HOW WE MET

We met in December 2015. It was ladies' night at a small, hole-in-the-wall bar called Boogies. I was there with my sister, Kelly and bestie, Valeria. I had recently just ended a previous relationship and was by no means looking into entering another relationship right away. But, little did I know, that night I would be meeting my future husband. It all started with Chris and a group of guys coming up to us asking if we wanted to play Jenga. We all said yes. As we were playing, Chris and I started talking. I couldn’t help but think to myself that he was so cute, but I was fearful he was too young for me. After talking for a long time, asking each other typical “get to know you” questions, he finally asked for my number. Wondering if I should give him my real number or not, I decided to take a chance and gave him my actual number! The next day we began having many conversations through text.

DATING

Chris had planned a super cool date for our first date which involved food trucks and outdoor activities. I had agreed to this date without realizing that I had already committed to babysitting (yes I used to babysit on the side for extra money!) Because of this, I had to cancel the date and told him we would have to reschedule ☹ Side note- later on into our relationship, he told me that he had decided that I was making up the fact that I had to babysit because I was trying to dodge him (so NOT true!) and he was not going to “chase” me or text me anymore. Unbeknownst to me, I texted him randomly one day asking how his Christmas was going with his family and we had a mutually engaging conversation. Finally, after some back and forth, we organized our first official date which was at World of Beer. Chris, being the adorable klutz that he is, ended up spilling his beer all over his pants. I was so embarrassed for him. But it worked in our favor as it was a funny icebreaker! After the date was over, Chris leaned in and kissed me! I was so happy that he did. The whole drive home I couldn’t help but feel those butterflies that every girl dreams about having when meeting an amazing guy.! For the next month we continued to get to know each other and go on dates until we officially became a couple on January 23, 2016.

THE PROPOSAL

In the midst of a pandemic, we managed to squeeze in a mini vacation to Blue Ridge, Georgia with Chris' parents to celebrate my 32nd birthday. The first night we were at the cabin, we drank lots and lots of champagne and wine celebrating the start of a beautiful birthday trip together. Needless to say, the next day, I was not feeling 100% (sorry mom and dad, your baby was hungover), so we postponed the hike we had planned for that day. After some nice R & R, the next day, we were up and ready to go for our hike at Raven Cliff Falls Trail. In my mind, the most exciting part of this hike was going to be seeing majestic and beautiful waterfall at the end of the trail. However, Chris changed that when he got down on one knee behind me and uttered the words “the only thing more beautiful than this waterfall is you baby.” Extremely flattered, I turned around and was in complete shock to see him on one knee asking me to marry him!!!! Ahhhh! All the emotions rushed through and I could not help but think how perfect everything was in that moment including the engagement ring (wowza)! Luckily, he had arranged for his parents to take pictures and videos and I will forever be grateful that it was captured for us so that we always remember that special moment. After the hike, we went to Helen, Georgia to celebrate with some great food, German beer and live music!