Is it true that when you know, you know? In today’s episode, I’m getting personal and sharing some of the green flags that let me know that Mike was my husband… before he even proposed. While I love business education, please enjoy today’s fluff and hopefully you’ll get to know me a bit better! 

On Quianna Marie Weekly, we’re chatting about business growing pains, finding genuine connections, and celebrating wins of all sizes through the lens of a photographer at heart. Sprinkled throughout stories and interviews with past clients, photographers and other business owners this podcast is designed to help you step into your purpose and to truly create a life you’re proud of, a life worth photographing and sharing.

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Review The Show Notes:

Safety And Future Stewardship (6:26)

He Was Late Once… And Only Once (9:05)

He Takes Care Of My People (11:58)

He Makes Sure I’m Fed… Always (13:06)

He Loves Traditions And Sentimental Moments (15:19)

The Handyman Glow-Up (16:46)

The Sign Of Respect (21:00)

The Campfire (24:40)

The Texas Roadhouse Moment (27:44)

His Money Is Our Money, My Money Is My Money (31:17)

For Anyone Still Waiting… (33:08)

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Review the Transcript:

Happy New Year, Beautiful! Welcome to the first Monday of 2026, the year I get married. Oh my gosh. Saying that out loud feels so incredibly surreal. I’m getting married. Ah, I’m so frigging excited. I literally feel like Monica Gellar on top of her balcony, just screaming out. “I’m engaged! I’m engaged!!” Like holy smokes.

Now that we’re rolling right into 2026, this is the year I get to say I do. Holy smokes. Now, before we continue, if you’re listening and you’re still waiting for your person, still praying for your partner, still wondering if God forgot about you, this episode is for you too. I love you. I see you.

There is so much hope in this story, and I want you to hear it with an open heart because I spent years thinking something was wrong with me because I wasn’t a wife yet. My worth was tangled up in timelines and milestones and this invisible pressure to hurry up and to get chosen. I never felt fully enough until someone asked me to be there forever, and that’s something I’ve had to heal.

Even while being loved deeply, this is something that I’ve been working on for maybe decades, but I’ve been working on it, right? Like I’ve put so much self-worth into a man, into someone else, someone outside of my body, someone outside of my, my options, my choices, right? All that kind of stuff. It’s just, just got very tangled.

Today I wanna share a personal story, not to brag, not to show off, not to make anyone feel behind, but to share what healthy love actually looks like and the subtle green flags. I completely ignored until I realized, oh wait, this man is my husband. Not someday not, maybe not if it works out, but literally my husband, I felt it in my bones.

And it did take a series of events. It wasn’t this like overnight head over heels. Oh my gosh, right? Like crazy fireworks, like with Mike and I, it really was a slow burn. Not because of him, but because of me, because I, I take time, I take time to articulate things. I overthink things, I overanalyze everything.

And if we’re being completely honest, I believe choosing your person, choosing your partner in life. Is the most important decision of your life. Your person is the one that you wake up to every Christmas morning for the rest of your life, and is that gonna be a headache or is that gonna be fun and magical?

Right? Is it, you know, the person that you enjoy those fun concerts with, which is always so fun. But then also the person that you’re stuck in traffic with. Waiting to leave the arena, right? So all these moments and all these special things, the mundane things, that’s what makes your person and selecting that person is a big deal.

So on this podcast, I love to share tons of business education, skip the fluff, and get right to the good stuff as a promise to myself. I also love to share my growth, my personal experiences and wisdom so we can all grow together through every season of life and business. This one’s a super personal and vulnerable share, but I’m honored to have this mic and podcast to share it with you today.

I hope this conversation feels inspiring, like we’re just grabbing a coffee and yapping about boys. Before I met Mike, I would roll into the Taco Bell, drive through on my way home from weddings. I’d cry over my notable grande. Grateful and always so happy for my couples. Literally, I prayed over them. I was always so grateful for them.

