I had just moved across the country to a new state where I knew 2 people- one being a former college TA I had kept in touch with and the other being my father's childhood friend. Luckily, my college TA was understanding that he was the only person I knew in the area and a couple weeks after I settled into my new apartment and job, he invited me to dinner with his friends who were, and I quote, "4 dudes". Ted was one of the dudes. Luckily, this friend group ended up adopting me and I made some life long friends as well. A couple months later, after getting invited to someone else's holiday party as a friend of a friend, I ended up messaging Ted to ask him if he knew the people that were hosting the party, since I didn't want to show up and be totally alone and no one else who I knew was going was responding to me. He said that he happened to go to college with the hosts and said he would be glad to go with me. We ended up meeting at the Redmond Trader Joe's (can't show up empty-handed!) and spent a little bit looking for things to bring to the party. I remember thinking, 'This is a very couples thing to do.' We ended up going to the party together and had a blast. After this came the holiday breaks, where both of us went back to our respective homes. Once we were both back in Washington state, Ted offered to drive me to IKEA to help me return something that I had been having trouble getting to IKEA with. (Can you tell that not having to drive is the act of service I appreciate the most?) Going to IKEA is the ultimate test of whether two people can be in a relationship, and we both passed. Later in January, Ted invited me to dinner at his place to watch Battlestar Galactica, after having spent many night playing the board game with our friend group. Ted made a wonderful slow-cooked chili, I was very impressed and we've been together ever since that day.

Karina and I met soon after we moved to Washington. We were both new college grads, just beginning our careers with our first professional jobs. I had been living in Redmond for a couple of months when a few friends of mine invited me to dinner at the Tipsy Cow. As always, there was a wait at the popular burger bar, so we gathered outside to hang out until our table was ready. The rest of my friends arrived, and a pretty, quiet girl who I hadn't met before was also present. Her name was Karina. We didn't talk too much that evening, but we shared some mutual friends, and soon began going to social events together. We really hit it off at a Christmas party a few months later, where we met up beforehand to go to Trader Joe's to get some snacks to bring. Karina and I spent most of the evening talking together and enjoyed each other's company there. Later, we made plans to go to Ikea together to pick up some furniture. Apparently as a test, Karina decided to style her hair in a ridiculous space buns shape, but we had fun anyway. We began texting more and more often, and eventually started going out on dates. We spent a lot of time together, going on adventures all over the Pacific Northwest, including visiting Vancouver to see Nightwish in concert and going to Victoria and Astoria. From there, well, we arrived at the present situation.

Ted got a ring, almost couldn't wait until Saturday, took Karina out the Seattle arboeturm to see the changing trees- a favorite fall activity. He had planned on proposing in the Overview Gazebo, but when we got there, it was totally trashed. Ted had to pivot, found a wonderful bench with an even better view and popped the question. Afterwards, we had a wonderful brunch in Redmond and picked up a surprise Princess Torte from Hoffman's bakery (a true gem!)