I was asked by friends to a Thursday Tourists baseball game. I am not the sports type, so I was there for entertainment with friends. I was able to spot Brett by his tall stature and strawberry blonde hair. I noticed him pretty quickly wearing a plain white t-shirt and basketball shorts which didn’t fit with most outfits there. I was mentioning how cute he was to a friend and then he was gone! I later found out he had made a quick stop there before leaving to play basketball with friends. We would end up connecting through mutual friends and social media a few days after the game. There was a few dates and a strong friendship build between two of us. Both being stubborn in our ways of relationships it took many years before we both quit fighting our fate because we always came back to each other. It took numerous long years in the making, but maybe sooner if we had just listened to our hearts!

Brett and I started our relationship in Asheville, NC and a few short months later he was offered a job at ISU in Indiana. I planned to relocate with him, but a couple life events changed my plans. We ended up having a long-distance relationship for a while and then decided to move into together at the start of a brand new year. We moved in together January 2020 and the pandemic started within a few weeks. Adjusting from long distance to 24/7 togetherness was incredibly interesting, but we really took the time to appreciate the experience. We lived in Indiana at the time and visited many different areas including amazing national parks with our Cane Corso, Beulah. We even took romantic strolls with Beulah through Lowes as we did some home projects as well. We made through the hardest part of the pandemic and Brett’s job relocated us back south to Clarksville, Tennessee. We have thoroughly enjoyed our new town with being close to Music City. Our dating life now consists of country concerts at Bridgestone arena, visiting the Grand Old Opry for a night of talented musicians or maybe Nashville Palace where Randy Travis got his first start in the country music scene. We have been to dozens of delicious steakhouses in the area. Bourbon Oak on the 34th floor of JW Marriott has an amazing view of the Nashville skyline, and definitely one of our favorites. We most recently added a brand new Corso (Bronco) to our family and he has been a total blast. We spend our days now taking in all this place has to offer and are excited to continue exploring this life as Husband and Wife!

It was when we moved to Tennessee, personally I was very excited to be close to Nashville! I knew I wanted to take Chyrise to Opryland Hotel as soon as I could because it’s an amazing place and I knew she would love it just as much as I did, and that turned out to be the case! Christmas of 2021, we decided to give each other experiences for Christmas rather than a gift. At that point, I knew I would get her something involving being at the Opryland Hotel because Chyrise is the biggest Christmas fan I know, and Opryland at Christmas time is one of the most beautiful places to be! We went to the Oak Ridge Boys Christmas Dinner Show with the hopes she would enjoy it, and it turns out, she loved it! Afterwards, we walked the grounds of the Hotel and took in the Christmas lights and decorations which we both enjoy doing. So between Christmas of 2021 and Christmas of 2022, the plan was put in place. I knew how much she has always wanted a magical moment during the Christmas season. So once again, we agreed to give experiences for Christmas instead of gifts. This past Christmas, Opryland was hosting an ice sculpting display, that was the theme of the classic Rudolph movie. I decided to get tickets for that and tickets for the Oak Ridge Boys Christmas Dinner Show again because she had expressed how much she enjoyed it! I had it planned to go to the ice sculpture display and then to the show. Afterwards, we would walk around the grounds again and look at all the Christmas lights and decorations! Only this time, I had a special place I wanted to propose to her!