Sam’s Story: Imagine, you swipe right on a normal guy in San Francisco, what are the odds?! (this is an even better story, for how I matched with a man 20 miles away, but ask me about that at our wedding). But because you’re in the thralls of a career that demands travel, sometimes with short notice, you have to reschedule your date 3 times (maybe 4, who’s counting), to finally meet up with the man who rearranged his schedule (more than a few times) to make it work…. He comes to your favorite bar (Harper & Rye is where we officially met) and your date goes long, very long, because its going perfectly… Fast forward 5 weeks and you realize he’s it, a genuine guy, who is caring, kind, generous, funny, intelligent, loyal and a tiny bit stubborn… So less than a year later, you pack up your life and move in with the man of your dreams, in the East Bay, (which my father thanks Derek for moving me out of San Francisco every time he seems him). And you fall in love, also with his beautiful red lab named Nelli… And suddenly you realize that “you, me, single” became a “we, us, a family”… Which our family (aka Nelli) required a bigger backyard! So we make the big move, and decide to put down roots and boots in Austin! Derek’s Story: “I’m a little bit country, she’s a little bit rock’n’roll’…more like EDM, but you get the picture. Corporate jobs are not the most conducive to the dating scene and in Sam and mines case it took a few tries to get something on the books. Sam rolled into our first date like a blonde Tasmanian devil, and after a few whiskeys she was talking even more (better her than me). By our third date I felt like things were really heating up, mostly because Sam lit her menu on fire at the bar. Following that I felt it was time to put her to the true test, which was meeting Nelli. So after living in the Bay Area for 6 years Sam decided she would try out public transportation and BART’d out to Walnut Creek. Nelli was skeptical at first, it took a few months of constant barking at her, several disruptive zoom call photobombs, multiple walks, and maybe a few treats. But eventually Nelli (and I) decided the blonde lady had some potential to be her forever dog walker. I asked Sam to go wine tasting with me in Napa for our 5th date, we were engaged in wine country, and we couldn’t think of a better place for everyone to celebrate with us in.