A Little Help for my Friends

I've got a favor to ask of you, my loyal blog readers (that's assuming there is more of you than just Chelsea and my sister. womp womp.)

A very good friend of mine is in this Facebook contest for long distance couples to win a trip to NYC for New Year's (I know, sweeeet). This isn't some 'couple hours away' or 'couple states away' long distance relationship (not that those don't suck too).... Courtney is here in STL and Chris is in Amsterdam. Yep, that's in the Netherlands. Here's more about them....

I am American and my boyfriend, Chris, is Dutch. We started dating 4 years ago while studying in South Africa. We thought we'd never see each other again when the semester ended. So we threw every last penny into a dream trip to the African island of Zanzibar. But it turned out we just couldn't stay apart. Thus began a long distance relationship of 2 years over 4 continents. At any given moment one of us was working or studying in South Africa, the US, the Netherlands, or Thailand. Finally in April ‘09, I got a visa for the Netherlands, until it expired in August ‘10. Now I’m back in the US, and we are apart once again. We've had many fantastic experiences traveling together, such as hitch hiking across Portugal, wine tasting in South Africa, and horse back riding in Cambodia. However, what has made our travels so memorable is sharing them. We would gladly trade a big adventure for just one night hanging out on the couch, but spending New Years Eve together in NYC would be even better!

Unfortunately, the only reason we are apart is due to visa regulations and immigration rules. The visa I previously had for the Netherlands cannot be renewed, and there is currently no US visa Chris is eligible to apply for. So we are back to long distance, which we thought for sure was finally over. We talk nearly every day through Skype, Facebook, etc. but at times it’s still extremely difficult not being together. We saw each other once in the past 4 months, and for the first time ever it is uncertain when we will see each other again. Winning this contest would change that, and we would be extremely grateful! Thanks for your help.

Courtney and Chris are super adorable (I actually spent last New Year's Eve with them here in St. Louis!) and totally deserve this trip together! Please, please vote! All you have to do is go here, click vote for your favorite couple, search Courtney and VOTE. Easy par cheesey. 

Ummmmm, seriously? They are freakin adorable.