I was also feeling so sad that it was never my turn. Why did they find love so quickly? Where’s my man? Like, I literally would walk into every wedding thinking, oh my gosh, maybe my fairytale is true and I’m going to meet the best man or a groomsman and just fall in love, right? I used to leave weddings thinking what’s wrong with me for all the years to not be worthy of being a wife.

Now to give you some context here, my best friend and cousin Kayla is four months older than me and her son turns 13. This year, my closest friends are celebrating their kids hitting double digits, and I’ve always felt behind. I used to envy those couples celebrating 10 year wedding anniversaries, feeling so sad and uneasy that I haven’t even met my person yet.

Basically, I felt like Rachel Greene when she turned 30 and she started freaking out about her life plan, right? That was me all the time. Now, I’m telling you all of this not to feel sorry for me and to join this pity party. I really wanna share this side of my story and timeline to catch you up to speed and to possibly see yourself in my story too.

It’s so easy for others to say that there’s plenty of fish in the sea or when you know, you know, and you’re such a great catch, right? Oh, but tying your self worth to a man and a milestone is something I wish I could go back in time and hug my younger self. If you can relate to any of this or you’re in a season of waiting for any milestone.

Please know that you’re not alone. You are worthy, you are valuable and everything. And I mean, everything is working in your favor. Every decision, every job opportunity, every plane ticket, every person in your life is leading you to your forever. If you haven’t met them yet, it just means they’re on their way to you.

I hope this list of green flags that made me realize Mike was my husband before he even proposed sheds light on helping you pick your person too without overlooking the nice guys. Let’s break down this quick list of green flags.

Welcome to Quianna Marie Weekly, a podcast for creatives who love to celebrate wins big or small by dancing in the kitchen photographers who are excited to serve their clients and friends who are ready to chase really, really big dreams.

You can find all of the resources mentioned in this episode at quiannamarie.com/podcast. Join me as I share weekly motivation. Chat about growing pains, finding genuine connections, and celebrating your wins through the lens of a photographer at heart. Come join me for a dance party. Ready? Let’s go.

One of the first moments I realized Mike was my husband, and this might sound weird. Was imagining this absolute worst case scenario. Now, before we get into this list of green flags, which I think is gonna be really fun to share all of these, I have sort of a preliminary question that I asked myself while dating, if something tragic ever happened to me, if we had kids, would he take care of them?

Would he raise them with the values, morals and faith that matter to me and both of us? Would he protect them, provide for them, be steady, even in chaos? Without hesitation, the answer was yes. Deep, peaceful, grounding. Know it in my soul. Yes. That was a husband green flag that was like waving like, like green flag go.

Right? I love those tiktoks that pop up on my feed, that share card decks of questions for couples, and this was one of the questions that I saw about two years into dating and without a doubt it was capital YE. Yes, yes. I’m confident our future children would be taken care of. Their needs would be met.

They would be well fed and he would do everything in his power to raise them as best as he could. I know this because of how he treats me, how he treats everyone around him, how he even takes care of our dogs, vet visits, and even disciplines, our girls, right? When I say our girls, I mean our two German Shepherds of faith and sky.

The way he talks to them, the way he disciplines them, the way he loves them and nurtures them and teases them and plays with them. I would never compare dogs to children, like that’s not the conversation, but just the way that he literally will set faith on the bed when she was a puppy and talk her through like.

What she did was wrong, right? Like without raising his voice. Like it just made me realize, wow, like I can see this now. I wanted to start here because if you’re currently dating someone and you have to think twice about this question, it’s not a reason. Torick up with them right now. Okay? But definitely something to think about.

Alright, so let’s roll into this green flag list. It’s going to be so fun. We have nine green flags with a couple little extra stories sprinkled throughout that I really hope will help you kind of gauge like. Oh wow. Like does the person I’m seeing actually meet these standards? And I, like I said before, I’m not sharing these things to just be like, this is why Mike is amazing, because I, I really do love him and I really do think he’s perfect for me.

