Of all the [beer] joints at Indiana University, she walked into mine... It was a fateful Wednesday night at Bloomington's (not-so) classiest establishment, The Bluebird. Jon saw Julia grabbing a round of 15 cent beers at the bar and then taking a seat next to mutual friends and the rest is history...sort of. Julia flew to DC the next day, so the 2nd date offer was put on hold until a couple of months later. Fancy drinks, rock climbing, coffee dates and several parking tickets later (2 hour spots just weren't enough!) the rest truly was history. What can we say? Long distance must have made the heart grow fonder from IN to DC to NYC to Chicago to California.

The Sleeping Giant is awoken... We both felt the magic as soon as we landed in Kauai, little did Julia know though, Jon was carrying around a precious box waiting for the right moment. After mountain tubing, we set out to hike The Sleeping Giant on a hot afternoon. The trail started in an enchanted forest reminding us of the Redwoods. Julia raced to the top making Jon assume she knew what was coming at the summit (reality: she was clueless, tired and ready to get back to the Airbnb.) After some muddy climbs and rock scrambling, we found ourselves all alone with panoramic views of Kauai's green mountains and the Pacific Ocean. Could there be a better moment? Jon nervously dug through his bag and retrieved a wooden box (held upside down, oops!) and said lots of beautiful words (of which Julia remembers about 7.) After several "Is this real life's," Julia said "Yes" and here we are...