In January of 2019 Samantha decided to fulfill her lifelong dream and move to New York City where she had no friends, no family or no job. So, she decided to get a retail job while applying to big girl jobs. Insert Whole Foods, because why wouldn't she work at another grocery store? As Samantha was desperate to make friends, she talked to her coworkers, hoping for connection. One day in February working as a cashier, Samantha turned to her left and started a conversation with Rus (Whole Foods forgot to add the extra 's' to his name tag). As Rus and Samantha started talking she quickly got annoyed because he'd tell her, "don't forget to tare," "you need to tape the eggs," or "bags need to be double bagged." As you know, that didn't go well with Samantha... how dare someone, let alone a man tell her what to do, especially since she worked at Giant Eagle for 6 years. But she was desperate for conversation because the cashier on her right left for break so it was her and Rus. Samantha's annoyance quickly dispersed when she realized they had things in common: She's originally from Buffalo, he went to the University at Buffalo, which is in the same conference as Kent State, where Samantha attended. After that day, they were inseparable. Samantha took Resatul to his first Yankee's game and first stroll along the Brooklyn Bridge, despite him being a native New Yorker. Resatul took her to her first Coney Island July 4th Hot Dog Eating Contest and her first Radio City Rockettes Christmas Spectacular. Two NYC bucketlist items for her. Resatul helped Samantha move back to Cleveland at the end of 2019 once her contracted job and lease ended to go on a trip with her friend in January 2020. Samantha was supposed to move back to NYC but covid hit so they spent a year long-distance. After a year of every other month in-person visits and daily FaceTimes, Resatul followed Samantha to Cleveland for a couple of years then they moved to Philadelphia. Philly holds a special place in their hearts because it's the city they visited together in April 2019 as "friends" before realizing they actually liked each other. Fast forward to April 2025, Samantha, Resatul and her family went to Hawaii for 3 reasons: 1) visit her sister Autumn who lives there, 2) Samantha officiated her uncle and aunt's wedding, and 3) island hop to Moloka'i. Samantha had an inkling she might get engaged on that trip but also thought probably not since it was a busy trip and Resatul was acting too calm, cool and collected to about to propose. During the trip, Samantha and Autumn went on a walk where Samantha asked her what they were going to do the upcoming Saturday. Autumn mentioned she wanted to get dressed up and take sister pictures, which was unlike Autumn. Engagement clue #1. The night before the "sister pictures" Samantha took off her nail polish to repaint her nails. Autumn saw and quickly drew concerned convincing Samantha to repaint her nails. Engagement clue #2. Saturday comes around and they go to the Hoʻomaluhia Botanical Garden, one of Samantha's favorite places. Engagement clue #3. Samantha and Resatul started taking pictures but Resatul was standing awkward. He corrected his posture and Samantha felt a bump next to her leg, she looked down and it was a box. Engagement clue #4. To keep the suspense, Resatul didn't propose there. They went to a different part of the gardens, took more pictures and finally Resatul dropped down on one knee and proposed. After 7 years (!!!) and many, many, many adventures, Samantha and Resatul are excited to kick off their next great adventure with you: their wedding on June 28, 2026.