As per my usual weekend ritual I arrived at the Flying M Coffee Garage on a Sunday morning with a mountain of homework. I go upstairs to find the conference room empty and claim a spot at one end of the large table, then make my way downstairs for my daily caffeine. When I got back upstairs there he was, staring at the conference room reservation schedule. "Is this room reserved?" He asked me. "Not as far as I know." "Would you mind if I took over the other end of the table?" "No, not at all." So he gets to work unloading a portfolio of artwork onto the table across from me. And I got to work studying. Well, trying to. I couldn't quite put my finger on what exactly was distracting me. Maybe it was the amazing artwork spread in front of him, maybe how handsome he was or the sexy tattoos covering his arms. Or maybe it was the shy glances or adorable way he kept thinking of any reason to talk to me. Eventually he asked me if I had a highlighter, which I did. After a few hours of this (and next to nothing homework-related accomplished) someone came and informed us that the conference room was reserved so we needed to go elsewhere. He packed up and came over, to return my highlighter I assumed, and asked me if I'd like to join him at a table downstairs. I agreed. After hours of talking, joking, laughing, and a lot of blushing on both ends he asked if I wanted to walk to Messengers Pizza for a bite to eat. Again I agreed and there was more talking, joking, laughing, and blushing. After that it seemed we ran into each other constantly, falling right back into our easy conversations. Two months later, though, he still had not asked for my phone number, and I just assumed that what we had was all we would have. But one day, after another day spent in the pleasure of each others company, just as we were parting ways for the night, he asked for my phone number and gave me a quick hug. I smiled all the way home. The next day he asked me out to lunch.

After a year and a half of a perfect relationship with the man of my dreams we decided it was finally time for him to make the journey to Alaska to meet my parents and see where I had grown up. It was June and I was spending the summer in Alaska with my family, eagerly awaiting Shawn to arrive. When he finally did arrive we jumped right into the complete "Alaskan" experience, which included a Kenai Fjords tour with my parents. So the four of us set out for Seward where we would board a tour boat and get an up close water tour of an array of wildlife as well as a view of a glacier and a lunch of prime rib and king crab on Fox Island in the middle of Resurrection Bay. After a chilly but fun boat ride we arrived on Fox Island for lunch and were told we had one hour before the boat would depart again. I took my time enjoying the delicious food and Shawn kept trying to hurry me along saying that he wanted to explore the beach before we had to get back on the boat. I still had a (delicious) dinner roll to finished so I grabbed it and we headed out to the beach. We walked down to the water and as we were walking along the waterline admiring the beauty of the mountains and water and pebbles underfoot Shawn stopped me. He was acting a bit strange but I didn't think of much of it until he asked me to put my roll down. I (probably sporting a weird look) told him no, that I was still eating it. He insisted and I was very confused and again refused, not wanting to waste a perfectly good (and delicious!) roll by putting it on the ground. A third time he asked me to get rid of it by throwing into the ocean and, seeing how insistent he was, I threw it into the ocean. When I turned back to him he had something in his hand and started telling me how much he loves me. Next thing I knew he was on his knee and asking me to be his wife. I was taken completely by surprise but after a brief moment of taking it all in and a few happy tears, I said yes!