The first time we met she thought I was gay! It was summer, 2015, when we first met at a work meeting. Later, Arryin asked (her now bridesmaid) Christa about me. Christa assumed she was talking about another co-worker and told her that I was gay. She spent the first few weeks thinking that was the case. Eventually, the misunderstanding was cleared up and I made my (boneheaded) move by handing her my business card rather than giving her my number. To be honest, I was a little intimidated and not thinking clearly! Our first date occurred shortly after. We grabbed sushi (and maybe too many cocktails) at Rock and Sake Cafe, then we went to the Talib Kawli concert. Our next date, we decided to grab a few drinks at the bar across from the restaurant we worked at. As we sat outside the bar, looking across at the patio of our (closed) workplace, we decided we would hop the small fence and sit over for a more quiet place to talk. We were in the middle of talking when we noticed the flashing lights inside the restaurant. It was the silent alarm! We hopped back over to the bar and pretended like nothing happened as we watched the woman who cleaned the restaurant eventually disarm the alarm. While that night ended our trespassing future , it was the beginning of another.

Now that we live in Oregon, we often find ourselves missing our friends and family in New Orleans. Tim planned a small vacation to visit them. A group of 10 of us (my 4 bridesmaids and their partners) rented a house on the beach in Florida for the weekend of November 14th. Everyone was acting kind of funny as we hurried to catch the sunset at the beach. Arielle (one of my bridesmaids) is an amazing photographer and she was "supposedly" going to snap a few pics of the group on the beach. I thought it was odd that Tim cared so much about the sunset and that my friends who can never arrive at the same time EVER were all out the door waiting on me. I wondered why they looked at me so crazy when I put a beanie on, and now I know why! Anyway- we got down to the beach and Tim walked me away from the group, towards the sunset that we almost missed. He said a few things, including that he wanted to be with me forever. I of course responded, "Forever ever, forever ever?" (Outkast line). I was making jokes not realizing what was happening. He gave out a little sigh and next thing I know he was on his knee with my friends cheering in the distance. It was pretty special. Shout out to Arielle for the proposal pics. They are beautiful.