Let's (finally) do this!!

We met through a mutual friend. After a couple of long talks and hilarious encounters there was the night of the bonfire. We danced around for hours and listened to our favorite bands (including the song "Rare Hearts," which Cole had dedicated to me early on). In the midst of it all he told me if I put on his "Red and Whites" (the all famous Lake Arrowhead Ski School shorts) I would have to marry him. Turns out he was right, because that next weekend I went home and told my family I had met the guy I was going to end up with. A wild joke from two acquaintances turned into two best friends ready to laugh through life together.

This process began months before I proposed to Emily. Many secret meetings with her mom to go over timing, location, and decoration took place in order for it to go off without a hitch. We had planned to go to the Getty Museum a while before she knew of any ring or proposal, so I thought LA was the perfect decoy trip to keep her guessing. After walking around the museum looking at art and extremely strange goat-human sculptures we headed off to a cat cafe, where Emily had wanted to go for years. While she gawked and meowed (quite literally) at the cats, I hid in terror texting our moms my current whereabouts. The next stop was Hermosa Beach. LaLaLand had been her favorite movie for a long time so the pier and cafe where it was filmed was the site of the actual proposal. A single rose waited on the boardwalk under a railing with a note from me. I pulled it out and walked her down to the beach. Long story short (sparing you the mushy, gushy, sentimental details) I got down on one knee surrounded by 100 roses of her favorite color and popped the question.