Julianne had just moved to Seattle for her masters program and her apartment wasn’t ready in time for move-in as planned. She stayed at her sister’s dorm near Olympia for a couple weeks, but ultimately the commute wasn’t working so she took up the apartment building’s offer to cover a hotel room. After checking into the hotel, she eventually needed to eat. Very unfamiliar with the area, she decided to go downstairs to the hotel restaurant and sat at the bar – where Jason was working!

After some months of Julianne coming into the hotel restaurant on a regular basis and conversation being limited to Jason’s visits to her table, she finally asked him if he would like to get together for lunch sometime. The question was barely asked before Jason replied "Yes!" (He had slyly tried to ask her to a baseball game early on, but she was oblivious and he wasn't going to outright ask a customer on a date.) While the restaurant was a bit loud that day and we were cut short because of the timing of Jason's next class, it was clear to both of us that we wanted to see each other again!

Jason: I proposed to Julianne on New Year's Eve. At the time, I worked as a tax accountant, and had been working very long hours from September to mid-November with little time off. I had been looking for the right ring for a few months and kept coming back to the same ring. The engagement ring was something that I felt best represented Julianne’s style, and knew that it was something that she will always cherish. I bought the ring in late September, so that I would be ready to propose when the moment was right. The plan was to propose earlier in December, so that we had enough time to settle back into our normal routine now that the busy season and Thanksgiving was over; unfortunately, I got COVID, and had to quarantine away while Julianne somehow managed to not get COVID. Before I knew it, it was Christmas, and I still hadn’t proposed. I knew that I did not want to go into the new year without having Julianne be my fiancé. Julianne is not a big gesture type of person, for her, it is the intentionality of the action that matters. So I made New Years Eve about us, I cleaned and decorated the apartment, made dinner and cocktails, with the focus of the day being on us and spending another year together. As the New Year approached, I told Julianne the reasons why I love her and why I wanted to spend my life with her and proposed. Luckily she said yes! Julianne: We had talked a bit about getting married at some point in the future, but Jason proposing at the cusp of the new year was a surprise! As he says above, Jason made new year’s eve a special night for us. Being able to just be together and relax was very much appreciated after the busyness of the months prior, and was the perfect set up to the proposal. The engagement ring really does speak to me (not sure I could have picked a better one myself!), and is a beautiful reminder of this joyous day.