We met while studying at Loyola Marymount University. We were both in the LMU choirs together getting ready for the choir's big Italy tour. We were hanging out at a friend's house after a concert and were playing King's Cup. I drew a nine and they all had to rhyme. Someone said "Katie is so fine" and Eric said "I want to make her mine". And many Island's dinners later... He asked me out to the Paradise Cove in Malibu where he later proceeded to play his guitar to my favorite classical piece Elegie by Mertz. He kissed me and asked me to be his girlfriend and the rest is history.

If you know anything about Katie, it is next to impossible to try and get anything by her. So when it came time to pop the question I had to try my best to try and make this a surprise. When she went home before me during Christmas break, I found my window of opportunity. I took her grandmother’s ring to get resized and reset hoping to pop the question after Christmas. I flew back first which gave me enough time to pick up the ring and set up everything for annual post-Christmas present exchange. Every holiday, or whenever I get the chance, I try to write a special card for her. Since this is our oldest tradition, I thought it was the perfect way to deliver the message. Everything started to fall into place as our best friends, Amber and Daniel, gave us a giftcard to the famous Austin restaurant, Truluck’s. So... ring CHECK, surprise CHECK, dinner celebration afterwards CHECK. The only thing missing now was Katie. I picked her up from the airport and on our ride home she asked about our New Years Eve reservations at Truluck’s. I told her we were going to eat there tonight because of a cold front would keep us indoors on NYE. Of course, she was a little disappointed but was understanding. We finally made it home and I begged her to exchange our gifts right away. I let her open up her yoga mat and some other things she had on her Christmas list before suddenly “remembering” that I had my card in the room. I grabbed the card and ring and let her read it. I don’t think she even finished reading it when she looked down to me on bended knee with the ring. I didn’t even have time to physically get the words out before she grabbed me and said yes! I’ve never seen her so happy or surprised in my life. It will be a cherished memory of the first and probably only time I could actually get her a gift that she didn’t see coming. And we are both so elated that we get to share this expression of our love with our friends and family.