience she has given and continues to give me every time we talk.
Tell us your favorite thing about one another
L: My favorite thing about Hunter is how she lives in the present. She has a beautiful way of enjoying the moment and taking her time. In a world where I am constantly running and moving from thing to thing to thing, she teaches me to be still. Having her next to me puts me at ease. She calms the urgency that I so often carry. And she carries that same calming energy into each exchange she has with others. She has this way of immediately creating a comfortable space for people to enter into. It’s stunning, the way she is.
H: I don’t have just one favorite thing about Liv – my favorite thing simply IS her. It’s her goofy sense of humor and her nerdy dance moves.
It’s the little lines by her lips when she smiles and the look she gives before she kisses me. And,iIt’s the way she talks to everyone like they’re the most important person alive and the amount of love and strength her heart carries for the ones she holds close. I know that I wouldn’t be the woman I am today without her.
What’s in the future for you both?
L: Hunter has my entire heart. Let’s start and end there. I am so sure that she is my partner in life and that we will live a life of adventure. Other than that? Ohhhh… just waiting on a ring, twist tie, or donut to lock it in!
H: Honestly, who knows! We’re pretty spontaneous when it comes to just about everything – from taking trips on a whim to bringing home Fable to dying our hair blonde to moving across the country & everything in between! I know this sounds super cliche, but truly, if you told me two years ago that my life would look the way it does today, I wouldn’t believe you.
My opinion on the future is that it’s ever-changing, it’s exciting, and I have no idea what waits for us when we turn to the next page. All I know for certain is that she’s the one I want by my side for the rest of this story.
Photography by Liv Schultheis
