We're Getting Married!

We met and started dating in December 2013. Jess was in the middle of her Ph.D. program and Eugen was starting a new company at the time. The first 6 months were filled with romantic nights out, trips to Telluride, Boston, LA, and San Diego, Crossfit workouts, and meeting family for the first time. In 2014, Eugen moved to San Francisco for an exciting work opportunity and Jess stayed in Phoenix to finish her final year of grad school. We flew back and forth a lot that year. We spent our time together exploring San Francisco, wine tasting in Napa, and trying to figure out how to get to the same city. In 2015, Jess took a position as a professor at UNLV in Las Vegas and started traveling every week to San Francisco. After two years of distance and no end in sight, we decided the distance was too hard. That lasted 9 months. Jess made the move to San Francisco in June 2017 and the next February, we got engaged at the top of a mountain in Telluride. Now we get to spend the rest of our lives together (in the same city) and couldn't be happier for the future.

Telluride was the first trip we ever took together and instantly became our favorite place. It's truly magical in the winter. We planned a trip in Feb 2018 just before moving back to Scottsdale. We went with a group of friends and stayed in this beautiful home right on the mountain. The first day, Eugen told me he wanted us to have lunch to celebrate our 4 year Telluride anniversary. Around 11:30am, we took the ski lift up to the restaurant (the highest restaurant in North America) where he had made reservations. When we finally got to the restaurant, I remember thinking that it was a really beautiful and romantic place and how lucky I was to be there with Eugen. By chance, we got to sit at the best table in the whole restaurant right in front of the fireplace. As we were being seated, Eugen left to go to the bathroom (I found out later he was taking the ring out of the protective box he was using while snowboarding). When he came back, he ordered champagne and we made a toast to 4 years together. Right after, Eugen glanced at me with a nervous, half smiling look and started talking about how much he loved our life together, and then he said "You know it takes me a long time to make decisions right? But I never want to make another decision without you. Will you be my wife?" It was the most adorable and romantic thing I'd ever heard. After initially saying "Are you serious?" I said "yes of course" and kissed him in front of the fire. I felt like I was floating. Eugen is the kindest, most genuine man I've ever known. He's also tall, dark, handsome, and has an accent...and I can't wait to marry him.

February 2018 - things were moving really fast. I decided that it was time for me to move back to Scottsdale AZ, quit my job in San Francisco and take the next step in my life. And it just happened that our good friends invited us to spend a few days with them in Telluride, which is our favorite place and where we took our first trip together after only two months of dating. Truth being told, Telluride has been my place for a long time, and the Alpino Vino restaurant (at 11,966 feet) was the place I always dreamed I would propose to my future wife. We arrived to Telluride, gave my friends the heads up on what was about to happen, repeated what I was about to say 100 times in my head, made sure I hid the ring in my jacket, and debated whether I should keep it in the box or not, a box that drove me crazy as I was consistently afraid of breaking my ribs if I fell while snowboarding. The snowboarding day started, we took the lift 14 up to Alpino Vino and I could only think about one thing - get to the restaurant in time, get the best table, run to the bathroom to get the ring from the stupid box, and order their best champagne. Everything went better than expected. After I found a reason why I should order their best champagne (made up a 4 year celebration from our first Telluride trip), I told her: "You know I take a long time to make decisions in life, but I really don't want to make another one in my life without you". I took the ring and gave it to her and asked: "Will you be my wife?". Then she replied "Are you serious?". Now that was pretty unexpected. I didn't know whether I should keep tearing up, or ask her back "Are you serious about asking me whether I am serious?". She changed pretty quickly and said "YES". It was beautiful. And as I always have to worry about something in my life (I can't just relax), I was just hoping we would make it back to the base in one piece after drinking a couple glasses of champagne.