our-story.html

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title: Our Story
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    <h2>The First Day</h2>
    <p class="lede">When: Friday, November 2, 2012</p>
    <p>For their first date, Shane had decided to show off his culinary skills by cooking a traditional meal. That night he served steak with steamed broccoli and baked potatoes. They started the meal off with a couple of glasses of red wine. The meal was perfect, it not a little quiet. They were both a little shy to begin with.</p>
    <p>As they cut into their meals, Lauren quickly realized that Shane had tried to "bake" the potoatoes in the microwave. Neither of the potatoes were at all cooked. To this day, Shane isn't allowed to try baking potatoes in the microwave.</p>
    <p>After dinner, they sat down to watch TV. Shane saw the Nintendo Wii sitting in the corner and, they spent the remainder of the evening laughing and playing Mario Party.</p>
    <p>When Shane left to go home, it took him 45 minutes of driving home to realize he was going in the complete wrong direction.</p>
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      <blockquote class="callout-band__quote">Love is being stupid together.</blockquote>
      <div class="attribution">Paul Valery</div>
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    <h2>The "Yes" Day</h2>
    <p class="lede">When: Saturday, March 14, 2015</p>
    <p>On the morning of Lauren's 25th Birthday, Shane woke her up at 5am to take her down to watch the sunrise over Lake Michigan. It was a plan they had been talking about for the last week or so, it would be romantic, Lauren could take photos, and they could go to the St. Patty's Day Parade after.</p>
    <p>When they got in the car to drive downtown, Shane handed Lauren an envelop. He told her to read it out louod.</p>
    <h3>The morning of</h3>
    <blockquote>Amazing things happen every single day. Netflix releases episodes of a shoe you'll undoubtedly finish in 36 hours, or something as simple as finding a new favorite takeout place to order sushi and cheesesteaks. All of these of these moments to us were incredible yet we never stopped to think how fortunate we really are. It's our little moments together that are the most memorable. I don't remember what my first day was like at my new job, but I remember how excited I was to tell you about it. The first thing that comes to mind when I talk about DC wasn't hoe beautiful the cherry blossoms were, but rather the moments we made there together. The small moments are the ones that make up the most of our lives, yet we only reflect on the larger ones. What I remember most about our first couple of dates wasn't where we went or who we were with. I remember that I couldn't cook a baked potato to save my life; or how much fun I had playing Mario party on your sad 1990s TV.</blockquote>
    <p>They took Lake Shore Drive downtown past the pier, and Grant Park. Shane took them to Northerly Island, an open part on the lake near Museum Campus. When they parked he pulled a duffle bag out of trunk and together down towards the Lake.</p>
    <p>They walked down to the beach, laid out a blanket and sat down. Shane began to rummage through the duffle bag, while Lauren admired the view and took out her camera to snap some photos. Out of the bag, Shane pulled a bag of McDonald's breakfast that he had picked up before they left the apartment. He handed her another envelope.</p>
    <h3>Breakfast on the Beach</h3>
    <blockquote>Falling in love does interesting things to the human psyche. In short, people do obscure things in the name of love. They could buy tequila instead of ice on Cinco de Mayo. They could show up to a social gathering of white women with $20 in French fries because bitches love McDonalds. When you're in love everything changes. Before meeting you I had a set routine: get up, work, gym, home and repeat. Slowly my routine adapted so I could see as much of you as possible. It consisted of late nights and early mornings. I spent more time driving thank hanging out. I couldn't get you off my mind nor did I want to. I wanted to be friends with your friends and I wanted you to be friends with mine. I wanted you to be in my life and I wanted to be in yours. That's the thing about love, it makes you do weird things, but in the end you'll know its all worth it.</blockquote>
    <p>Shane pulled a bottle of champagnge, two glasses and some orange juice out of the duffle bag next. They sat on the beach toasting to Lauren's Birthday and eating breakfast. They watched the sunrise over the lake. After a mimosa or two, Shane handed her another envelop.</p>
    <h3>Champagne Sunrise</h3>
    <blockquote>Sometimes it's simply a matter of sitting on the patio of our favorite after work happy hour. Other times the destination is more exotic. We have seen our share of both exotic and not so exotic adventures. I don't know anyone who would turn a random February weekend into drinking beers with moose on the can and walking along Lake Ontario. Over the course of 863 days we have taken so many exciting adventures, been through so many antics, and had so much fun. We sipped drinks on the beaches of Turks and Caicos, enjoyed the pyrotechnics and seashells of Sanibel island, and talked about the golf courses of Hilton Head. All of this within the short span of 863 days. That's not to make light of the countless brunch outings and lighthearted apartment soirees with friends. We have had so many exciting adventures over the course of our relationship and I look forward to many more adventures to come.</blockquote>
    <p>They sat there together for awhile, watching the sunrise. Finally, they got up to walk to the car. Halfway back to the parking lot, Shane started going in a different direction. He handed Lauren an envelop and started walking ahead as she read it.</p>
    <h3>The Walk</h3>
    <blockquote>What measures the strength of a couple is their response to the monotony of everyday life. To others, a day dedicated to picking up and assembling economical Swedish furniture might seem dull. Driving 40 minutes to the suburbs where you can shuffle a maze of chairs and end tables. Monotony is just a reality of life, but what makes it a happy reality is when you have someone to look back on those moments with. It's when someone can take that monotony and turn it into something positive. It's when someone can turn that high budget hbo drama into the name of your four-legged fur kid. It's when someone can turn running out of paper towels into an adventurous courtship through Costco. Daily events don't have to be monotonous if the one you love is able to make the dull moments of your life fun. You have shown me that no matter what we are doing, who we are with, or where we are we can have an amazing time together.</blockquote>
    <p>When Lauren looked up, Shane was across the field. He had stopped next to one of the trees and was once again sifting through the duffle bag. This time he pulled out a piñata and a bouquet of red roses.</p>
    <p>Immediatly, Lauren started laughing, and asking what was going on. He told her to hit the piñata, so she started punching it and trying to rip it open. Out of the piñata, flowed tons of red rose petals. When she was done, Lauren saw another envelope inside the piñata.</p>
    <h3>The Piñata</h3>
    <blockquote>We always talk about how we want an amazing future of love, laughs and good times. An idealistic future with craftsman style homes, dogs playing in the back yard and a chipotle only a few blocks away; one where we have friends and family over often but still find time for one another. We talk about this but at what point is future going to become reality?</blockquote>
    <p>At this point, Shane kneeled down on one knee and started to pull a ring box out of his jacket.</p>
    <blockquote>You are my partner, my best friend and everything in between. You make me happy, driven and have provided me with some of the most amazing experiences life has to offer. Even though we're comfortable with one another, I still get excited around you and you do the same. There's no one I trust more in the world and no one who understands my intricacies better than you. You're beautiful, intellectual, and we have the most incredible time together. You're passionate about everything you do, you're an amazing pup mom and I'm madly in love with you. You are my everything and I know we have an amazing future together.</blockquote>
    <p class="lede">Will you give me the future we always talked about and spend the rest of your life with me?</p>
    <p class="lede">... and she said YES!</p>
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    <h2>The Best Day</h2>
    <p class="lede">October 8, 2016</p class="lede">
    <p class="lede">...is still yet to come</p>
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