Their story begins 375 Wednesdays ago at Buck and Badger, a (former) classic State Street establishment for trivia night. They chatted between rounds, Chris spoke about his immediate goals to move back to Chicago and Erin steered the conversation to Highland cows. By all counts, the night was unsuccessful. A last place finish at trivia and neither got the others number. But one thing was certain: Erin thought Chris was cuuuute.

On New Years Eve 2017, Erin threw a party! She invited the mutual friend that set up the trivia night and secretly hoped he’d bring his cute friend. Alas, Erin was to be disappointed. Once alerted to this mistake, Chris was promptly summed and arrived just in time for a New Year’s kiss.

Chris made the next move and asked Erin for drinks at Hop Cat, another (former) State Street restaurant. Their first year together was a Madison classic filled with baseball games, cooking, baking, summer days hammocking at James Madison park, puzzling, and a 14 cribbage win streak for Erin.

In 2019, Erin started her two year assignment in Dubai while Chris stayed and worked in Madison. They strengthened their relationship with long FaceTime calls and trips across the world to see each other. Chris always picked Erin up from the airport with flowers (and once with a pumpkin) and Erin always had a fun dinner ready when Chris got to Dubai. Despite being apart, Chris and Erin reunited that summer and biked 230 miles across Wisconsin to solidify their love of cycling. Erin and Chris spent not one but two Christmases in Dubai together for some unforgettable travel around Middle East.

Erin moved back to Madison in early 2021 and into Chris’s 450 square foot apartment (read: studio). They quickly upgraded to a larger apartment by summer of that year and started to make up for all the time spent apart. Erin and Chris visited family in St Paul and Maryland, traveled Alaska for a well deserved vacation, and started to plan their future.

In the spring of 2022, Erin and Chris started the exciting and frustrating first home search. After a stroke of luck late that summer, Erin and Chris found and closed on their first home in the Eken Park neighborhood on Madison’s east side. Their fifth year together was filled with gardening, painting, and filling their first home.

In September of 2023, Chris proposed to Erin in their backyard, surrounded by flowers using a ring they designed together. Feeling that planning a wedding wasn’t going to give them enough to do, in November, they welcomed Ruckus to the family and quickly fell in love with their new puppy.