One day while venting about single life at an Indian food restaurant to her friend, Nohe, Nohe had the greatest idea he'd ever had and probably ever will. "My buddy Justin is a pretty good guy," He said as he pulled his phone out of his back pocket and opened the FaceBook app. "Is he?" Bethany responded with slight skepticism. Nohe turned the phone in her direction displaying a picture of a handsome man in a baseball cap. Bethany was immediately drawn to his smile and the fact that his cap had evergreen trees on it. Nohe offered to pass her number along to Justin, and Bethany agreed. Later that night, Justin received a text from Nohe, "I think I might have a girl for you." Justin replied, "Does she look like you? If so, I'm in!" Nohe ignored the joke and provided the highlights of Bethany: Cool chick, no kids, iPhone user. Justin was open - so open he didn't even demand to see a picture first. So Nohe provided Justin with the phone number, and the rest would have been history - except it was the wrong number. Thankfully, Justin, also an iPhone user, quickly recognized something had gone awry when the text appeared green. He told Nohe about the lack of blue texts; Nohe got his act together and provided the correct series of ten digits. Bethany and Justin went on two dates amidst a month of separate holiday travel. They used the time to text, talk on the phone, and FaceTime (thank you, iPhone!). Their enjoyment of each other's company grew during this time. They both returned from their trips and fell in love deep in the heart of Texas!

Picture perfect. Executed without a hitch. These are NOT the words that describe this event. But heartfelt, sweet, and unforgettable ARE. It was the day of Bethany's 34th birthday and Justin had planned to give her the best gift he could think of. All that he needed was for Bethany to be at the office so that he could spend the time creating the perfect romantic set up for her to enter into at the end of the day. Instead, Bethany was super sick and after two miserable hours of trying to hold it together, she gave up and texted Justin that she was coming to the house to finish the workday there. This meant that the flowers that Justin had arranged to be delivered to the office wouldn't be received by her that day and that he wouldn't have the uninterrupted time to execute his plan. So, he improvised. Bethany attended her Zoom meetings and answered her emails from Justin's dining table and he played it cool as a cucumber alluding only to the dinner he was planning to prepare as a birthday celebration. After running errands to "get groceries" he mentioned that he'd planned to throw up a few decorations before she got home and casually asked that Bethany leave the living room for a little bit so he could prepare. Bethany, who was still not feeling well, was happy for the opportunity to take a nap before what she assumed would be some low-key birthday festivities. After an hour or so, Justin came into the bedroom and told Bethany that she could come out. Still oblivious to the notion that anything besides an intimate birthday dinner was in the works, Bethany exited the room in her pajamas to discover a path of rose petals leading to a series of notes with various instructions leading ultimately to Justin's backyard. Upon seeing the arrangement of a picnic blanket and their shared houseplant, along with Fern running around adorned in a lei of purple flowers - it finally clicked in Bethany's head what might be happening. She walked and stood on the blanket in front of Justin who took both her hands. He then eloquently summarized their journey together and his love for her before getting down on one knee and presenting her with a note. The note read "Will you marry me?" with the option to check Yes or No. Bethany checked yes!