Anel and I went to the same middle and high schools, although we never interacted. I always knew him as "one of the twins" and I'm not sure if he even knew who I was. Fast forward to the summer after graduation and I am very surprised to see Anel, his brother, and his friends walking up my driveway for my graduation party because I barely knew him (and I couldn't tell him and his brother apart at that time, either LOL). While Anel is having some food, my dad offers him a hot pepper to eat (a strange but typical thing for my dad). Anel eats the whole thing, starts visibly sweating, and leaves with his friends shortly after. We kept running into each other at graduation parties throughout the rest of the summer, and the rest is history!

Anel picked me up in his Toyota Camry for our first date to see Batman: The Dark Knight Rises. During the movie, Anel drank the drink of the man sitting next to him and also spilled our bag of popcorn - I think he might have been a bit nervous! At the end of the night, he played the song "First Date" by Blink-182 before dropping me off at home and sealing the deal with a kiss. So cheesy, but so cute!

Port Austin has always held a special place in my heart. I went up to our family cottage almost every weekend since I was born, it was the first "trip" Anel and I took together, and I consider it my home away from home. We planned a weekend trip up there for my birthday and in the weeks leading up to this trip, Anel had mentioned how bad he wanted to "take a new Facebook profile picture" on the pier in Port Austin - which is a little out of character because he doesn't care much about social media. But I thought, "oh yeah that would be a nice spot for pictures!" But then he suggested that I wear a dress, and told me to stop picking at my freshly painted nails... and that's when I started to get a little suspicious. So, we get to the pier, and Amel and Sakiba start taking "new profile pictures" of us and Anel keeps saying, "one more, one more! Let's go over here, the lightings better over here!" He then tells me to close my eyes and he gets down on one knee! All the while, our friends are racing up to Port Austin to celebrate with us (because *someone* only gave them a few hours notice). It was a great birthday turned into engagement weekend in my favorite getaway place!