Shawn and Jessica met in Richmond VA way back in 2006 but didn't really start hanging out until 2011. At first we were just buds, then the flirting started up, and pretty quickly we bonded over our undying love of nu-metal and tasty food, becoming super attached to one another. Shawn would come by the bar where Jessica worked late shifts in addition to her day job and stay up until 3am helping her clean up beer. Jessica would chauffeur Shawn around in his own car because he hated driving. In Richmond we went on our first bike tour together and started experimenting with backpacking adventures. Eventually we decided to try something new and quit our jobs in 2014 to go on a massive road trip, bike 1400 miles down the Baja Peninsula, travel in Mexico for months, and scout out where we might like to live next. During the road trip, we visited as many people as we could in various locations. We knew we wanted to take a break from city life, live somewhere with easy access to the wilderness, and eventually own some acreage. After spending a week on the Olympic Peninsula with an old pal, we knew that this is where we were going to relocate. Leaving our tightknit Richmond community was intimidating but it helped to meet a bunch of people that were pursuing similar goals -the allure of immediately having friends was comforting. We bopped back east to sell Christmas trees in NYC + make some extra cash, loaded up Shawn's car with our things, and drove cross country again in January 2016 with the Olympic Peninsula as our final destination. The best laid plans can fall apart and within 3 months of moving into a farmhouse that had long been occupied by buddies, the landlord decided to evict everyone so her son could move in. The housing crisis on the peninsula led to us camping in some friends' yard and then living on other friends' sailboat for a summer while we dug clams for a living, trying to figure out our next move and how to establish roots here. Rental options were unaffordable and we weren't ready to buy land. We met someone at a BBQ who offered to let us live on the land he had just purchased. We bought a 14ft camper and moved onto his property before he even did. adjusting to less than 100 square feet of space and being completely off-grid was both an adventure and a nightmare. We built an outhouse together, taught ourselves how to rig a simple solar panel set up, and used rain barrels (and a community well in town) to get water. Jessica will never forget the mornings of ripping her frozen pillow off of the camper wall because the condensation from our breath in the freezing cold temperatures sealed it there with ice. It was hard to cook, stay clean, host friends...but the rent was so cheap and we were working full time trying to save up money for our own place. Eventually we upgraded to living in a school bus that we bought and then in 2019 we found a plot of land we loved and immediately put in an offer, narrowly beating out several other potential buyers. First thing was a big garden and planting fruit trees, then a dear friend flew out from Virginia to help us build a 400 square foot cabin - which felt huge compared to the camper + bus! We brought electricity to the property, with the first purchase being a lava lamp from Spencer's, and eventually water and septic. We built our cabin without permits so we skipped indoor plumbing in there to avoid problems later down the line, but even having a water spigot and unlimited access to electricity GREATLY improved our quality of life - allowing us to focus on how to build a real house. Fast-forward to 2026 and our 1000 sqft home is almost complete! Life on the peninsula has its challenges but we are stoked we could make it work out here. After a decade of weird living situations, we are so so ready to have basic amenities again and see what life is like when there's more space for hobbies. This is a huge new chapter and we are excited to enter it as a married couple!