We're finally getting married!

The year was 2015. We met through mutual friends (Thanks, Sevi!) in Philly while pursuing our PhDs at Drexel University. The Biomedical Engineering group had multiple themed potlucks throughout the year. Etta thought James was handsome and a great listener (& this is still true). Etta pursued James and the rest is history. ;)

Our first date was a bowling date. We talked (and never stopped talking) all night. Things just fell into place after this so we never really have a 'we are bf/gf' date so this is our anniversary date. <3

We were planning on going on a weekend getaway (Sorry Andrew & Reva) but Etta had other plans. She saw Lola on Philly's Morris Animal Refuge website and it was love at first paws. We adopted our first pet that day. Lola was originally named Layla. Lola has enhanced our lives & relationship in so many ways that we never thought would be possible by a pet.

By this time, we had been together about 6 years. James was considering a Post-Doc at the Cleveland Clinic and Etta was finishing up her PhD and applied to a job at Penn State. While our lives were going into different locations, we both knew we wanted to spend our lives together. In the meantime, the midpoint for us was SCE and where we started considering our future together. James and Etta went on a hiking trip in State College, PA. Just like any other trip to his parents place, we tried to get out to explore. This hike was rather difficult and took maybe 2 hours to get to the top. When we got to the top, both sweaty, James got down on one knee and presented Etta with a ring. Etta said Yes. & Lola agreed (lol).

This ring belonged to his Grandmother Ayers. It was passed along to him. Apparently, she had small fingers. LOL. We decided on resetting the stone to Etta's liking. James first ring that he ever gave to Etta was a Tiffany ring with two sapphires. So, the final ring has the stone set with two sapphires. <3