We met on the very last day of 2019 - New Years Eve! At the time, Shane was working at Nektar in Rancho Santa Margarita and happened to have a coworker who was also a friend of mine. After Shane and his friend got off work that night, his friend told him about a party that they should check out (it was New Years Eve afterall)! They showed up at the party, which I was at, and his friend immediately introduced him to me with the intro of “you like medical things, he likes medical things, you guys should talk.”

Two weeks later we went on our first date!

About a month into dating, Shane and I went to a friends house for a Superbowl Party and he introduced me to everyone as his girlfriend, which I technically was not yet. I laughed at him and teased that he did still have to ask me in order to make that title true and one day later day, he did!

Our dating anniversary was February 4th 2020.

He did!

About a month into officially dating, we went to a bar with some friends and Shane had a bit too much to drink. The words slipped out at the end of the night! We ignored what happened at first, waiting to see who would bring it up and eventually I couldn't hold my tongue and asked him if he meant it. He said he did and repeated it again :)

In March of 2023, we went on a cruise to celebrate Shane’s dad’s retirement. While we were on the cruise, he bought the ring! Since I was also on the cruise, I was definitely suspicious that he might’ve done so, but what really sold me on it was actually a raffle ticket!

Here’s what happened:

When he bought the ring, he was given like 70 raffle tickets for a prize drawing and the Jewelry store told him to come back on Sunday to see if he won. So, on Sunday he tells me that we have to go back to the Jewelry store and I was very confused how he just suddenly had 70 tickets to the Jewelry store. I tried to ask him why but he wasn’t really answering my questions. Another person in the shop did ask though, and the answer was “you get raffle tickets when you buy something.” Ding, ding, ding! I was immediately suspicious that he bought a ring since it wouldn’t have made sense for him to buy anything else. Valentine’s Day and my birthday had already passed and Christmas was a while away.

However, as time went on, I wondered why he hadn’t proposed if he did buy the ring on the cruise. I started to question everything and had even begun to convince myself that he didn’t buy one and I was crazy!

Looking back, it all kept me on my toes. I was consistently wondering what to wear whenever we went out to dinner! But it was all worth it. Nothing beats that moment when you realize what’s happening.

Shane told me a few weeks before he proposed that he had made us dinner reservations at this new restaurant he really wanted to try in San Clemente. I didn’t question it because he’s done this before and I was happy to go, so I just went with it!

When it came to the day of, he made sure I had the afternoon off work and we started to get ready for our dinner. I asked him what I should wear because I knew nothing about the restaurant and he told me a dress.

I picked out a white dress (which made people think I knew what was happening, but was really just because he told me I couldn't wear the pantsuit I had originally picked out) and we headed out. On the way to dinner, he told me he wanted to stop by the beach where he surfs because he wanted to see how the waves looked for tomorrow when he was going to go. Again, I didn’t question this because we’d done it before so I wasn’t suspicious yet.

As we got closer to the beach, he started looking for parking in a weird spot, somewhere he’d never parked before, and that’s when I knew.

My heart started pounding and I could see the red rose petals from afar. He walked me up to his proposal site and the rest is history! It was the easiest “yes,” I have ever given.

Our engagement anniversary is June 15th, 2023.