We met in San Diego, CA in December 2007 through our good friend, Julie Ebner. Julie and Elsa have celebrated every New Years together since 2003. Julie invited Matt to join in on the festivities that year to see the 80's cover band, Poprocks. It wasn't until Elsa started to do the cabbage patch to Matt's amazing blow-up guitar solo during the concert that we realized goofy is the new sexy. Matt lived in San Francisco and Elsa in LA at the time, and the distant just proved too great for this love story to continue so we amicably parted ways.

Fast forward 9.5 years...thanks to our friend Julie, AGAIN, we reconnected in May 2016 at her Prince-themed birthday party. Being older and wiser this time around, we both felt lucky to be given the opportunity to write the next chapter of our love story, together.

Matt realized that surviving as a couple after a 5-week long road trip across the Western/Central US in March/April 2017 was the sign he needed to "Put a Ring on It." He decided to pop the question on May 23, 2017 when we celebrated our one year "reconnecting" anniversary. He knew the way to Elsa's heart is through her stomach, so he made a reservation at Quince, a place Elsa had been salivating over for some time. After a five-hour long dinner, he asked Elsa if she would like to walk one mile uphill to Coit Tower. After eating four desserts and accepting a hot chocolate to go, Elsa reluctantly agreed that a little exercise was warranted. Matt chose Coit Tower because of its views of the city, showcasing many of the places we made happy memories in the past year. Unbeknownst to him, all the rainstorms of that winter sprouted the trees, obstructing much of the view. However, he sojourned on with the proposal and shared his desire to spend the rest of his life with Elsa. The Tower was closed by that time, so it was really dark. Elsa's first reaction was for them to walk towards the street lamp so she could see the ring. Duh, she said YES of course!

We are lucky to call Berkeley, CA our home since October 2017. We live in a quirky condo with recycled car parts and natural light in every room. We are learning to embrace our new community and discovering the joys (and sometime woes) of being East Bayers. We both still work in "the city," so San Francisco will always be dear in our hearts.