Our first date was on October 2nd, 2020. Anuj was working on his Master’s degree at KU and Michaela was working full time, but still living in Lawrence.
A mutual friend set us up on a blind date at RPG on Mass street in Lawrence, KS. We had dinner and played board games at the restaurant and then drove out to Clinton lake. We talked for hours that first day.
We quickly realized we lived down the street from each other, so we would meet up during our lunch breaks to go on walks together. And then we’d meet up again after work and walk for sometimes 2 hours at a time just to keep talking to each other. Since the day we met, we saw each other pretty much every day, so it only took us 4 weeks to make it official.
On October 30th, we had plans to go to the pumpkin patch in Lawrence. Anuj showed up early at Michaela’s doorstep with her favorite kind of flowers and asked her to be his girlfriend. Then we went to the pumpkin patch and Michaela asked Anuj to be her boyfriend. This picture is from that day. After that we went to Java Break for coffee and then walked around downtown Lawrence for a while. We went to dinner at Pueblo Mexican Restaurant and ended up telling each other we loved each other in the parking lot of the restaurant.

We got engaged on July 23, 2022. Anuj’s best friend (whose name is also Anuj) was in town to visit and help pull off the surprise. We spent some time showing him around, and he just HAD to see Loose Park in Kansas City on Saturday afternoon. We grabbed some lunch on the way and then walked around the park for a while. Anuj pulled Michaela ahead and walked her to a bridge near the pond, and this is where he got down on one knee and proposed.
Afterwards, Anuj had planned an engagement party. We spent that evening hanging out with friends and family and calling our loved-ones to tell them our exciting news!