Our wide variety of interests and active groups of friends have led us to explore the arts, travel, different cuisines, and the natural world. We both love to learn and explore the world. We are each other's counsel, adventure companion, and advocate. With our different backgrounds and approaches to life, it has been a learning experience in communication. We look forward to growing together in this next stage of our relationship.

KC is a 39-year-old who has never really outgrown her sense of wonder. She works in climate mitigation through natural ecosystems. She appreciates the absurd in all of its forms. KC loves to travel and create recipes (with varied success). She should not go to the hardware store unsupervised as it usually results in more projects or plants. She is happiest in tidepools or when surrounded by family and friends. She is extremely curious and can sometimes get lost in her own world - hence the childhood nickname of "space kace". KC and Justin are each other's sounding boards, adventure partners, and encourage each other to challenge themselves. KC is excited to spend a lifetime of learning with Justin, and accumulating a menagerie along the way.

Justin is a 37-year-old virgo who likes long walks through the vineyards and filling his library with fantasy books and games. He is one of those nerds who loved homework as a kid and whose best friends were teachers. He grew up in Oklahoma with his mother, father, and two brothers before escaping to North Carolina and learning there was more to the world than just country music, barbeque, football, and cow chip bingo. At various points throughout his life, he fancied himself as a world-class tubist, a mediocre tennis player, a French translator at the United Nations, or a Ph.D. chemist in an underground laboratory. While his passions for life have previously included fancy dinners, sparkling wines, board games, and dungeons and dragons, his current passions are finding ways to make KC laugh, cherishing their baby kittens, and exploring the world with her.

It was the typical, love story of boy meets girl. They met on a blind "date" set up by a mutual friend who thought they would be a good fit based on their shared love of being involved in too many things. The only wrinkle to this plot is that the girl had invited all of her best friends and sister to attend as well. No one told the boy he was only supposed to stay an hour so he could be examined and evaluated, so he stayed for several hours getting to know the girl's most important people. Lucky for him, the boy passed the test and was invited on a first date two weeks later, and their story continued.

KC and Justin shared their first date on a rainy, Thursday night in the July of 2014. Justin had completed a long work shift that began at 3 in the morning, and KC was at least 30 minutes late. For those of you that know KC, you would know that this is normal behavior. If you're Justin, you are thinking that KC has come to her senses and changed her mind about wanting to see him again. Once the ever-radiant KC arrived, she ordered the darkest beer they had and started talking about the importance of ocean conservation. Thus began the next chapter in their lives.

KC and Justin planned a romantic trip to France to explore the countryside and all of the food (cheese!) options. Prior to the trip, Justin purchased two rings: one a $32 ring from Amazon and the other a custom-made ring from Montana. Unfortunately, the custom ring wasn't finished in time, so Justin had to make do. Further complicating the proposal were Justin's terrible bout of food poisoning and Paris's terrible bout of frigid weather. KC had spent the previous day at the pharmacy with google translate and feeding Justin tiny spoonfuls of rice krispies. Despite all of these challenges, KC agreed to meet Justin for an early morning photo shoot and proposal** in front of the Eiffel Tower. Not a bad way to start her birthday! **If you buy us a drink, we can tell you the rest of the story of why Justin had to do another proposal to seal the deal.