they met at an irish pub called the burren in somerville, ma. sami was meeting up with her best friend from high school, steph, and didn't realize steph was bringing her good friend, ryan. sami was so taken with ryan that first night, she flirted with him shamelessly. her pick up line was, "i really like your glasses." and the rest is history.

their first date was on a sunday night at green street tavern in cambridge, ma. sami ordered a glass of chardonnay to try to impress ryan... little did she know he was a total wine snob. they spent the whole night talking — they even closed down the restaurant. ryan was so nervous at the end of the date. when he was walking sami to her car, he quickly blurted, "welp this was fun, see ya later!" before running frantically to his apartment. thank goodness he's suave via text.

the next year and a half was filled with late-night train rides, early flights, and exciting weekends together exploring boston and washington dc. it was also filled with lots of phone calls that may have nauseated their roommates. the hardest part was the goodbyes — ryan would always say, "i'm never too far away, i'm only just down the street." just down the street meaning 450 miles up i-95...

on a warm fall day in september, they packed up the uhaul and drove from silver spring to philly to their first home. a tiny 1 bedroom apartment in west philadelphia. they watched annie hall and ate take-out sushi on top of their packed boxes. they got to make this new city their home — and going from long distance to living together was a fascinating transition. ryan learned that sami likes to hum the same three bars of whatever song is stuck in her head over and over again, and sami learned that ryan has some... interesting... approaches when it comes to loading the dishwasher. but it also meant that they were able to lean into some of their favorite things, like cooking new recipes, watching movies, and playing tennis.

almost anyone who knows ryan and sami, knows that their cats are a very important part of their lives. in september of 2018, they were lucky to bring home gil and evie. after almost three years with these two gremlins, and many scratches later, evie has turned into quite the snuggle bug — and gil is still afraid of... everything.

best. day. ever. ryan took sami on a morning hike on hawk mountain in pennsylvania. little did ryan know, sami could see the ring box in his backpack most of the way up the mountain. but what sami wasn't expecting was to come home to friends and family that traveled to celebrate her and ryan's engagement together.

and as we all know, the pandemic has thrown a bit of a wrench in all of our lives. the past year has been full of snuggles with the cats, sweatpants, some despair, and lots of movies — ryan watched 100 movies last year! it's been a challenge, but we're so looking forward to a safe celebration with friends and family soon.