We're throwing a party about it

Mateo and Lizzy were introduced by their friend and bridesmaid, Emma Merlo on the stage of Austin College's Ida Green Theater. Lizzy spent a buncha time watching him perform from backstage. Mateo picked Lizzy for his Little in their Honors' Fraternity (TESTIFY). It all really got out of hand from there. --- We were both raised in Austin (sort of, Lizzy is from Round Rock). We met at Austin College and spent the next years becoming extremely good friends and burning industrial sized packs of matches on the stage together when we were supposed to be practicing for scene study (sorry, Kathleen). Then it took the help of some very wonderful people (you know who you are, including but not limited to Nick Tanner, Cody Edwards, Harrison Wilkie and Calvin Chang) to remind us that when you meet a human that really knocks your socks off, you should just tell them. So we did. One move to New York, infinite foster cats, so much patience, so much growth, and seven years later, we're making it legal in the eyes of the government. To truly everyone who got us to this point: thank you. We would very much like you to come dance until you cannot feel your extremities and to eat a lot of Tex Mex with us.

In the summer of 2016, we saw a post on their neighborhood Facebook group needing a foster home for four feral kittens. How hard could it be, right? Then one mama and her six babies, but she basically does all the work. Then five orphaned kittens who needed bottle feeding every two hours. If you're playing along at home, that's sixteen cats in a one bedroom apartment in a New York summer with no air conditioning. Was it their wisest choice? No. Would they change a minute? Also no. Five years and hundreds of cats later, fostering cats (and one dog) and getting them adopted (sometimes to friends) has been a huge part of our relationship. It's the best couples' bonding activity you could ask for. Many, many sleepless nights, little kitty ER visits, adorable messes and deeply unexpected cat acrobatics later, we know weirdly a lot about neonatal kitten care, and have watched Parks and Rec (our late night kitten feeding duty show) all the way through probably thirty times. It's great to love your person when they're all gussied up. It's also great to love them at 4AM with kitten milk replacer all over their clothes and they just woke you up to tell you with JOY that the three day old kitten FINALLY POOPED. Thanks for all the support, the listening, and tolerating the millions of cat photos we post up. We cannot recommend getting involved in fostering animals enough. Local to Austin? Check out Austin Pets Alive. NYC? Hit us up - we have recs per neighborhood.

We decided to make it legal and propose over the winter break of 2019 between semesters teaching. We both went to the best booth at the Union Square Christmas Market ( http://www.thingsfoundnyc.com ) and got rings. After some great crowd-sourced advice (you CANNOT find better friends), Mateo decided to propose on Town Lake in Austin at sunset. Here's the catch: we had brunch with our friends Emma and Calvin that morning at Jim's. Lizzy suspected NOTHING. During brunch, and Mateo seemed antsy, but Lizzy figured it was the 1,000 pounds of biscuits and gravy they had consumed. Spoilers: it was not. We went to Target with Lizzy casually and SLOWLY browsing the sale section. Then Dragon's Lair comics. Still with Emma and Calvin, Lizzy still clueless. Finally, Mateo got REAL DECISIVE about going to Whole Foods on 6th Street (teenage Lizzy's favorite place in the world) to get cheese and bread. Which was weird, because they had just eaten. And then it hit her. Mateo popped the question on the banks of Town Lake at a place called the Opossum Temple and Voodoo Pew. He put on the Talking Heads' "This Must Be the Place." We talked about the future and everything that came before it. Then home, dinner at Chuy's, and a night out with friends. We danced til we could dance no more at Barbarella. Lizzy had the number two worst hangover of her life, which she slept off at Mateo's parents' home. Bill and Paula were the kindest and best humans with Tylenol, toast, and coffee. Then they played a four hour D&D game as a family with their pals the Chapman brothers. Mateo was DM, and Lizzy gave some NPC plants weapons. Lizzy proposed to Mateo on their trip that year to Lost Maples in Utopia, Texas. We cried again. Krampus the foster cat was a very good witness. It was nothing like either of us pictured. It was all perfect.