But I want you to seek these things. I want you to actively look for these green flags in the relationships you are in now and in the potential ones that are coming in the future. Okay? So green flag number one. He was late once. Only once Mike was late to our very first date. Of course, I arrived 10 minutes early to get a seat at the bar, scope out the place and make friends with the bartender.

I told her I was meeting someone for the first time and she told me she would keep an eye out on me. Now, this is also PS. I’m gonna be giving you a ton of big sister tips when it comes to dating. So I feel like there’s a lot of times, like back in the past, like, I don’t know, 10 years ago or so, I would’ve just waited in the car for the guy to arrive and then we could have walked in together.

I actually suggest you get in there first, like you show your confident if they haven’t arrived yet, like definitely go get a table. Like that’s okay. Like you should be in the best seat. You should get a good view of an exit door, right? And then I highly encourage you to actually. Make small talk and let the bartender or the server know what’s going on.

Tell them, Hey, I’m meeting this guy, or I’m meeting this girl for a date, and I just wanna give you a heads up. So if anything gets weird, you know, I just want you to come save me. And of course, do I think they’re really gonna do anything? I don’t know. I’d like to hope so, but I just wanted to kind of plant that little seed in there too, that it’s okay to arrive early and to have those conversations because you never know.

Like there’s, there’s weirdos everywhere. Okay. Right. Back to the story. Okay. So right on the dot, at the time we were planned to meet, I text Mike to let him know I was inside. He text right back and said, great. On my way, see you soon. And I’m like, what? See you soon. Whatcha talking about? It’s like right on time.

Okay. So I was a little irritated because I had already been sitting there for 10 minutes and then he was 10 minutes late. So sitting there for 20 minutes, right? But later he told me that he’s been stood up a few times and was just about to delete his Bumble account. He was tired of getting out of the house for no shows, so he wanted to make sure I was actually showing up.

He wanted to make sure my butt was actually at the bar stool at our local brewery before he even showed up. Now I have similar stories to this too, and I couldn’t even be mad at him because I was a serial one or two dater before cutting off these bumble dates, right? I literally had a first date dress that I would just wear over and over, and it was just a mess, right?

Like literally it is a dumpster fire out there trying to date and using the dating. We had luck with Bumble, but uh, literally I was about to give up again on online dating, and clearly Mike was about to just delete his entire profile, but right before he met me. So it worked out for us. But ever since then, Mike has never been late.

Mike’s the man who calls when he says he’s gonna call. He always texts back. He shows up when he says he’ll show up. His words are always backed by his action. This consistency isn’t boring. This consistency is husband energy, and that was a huge green flag for me. All right, green flag number two. He takes care of my people.

One of the many ways he won my heart over wasn’t just how he treated me, but it’s how he treated my mom and it’s how he treats my mom, right? So I would say he kinda like wandered me over how he treated her, but he still treats her this way today. On Valentine’s Day last year, we were all at my nephew’s football game, and it was freezing, by the way.

It was really cold, and we realized, hey, you know, we’re at the game. My mom had work, so she couldn’t make it to the game, but she was still home and she would be home alone for Valentine’s Day. And so Mike wanted to pick up a pizza to share with MA so she wouldn’t be alone. No big show, no need for an Instagram post.

Just kindness, just thoughtfulness. Just a man showing up for the people I love. Valentine’s Day has always been so special to me and even more now that it’s our future wedding date, and it’s just a little stuff like that that reminds me that he’s a keeper, right? He’s always thinking of others around him and taking something that could feel like, just like an everyday thing, like just picking up pizza after a football game, but including my mom made it really special.

Green flag number three. He makes sure I’m fed. Always, he always makes sure I’m fed this man never lets me go hungry and not in a controlling food kind of way. In more of a, I want you to eat healthy and be happy and not hangry on the way to Sedona because this is the last stop to grab a snack before we set up camp kind of way, right?

