We met on the first day of our post-college jobs at Allstate! There's even a fun picture of us doing a new employee scavenger hunt together during the first week! However, our relationship didn't truly begin until Monica asked David for rides to the train after work. Five days a week together in a car after work and roughly five months later, we went on our first date.

After six months of dating, David packed his bags and moved to Sacramento for a year for work. An early test to our relationship proved to be a a great experience filled with exploring Sacramento, drinking wine in Napa Valley, and exploring the Pacific Northwest through Portland, Seattle and Vancouver.

After a year and a half of dating, and with David back in Chicago, it was time for us to fully enjoy the city! Exploring Chicago's 77 neighborhoods and their variety of restaurants, concert venues, and comedy shows filled our nights and weekends. Wanting to explore beyond the city, we also embarked on a two week trip throughout Alaska where we saw beautiful scenery, toured Glacier National Park, and trekked a glacier! It was also at this stage of our relationship that we read the book Eating Animals, and we were inspired to go vegan. We spent our weekdays flipping through cookbooks and experimenting with new and delicious plant-based recipes.

In March 2020, we were forced to our respective apartments across the city due to the COVID lock-downs. However, the pandemic wasn't going to keep us apart for long! Thanks to David's Dad, we had private transport to and from each of our apartments which led to us sharing many good times together at Monica's 500 foot studio. Living in close quarters will cause any couple to rethink things, which we did, by deciding to move in together! We still live in this apartment in Wicker Park with our cat, April, and the newest canine addition to our family, George!

On the night after our five year anniversary, we planned to celebrate by going to our favorite cocktail bar and a nice Italian restaurant...at least that's what Monica thought! Little did she know that when she came out from getting ready there would be a trail of rose petals, tea lights and our dog George to greet her with a white bandana that read "Will you marry my Dad?" The surprises didn't end there! After calling our families to share the good news, we left our apartment to find a second surprise of a limo waiting for us (equipped with champagne) to drive us to dinner and celebrate!

We’re so excited for you to be a part of our next adventure!