We're getting married!

I met Dan at the Freehold mall when he took a job at the t-shirt job I worked at. I had only been there for about two weeks but was asked to train him. After about a month I asked him if he wanted to go see the new Blair witch movie with me (he'll insist to anyone who will listen that he asked me). After the movie we sat in the bed of his avalanche and watched the sun set over the mall.

On Sunday, June 22nd, we went on a painting date at a park in Princeton. I didn't think much of it since we have paint and sip date nights at home, and he kept it very casual. It was cloudy and humid, not too hot, and the grass was still wet with the morning dew. Dan put on a painting playlist with lots of indie songs that I loved. We decided to make it a contest and reveal the painting at the end. For an hour, we painted the colonnade, sang, and made jabs at each other about who would win. At the end of the hour, we took turns revealing our paintings. When I turned away for him to set up his painting, he "tripped" knocking over his canvas, which gave him time to swap out his painting for one he had commissioned of him proposing in the colonnade. When I turned, I instantly said "you didn't paint that!", and turned to see him on one knee. We finished the morning with breakfast at I HOP.

After moving into our apartment together in Plainsboro in 2020, we realized for the first time in our lives when we were both living in a home without a dog and it was pretty lonely. We both hoped the get an older dog that was house-trained and calm. After looking at a few shelters we realized that most were cleared out because it was the middle of a pandemic and everyone was home so most dogs were adopted. When I was working one Friday at Target Dan decided to take a look at a shelter that said they were getting a shipped of dogs in. He texted me and told he that he found a puppy he loved and insisted he was so calm and cuddly. When I got out of work Dan was waiting at home for me with the tiniest, roundest little puppy. Only a few days later did we find out that he was lightly sedated due to being neutered and that he was still a crazy puppy.

One of my favorite memories together was our first real vacations with friends (Chris), went we took a two-day trip to Watkins Glen, NY, which is part of the Finger Lakes. In two days, we went on three hikes, a cheese tasting, swimming in a secluded waterfall, wine tasting, dinner on the lake and all the local coffee shops, ice cream shops, and bakeries.