So like he’s always prepared, he always has snacks. He hunts and fills our freezer with protein. He stocks up when steaks and chicken go on sale and he never comments what’s on my plate. Other than making sure I have enough, we even plan drive-throughs before or after certain events just to avoid starving, right?

So like, let me make this clear. My family knows how to eat. We always have extra, we never go without. But sometimes there’s certain events or certain gatherings where we realize if someone’s hosting, right, like there’s some families that just eat right away. Like they have snacks out, they have food out.

When they say, come and, you know, come to the party at 5:00 PM like we’re eating sometime between five and five 30. And then there’s some families that they say, come by by five and you’re not eating till like 7 30, 8 o’clock. Right. So anytime we have a game plan like that, he’s always so prepared and make sure I’m fed.

And I know this sounds so silly because hello, I’m an adult, like, hello. I can make my own snacks. I can prepare my own food. Right? But just the fact that he’s so proactive about making sure that I am fed really means a lot, right? Like to me, it’s love. It is a love language of service and care, and its partnership.

I’ve dated boys that made me feel fat for asking how many tacos I’ve already had as I’m grabbing another one. Right. Or reminding me to eat less. And Mike makes sure I’m fed and does most of the cooking for us too, by the way. And to be fair, I do all of the dishes, but he takes a lot of the mental load off of my plate.

No pun intended, but he really does. And uh, he plans all of our meals for the week. Um, he does all the grocery lists and we actually go to the grocery store shopping together. Stocking up on Costco and SamCart orders like he’s ahead of it and just that alone makes me feel so loved and provided for, and something I’ve never really experienced.

Green flag number four. He loves traditions and sentimental moments. Now this man loves holidays. He loves traditions. He loves meaning behind things, and it just makes it more special, like it makes it more fun. And, uh, I do have to share this story because when we first got the keys to our fixed upper shout out to Angela Gordon, our realtor, we absolutely adore her, and she’s just so fantastic.

But we got the keys on December 12th, the day before my birthday, and Mike insisted that the first thing in our home should be our Christmas tree. Now it stayed in the garage while he painted and tackled the popcorn ceilings, right? He removed all the popcorn ceilings and did some painting, so like there was plastic everywhere in the house.

People thought we were like knocking down walls and totally remodeling, which we weren’t by the way. We were just doing some painting and getting rid of those, those outdated popcorn ceilings. But that Christmas tree was the first thing we brought in. And even just seeing the Christmas tree on the Suburban, on top of the suburban and parked in front of our house, it just.

Literally brought tears to my eyes and just kind of made me feel in the, feels like, yes, like we’re building a home, like we’re building this foundation of traditions and Christmas magic, and the fact that he made that a thing, I just like, I didn’t have to ask for that. Right. To me, it’s just, it’s just the beginning and this memory will be with me forever.

Green flag number five. Let’s talk about this handyman glow up. Okay, so I wanna chat about something funny, make it a little bit more relatable. Maybe something that you can relate to right now if you are in the thick of dating, maybe you’re living with someone or you’re not. But when we were dating, Mike lived alone, and I was kind of like, is he really handy?

Or is that just something that guys say all the time? Right, because growing up a side story commercial break, my brother can literally go into a forest or go into an island with a chainsaw and a toothpick, and he can build you a house. Like my brother is so incredibly talented. He’s a carpenter by trade.

And he literally can build or fix anything. And you know, my dad was a roofer, very handy. My grandfather as well, very handy. Like I’m just used to men doing stuff, right? Like if anything happened to me on the side of the road, I know I can always count on my uncle to literally just come fix it, right? So I was always around men like this.

And when I was dating, I very much compared. The guys I was dating too, like how handy they were. Right? Because I’m like, why are we gonna pay somebody to fix a toilet? Can’t you just do it? Right? And now granted, obviously everyone has their strengths, so I’m not judging here, but that was just my standard, right?

