We're just two 20-somethings who stumbled upon love in the most unexpected place. We started this blog to share our journey to matrimony with all of our family & friends, and so that someday we can look back at such an exciting time in our lives.
Ian
Ian recently finished his graduate studies in middle childhood education at Ohio University. Ian was born in Durham, North Carolina, and lived in Louisiana and Georgia before moving to Ohio to attend the University of Toledo. Ian loves working on his motorcycle (an '83 Honda), spending time with friends, working out, traveling, shopping for electronics, and feeding his movie buff tendencies. Ian has been substitute teaching for a few months now, and will be looking for a full-time teaching position in middle school science when and wherever we move.
Janene
Janene just finished two Masters degrees at Ohio University, where she taught outdoor skills and leadership classes while studying environmental policy and recreation studies. She's a proud Buckeye, and enjoys spending time with old friends, meeting new ones, cooking, music, and running. Since graduating, she's turned her focus to finding a job and training for a half marathon in early 2011. Her goal is to run a marathon before tying the knot in October.
How We Met
Meeting people while in grad school is tough, and its even tougher in a small town like Athens. So, to expand our social circles beyond the eight people that they saw every day, we joined an on-line dating site. Janene signed up in March 2009, and within a day, sent Ian a message, to which he responded a few days later. After a LOT of messages back and forth, we decided to meet at the local climbing wall for our first date. We both had a pretty good feeling about it, and even though there were some nerves, the climbing session went so well that we decided to get some food and wander around campus, go for a drive, and sit in the parking lot, talking the hours away. 8 hours later, we said goodbye, knowing that something very special was blooming. Our second date was two days later, and we both spent those two day counting down the minutes.
Our Engagement
Fast forward almost a year and a half. We both love to travel, and in our relatively short time together, we've watched friends get married in Tennessee, visited family in West Virginia, been snowed in on a tarmac in Chicago for 3 hours, hiked in Olympic National Park, seen the sights in Seattle and Bellingham, rung in the new year in Vancouver, and revisited Ian's high school haunts in Atlanta.
It was on this last trip that Ian popped the question. Janene had known about "the ring" and that Ian already had it for a couple months. Ian told Janene that he wouldn't be asking the question until she forgot about the ring. Unlikely, but we digress.
We had been planning to attend Ian's 10 year high school reunion in Atlanta all summer. When we arrived at Lakeside High, just in time for the football game, we settled in and watched many of Ian's fellow Vikings introduce their wives, husbands, and children, feeling like we had shown up for show and tell with nothing to show. Janene admits to giving Ian a hard time about not being engaged. Little did she know that if she had just waited one more day....
In the morning, Janene got up early to go for a run. Ian told her that the family we were staying with, a high school buddy of Ian's and his wife and two adorable children, had a dog. Of course, Janene's response was "Oooh, I wanna play with the puppy!"
Ian reached down to pick something up, and said "Well, I want to marry you!" as he pulled open the box, revealing the perfect ring.
Technically speaking, Janene never officially said yes. She was too busy giggling uncontrollably and rolling around on the floor. Yep, Janene's a class act, all the way. Cool as a cucumber, she is.
The rest of the day was perfect. By noon, Ian & Janene had gotten engaged, gone for a run, notified the families, and hiked up Stone Mountain to celebrate! Later that evening, they showed off the ring to Ian's former classmates at a local pub, the perfect ending to a wonderful weekend!
On that 8-hour date almost 2 years ago, our journey began. We've enjoyed our time in Athens, but are looking forward to different adventures as a married couple in a new city!
Check back as the day gets closer for information,
and we can't wait to share it with you!
Check back as the day gets closer for information,
and we can't wait to share it with you!