Jordyn and I met at a canvassing event against a ballot measure that would criminalize homelessness in Austin. We clicked right away and realized that we have very similar worldviews and want the same kind of community in our lives. Robert and Jordyn were friends from both volunteering in the Sunrise Movement and are both very politically active in Austin. We're so excited to have Jordyn as our officiant! <3

Lauren is my little sister and ride or die. I may not answer her phone calls EVERY time she calls (approx. 3 times/day), but we still have many stream of consciousness conversations where we narrate every activity we're currently doing. I'm usually on speaker and Lauren's husband Michael is usually in the room (HI MICHAEL!). We were close when we were kids (I read her every Harry Potter book out loud), but are even closer as adults. Lauren lives in Florence, KY.

Adrienne and I became friends while working at the Breastfeeding Center for Greater Washington in Washington, DC. She was my work wife, and we would bond over the challenges of our job and our shared love of the bachelor. Our favorite activities while we lived in DC involved drinking sojutinis at Mandu, watching the Bachelor while feasting on Trader Joe's food, and doing the scavenger hunt at the American History Museum. Adrienne lives in Washington, DC.

Alice and I met at Notre Dame as a fellow piccolo player in the ND Band. We first bonded when we both took cross country skiing as a gym credit. We would spend several hours a week cross country skiing on the ND golf course and chatting about our lives. We connected over our shared love of Harry Potter and food and how we both almost got cut from band (lol). Alice lives in Seattle, WA.

Angela and I met both as piccolos in the ND Band and in our freshman genetics class. We bonded over the fact that genetics was incredibly boring and that we both loved band. Angela and I studied abroad in Rome together and have so many incredible memories from our travels! I can't wait for our trip back someday! :) Angela lives in Madison, WI.

Adriana and I also met as, you guessed it!, piccolos in the ND Band. In college, Adriana was my go-to for borrowing clothes and accessories. Despite giving her crap for being from Texas all throughout college, I somehow ended up in Texas with her! I'm grateful to live within driving distance of her and her fam. Adriana lives in Dallas, TX.

Susan and I also met at Notre Dame. While she was not a piccolo in the ND Band, she was piccolo adjacent (i.e. roommates with two piccolos). Susan and I overlapped on the East Coast for a bit after college and it I miss living so close! We have a shared interest in amazing food, and I miss our delicious weekends visiting each other. Susan lives in Philadelphia, PA.

Richard was a friend of a friend who I came across a few times in college, but it wasn’t until Senior Year spring break on a double decker bus from New York to Boston that we started hanging out excessively. A year later, I moved to San Francisco and ended up on his and Simon’s couch for what was originally supposed to be a week or two and turned into 3 months. I blame the crazy real estate market in SF but we also were having a blast. We worked a few blocks away from each other and would hang out most evenings on the park by the SF Bay watching the ships, talking, having a beer or three and enjoying the view. I was lucky enough and honored to officiate his wedding to his amazing wife Sara. What I love the most about Richard is his intellectual curiosity and willingness to talk and engage with any idea. He loves a good banter but is also down to talk the about broader concepts of life, politics and the crazy world we inhabit. We spent many hours sitting on the bay talking about everything and anything. Hours that I cherish to this day.

When I moved back to Austin, I ended up on 37th St and didn’t know many people who lived nearby. About a month in, I passed Cameron hanging out on his front porch with a friend or two. He waved, I waved and moved on. A few more times of passing by and I stopped to hang out. That was the start of our 37th St Crew and the rebirth of the 37th St Lights. From building UFOs and Godzillas to dealing with our ex-magician slumlord we have had a plethora of fun adventures. We both moved to the East Side and cowork from his front porch regularly. What I love the most about Cameron is his devotion to community. He is tirelessly working to build a strong and resilient community. From neighborhood BBQs to a literal soup cart that he pulls around to distribute free dinners he is always living his ideals. Plus he is damn handy and takes on cool projects fearlessly, reusing as many upcycled items as possible.

Christian moved onto 37th St right before the pandemic started, so we only met briefly before we isolated. After the pandemic he started to hang out with us and eventually needed to move out of his place and I had a room open. Luckily his cat Dragon was already enamored with the street so he joined Clovis and I for a year and a half. There are few friends that also double as good roommates but Christian is one of them. He introduced me to great coffee and an organized kitchen (which Stephanie appreciates). We played many great games together, biked all over Austin, and rescued his cat Dragon from a dentist's office that he kept getting locked into, the home of a man who fed raccoons, and from a crazy lady who thought it was illegal for cats to climb over her 3’ fence and sunbath on her table. What I love the most about Christian is his independent spirit and experiences. Christian doesn’t follow trends; he does his own thing and then 2 years later the “cool” kids start copying him. There is rarely a task/project that I endeavor upon that Christian doesn’t know how to do. And he has travelled to parts of this world for work that even the most worldly person would be hard pressed to find on a map, let alone visit.

Justin just showed up in my freshmen year dorm one day after he had moved in down the hall. And within the first five minutes we started getting up to adventures and the occasional trouble. We lived together for 2.5 of the best years in college together and spent a summer working horrible internships but exploring the Hollywood hills and Silver Lake after work every single night looking for the oh-so-elusive non-obstructed view of Los Angeles. We don’t get to see each other as much now that we live half a country apart but every time we do the friendship just slots right back into place. The thing I love the most about Justin is that he and I share the desire to get the job done to support friends and family. When something needs to get done, he never shirks the responsibility; he volunteers to do it and helps everyone out. He takes having your back and helping his friends to a whole new level.

Nick met me freshmen year as an elder of our progressive fraternity at USC. From scrambling over boulders in Joshua Tree to contemplating if it was a good idea to ride our bikes on a helipad 12 stories up (it wasn’t and we didn’t), we had many great times in college. Luckily we both ended up in the Bay Area after college and continued our adventures, but in Golden Gate Park and the bay instead of USC's campus. I was lucky enough to officiate his marriage to his amazing wife Sophie. What I love the most about Nick is his wisdom. Him being 2 years ahead of me in college made him seem so much wiser at the time, but as we get older and the age differential gets smaller, he is still a fountain of wisdom that I look up to.