Like that was something I was looking for. And so while we were dating, I really needed to find out how handy was he? So at one time, the like the slider handle on the door. It broke right now. It was still, the door was able to open and close, which was still fine, but it just really bugged me because this handle was broken and if you didn’t touch it just right, like it literally hurt your hand.

Like if you could imagine it was like a metal handle that had the wood panel or like this wood little piece on the handle. And that’s what like protected your hand, right? So when you open and close the door, it just was annoying and the door still functioned, but he just never fixed it. And I’m like, what?

What’s wrong with you? Okay. Like, why aren’t you fixing this? And then there was, um, another incident where in the bathroom, like the master bathroom, there were two sinks and one of them was clogged and it just would never drain. So we just never used it. Like it was always clean, but we just never used it.

And I was just so annoyed by that because I was like, why aren’t you fixing this? This is so weird. The man was not fixing the stuff that was in our life. Right. But come to find out, he had projects pending with the landlord waiting on approvals and he didn’t wanna avoid any warranties. So this is something that I learned too with, with homes and home ownership.

If there’s a warranty on something, let’s say like an air conditioner or a toilet, or a garbage disposal, or just some type of appliance or some type of thing in the house, right? If you were to try to fix it yourself, you could totally break or like void a warranty. So that’s not something that Mike wanted to happen.

So I kind of wanna paint that picture of you where I was kind of like wondering like, Hmm, things aren’t really getting done, and is this my person? If he’s not being really proactive or reactive to some of the things that go wrong? Once Mike became a homeowner game, fricking changer. And literally, I say game changer all the time, but it was a huge glow up.

He changed the locks within minutes of getting the keys. Like literally, I’m not even joking. After he brought the Christmas tree in, that first project was changing all of the locks. He made new keys. He made a set of keys for me, like for, for myself, my mom, my best friend Sarah. So we have keys to get into our home.

He hung up the plastic, he started painting. We were back and forth between Home Depot at Lowe’s. He got to work on all the things he’s been dreaming of doing, not just my projects, but the things he knew he needed to do for the safety of our home and just getting things done right. Sometimes going from renter to owner unlocks a whole new level of pride and capability, and I needed to see that.

So I, I challenge you as you continue dating. And you’re many new people and you’re sharing these new experiences, right? Like there are gonna be some experiences that you just don’t know how they’re going to be until it comes up, right? So giving space for people to breathe and to truly shine, I really think will make a difference here.

Okay, so a number six. This is our green flag. Number six, the sign of respect. This one’s a good one for me. It’s a little long, but I kind of wanna like really pull you into the story. Okay. So one thought that has always worried me was knowing and trying to find out how safe a man can make me feel, as well as my future daughters and the women in my life.

I used to have so many conversations with my mom about how do you know you can trust a man? Like really, really trust him? There’s so many sickos and stresses out there in the world to keep our babies safe. And how do you know that you can really trust someone, right? Like they’re not gonna do anything weird.

They’re not do anything inappropriate. Like not just to myself, but like. To the kids and the children around me. I hope this isn’t triggering for anybody, but it’s just, it’s just something that comes up. And these are like mother-daughter conversations, right? And if you don’t have those conversations with anyone, please reach out to me.

Like I would love to have these conversations with you. If it feels uncomfortable, please let me know. But my mom reminded me that how a man does one thing, he does everything. Watch for the signs. Now. At the time I was so irritated because it didn’t really answer my question right? Like, how do you know you can feel safe around a man?

But it did come flooding to me back when this experience like unfolded. So when we were dating and we had just started coming around, my family, uh, my cousin Nikki invited us over for dinner. It was an invite for both Mike and I to join, enjoy dinner together and hang out at their house. This was something I did often, but Mike hasn’t been over to their house yet.

