Baby, it’s cold outside

How they met in Pittsburgh

Jared and I met on 9/10/11. We were both students at Penn State and met at the tailgate for the PSU-Alabama football game. At the time, I was dating his fraternity brother who had brought me, and my homemade cake of the penn state stadium to the fraternity’s tailgate. Upon our introductions, Jared’s first interaction with me was to make fun of my cake, pointing out the seating sections weren’t the right sizes. Throughout the morning he kept close by, requested to be my cornhole partner, and even inserting himself into every photo-op I had with his fraternity brother. We ended up with some pretty cute photos of the two us, as a matter of fact. As I left to enter the game, he asked me for my phone number (which he would later ask me for again, because he had a bit too much tailgate in his morning…haha). The photos from that day were a hit with my mom and aunt, who were fixated on this cute guy Jared, rather than the one I was actually dating. They seemed to know then, that he was someone special. I love those memories, and the fact that I met Jared while wearing a white dress. We celebrate September 10th every year. (Photo below was 9–10-11 when we met, even though it looks like we were old friends in it LOL)

I turned 21 in time for Halloween, which fell on a Monday in 2011, so we went out together to Mad Mex for the evening with some of his friends. I am a huge football fan, so Jared convinced me we should make a little bet on the Monday Night Football game. He had our waitress give us order papers to privately write our wagers on to make it more official. I knew the Kansas City Chiefs would absolutely win the game against the Chargers and something in my subconscious made me write that I’d like “a kiss from Jared” on my bet…at half time, he said we could add or change if we wanted which I turned down. By the end, the Chiefs won (so I won) and we revealed the bets…his originally said I had to “skip my 8am class” which he changed at half time to say “whatever your bet is”—so, my first kiss from Jared came on Halloween and the second, and third and so on until he got me back to my car to head home (side note, I still have those original bet papers, saved in a safe place ️)

Our slow and steady interest continued into our Thanksgiving break that year. I normally would have gone home to Richmond, Virginia, but due to some additional school work and having the luxury of amazing relatives in Pittsburgh, I decided to stay up north. Luck would have it, Jared was also from Pittsburgh (North Allegheny alum). He pointed out our similar destinations and suggested a few “hang outs.” This ended up including my first trip to Mt. Washington, my first Penguins game, and my first ride on the Duquesne incline. The night of the incline, his softer side came out. He saw an elderly couple having difficulty navigating the sidewalk curb with a wheelchair and rushed over to help, melting my heart. My family couldn’t get over the stories I would share with them, and I seemed to be the only one left who didn’t realize the relationship forming in front of me.

By Christmas break, we parted for our hometowns, but kept the text messages flowing, causing permanent smiles and giddiness. I had plans to be back in Pittsburgh just before New Years Eve so Jared invited me to join him for the ball drop. On NYE we went to three separate houses, meeting all of his friends (and their parents) in one night. We had a blast and on 1-1-2012 at 1:17am, he shyly smiled and said “I don’t know how to do this, but, will you be my girlfriend?” YES!

The proposal and wedding in pittsburgh downtown

Fast forward to 12-28-17, almost 6 years to the date of our anniversary, Jared arranged a sweet, private proposal in front of both our families and a gorgeous Christmas tree.

The two of us have had a lot of life happen in between those wonderful events, including the loss of my father, and would not have been able to get through it all without each other.

We have now been together for over 7 years and can not wait to finally be married.  The wedding is scheduled on 8-31-19 in downtown Pittsburgh