A little workplace romance. Josh and I both worked for different companies on the same floor of a downtown office building here in Greenville. I knew who he was because everyone on the floor knew him, but he didn't know me. I was the new kid around there. But I did have to walk past his desk to get to my work space every day, so I guess I was noticed. Josh and Keith (his business partner) apparently had given me a nickname... they called me Unique Chick. Why? Honestly, ummm, I'm still not entirely sure. I just asked him and he said, "Because you had a very elegant and almost foreign look to you." Haha. Cute. He stopped me in the hall one day and asked, "Hey, are you a helicopter pilot?" Double finger guns and all. Confused but mostly flattered that he was talking to me, I said, "No, I'm not that cool." Best pickup line ever. Oct 3 was our first date and it's been nothin' but love and support ever since. In case you're wondering what the helicopter pilot thing is all about -- he had stalked my LinkedIn profile where I had some association to the Robinson Helicopter Pilot group. My childhood dream that was never realized. Yet! ;)

I (Jess) love the Biltmore Estate. It's so grand and the gardens are brilliant. I have been going up there as much as I was able since I moved to the Carolinas. I was there with my mom one time when we got news that my brother's first set of twins were born. I was there by myself wandering around when I called my mom to tell her, "Guess what, I met someone and he's amazing." I went there so many times for any reason and no reason at all. I was also there with Josh on a hot summer day walking around and wondering if he had something up his sleeve. I had some suspicion that morning when he suggested a little trip. He said he thought I needed a little day trip somewhere nice to get away from the stress of business. I definitely did need that. But then he shaved his head and I thought.... hmm. He is making a lot of effort on a Saturday to look sharp! We went to the gardens first and no proposal. Walked around the grounds and no proposal. He mentioned the sunflowers, so I thought, that would be such an amazing place for a proposal! We drove by and the sunflowers weren't blooming yet. We went to a wine tasting on an empty stomach since the bistro wasn't open yet and he broke through the mystery with a very direct, "Did you think I was going to propose to you today?" Ha! I laughed and said, "Yeah, I guess. But now that you're not, I can have another drink." And he said, "No, dont!" and we both laughed. So I was still kind of wondering... We had a nice dinner, headed back towards home, and he said, "Hey, do you want to see the garden in the sunset?" Umm. Yeah. But then the gardens were closed for a wedding. So we started to walk back to the car. On the way back, up the stairs, on the classic concrete landing facing the house, we stopped to watch the sun set over the mountains. That's when he decided to give this stubborn and self-sufficient, but hopelessly in love, Unique Chick a ring and asked me to marry him.