Nicole is one of my very good friends, and our friendship is the effortless kind: we have so much in common and the conversation comes easy. I have known Ross just as long (they were already dating when she and I met working as shop girls) and I've liked him all along. But their pup Edie is brand new, and I'm a huge fan. Even more than I like each of them on their own, I really love them together. Together they're a family, and a really freaking good one. Relaxed, interesting, fun. They bring out the best in one another, and they look damn good together.
We found a jawbone and they did some tooth extraction, perfect opportunity for a ring shot (here's some backstory on the bones).
Ross is from Iowa. Nicole is originally from Alaska, but spent most of her adolescence just miles from this Lake County valley. After undergrad, Nicole's best friend Elaine was starting at the Iowa Writers' Workshop and she decided to tag along. "We went to a movie night to watch Rosemary's baby, which my mother and I had listened to together when she drove me out to Iowa. I met Ross that night and Elaine encouraged me to join Facebook so I could flirt with him and the rest is boring stable relationship stuff."
Ross and Nicole, congratulations on your engagement and welcome to the club of boring stable relationships, also known as a happy marriage! I couldn't be more thrilled for you guys.