Like most couples these days, we met online. We both liked football, card and board games, cooking and spicy food. He, in fact, had on his profile that he made his own hot sauce...SCORE! Nonetheless we had lots to talk about over the next couple weeks. Later, I would find out that he liked that I could hold a conversation compared to others in the online dating world. I know. Me? Talkative? We then decided to meet for drinks at Confluence Brewery in Des Moines. Being a fall Saturday, I was busy watching college football and was actually running late to the meet up as the Huskers were winning [dramatic pause as that rarely happens]. I quickly messaged him that I was on the way, and I owed him a beer for my tardiness. A couple delicious local brews later, and we were challenging each other in Scrabble and talking about our list of favorites (ie. ice cream, colors, etc.). We quickly made plans for a second date. Lucky me, he gave me small bottle of hot sauce at the end of that date and man, that was delicious -- so much better than store-bought bottles and even spicier. Seriously, it was love in a bottle for me [chef's kiss]. For the third date, Jared wanted to cook for me. I was blown away by smoked chicken enchiladas with homemade tortillas and sauce on cilantro lime rice. I'm not saying it was then that we fell in love, although it was amazing, but over the next months of watching the Chiefs, trying new restaurants and breweries, competing against each other in board and card games, and going on long trail walks we really got to know each other.

It was just a usual Friday where I went up to Ankeny to see Jared after work. We planned to eat somewhere in Altoona so we could go to Bass Pro Shop afterwards to pick up some casing for brat making later that same weekend (yep, he makes his own and they are so good!). Jared picked out Brick and Ivy where was enjoyed a great meal on the patio -- it wasn't too hot for July or me. After Bass Pro Shop -- we really know how to have a good time -- we returned to his house and took Arial, his dog, for a walk. After the walk, he went upstairs to grab something and invited me to grab a beer from the fridge. I opened the fridge and there were two hot sauce bottles on the top shelf with a red ribbon between them and a ring. It was my claddagh ring, a ring I was given years prior from my parents that I had mentioned would be something I would wear my whole life and just change fingers and rotations based on my status in life. [Learn more here: https://www.claddaghrings.com/how-to-wear-a-claddagh-ring/] Well, seeing as it was summer, I wasn't wearing it, and Jared had taken it sometime earlier for this moment. Upon seeing the ring, I quickly closed the fridge doors. When Jared came downstairs, I said that there was a ring in there. He said he knew, and they were attached to two bottles of dill pickle hot sauce -- a flavor I had been asking for all summer. He then asked if I was answering yes, but I quickly replied that there wasn't a question. Jared laughed at my sharp wittiness then proposed with the ring and placed in on my finger as I said yes. We hugged and kissed. Ariel wasn't sure what was going on and became very jealous and barked. After a group hug, including her, we did a taste test of the dill pickle hot sauce (yum!) and cheered with a beer. It was a big dill, let me tell ya!

After our engagement we combined households and now reside in a little red house in the Beaverdale neighborhood of Des Moines. Jared had adopted a rescue mix breed years prior, a dog named Ariel, and she loves having a fenced in backyard to run freely with lots of fat squirrels to chase. Jared has started a raised bed vegetable garden, and we have enjoyed the many offerings that it has produced -- including homemade hot sauce. Together we still enjoy playing board and card games, cooking, watching football and trying new things -- please let us know of any your favorite games, recipes or restaurants, so we can add to our list! We aim for a weekly date night just to reset. Plus, we like new foods and drinks....have you realizes that yet?! We have a long list of places we would like to travel and are always looking ahead for the next vacation destination. But in the meantime, we find weekends in Lincoln or Ames as short, relaxing getaways.