Michael and I met on my birthday! We happened to sit next to each other on an airplane flying from Portland, OR to Denver, CO. I asked Michael if he was headed home to Denver or if he was from Portland. We began talking and I found out that he was living in the Denver area at the time, like me, and that he had been in Oregon because he was looking to move somewhere in the Pacific North West. Of course this got me bragging about Alaska! By the end of the flight, Michael had seen copious photos of Alaska and heard many of my stories about why it's such an awesome place to live. We traded phone numbers and went on our first date a few days later-- it lasted for hours and we laughed a lot. Who doesn't love a good taco! The rest is history. I moved back to Alaska for a new job opportunity a few weeks after we met. 6 months later, Michael packed his Prius and moved up as well!

Michael and I went to France at the end of last year. Unbeknownst to me, Michael had bigger plans for the trip. He asked my parents' permission to marry me and ordered a ring before we left. When the ring he had custom ordered did not arrive in Alaska before the trip, he had it overnight shipped to LA, where we had our first stop over Thanksgiving weekend. Even so, he only got it in the nick of time. Right before we flew out, Michael's mom notified him that the ring had come in and she brought it to him at the airport. He got it and we then flew away to France. Our first leg of our French journey was Paris. We thoroughly enjoyed exploring the Christmas market, Louvre and Parisian streets. On the final morning in our Parisian Airbnb, after a deep conversation about life and hopes and dreams, Michael proposed to me. I didn't believe him at first when he said "Will you marry me?" I asked him if he was "for real". He said to hold on and ran to get a small wooden box. Inside the box was a gorgeous handmade ring and he said he wanted to marry me and asked again. I said yes! He had cooked breakfast as well, so we ate and reveled in our new engagement. Our Airbnb hosts were so happy for us they brought us a bottle of Champagne at our check out to celebrate!