Lauren and Mitchell met at York College there junior year. Somehow they kept being brought together. After college, when they both assumed they would never see each other again, Mitchell's branch at Nationwide in Pennsylvania was shut down and he transferred to a branch in Baltimore. It just so happened to be same branch that Lauren's brother, Kenny, worked at. Mitchell Moved to Federal Hill and at that time, Lauren was a resident of Kenny's couch in the city as well. Fast forward five years after initially meeting, their friendship turned into more and Mitchell asked Lauren to be his girlfriend. A year later, they moved into an apartment in Columbia, MD together and less then a year after that they bought their first home.

It was a random Wednesday when Mitchell casually brought up the idea of going to dinner at The Rusty Scupper that weekend for a date night. Knowing how expensive the Rusty Scupper was, I continually tried to bring up cheaper restaurants we could go to instead but he persisted. Saturday rolled around and we got all dressed up and headed to the city. Dinner was amazing and everything seemed completely normal. Once we paid, Mitchell suggested we go for a walk around Federal Hill Park. If you know Mitchell, he asks me to go for a walk with him about twice a day so even though I was in heels I was not surprised at all by the suggestion and since he did just buy me dinner I did not protest. Once we got to the top of the hill overlooking the harbor, he stopped and started talking about our relationship in which I interrupted to point out that the volleyball courts were no longer there (Whoops just more proof I had no idea what was about to happen). After he got me back on track he dropped down on one knee. This is where I blacked out to all the amazing things I'm sure he said. The next thing I can remember is a lady screaming "Oh my gosh someone is getting engaged" and I thought oh my goodness that's me. I am getting engaged. I said yes and all of a sudden I hear a lot of familiar screams and a bunch of people running toward me. All of my close friends were hiding in the bushes and I got to celebrate with them the whole night. It was the best day of my life.

Keep in mind throughout all of this, Lauren wanted this to be a surprise and wanted of her friends to be there with her to celebrate, many of which were out of state.... I went into Smyths jewelry store telling myself that I was not going to buy/commit to buying a ring the first visit. Lauren (Kenny's Wife) went with me and picked out the perfect ring on the first trip. After the ring was purchased, I spoke with Haley (one of Laurens closest friends) to find the perfect place to propose, Federal Hill. Lauren and I started dating in Federal Hill so it felt like the right place to propose. I made reservations at the Rusty Scupper (restaurant right next to the Federal Hill) to disguise the fact I was going to propose that day. After crab cakes and steak at the Rusty Scupper, instead of driving home, I suggested to go for a walk. We took a walk ALL THE WAY up the Federal Hill (a lot of elevation/huge hill after a big meal.) Meanwhile, many of our friends were hiding in the bushes/playground waiting to surprise Lauren after the proposal. As we walk through the Federal Hill sidewalk, I made sure to turn lauren towards the Inner Harbor so her friends had time to run from out of the bushes/playground and get into a position to take photos of the proposal. I talked to Lauren about our future and how I wanted her to be in my life forever. I asked her to marry me and she cried and almost forgot to say yes! We popped champagne in the middle of Federal Hill with our friends and celebrated the whole night. To this day, the city of Baltimore had not seen a more bright and shining day.