Now Eliana is my niece, right? So Nikki is my cousin. She’s my first cousin and her daughter Eliana. So technically she’s my cousin, but we’re besties. It’s just easier to explain it as my niece. And when I invited Mike, he kind of sort of shrugged off this invite and told me just to go without him. I assured him it wasn’t just a girl’s night and he was more than welcome to join.

Now, backstory on this, because he was new to meeting my family, he hadn’t met Peter yet. Peter is Eliana’s dad and Nikki’s husband, and you know, he’s heard tons of stories. They’ve heard stories about each other, and us girls have talked about them being best buds. We knew they would be best friends as soon as they met, but they haven’t officially met each other at this point in time.

So Micah explained to me. He would feel uncomfortable being in their home and spending time with Peter’s wife and daughter without him knowing him yet. Right? So without them getting to know each other, Mike also shared that he himself would feel uncomfortable with a grown man that he doesn’t know in our home without him present.

This was a huge green flag that I didn’t even know was something that was important to me until this experience. Of course I went without him and enjoyed our girls’ night and fell even more deeply in love with Mike. These are the type of respectful moments that make men, men, this is a green flag that people don’t talk about enough.

Right? So it just made me realize, kind of going full circle back to my mom’s comment about when you know, you know, and how Amanda’s one thing is how he does everything. And so if he could feel. That need for safety and that need of respect and respecting another man while also holding himself to a high standard and knowing when he’s welcome, right?

Like all these, all these feelings come to mind. It’s just like, wow. Like I would, I would never even think of that until it came up. I love it so much. So yes. And since then, Peter and Mike, they’ve gone camping together. They’ve been on long road trips together, like they spend time on the sidelines, um, for football and softball games.

I mean, they’re literally best buds, which is amazing, but even still, right? So it’s just so nice to know that that respect is there and I feel safe with that. Okay, so green flag number seven, the campfire. Recently, Mike was the best man at his best friend Patrick’s wedding. Among the many duties and bachelor weekend plans Mike helped with as a best man, Mike also was put in charge of the late night bonfire.

So after the wedding, after the reception and the dancing, pat and Kelly wanted to have a bonfire, and they wanted it to kind of just be like a chill bonfire night. Right now. Most guys would hear that they’re in charge of the fire and show up at the truck, bed of wood, maybe some starters, some matches, and lighter fluid and call it good.

Not my husband, Mike came prepared. He showed up in the square body with more than enough wood, tons of chairs, an ice chest filled with ice, beer, sodas, and water bottles with extra Carhartt jackets and blankets. Not only did he come prepared with all the things for the campfire, but he also had the bucket of water to put out the fire at the end of the night.

Back to Mama’s Reminder again, how a man does. One thing is how he does everything. This is literally how Mike lives his life. He’s prepared, he’s thoughtful, and he thinks of others, and I’m so, so grateful he’s mine. I also wanna throw in another green flag in here because this campfire star reminds me of a time when we helped his aunt and uncle prepare for their wedding this last October.

I knew it was going to be a busy trip. I was their photographer, and Mike brought his work booth to get things done a couple days before the wedding. That weekend, Mike was on the tractor. He was shoveling gravel and tan bark, and he was just getting things done. Everything he did, he did it well, and he made things happen.

When anyone asked who I was, ’cause I was kind of being a little bossy, right? Because I was speaking directly to the bride, I knew exactly what she wanted and I was just kind of relaying some information to some cousins and friends, right? Whatever. Just kind of like prep stuff. And so people were looking at me like, I’m sorry, and who are you?

And I would proudly say, oh, I’m Kiana, I’m Mike’s fiance. And of course, instant Smiles. They knew exactly who he was and I was just so proud to say. I was his. And then of course after that I kind of backed off and being bossy and I just kinda let things unfold. Let’s be honest, you know how hard that is for me.

But, uh, yeah, but back to the story here with green flags, I legit was just, just so proud to be his and just seeing the way he took action, the way he made a plan, he made a list. He just, he just made it happen. And I, I really appreciate that because I do believe that’s. Like, I can literally picture myself planning birthday parties and baby showers and just events with him, right?

