We're getting married!

We first met in February 2017, at a mutual friend's apartment, while in South Florida for grad school. We chatted, had a debate about manatees (I love them, Michael thinks they are speed bumps of the sea) earning Michael the moniker “Manatee Mike”, and took a blurry group selfie but were too busy with school for much else. We met again May 2018 at a "party" hosted by Erin and Kevan, I arrived first and Michael a few hours later to an all but empty apartment. Obvious set-up aside, we hit it off and spent the evening laughing, drinking, and getting to know one another. By the end of the night, we knew that we wanted to get to know each other better, but Michael was a little out of it and forgot to get my number. A week later we were still thinking of each other but had no way to get in touch, a Facebook message seemed too impersonal to Michael and Erin mistakenly gave me the wrong number. Eventually, we had a real first date and the rest was history. We spent several months enjoying South Florida, then in December 2018 I graduated from my Master's program and accepted a job in Minnesota, while Michael finished his program and accepted a job as a Landscape Architect in Fort Lauderdale. We knew we had something special and decided to make the distance work. For the next 1.5 years, we traveled from Minnesota and Florida as often as we could and visited many cities and states along the way. COVID put a temporary hold on travel but in September 2020 we took a trip to the Blue Ridge mountains. We spent the weekend exploring, hiking and relaxing. On the last night, while enjoying happy hour on the deck overlooking the mountains Michael proposed and I of course said yes, or you wouldn’t be reading this. Shockingly, I didn’t suspect a thing until Michael refused my offer of pre-proposal Cheez-its (if you know Michael you know he doesn’t turn down a snack). We set a date for 11/12/2021 and have been busy planning ever since! We look forward to celebrating with you all!