Our story
It was November 2010. Sarah was in her junior year at New York University, swamped with physics and urban design classes. Jan had just left Western Kentucky University and moved to Hartford, Connecticut to start her first job as a newspaper designer at the Hartford Courant. Somehow (...thanks to the internet), we connected. It was pretty clear from the first date that something special was growing.
Beautiful Grand Central Station became the romantic spot where Sarah would meet up with Jan when she'd take the New Haven Line from Connecticut into the City. Due to the tricky nature of journalism, Jan moved from Hartford to Baltimore to Washington D.C. within the next few years. Not only did this mean she and Sarah were farther apart, but now we had to take trains to and from Penn Station–which is 100 times less romantic than Grand Central.
After three years of always being a train away, Jan moved to New York City in 2013, mainly because Sarah loves this dirty city too much to compromise (and was in the middle of graduate school). Since then we've shared our home with each other and an annoying, yet adorable, black and white kitty named Rory, who is ready to officially have two moms.
GET TO KNOW US
WHO PROPOSED AND HOW?
Sarah is miserable at planning surprises while Jan excels at this, so the wedding proposal was Jan's job. She bought Sarah's ring in 2012, and hid it in a bag of stuffed animals deep in a closet until Sarah was finally ready to get married (four years later...). Jan planned a dinner at the Olive Tree Cafe on MacDougal Street, where we had our first date. The restaurant's kitchen was undergoing renovations, so they were only serving chips and hummus. While eating and doodling on the restaurant's chalkboard tables, Sarah noticed that Jan drank her wine much faster than normal, which was an immediate clue that something was up. Jan traced Sarah's hand on the table, drew a ring on the pointer finger (she was drawing upside down, it was confusing!), wrote "Will you marry me?", and pulled out a ring. Jan then surprised Sarah with a bluegrass quartet playing as we walked through Washington Square Park after dinner. We went to get Jan a complementary ring the next day.
WHAT WAS YOUR MOST MEMORABLE DATE?
There are almost too many to choose from after seven years, but some top contenders are a helicopter ride over Manhattan, a Lego convention in Hartford, meeting Rachel Maddow at a book talk in DC, an ill-planned and extensive whiskey tasting on a Tuesday for Sarah's birthday, Jan winning an Easter Bonnet crafting competition at a local gay bar, and a Valentine's Day sewage plant tour where we wound up being interviewed on the local news (when asked "Is sludge sexy?" in the interview, Sarah actually said "Yes").
WHAT WAS YOUR MOST PAINFUL DATE?
Other than the Tuesday whiskey tasting, the most painful date was when we rode a double Jet-Ski around the entire perimeter of Manhattan in very choppy water. Beautiful, but painful.
WHAT IS ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT THINGS Y'ALL HAVE IN COMMON?
Since we both grew up in the South (Sarah in Midland, Texas; Jan in Springfield, Tennessee) we have similar perspectives on the world, as well as a shared love of whiskey, pimiento cheese, and bad country songs.
WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED FROM EACH OTHER?
Sarah has expanded Jan's cooking repertoire beyond pasta and bologna sandwiches; Jan has taught Sarah how to fix (and break) many things around the house. (We've also apparently taught each other antiquated gender roles?)
WHAT ARE YOUR FAVORITE THINGS TO DO TOGETHER?
We love new experiences, especially exploring new cities, attempting new craft projects, and experimenting with new recipes. At home, we love DIY home improvement projects, including spray painting a mannequin, building a wooden outdoor planter (a weekend project turned 3-month project), and painting our bedroom wall with a block-level map of our neighborhood. Sarah also enjoys dragging Jan to workshops around the city where we've made our own cutting board, stamped metal jewelry, etched glass, made our own pasta, and built a moss terrarium in an Erlenmeyer flask. We've even worked crafting into the wedding through letterpressing our own invitations. At other times we love going to musicals, playing pool at a local bar, cooking with friends, and nerding out over design/cities with each other. Sometimes Sarah goes to WNBA games with Jan and pretends to know what's going on.
WHAT ARE SOME OF YOUR FAVORITE TRIPS YOU'VE TAKEN?
Our first big adventure was a road trip down the California coast from San Francisco to Los Angeles and across the Arizona, New Mexico and Texas desert to Sarah's hometown in Midland (the trip included tintype portraits in San Francisco, a stop at the Hoover Dam, and a glass blowing workshop in Santa Fe). Since then, we've roadtripped the south Atlantic coast to Charleston, Savannah, and Daytona (which included a stop at Kennedy Space Center!); driven through upstate New York to Buffalo, Niagara Falls, and Toronto; spent Memorial Day weekend on the coast of Maine; and sweltered in the summer heat of Austin and San Antonio.