And, and that really matters, right? Are you dating someone that you think is gonna show up and move tables and chairs and throw up easy ups and go scout out locations on the beach for you and your family and your friends? Or is he kind of dusty, just kind of showing up last minute, right? So like take note of that you deserve someone that is going to help make life easier and just really set the tone for the event, right?

Number eight. This is green flag number eight, the Texas Roadhouse moment. Okay, so this one sealed it for me. And I know this sounds ridiculous because it literally includes Texas Roadhouse. We have not been there in so long. Oh my gosh. We have to go back and have a date night there. But let me get back to the story.

So we were out to dinner with his parents. At Texas Roadhouse and yes, the rolls were rolling at this point, I think I was like two rolls deep and I was still waiting for the cactus blossom or onion blossom, or I always get the names confused. I always get the like onion thing, whatever they call it at the Texas Roadhouse, confused with what they have at Red Robin.

Uh, we were waiting for the appetizer and I clearly was already filling my tummy with things that didn’t need to be in there. But we were meeting with his parents prior to the event, right? So like prior to this family trip, we were all meeting together with his sister and her family and his parents, and we were gonna go explore a lot of the national parks in Utah.

So we were like all around, we were camping in Moab and then just kind of like. Branching out from there to go check out these beautiful, oh my gosh, we got to go to Zion. Like all these beautiful national parks. It was just stunning. So Mike and I met up with his parents. It was the night before just because of our travel dates and the way things aligned.

We met up together, um, before his sister and her crew showed up. So we were making some travel plans. And his parents asked, oh, and honestly, I don’t even freaking remember what the question was. Like this is how irrelevant this, this part of the story was. But they asked the question, this is my friends, this is when I knew Mike was my husband.

So they asked something about the trip, right? Whether it was like staying an extra day or something about the rental car. There was just something about the trip. Okay? And Mike very calmly. Kindly and respectfully said, granted, Mike and I are sitting next to each other and his parents are across from us, right?

But he very respectfully said, Kiana and I will talk about it and we’ll let you know tomorrow. Full sentence. That was it. He didn’t look at me and say, what do you wanna do, babe? Or, well, no, actually she needs this, or, you know, like, he wasn’t putting me on the spot and not making me make a decision in front of them.

I am a horrible decision maker. I, him and I haw and I go over all the analytics and I overthink things, right? Like I feel like I have a, I actually, so as a projector, I’m like a very splenic, um, like gut punch person. So I typically already know the answer, but I have to like fight with like my heart and my brain and my.

Taking this out of way out of control here. This story is going on for way too long, but basically I just knew because he was confidently leading while protecting my comfort, right? He was actually letting his parents know, we’re gonna discuss this and we’ll get back to you, like there’s no rush on this.

We’re gonna, we’re gonna make a game plan and we’ll let you know that right there, my love that is husband material. I can’t tell you how many situations I’ve been in when I’ve said something or I’ve been asked a question and my face just turns white. ’cause I don’t want to offend anybody. But I also have my own needs.

I also have my own concerns and I, I’d like to talk some things through without just coming up with a decision right then and there. So it was really important to me, and I’m just so grateful for him and the fact that. He could say those things. Uh, ’cause I probably couldn’t say that to my mom. My mom would be like, what?

Just tell me what you want now. So, but just, it just felt really good. Green flag number nine. His money is our money. And my money is my money, honey. Okay, that sounds a little insane, but it’s kind of sort of basically true. So when I first met Mike, I was very much in my masculine energy. Hence probably why so many first dates went wrong, right?

Maybe I was the problem, but you know, that’s okay. That’s beside the point. It was just me and my mom. I worked hard for the lifestyle I had and never had a man to lean on financially ever. I was in hustle mode and never felt like it was safe to lean into my feminine energy, and it was either hustle and pay the mortgage and all my bills, or literally have nothing.

