Tina & Nick found each other using a dating app called Bumble. On Bumble girls have to initiate the first move which Tina was a big fan of. She started chatting with this cute boy named Nick who looked athletic, had a dog, and had the most gorgeous blue eyes! Both had pictures from their obstacle course races, so Tina's opening line was "when are you doing another race?". They met two weeks later for their first date on February 15th, 2018 at a local spot with drinks and games, per Nick's suggestion. Tina walked into the bar first to order a drink. Nick arrived shortly after and found Tina at the bar. Tina turned around and hardly recognized him because he had SHAVED his head! Tina decided to see past this and stayed for the date. That night went great and they agreed to meet up the next two nights! Two weeks later, Nick got a job offer in Los Angeles, California. Like the true gentleman he is, he told Tina this bad news on their next date. (for which many of Tina's friends greatly applaud him for) They agreed to call things off while he traveled to LA to consider the job. Tina was devastated but considered that this just wasn't meant to be. One week later, Nick texted Tina to let her know that he was not going to accept the job. He went on to say that in visiting LA he realized how much he has to appreciate here in Charlotte. How much of that was impacted by Tina, we may never know. Needless to say, Tina was floored. They met for lunch at Chipotle that week and Nick asked Tina if she wanted to continue where they left off. "YES!" It took no time at all for their relationship to be in full swing. Nick asked Tina to be his girlfriend April 6th, 2018. "YES!" She asked him to come to her Master's Degree Graduation at East Carolina University. This is where he first met most of Tina's family. Five months later they would run the Savage Race together. 7 miles, 28 obstacles later, they still liked each other.

Tina's favorite holiday has always been New Year's Eve. It's exciting to watch the ball drop, dress up, and partake in the unanimous celebration at midnight! For their second New Years together, Nick knew this was his time to pop the question and in his words "make the holiday, that you always spend taking care of other people and celebrating the New Year, about you" Tina flew home from Florida the 30th and had to work a half day the 31st. The plan was to go to a rooftop bar in Uptown before the party. Tina headed home to begin getting ready for the night out. Nick picked Tina up to head to the "rooftop bar". They parked and walked through Romare Bearden Park and Tina did notice Nick was walking awfully slow and making short pauses. They walked in front of the waterfalls, that were glowing purple, and Nick spun Tina around and dropped to one knee. Tina tried so hard to stay present and remember what he said but of course its all jumbled together after "You make me so happy..." He did remember to ask "Will you marry me?" He slid on the ring and tears/hugs/kisses followed. Nick motioned for Tina to turn around and when she did, she realized her best friend Sarah, Mark, Ben, CJ and Ryan were all there recording the whole thing. Tina ran to Sarah and lost it! Sarah hadn't been to Charlotte in over a year and Tina knew in that moment that she and Nick had been planning this for a long time. In November, Nick reached out to Sarah and told her that he wanted to propose on New Year's Eve and wanted her to be there. They changed their contact names in each other's phones and only communicated during work hours. Ideas and plans were made (of course with some mishaps along the way - including Sarah being booked on the same flight back to Charlotte as Tina) but eventually the plan blossomed and was executed perfectly. That night all of their friends arrived, ready to celebrate the engagement.