Love Is Brewing

Do you believe in love at first sight? When you look deep into someone's eyes, & you just know that your paths were meant to cross? Well that wasn't the case for us, but it most certainly was for a special four-legged friend of ours. I was the girl next door to Shane for a few months before we officially met. I had seen him in passing, as our apartment buildings shared a sidewalk that split our two lawns, but we never talked to each other until the weekend I was puppy sitting. My sister, Mandy, left her (at the time) 7-month old Doberman puppy, Axel, in my care for a weekend. Shane was working outside when I took Axel out for a walk early that Saturday morning. Axel took one look at Shane, & his eyes all but turned into emoji hearts. He dragged me with his super-canine strength across the yard & jumped right into Shane's arms. I hadn’t had any coffee yet, & I was still in my PJs, so I kept desperately trying to offer a friendly wave, turn my back, & drag the damn dog back inside. But Axel was persistent, so I finally introduced myself to my neighbor Shane. Later that month, I was going out with friends to celebrate the conclusion of a long work week. That night, Shane was out with friends, too. Recognizing a familiar face in the crowd, I approached him, & we laughed about Axel over a few drinks. We spent the next few months getting to know each other, & eventually began dating. Although our time spent as neighbors has officially ended, our life together has only just begun. Since then, we’ve held four addresses over the years including our first home together that we now share with our five cats & golden retriever puppy. To this day, we still laugh about Axel & how he paw-picked Shane for me.

There are three sides to every story. His side, her side, & the truth; the latter usually being a combination of the first two. My side of our engagement story is that it was personal & perfect. Shane’s side would probably include the statement “Niki was being a huge pain the ass”. What really happened? Well, you would have had to be there, but I’ll do my best to tell an even-sided story. Last August, we were vacationing in Myrtle Beach, SC. We had never been, so I of course did my research, & made a travel itinerary as I love to do any time we visit a new place. The Wicked Tuna on the Marshwalk in Murrells Inlet was at the top of my list. Do you like sushi? The Wicked Tuna has THE BEST. Shane had planned to surprise me with a beach proposal. He even hid my engagement ring in his shoe thinking I would never dare look in his smelly old shoes for literally anything ever. I made a reservation at the Wicked Tuna for dinner for our first night out. Unbeknownst to Shane's plans, I thoroughly enjoyed dinner & was super excited to explore the rest of the Marshwalk. But before I could, Shane asked me if I wanted to leave & go walk on the beach. I was like, “Hell no! I want to stay here!" Hey, the Marshwalk is an awesome place. If you’ve never been, GO. You won’t want to leave either. So, because I wanted to, we stayed on the Marshwalk. Although Shane was unable to carry out his intended beach proposal, he still asked me to marry him when we got back to our condo that evening. I, without hesitation, said yes! (Actually, I think my first words were “did Mandy & Lindsay know about this?” They, of course, did.) The moral of the story is that no matter whose side of the story you hear, our life milestones have always been true to us as a couple (& usually comical to other people). We are so excited & ready to begin this next chapter of our lives, & we really can’t wait to share the first page of it with all of you at one of our favorite breweries.