We're going on an adventure!

It was the Spring of 2015 and Megan had just started a new job at Ohio State where she was introduced to Joe by our mutual friend, Andrea. Many days during lunch, Megan would be out walking or take loops around the office parking lot. It was then realized that Joe would do the same thing with his manager (but this was a routine for him). Megan would always try and time her walks just right in hopes of getting a smile or a hi from Joe. One day she had asked Joe if he could install something on her computer at work (you know, because he was in IT). Well, turns out she didn’t really need that program, she just wanted an excuse to chat with him. They had started chatting throughout the day—mostly about work stuff, but sometimes just to get to know each other. There was a staff picnic where she made 4 different desserts in hopes of impressing Joe (which worked). During one of their chats, Joe said that he makes homemade wine! She told him that she would like to try it sometime—hoping this would lead to a date! And SUCCESS! They had their first date!

After a month or so talking to each other, Joe finally invited Megan over for dinner and to try some of his homemade wine around the 4th of July. She giddily accepted and frantically tried to find a quick and easy recipe, finally settling on homemade stir fry. They enjoyed making dinner together—turns out 4 years later, we still do! As we settled in for dinner, we perused the movie selection and decided to watch The Muppets—and yes, Joe sang along and often quoted the movie throughout, and tried some homemade peach wine and apple pie mead. It was perfect. They decided to call it a night—since Megan was going on vacation the next day. They texted back and forth every day and planned on having their second date when she returned. Their second date would be a Clippers game—at this point, she had absolutely no clue about baseball. The second date went great—maybe too great. They both felt so comfortable with each other that they feared they were moving too fast. They decided to put things on hold for a couple of months. So they did. They both did a lot of growing during this time and were both thankful for it. In September 2015, Joe invited Megan to Columbus Oktoberfest for a second-first date. Who doesn’t love sauerkraut and beer! That night, they picked up right back up where they left off. That was the beginning of their forever.

Starting in the summer of 2018, we started talking about our future and about getting married. We talked about what kind of ring Megan might want and decided it would be best to pick something out together. After visiting a few different normal jewelry stores and not being totally happy with the selection, we decided to take a look at a upscale consignment shop in our neighborhood that had a large vintage ring section Megan had admired on a few different occasions. We knew that we wanted something unique, something special that no one else would have on their finger, and we found the perfect ring, a 1930s antique. The ring was a size 3 (what?), so after Joe went back and bought it, it needed to be resized. Megan knew when Joe went back to pick it up, but what she didn't expect was how quickly he would propose after that. Joe picked the ring up on a Tuesday, and that Saturday we went for a hike on the Hargus Lake Trail. About a mile into the hike, Joe said that Kluber's jingling sounded "strange". Megan didn't think much of it, not hearing anything strange, much to Joe's dismay. "No", he insisted, "something sounds funny. Can you take a look at it?" Megan bent down to look at Kluber's collar to find the ring on it. She looked up to see Joe down on one knee. We weren't actually sure if she said "yes" or not, but luckily Joe caught the whole ordeal on video. We confirmed it - she said yes!

We love traveling together and exploring the world (sitting inside in breweries all over the place!). Each year we try to go on one relaxing vacation, one go-go-go vacation, and we always make sure to get away for Valentine's Day. We've hiked many miles, spent hours in the car, and scrunched into too-small airline seats thousands of feet above the ocean. We love escaping the heat and humidity of Ohio summers to visit Beaver Island and Grand Haven in Michigan. We have taken long weekends to Hocking Hills, Indianapolis, Louisville, and spent a snowy evening listening to records at a B&B in Cleveland. We love popping up to Cleveland for an Indians game, or down to Cincinnati to see the Reds and stop by the Old Kentucky Bourbon Bar. We drove out to Washington, DC and visited the Pentagon and took part in Karl and Nicole's annual Oktoberfest party. But by far our most memorable trip so far has been our two weeks in Europe in the fall of 2017. We visited Germany, Austria, Lichtenstein, Switzerland, Belgium, and the Netherlands, staying in 11 different hotels in 12 nights. We partied at Oktoberfest, rode mine carts in an old salt mine, took a river cruise on the Rhine, ate way too many (not enough) chocolates and liege waffles, and took a canal tour in Amsterdam. Megan spent her birthday on the day we came back and had the longest birthday of her life. And the next day, we got up early because we had things to do, places to go, and people to see!

Frankie is what we call a pre-existing condition. He and Megan have known each other longer than Joe and Megan have. So although Joe is allergic to Frankie, the two have become quite close, and Frankie probably likes him best in the whole household. Megan's sister found him with his litter box in the woods, and we aren't entirely certain he isn't just a small version of a bobcat. He's strong-willed, independent, and very interactive for a cat! In the spring of 2017, Joe and Megan made a bet. If Cleveland Indians ace Corey Kluber could notch 8 wins before the All-Star break, we would get a dog, but Joe would get to name it. He only won 7, but went on to win the Cy Young that year, so after we returned from a grueling travel schedule (two weeks in Europe, a weekend in Washington DC, and a weekend in Hocking Hills in a 6 week span) and debating the specifics of the original bet months before, we went to visit a litter of puppies fostered by a local rescue group (RescuedOhio). The second we walked in, Megan's eyes lit up, and Joe knew there was no way that they weren't going home with a dog. We bonded with a little brown ball of fluff with a solid black tail and decided to invite Kluber (formerly Plato) into the family. Two years later, in the spring of 2019, we knew that Kluber needed a friend. He loves other dogs, and his energy levels were just becoming too much with all of the other events in our lives at the moment (see the "Chaos" section). It wasn't fair to him to not give him a playmate, so we started looking for a second dog for the growing family. After a few home visits with some pups, we all got to spend an entire weekend with a dog named Memphis as a trial run. The weekend went well and (now known-as) Indiana (Indy) hasn't left us since! He's new to the pack, but we've grown very attached to him and can't remember life before him!

Boy, we sure tried to hit as many birds with one stone as possible in the last 8 months. Megan started 2 different jobs (September and June), Joe proposed to Megan in October (see The Proposal section), we began our wedding planning in November (actually we were able to get a lot booked). We bought our new home in Clintonville in December, we moved in January (during "snowmeggedon"), at the same time, Joe found a location for the distillery (shameless plug: Visit Echo Spirits Distilling Co. in Grandview!), so things started rolling with that! Lots of hours being spent getting their location up and going (and it looks awesome so far!), Joe reduced his work schedule at OSU to allow him to work at the distillery few days a week. Last but not least, in May, we decided to add to our 4 legged pack! We adopted Indy (Indiana Jones Crestview) from RescuedOhio (where we got his big brother Kluber (Kluber Cy Doten)). He is a great addition to our family! So if you're keeping track, that's new jobs x2, an engagement, a wedding, a new house, a new business and added a furry sibling for Kluber and Frankie. We are very much looking forward to a SLOW and uneventful 2020 (hopefully).