Welcome!

Julius and I met on a ranch in the middle of nowhere - Gallatin Gateway, MT. We were coworkers, I a waitress and he in housekeeping. He noticed me, and I him. Little did we know it was to change the course of our very existence... forever. He tried to let me know he was interested by shaving his mustache, and asking me if I knew who John Frusciante was. I tried to cook him (and the ranch) food and get to know him. What actually got us started was crashing a stranger's wedding due to a few drinks and a practical joke played by a coworker that almost got me fired. Ah, how fate works in mysterious ways. And now, we can only hope for the same beautiful chaos to invade our own wedding to bless, in full-circled fashion, a bountiful union.

Julius had planned a trip to go to Marquette for a 10-year rugby reunion. I politely and graciously declared he could go alone, as I have very little interest in rugby. However, he said he'd love for me to come and meet his old crew. All of a sudden, my parents began to talk about wedding plans. And our 3 year anniversary was during the trip. "Hmm..." I thought. "Could it be?" So, we began our trip, and I made sure to prepare. I made 180-ish personalized Magic the Gathering cards of us. Got all glammed up. As a gal does when she might have her life irrevocably changed forever. And if I was wrong, well, at least I'd look good. Then our plane stalled. And stalled. And stalled. Suddenly, it looked like our entire weekend might change... Julius is making calls. I'm getting breakfast and coffee. Would we be going to Marquette still? Or would we be stuck? Julius arranges it so that we are still flying to Chicago, then rents a car to face track our trip to Marquette. More chaos. Then we find out his favorite college restaurant, where he's wanted to take me that day, was closed. At this point, I assumed any plans could be called off, due to the stress. He still wants to get dressed up and go to Presque Park, though, so we stop at a as station after ma few hours, and try to change as quickly as possible. That plan was slowed down due to a large Amish family using the single stall bathroom a single child at a time. Finally, we change, get on the road, and make it to the park. Julius wants to take photos to celebrate the fact that we still made it! We traverse cliffside trails while he looks for the perfect spot. Then he says, "This one should work." We begin taking photos just as the sun was beginning to set. Then, I turn around, and he's on one knee. "I guess this is the part where I say this..." It was perfect. A day where we both felt like every single thing we did could not have gone more un-smoothly, went off (in actuality) without a hitch. A great story, a greater memory, and a gorgeous ring. I say this because the ring that Julius proposed to me with, he actually designed with a local jeweler in town. It has a Montana sapphire - for where we met, and the rest is actually bits and pieces repurposed from my Great-Grandmother (Oma)'s ring. Afterwards, he pointed across the cliff, and I suddenly understood why there needed to be such singularly perfect cliff. He's hidden a photographer to capture the entire thing on camera! I was able to give him the Magic the Gathering cards that I made, and the ring I had prepared too. We spent the weekend exploring, cliff jumping, playing with our new cards, eating great food, and most importantly... very, very happy.