Our Story
Chris likes me to tell our "how we met" story because apparently I describe it rather vividly. But I also posted about it that day, October 17, 2019.
They convinced me it was worth the risk — and that a more perfect date could not have been created for me. Turns out they were right. We had our first date on October 20, 2019 at the Plaza Barnes and Noble. We chatted about books and travel and nerddom and had coffee in the Starbucks cafe. When the date was over, he walked me to my car and gave me a giant bearhug. If I hadn't been sold yet, he texted fairly immediately and wished me "happy reading" and let me know how much he enjoyed the date.
Since then, we weathered Covid (he was my bubble) stay-at-home, travel to Maui, Austin, Chicago, New Mexico and Colorado, Washington, and Vermont. We discovered a shared love of aquariums and have visited aquariums and zoos all over — with penguin, shark, and sloth encounters and more aquarium trips planned.
Our most recent trip was to Vermont for a destination wedding of our dear friends Sharlynn and Elam — a small intimate wedding where all the friends got to spend the weekend together. We agreed at that point that "if" should become "when" and that having a low-key destination wedding was exactly the way we'd both pictured it.
Which brings us to the engagement.
Just a few weeks after that weekend in Vermont, we decided to celebrate our 5th date-a-versary by driving to Springfield to the Wonders of Wildlife aquarium (this is an endorsement — that place is pretty neat). In front of the Jellyfish, we made it official that we'll go to aquariums together forever.
So we picked a destination where we can snorkel (and Chris can Scuba) and swim under water where its so blue and clear that we can see the marine creatures up close and personal — and we want you all to come with us to St Maarten and be part of the celebration. If you can't, that's ok, we'll do a little something at home in KC afterwards with those friends who can't travel. Visit Event Details for up-to-date info, and be sure to let us know if you can!
"I got an email today from OKCupid that someone liked my profile and left a message. Reader I've not been active on OKCupid in more than 2 years, and I really thought I'd deactivated my account. So I log on, and see that no, my profile has not been deactivated, and apparently I've had likes and messages for the last 2 years.So here's where I realized that I was flirting with someone who wanted a date (during a video conference where I was NOT paying attention to work stuff) and immediately slammed the (personal) laptop shut and threw it from my desk to the guest bed in my office and texted Jess Best and Sara Theurer who I'd been chatting with all morning.
So I updated my profile. (I have no rational explanation for why I did this.) And responded to ONE guy who seems nice and nerdy - he reads alot of the same authors, with "will Patrick Rothfuss ever finish book 3? and will Butcher ever finish Peace Talks?" and he wrote back that he's still making his way thru the Dresden Files, and did I want a bookshop date where we buy a book for each other and HOLYCRAPYOUGUYS i didn't want to date, but wow... come at my weak spot."
They convinced me it was worth the risk — and that a more perfect date could not have been created for me. Turns out they were right. We had our first date on October 20, 2019 at the Plaza Barnes and Noble. We chatted about books and travel and nerddom and had coffee in the Starbucks cafe. When the date was over, he walked me to my car and gave me a giant bearhug. If I hadn't been sold yet, he texted fairly immediately and wished me "happy reading" and let me know how much he enjoyed the date.
Since then, we weathered Covid (he was my bubble) stay-at-home, travel to Maui, Austin, Chicago, New Mexico and Colorado, Washington, and Vermont. We discovered a shared love of aquariums and have visited aquariums and zoos all over — with penguin, shark, and sloth encounters and more aquarium trips planned.
Our most recent trip was to Vermont for a destination wedding of our dear friends Sharlynn and Elam — a small intimate wedding where all the friends got to spend the weekend together. We agreed at that point that "if" should become "when" and that having a low-key destination wedding was exactly the way we'd both pictured it.
Just a few weeks after that weekend in Vermont, we decided to celebrate our 5th date-a-versary by driving to Springfield to the Wonders of Wildlife aquarium (this is an endorsement — that place is pretty neat). In front of the Jellyfish, we made it official that we'll go to aquariums together forever.
So we picked a destination where we can snorkel (and Chris can Scuba) and swim under water where its so blue and clear that we can see the marine creatures up close and personal — and we want you all to come with us to St Maarten and be part of the celebration. If you can't, that's ok, we'll do a little something at home in KC afterwards with those friends who can't travel. Visit Event Details for up-to-date info, and be sure to let us know if you can!