Our story begins the day Elizabeth downloaded the popular dating app "Bumble." After only a few days of swiping left on inferior men, she stumbled across Bumble veteran and local hottie, Nick DiFranco. She obviously swiped right on this one, recognizing that she had found the man of her dreams. Elizabeth here--I will take over from this point forward. Once they matched and engaged in some playful banter about defending gardens from pests and avoiding the dangers of multi-level marketing schemes, Nicholas was eager to meet Elizabeth. Unfortunately, Elizabeth was booked solid for the weekend, but Nick was persistent and insisted that they meet after work for "drinks." Elizabeth thought that was lame, and told Nick he could meet her at Costco that Thursday evening instead. Nick said that was the best date idea ever and agreed to meet her after work. The first time Nick and Elizabeth romantically locked eyes was in the gas line at Costco. After a quick fill-up, they parked their cars and walked into Costco together. Elizabeth took Nick on a tour of all her favorite Costco products--USDA Prime steak, imported Manchego cheese, and an 8-pack of Scrub Daddy sponges. They eventually plopped down on a model couch for several hours and talked until Costco closed (despite curious looks from multiple employees). Nick bought the Manchego cheese for himself (he had to give it a try after Elizabeth's sales pitch) and a bag of handmade caramels for Elizabeth (they only make them in small batches and you never know when Costco will have them in stock! They're from Montana!). They stood and talked in the parking lot until a disgruntled employee pulled up and told them they had two choices: exit the parking lot or be cited for loitering. Not wanting to end the date on a sour note, they finally parted ways. The Costco date went so well that Elizabeth canceled her plans on Sunday to meet Nick again for dinner. She promised she would bring some high-quality olive oil in exchange for a dish containing produce from his garden. After Elizabeth made the hard decision of which pasta noodle to eat (casarecce--Nick's favorite), the two enjoyed a delicious meal and haven't looked back since.

Nick decided to propose to Elizabeth on the first anniversary of their Costco date. He told her that he was planning a special meal for the occasion and that they would enjoy a twilight dinner on the patio. Elizabeth took this as an invitation to bake several loaves of bread (to which Nick did not protest). She prepared the dough the night before and took it out of the fridge after work. Elizabeth raced to Nick's house that day fearing that the dough would overproof. In the meantime, Nick's mother, father, sister, and future mother-in-law were all frantically preparing the house for her arrival. Elizabeth was completely unaware that she would be proposed to (and photographed) that day. In fact, Elizabeth called Nick on the way over to let him know how critical it was to get her bread dough into the oven. She had no idea. It started to drizzle ever so slightly as Elizabeth pulled into the driveway. Nick made her drop everything she was carrying--the bowl of dough, her purse, and a bottle of Costco wine. He told her to close her eyes and led her into the backyard. To Elizabeth's surprise, Nick's family and Elizabeth's mom were hiding out to take pictures of the moment Nick proposed to her. While she claims to have "blacked out" during the actual proposal, she said yes, and everyone celebrated as she put on the ring for the first time. Mere minutes later, Elizabeth removed the ring as she exclaimed, "my dough!" and raced to the kitchen to bake her loaves of bread (priorities). Once the bread was baked and the toasts (both champagne and gluten-based) were complete, Nick and Elizabeth sat down on the beautifully decorated patio (thanks to the efforts of their families) and enjoyed the same pasta dish that he made on their second date.