Who are these DINKs?

When I first considered starting a blog, the one thing that made me nervous was wondering, "How do I start it out? Do I need to introduce myself?" Chances are, the two people that might read this are people we already know, love, and talk to on a daily basis. So introductions seem a little, eh, silly. Even so, I feel a little bit like I'm entering the unknown here, and the only way I know how to react to the unknown is by smiling and saying... "Hi, I'm Ashley. It's great to meet you." Me I'm a graduate of a private Catholic university in St. Paul, MN. I majored in Entrepreneurship and Spanish, with the hopes that I'd someday move to a foreign country and open a little restaurant on the beach. Hey - there's still time, right!? In the meantime, I work in sales for a major product manufacturer in the Twin Cities, and have become pretty passionate about my work. And well, the job is pretty "cushy," which helps. Him His name is Jared. He is a full time student, and also works full time at a company that lets him do pretty cool stuff like guard top secret government "junk". And no, I'm not a cradle rocker! He took a slight "detour" after his first year at college and joined a band, which became pretty darn successful after he jumped on the bandwagon (no pun intended). He basically spent 4 amazing years hunkered down in a studio writing & recording music and touring the U.S. with the band. Epicurean (the band) is still going strong, but he has decided to take off his touring hat and trade it in for school, a career, and a happy fiance. You can still find their CD in stores like Best Buy, and watch out for their second album coming out next year! US

We've been dating for 6 years. Met in high school, but didn't start dating until just after I graduated. We've made it through the ups & downs of long distance (I worked in Ohio for a year after college) and the band touring, and he popped the BIG QUESTION last fall. We currently own a condo in "the city" a.k.a. Uptown Minneapolis, and are planning a wedding for the Spring of 2010!

So, I'm assuming this blog will be a lot about our life together, the new restaurants we try ever so often, politics, movies, cooking, wine, wedding planning, our hilarious friends, and whatever little surprises life has in store for us. Hopefully by the end of this crazy little thing called life, we'll have a good story to tell.

Just to give you an example of how exciting and spontaneous a typical night is for us, the following is a recap of last night:

After spending a few hours chatting and enjoying nice summer beverages on the patio with our beautiful friend Lindsay, we were getting ready to turn in for the night and flipped on The Food Network (big mistake). The show on was featuring the best burgers in the U.S., with a portion highlighting the godliness that is White Castle burgers, better known as "sliders" (for more reasons than one). Jared looked at me, at 10:30 at night mind you, and insisted, "We're going to White Castle!!"

So, last night at 11:00pm, while most of you were sleeping, we were in the drive through hearing, "Whatchu cravin' fo!?"

What...not the kind of "spontaneity" you would have expected??