Anna and Austin’s story began in their final semester at Purdue University. Just around the time they both had jobs lined up—Austin with Pinterest in San Francisco, and Anna in Milwaukee to start a two-year program with GE. They met on the dance floor of “Where Else” and quickly learned that they had the same birthday (yes, Austin pulled out his license on the dance floor to prove it). After hanging out for a couple months and insisting that it was nothing serious, they both finally admitted that they were in too deep to not give long distance a shot. Admittedly, Austin was quick to realize that what they had was something special, but it wasn’t until a midnight phone call to her big brother, Kyle, that Anna realized she needed to try out this long distance post-college relationship. By coincidence, they learned that they both had a post-graduation Europe trip with friends planned and nearly identical itineraries. A few weeks into the trip, Austin took a detour from his friends itinerary to stick with Anna, and quickly bonded over shared reading interests with Kyle, who had also flown out to meet Anna in Berlin. After returning from Europe, Anna moved to Milwaukee and Austin to SF, where they overcame the struggles of a long-distance relationship across multiple time-zones with daily FaceTime calls. Over these daily calls, they continued to learn they had more and more in common - although a sleep schedule was not one of those things. More than once, Anna would wake up at 5am (2am in SF) for a workout class and could text Austin good night as he went to bed after a late night of programming or reading. Eventually Anna moved to Seattle for her final rotation with GE—they were finally in the same time zone (going to bed within 4-5 hours of each other), Austin became a loyal Virgin Airlines flyer, and time between visits decreased from 1 month to 2 weeks—it felt like a dream. They also continued to plan multiple adventures, from Machu Picchu to the Amalfi Coast in Italy. In 2017, Anna moved to San Francisco and the 2 years of long distance came to an end. Sharing the same city as a home base also allowed them to take more road trip adventures, such as climbing Half Dome in Yosemite and running across the Grand Canyon. Finally, in September 2021, Austin asked Anna to meet up with his old roommate, Michael, and his wife, Jen, for a picnic in the park. On the way, Austin suggested they cut through a quiet Presidio trail to get there. Before long, they came across a heart made out of tree branches on the ground. Before Anna knew what was happening, Austin was on his knee with a ring in his hand. In between laughing at how unsuspecting she had been, Anna said “Yes!” and they continued on their walk to the picnic on the Presidio Green. As they got closer, Anna started laughing again as she saw all of their closest friends waiting for them. Anna and Austin are currently living in the Lower Haight neighborhood of San Francisco, where their idea of a perfect Saturday starts with a long run with friends in Golden Gate Park (for Anna), a morning of learning languages or watching the latest F1 race (for Austin), and eating homemade pancakes on their back patio. In the afternoon you can likely find them hanging out in Alamo Square or Duboce Park if they’re not already off hiking, rock climbing, or adventuring with friends. They can’t wait for all their favorite people to come out and visit next spring so they can show off some of their favorite parts of California! (teaser: think redwoods, the ocean, and delicious coffee & pastry shops!)