I like pizza & beer. Those were the words that really started it all.

That was the description I used on my online dating profile where Clayton and I met. Clayton messaged me and said he liked pizza and beer too, and that we should go get some together. This promptly led to our first date.

Our first date was at a bar at University of Cincinnati’s campus called Brass Tap (now called Hop Scotch). I can’t remember my first thoughts because I was so incredibly nervous. However, as the night progressed the nerves floated away and everything flowed naturally. We ended the night at my house playing Mario Kart on the Nintendo 64. And yes, we did have pizza and beer on our first date.

After about 2 years of dating, Clayton & I moved into our first apartment together in Bellevue, Kentucky, right along the Ohio river. This happened in August of 2020, so right in the height of all the pandemic craziness. We worked right next to each other in the same room for months and months. While this might be the demise of some couples, it never bothered us. In fact, we look back at this time fondly, and credit it as being what made us realize we could be together forever and face anything that came our way.

At this apartment, we also adopted our first cat together. His name is Beau and if you spend about 10 minutes with us, he will surely be brought up in conversation.

About 4 years into our relationship, on September 6 of 2022, Clayton proposed. Friends and family will recognize this date right away as Clayton’s birthday. That night we went out to a fancy restaurant downtown called Boca as a birthday dinner. Little did I know it was a dual-purpose celebratory dinner. Once we got back to our apartment, Clayton asked me to take a walk along the river. During this walk, we came to an area lit with lights and the ground coated with tea light candles and rose pedals. Clayton grabbed a ring box out of a nearby bouquet of roses, and got down on one knee. This was all captured on camera by his sister, Carrigan, who was hiding behind some bushes (and who we are very grateful to for helping orchestrate the perfect moment).

After we were engaged, we decided we were done with apartment life. Despite the horrible housing market at the time, we bought our first house together in January of 2023.

Now, we are taking on one new house project at a time. We enjoy doing all sorts of various activities together like skiing, bowling, softball, sand volleyball, and biking. You could say we are jacks of all trades, but masters of none. Our favorite things to do together, though, are checking out new restaurants and bars and playing board games with friends. Oh, and we cannot forget our love of our TWO kitties Beau & Ivy. Ivy was added to the family very shortly after we bought our house and made an excellent addition to our little family.

The next step on the agenda now is getting married! We cannot wait to celebrate with everyone in May. It cannot come soon enough!

Love,

Megan