Let's celebrate!

It's a classic tale, folks. We met at a bar. We were out one night in Santa Monica. Nick was with three of his friends, and Shae's college roommate was visiting. We saw each other across the patio, but before Shae knew it, his friends came over to strike up a convo. She hoped he’d come too, but Nick says he was waiting, watching to see how she'd react to the approach. Needless to say, her focus wasn't on his friends. When the groups merged, we instantly connected. We had our first date two days later — we ordered pizza (half BBQ chicken, half Hawaiian) and watched a movie — and we talked all night long about our families, our pasts, our dreams...everything. What we didn't know yet was how many times our paths had already crossed when we could have met... We both were in DECA, a student marketing association, in high school, and we both participated in the national competition in Orlando the same year (he was a senior and she, a sophomore). It's totally possible we exchanged state pins. Nick moved into one of Shae's first LA apartment complexes; but, she moved out soon after, and we didn't meet (yet). And, we've uncovered tons of mutual friends from our former lives (before racking up the hundreds we've collected as a couple!). It was an energetic certainty: this partnership was going to happen, one way or another. Almost 8 years later, we’ve created four homes together (plus a handful of in-betweens), launched & run a business together, danced & festivaled together, gotten a taste of what it's like to parent together, cried together, definitely laughed together, and traveled the world together. Then, on the 5-year anniversary of Nick telling Shae he loved her for the first time, we got engaged. It’s been a journey already for us — lots of moves, career changes, and general life ups & downs (and some out-of-the-ordinary ones, too). But, we are more in love today than when we began—for real!—and we are so excited to continue this adventure together.