And so the adventure begins...

Laurel and Michael met through the magic (and mathematics) of Match.com. It was on their first date, however, while sipping wine at Fuego at the Maya Hotel in Long Beach, that they discovered that they actually worked in the very same building just across the river and had probably crossed paths any number of times. Michael's office was then located just a couple of floors above the Downtown Long Beach Catalina Express terminal, where Laurel manages the restaurants and Michael was a regular lunch customer. Indeed, Laurel's staff was ecstatic when they found out who Laurel's new beau was, as they had known him for years.

Laurel was pretty sure she liked Michael right away, but the deal was sealed when her dog, Rosemary ("Rosie"), fell in love with him. Michael willed his way past his dander allergy and now revels in his "chill time" with Rosie after Laurel leaves for work in the morning but before Michael does the same. Rosie also goes virtually everywhere with Laurel and Michael, whether it's a hike, a camping trip, or brunch at one of her favorite dog-friendly restaurants. She is, in a word, their "dogger," and she hopes to make an awesome big fur sister some day.

Laurel and Michael both love to travel, so they knew early on that they needed to find out quickly whether they were compatible travel partners. They took their first weekend trip to Santa Barbara Wine Country a couple of months after they started dating and not only managed to avoid killing each other but actually enjoyed themselves! After the success of that first wine tasting trip, the two decided to really go big and CAMP in wine country so that they could bring Rosie, the world's best wine tasting dog, along for the fun. They now have a favorite camp site at Lake Cachuma, and they dine on gourmet meals prepared by Laurel while sipping the days' spoils of wine around the campfire and under the stars. Perfect. Weekends away, even those spent camping, of course, are not a true test of a couple's ability to travel together. The couple's first longer vacation away together was in the Autumn of 2015, when they headed up to Seattle for a week and a half. They ate and drank their way through most of Seattle, checked out a couple of the local islands, and even made it up to Victoria, Canada for a day and STILL enjoyed each other's company! Things were starting to get serious now! Perhaps the truest test so far, though, was their two-week vacation in the Autumn of 2016, when they rented a 19-foot RV (which they affectionately named Roberta) and drove (with Rosie along for the ride!) all the way up the California Coast and across the state border into Oregon. They stopped at some of the most iconic spots along the way, ate like kings off of a Weber grill, drank wine in nearly every wine region they drove through, and marveled at the beauty that is California. And two full weeks later, they STILL liked each other! With these adventures under their belts, Laurel and Michael look forward to planning many more and can't wait to share all the stories with you!

In early 2017, Michael began developing a scheme for how to propose to Laurel, a notorious planner with a knack for ruining secrets. He first reached out to Laurel's best friend, Kelly Moore, with whom Laurel grew up on Catalina Island. Kelly helped Michael created a "cover" by inviting Laurel and Michael to join her and her boyfriend for a weekend on Catalina. Laurel was ecstatic, as she and Kelly hadn't seen each other in quite a while. They headed over to Avalon where Kelly picked them up in a borrowed truck for a trip into the interior to check out the untouched parts of the island, much of which Laurel had never been able to show Michael. They stopped at all of Laurel and Kelly's favorite childhood spots, and as they rounded the bend above Cottonwood Beach, Kelly suggested that they hike down to see if the waterfall at Cottonwood was still running after all the amazing rain last winter. The four hiked down a muddy trail to find water gushing between the rocks. Laurel was so incredibly excited - she'd never seen Cottonwood like this in all her life! Then, suddenly, Michael got down on one knee and pulled out from a pocket a small abalone shell to which he had tied the most beautiful sapphire and diamond ring Laurel had ever seen. Michael's hands shook, and Laurel began to cry until, that is, they both realized that Michael hadn't actually ASKED her to marry him yet! After the excitement of the proposal, they were all hungry, so they stopped at Little Harbor, where Laurel laid out a nice little picnic she had prepared for them. Suddenly, however, another truck pulled up. Laurel was about to ask them to leave when she realized that it was her dad and stepmom and Michael's mom and dad! They they unloaded an amazing picnic spread from Kathleen Bombard at the M Restaurant, chocolate-covered strawberries, and several bottles of VERY nice champagne to celebrate. What a day!