The origin story kicks off during Christmas break of my Junior year. Visiting home from Georgia Southern University for the holidays, I had just wrapped up my shift as a hostess at Cabernet Steakhouse. 


Standing outside in 5 inch groovy-print platforms and ripped flare jeans waiting on an Uber to go meet friends, I glanced over to a gray-haired group of finance professionals that couldn’t be further in contrast. 


The youngest of them (mid-twenty something in a group of 50+ year old men) walked over and asked me where they could go for some post-dinner fun close by. I recommended Tara Humata, down the street.

He then acted much more boldly than his sweater/button-down combo would suggest, and said, “well why don’t you just forget your plans and come with us instead?”

When I walked away to call my friends for a sec, Michael would tell you he didn’t expect I’d come back. But a plot twist sounded fun, so I walked up to them and said, “alright, let’s go.”

We hung out all night at Tara Humata, exchanged numbers, and didn’t think anything of it when he headed back to California.

Then a few weeks later he asked if I wanted to meet in Las Vegas. How could I turn that down?

Thus, two-strangers who couldn’t be from further places in the US ran around the Las Vegas Strip being silly all night. I pretended my lifelong fear of rollercoasters was nonexistent when we jumped on the ride at New York, New York and his phone fell from the pocket of his blazer during the ride, never to be retrieved. (It was surprising to see someone so unphased by that)

Phoneless, he left me a voicemail from the hotel landline on his work trip the next day (that for some reason I saved & still have today).

Back in my college town for the second semester of Junior year, we’d randomly Facetime and share stories from our entirely opposite worlds - him, a 26 year old dad working in finance, based in Silicon Valley, and me, a 21 year old college student living in a house with 5 girls and 4 animals, in a small town in south Georgia.

Somehow we never ran out of topics to discuss. He’d send me EDM songs I’d never heard, and I’d send him some Classic Rock gems. I’d share my favorite Bukowski poems and he’d talk about the score of Warriors games. I never really “romanticized” the idea of relationships because it seemed like they had to follow certain default patterns, but when I started getting random Pink Floyd socks or a poetry book in the mail, it was different. Who knew these things could be custom built?

On the final day of Junior year after wrapping up with exams, he booked me a last minute flight (for the next day) to visit California for a week.

Sitting on the beach in Santa Cruz on the last day of my trip there, Michael threw out another genius idea. What if I miss my flight home and stay all Summer? After a call with my mom who was surprisingly on board and mailed me some clothes, I skipped the flight home and spent those months exploring Bay Area cities while he did adult things at work each day.

We hotel, motel and Airbnb hopped, cruised down Highway 1 blasting music, and made memories along various beaches.

It was the most freeing time of my life and a pivotal, fresh chapter in his.

After returning to Georgia for Senior year, I found a job in Palo Alto and moved to California 2 weeks post-graduation with my rescue cats, Axl & Rousseau.

We went from a long-distance scenario to living together in less than 500 square feet of space.

Our first studio apartment was in the epicenter of San Francisco, in an unrefined, pretty grimy, ungentrified neighborhood that came with massive culture shock. It was far from luxury, but it was ours (which made it awesome).

We'd hit the pavement, popping around the city in funky furry coats (even Michael). We'd hop on random city busses with zero idea where they were headed and jump off at random stops just for the fun of it, sip from Coconuts at Dolores park, and say yes to any experience.

In 2019, we moved to Austin Texas. That chapter was filled with scootering everywhere, downtown nights, lake days, walking to Cosmic coffee, LOTS of live music. I met his kids for the first time, we got baptized together, and experienced the trenches of Covid lockdown.

In 2021, the normalization of remote work post-Covid allowed us to finally move closer to where his kids had moved, which is what brought on the next chapter - Boise, Idaho.

The Boise chapter has had a lot to do with rising to the occasion - and for the past 3 years, that’s been the theme across various areas of our lives. It’s been filled with firsts - taking on the stepparent role and figuring out how we work together when responsible for kids, buying our first and second homes, navigating promotions and much greater professional strides.

We’ve also dug into the new city, found community, fallen in love with some favorite local hangouts (that we can’t wait to share with you), and scratched the surface of Idaho’s stunning natural beauty. 


We revel in Summer here - paddleboarding, scootering everywhere, jumping in the river, taking long walks. The white winters are awesome but spontaneous beach trips have been essential. 

Currently, we split our time between Boise and San Francisco, the magical place where our earliest mems kicked off.

While on a boat ride in May 2024, he proposed on the beach in Miami with a city skyline backdrop.

And boom - here we are!

If you asked him about his worst fear, Michael would definitely mention one of the typical worries of a dad or “caretaker” type.

Internally, he’d probably think about how terrible it would be to watch yet another Super Bowl slip through the 49ers’ hands (sorry, had to say it).

Spending years with the guy, however, has solidified to me what his deepest fear is.

It’s monotony.

This is one of the core things we have in common (despite our wildly different interests).

This shared fear fuels a life that’s always amusing. Having experienced my entire true adult life in this partnership, I can say there has not been a dull day.


I’m glad to have found someone who was never quite interested in those.


My favorite realization? This story would’ve never existed if I didn’t say yes to the random guy outside of Cabernet, who happened to be in my hometown 2,400 miles away for a 48 hour window. 

If I chose caution, I wouldn’t be writing about our 8+ year narrative for this website. There wouldn’t have been any mountain moments or valley moments, or cross-country moves, and there certainly wouldn’t be an upcoming wedding. It would have just been a quick chat with a stranger to give local recommendations.

I find it beautiful, insane, and divine how life happens like this. It’s a blessing we will never take for granted.

So let’s celebrate!!!!!!!


Thank you for knowing us and for playing a role in either mine, his, or our joint story. It means so much more than you know. And that’s why you’re on this guest list. :) 

-Yasmeen