When Mike came around, he paid for everything, and he still is this way. He covers every vet bill, every trip to the grocery store, everything we need for our home and all of our travels. He covers it, not because he has to, but because it’s a prideful energy to provide and protect. At first, this was really tough for me.

In past relationships, I would throw down my credit card at restaurants. I would stop at the store on the way home and pick up steaks and beers, even though I didn’t really drink beer for past boyfriends, and I literally was a frog farmer. And that’s according to Alison Armstrong, by the way. You’ve gotta look her up on TikTok and read her book, the Queen’s Code.

It’ll change your life and every relationship you have with every man ever. But for real though, Mike helps me lean into my feminine energy to feel more creative, to feel peace and safety. Like no one I’ve ever been with, he provides and he does it in such a way that feels like our money, our investment.

It’s very much a team With him. It’s not right. Like it’s not like this controlling thing. Like he literally just has this like, I got you energy and I am here for this. I have some closing thoughts. For anyone that is still waiting. If you’re in that waiting period, if you’re still wondering, okay, if you’re listening to this and your heart hurts a little, if you’re still waiting, if you’re feeling behind, if you wonder if it’ll ever happen for you, please hear me.

Your worth is not determined by your relationship status. I’m gonna read that again because even I need to read this again, like I’m gonna get teary eyed reading this, okay? Your worth is not determined by your relationship status. You are already whole, just like the moon by the way. You are already lovable.

You are ready enough, and when it is your person, it’ll feel steady. It will feel safe. It’ll feel like a partnership and not a performance. Like it won’t feel like a headache. It’ll actually feel like you’re speaking the same language. And you know what’s so funny? I was just talking to mom about this too.

We were just on, on a trip. We were visiting my brother, we were talking about Mike ’cause he just got to meet literally like one half of my entire family for our wedding shower. And yeah, we were just talking about like how grateful I am that we literally speak the same. Language. And I know that sounds so silly because obviously we both speak English, hello and English is both of our first languages, so there really aren’t any language barriers there.

But like do you know like when you’re talking with someone and you just like, you just cannot find the right words because everything you say like they don’t like they take it wrong. Or you say something and you’re like, okay, I wish I could take that back because it’s not what I meant. Right. With Mike, it’s easy.

It’s like we really do, we challenge each other. We always wanna try to bring out the best in each other, but just speaking to each other, just living our daily lives, it feels like we’re speaking the same language. I also wanna remind you, please don’t mistake those butterflies and fireworks for true love, when in reality it may be anxiety in your gut.

Your person will make you feel fluttery and excited, but not fiery like a chase that you’re constantly on trying to beg for that attention. Your green flags will show up slowly and consistently just like Mike’s did, like a slow burn, right? And when it’s right, you’ll know. I still can’t believe this is the year I get to get married.

I am 38 years old and finally found love of my life. Mike was absolutely worth the wait. Cheers to the New Year, new Seasons and new chapters this year!!

Do you have any similar stories, any questions or thoughts you’d like to share? I wanna hear them. Please slide into my DM’s and share your thoughts. I’d love to chat about life dating and finding your forever.

We’re just over one month away from our wedding and I am literally freaking out. So any advice you can share, please send it my way. I can’t wait to share more. So thank you so much for listening. I am praying for you and your partner, whether they are here with you now or on their way to you. Please just know that you are amazing and everything that is meant for you is on its way to you.

I love you. Hope you have a great day, and make sure to follow along with all the fun wedding planning stuff. Okay, babe. Hope you have a good one. Bye. That’s a wrap on another episode of Quianna Marie Weekly. Thank you so much for your listenership and support. You can find the resources and show notes for this episode and more at QuiannaMarie.com/podcast, I’d be honored if you’d show your support by leaving a review and rating on your favorite podcast app. Until next time, keep on on dancing.

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