I knew Ryan's coffee order before I knew his name since he was one of my "regulars" while I was working at the Mendocino Cookie Company as a barista. One of my friends let me know that Ryan was asking around about me, trying to find out if I was single, so it was no surprise when he slid into my DMs asking me out on a date. For our first date, Ryan made an apple pie from scratch and took me on a picnic on the beach on a beautiful, sunny November afternoon. There were sparks flying from the start so when it randomly started to pour down rain, he offered to cook me dinner at his place so we could continue our date. Back at his house, he brought me to tears of laughter when he confessed the venison that he was cooking was ROADKILL that he had found on the side of the road the morning prior. He assured me it was "fresh" and that he couldn't pass up "good meat". For whatever reason, this charmed me and we began dating. After we started a committed relationship and a few months passed, I introduced Ryan to my two daughters, Scarlett and Camille, and they instantly clicked. Soon after, we moved in together and became a family. In the years following we've had endless adventures, celebrations, and happy times together. One evening, after dinner at one of our favorite restaurants, we took our dogs to the beach at Ward Ave and as we were strolling along, he dropped down to one knee and asked me to marry him and of course, I said yes! We are so excited for the next chapter in our love story.

Devon was a barista at a coffee shop I visited regularly. I was instantly attracted to her and she made me feel a little nervous so I began to ask around about her. Eventually, I decided to message her on Instagram to try and get to know her, and I found out we had a lot of things in common. We shared a love for animals, we loved being near the ocean and preferred to spend time outdoors. I eventually asked her out on a date after a couple of weeks of talking. I thought it would be nice to try and impress her with my baking skills by baking her an apple pie from scratch and bringing her on a picnic on the beach. We just clicked and it felt right. We got rained out on the beach and I offered to cook dinner at my house. Halfway home I realized the only food I had was mustard and venison roadkill* that I had collected the previous day.

*To give some roadkill backstory:

I was planning on leaving town to go crab fishing out of Bodega Bay in the upcoming days. so I had emptied my pantry and fridge. The day before I took Devon on our date, I had just been informed that our crab season was delayed, and as I was driving along, a specimen of a buck was hit by a car and laid steaming on the side of the road on a chilly, frosty morning. I had picked it up to share with my crabbing crew to boost morale.

So when Devon came over, that was the only food I had. As I was cooking the venison tenderloin, I felt the need to confess to Devon where I had sourced our dinner, and Devon, to my surprise, was totally okay with it. Since the crabbing season was delayed, it allowed Devon and me to get to know each other more. This was the start of a great relationship. We dated for a couple of weeks and went official after a day of paddle boarding at Big River. And that was it, I just knew I was in love. The first time I met Devon's kids, Scarlett and Camille, we spent the afternoon at the beach and they were so playful and happy. We built forts and buried each other in the sand. Once they moved into my house, it was all very new to me but it felt natural. The three of them put nothing but positivity into my life. Then I dragged my feet for two years and finally decided to propose.