Alexander and Marie met at the infamous Sonoma State University where they also met their huge group of Best Friends: Grenache Crew for life! Although their paths were different school wise, they stuck with the core group of friends and remained best friends for 10 years before starting to date. With both finally single after long term relationships, and realizing that they have always truly liked each other, Marie forced Alexander to kiss her at the group's Halloween party.

Adopted Vino (our dog) Iceland, Mexico, Arizona, Ohio, North Carolina, San Diego, Chicago, Zion & Middlefield Utah Getaways and Engagement in Carmel Birthdays in Hawaii Camping in Bodega & Point Reyes Memberships at Handwritten, Jessup, VGS, Laird, AXR, Deloach, Raymond, Buena Vista, JCB, Trefethen, Black Stallion, Alpha Omega Too many wineries & food/wine pairings Bottlerock, Bumbershoot Death Cab, Big Sean, Portugal the Man, Rob Thomas, Hellogoodbye Hamilton Warrior, Raider & A's games Bought the Rav Moved into a house together Crab Feeds, Crawfish boils Michelin Star restaurants Witnessed many of our Best Friends get married

We took a trip to Little River for Miller's holiday party and then down to Carmel for our getaway. Being by the ocean just grounds us and makes us feel whole. Tuesday was a funny day. While everyone knew I was aware of this day coming, the day never goes exactly as planned. For us, that happened in the best way! On our drive up we realized we had forgotten our jackets (minus the one Miller had on his back). I quickly remembered not to be a drama queen and just roll with it, and of course, Carmel turned out to be beautiful high 60's weather. When we got there our early check in time was pushed to 3pm, so of course, we took the pup wine tasting. After, we got charcuterie (Miller grabbed champagne) and we headed to the beach. Of course, we forgot a blanket but had a hotel towel to sit on. I started taking pictures of the water and view right before sunset and we let Vino off leash to run and play. Miller, anxious and now suddenly a tad nervous about losing the ring (iykyk), got down on one knee. As he tells me he loves me and wants to spend the rest of his life with me, I, similar to Gollum, grab the ring! He then proceeds to ask me to marry him and I say "yes" and make him give me lots of kisses. I was so shocked that it happened in that moment, and looking at him and that beautiful ring made me speechless. Miller spilled everything about the proposal and told me how his photographer had to bail last minute. I told him it didn't matter and that we could take pics ourselves, I was just so happy. As we started taking our first selfie, as if out of nowhere, Danesh showed up. Danesh randomly asked if we needed help and wanted him to take a picture. We told him we had just gotten engaged and he turned into our professional photographer (all photos minus the selfies are by him). He of course posed us, made us move around to capture the best view and light, and proceeded to tell us how he was here for his wife's 70th birthday and they have been married 48 years. The stars were all truly aligned in that moment. We waited about a half hour to call our parents and just basked in being newly engaged together.