I don't know if any of you have ever wondered where and how Shane and I met... but since I just got back from Texas I thought it only fitting to tell the story. Shane and I went to school together in Tennessee but the Southwestern Photojournalism conference is where it all began. He hitched a ride with me to the conference one year and after that I was smitten. :) So what better place to propose, huh? A couple of years after our initial road trip to Texas Shane had it all planned out. He stole me away during lunch for a picnic at the botanical gardens. We ate our lunch and I suspected nothing. We took a quick stroll through the gardens when a couple stopped us on a bridge. "Would you take a photo for us?", they asked... and of course we did; when I asked them to return the favor they agreed, but as I turned to look at the camera Shane didn't instead he dropped to one knee... and OH MY GOODNESS... he was proposing! I said yes and life was good. However this was not the end of the event. I returned to the conference, excited about my new engagement, but still ready to learn. Now the conference has these things called 2-minute-slide shows... you might see where this is going...and my favorite professor in all the world got up to present one, which he had never done before. Suddenly there we were on the big screen, photos of us ACTUALLY getting engaged! How cool. Shane had arranged for a photographer to secretly record the engagement while I had no clue. Thanks to Stanley Leary (www.stanleyleary.com/) the actual moments of our engagement were captured. It was a great proposal. We have been married 3 1/2 years now. Needless to say Southwestern holds a special place in my heart.