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How We Met
We met in downtown Austin in November 2000, while interviewing at IBM during our senior year of college. This was while the economy was still good, and IBM had flown a bunch of us out to Austin for a long weekend, including interviews, a tour of Austin, some nice dinners, and experiencing downtown. While walking back from 6th street at 2am, after a few long island ice teas at The Library, we bonded over our nut allergies. Less than a month later, we ran into one another again, this time interviewing for Northrop Grumman in Baltimore, MD. We hung out, sharing an awesome warm chocolate chip skillet cookie (a la mode) and shooting some hoops at ESPN Zone in the Inner Harbor. Eight months go by until we realize that we both accepted the jobs at IBM and moved out to Austin, TX. Guess the rest is history . . .
The Proposal
The proposal, as told by Nicole:
Thursday, Ryan texts me and asks "If I had dinner plans for us tomorrow, would you be ready to go at 5:15pm from our house?" Those of you that know me know that I've never really been hung up on getting married, assumed we would get married eventually, and always just thought we'd decide to get married, ie. no proposal. I didn't want to make too much out of Ryan's question, but those of you that know Ryan know that he does not generally plan things or schedule specific times to leave for dinner. Hence I was slightly suspicious. Next day, I'm dressed up (as I was told to do) and ready to leave at 5:15pm. Around 5:30pm, the doorbell rings, and a limo is sitting outside our house. Now I am definitely suspicious! The limo drives us downtown and drops us off at the Hilton Garden Inn. This is the hotel we met at (at the time a Sheraton I think) while interviewing at IBM. We go up to the 18th floor lounge, which is actually closed and being setup for a private party, so we have the whole lounge to ourselves with beautiful views of downtown. We sit down in some chairs, and the next thing I know, Ryan is down on one knee. I honestly remember very little that he said, just that I kept saying things like no way, and I don't believe this. And of course "YES"! The nice staff opened a bottle of champagne for us and took a picture. We then headed back to the limo and off to Uchi for an amazing sushi dinner. Ryan had red roses waiting on the table for me, with a card that said "If all goes as plannd up to this point, you will not be surprisd to see these flowers and this message that says I love you :-)". Awww! After dinner, we headed first down to 38th and half to look at crazy Christmas lights, and then to Halcyon for some hot chocolate. It was a wonderful night! And I haven't stopped smiling about it since.
The proposal, as told by Ryan:
What she said.
