Please enjoy this entertaining (embarrassing) story of the time I found love in a hopeless place & on a kitchen floor (: On a cold day in December, mid pandemic, I chose to risk my life for a few Titos & sodas at a bar about 30 minutes from where I lived. My friends convinced me this local watering hole, Terry's, was the place to be. Little did I know at that time, it definitely was not. I showed up to the bar with wet hair, a beanie, glasses and absolutely zero makeup on; I fit in with the crowd perfectly. After a few of my favorite beverages, a guy in cowboy boots (Steve) walked up to our table explaining this guy across the bar was interested in me, but he was too scared to come talk to me. I was in utter disbelief that someone wanted to talk to me as I very much looked like a wet rat, but with a little liquid courage I decided to just walk up to him instead. I was insistent on letting him know that being scared to come talk to me was just unacceptable. He proceeded to laugh in my face and say he wasn’t scared (he was told I was staring at him from across the bar all night, as we all now know, I definitely was not). After my momentary embarrassment faded and a couple shots of Jack Fire (thanks, Steve) we actually started getting along pretty well. He invited my friends and I over to hang out at his house to continue the night. Another irresponsible move on my part, I decided to go to this random guys house I had just met at a bar, mid pandemic. What did I have to lose at this point?! I don’t know, my dignity? Well boy did I. We were having such a great time, playing drinking games and jamming to music. I think I played just a bit too much flip cup and found myself in the bathroom. In the smallest bathroom, off the kitchen, with a step down to get into (this is important to mention). After expelling my alcohol along with my pride, I headed back out for round two. You remember that step down I mentioned, right? I didn't. Anthony's newly renovated kitchen floor met my face that night. I'm still convinced anyone would have tripped and fell, who puts a step there?? Obviously Anthony really appreciated my gracefulness and charming appearance because he still asked me out on a date. Although the date was a whole month later… I guess it was a really good first date if you're reading this.

Anyone that knows Kelliann knows just how important the people in her life are to her. I asked Kelliann's parents for permission to marry their beautiful daughter on Christmas Day 2021. From there I had to begin the planning! The planning took a few months because I had to be sure to invite her parents and best friend Kayle who all live out of town. At the time, Kelliann was working as a bartender and typically only worked weekend shifts, making the engagement even harder to plan! I actually lied to Kelliann and told her I was going on a run at Edgewater a few weeks prior so I could scope out the site and formulate the plan. Me being a project manager, I developed an entire color coded itinerary for the engagement guests to follow and requested updates every half hour from the guests the day of the engagement. On a monsoon of a day in July, Kelliann and I went on typical dinner date (or so she thought) and wanted to checkout the Edgewater boat house for a few drinks after! After “accidentally” parking in the wrong parking lot, we embarked on a journey across Edgewater park in the middle of a torrential downpour. Kelliann was NOT pleased about this because one, she hates walking, and two it was pouring and she was in a dress and heels. As we approached the big willow tree, I did a terrible job at acted like I hurt my foot, got down on one knee, asked Kelliann to marry me, and she said yes (sorta)! What she really said was "shut up, shut up, shut up" amongst many other questionable words. To her surprise, her best friend Kayle flew in from Florida and was hiding behind the tree recording the whole thing, while family and friends came up shortly after screaming and crying to celebrate! Everyone was completely drenched, but they say rain is good luck, right?