come celebrate with us!

In the summer of 2017, Michelle was hiring for a casting position on the hit television show “Trading Spaces” for TLC. Rob was referred to the job by their mutual friend, Aaron Simnowitz. The phone interview went great, but to Rob’s dismay, Michelle was not willing to give him the the job. According to Michelle, Rob was overqualified and the low salary wouldn't have done his resume justice. Rob begged and pleaded for the position, but Michelle stood firm in her belief that Rob should not lower his standards. She promised that she would call him with a better opportunity if one came along. Rob was annoyed, and developed a small grudge after they hung up. The year is now 2018, and Rob just left an interview with “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire". He was offered the job and accepted immediately, and was preparing to live in Las Vegas for the next 3 months. As he was driving home from the interview, all of a sudden he received a phone call from a familiar voice. It was Michelle, calling to say that she was once again hiring for “Trading Spaces”, this time with a more appropriate casting budget. Michelle asked if he was available to come into the office that day to interview. Rob was confused, and still held a slight grudge against the person who snubbed him the year before. He had just accepted another job, but still had to meet the girl who dismissed him the year prior. Rob went home and spitefully changed out of his interview attire. He put on flip flops, board shorts, a t-shirt, and of course his baseball hat. He then proceeded to drive to Burbank to meet this voice he had heard two years in a row over the phone, with zero intention of working for Michelle. When Rob arrived at the Authentic Entertainment office he couldn’t have felt more foolish. Michelle greeted him with the biggest smile and a welcoming, professional demeanor. Rob was enthralled by her beauty, but still couldn’t hold his head up because of his outfit selection. Nevertheless, Michelle offered Rob the job on the spot, and he quickly called “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire” to decline the other position. He didn’t tell them why, but it was because he knew he couldn’t pass up the opportunity to be around Michelle every day. **Rob would also like to add that during their in-person interview, Michelle told him that he looked like Matt Damon. Months later, during casual group conversation, Michelle shared that one of her celebrity crushes was Matt Damon. Rob knew from that moment that he had a shot.

We hung out as just friends in Los Angeles several times, doing random things, like attending concerts or seeing comedy shows. Our first official date was in Austin at Cooper's BBQ on South Congress. It was there that Rob realized what an incredibly slow eater Michelle is, and Michelle discovered Rob's unexpected love for coleslaw. The rest of the afternoon consisted of exploring shops and listening to live music along South Congress Avenue. The September Austin weather was incredibly hot, but we held hands as we walked for hours, taking touristy photos, and laughing at ourselves, all the while completely unaware that we were both coming down with COVID. You might say that our love was infectious from the start. Rob takes no credit for that bad joke.

Exactly one year from the day we moved in together, Rob popped the question. That morning, there was a card and 5 dozen roses on the dining table. The card explained that there was 1 dozen roses for every year we've known each other, and instructed Michelle to get prepared for a fun afternoon! Rob said that we were going to visit 3 places - 2 were memories, 1 was brand new. The first stop was a bar & grill near our old apartment (The Mill), where we celebrated first moving in together. Michelle was thrown off with the second stop, thinking it was also going to be a memory. Instead, we pulled up to an unfamiliar east Austin neighborhood and walked inside the gates at The Sekrit Theater. Rob rented out the entire location for the proposal, and hired a photographer who hid in one of the old houses to take photos. He proposed inside the glass greenhouse in an amazing way with heartfelt words that Michelle wishes she could remember more clearly; it was so overwhelming and romantic that she essentially blacked out, and has begged Rob to repeat everything he said during the proposal since... We drank champagne and wandered the property - it was so unique and romantic! The third stop was a favorite local restaurant we had been to before, Siena Ristorante, where we celebrated with dinner and drinks. It was an incredibly memorable afternoon/evening!