Kristen, 28

What are you doing in Portland?
I sell cosmetics, and that's pretty much it.

Does that help you pick up dates?
I'm actually engaged.

To him?
To this one, right here. We met ten years ago, when I was eighteen, a freshmen in college.

Have you been dating for ten years?
No, we didn't actually start dating until a year-and-a-half ago.

What happened?
Well, sometimes you get drunk in college and sometimes you follow each other home, and find it enjoyable, and eight years later decide to make it honest.

Congratulations.
Thank you!

Are you nervous about getting married?
I'm not. When you've known somebody as long as we've known each other — I mean, we went through deaths in the family, he lost his dad, we went through financial hardships. At that point, it was like, if we can get through all of this, it's kind of meant to be.

So you passed all the trials?
Yeah, we went through everything before we started dating. We were each other's rock. Dating was kind of the last part of the equation, but it was amazing.

When you were single, how did you approach guys?
I went to an all-girls Catholic school, so we didn't have the option to be shy. If you wanted a guy, you had to go up to him and say exactly what it was you wanted, since no guy was going to ask you to your own dance. So we were taught to be outspoken from a young age.

Were you saying, "I want you to go out with me," or "I want you to make out with me?"
A little bit of both. Yeah, we were pretty forward as females. We did whatever it was we felt like doing, and there weren't a whole lot of consequences.

Is there one song that always reminds you of someone?
Any time I hear Billy Joel, "Only the Good Die Young," the first thing I think of is that it was me and my girl's song for a long time. It was kind of the motto we lived by — this is it, you only get one chance to be this age, so you might as well do it. It's one thing to regret the decisions that you've made but it's another to regret the decisions that you didn't make.

Hell yeah. Your fiancé calls you up and asks, "What are you wearing right now?" What's your response?
I would look at exactly what I was wearing, and if it wasn't something sexy, I would probably lie. I'd probably tell him that I wasn't wearing a whole lot, something with easy access, and I expect him to be home in ten minutes or I'd start without him.

What's the craziest thing you did when you were younger?
When I was about twenty-two, I ran off with my boss to Tijuana at about two in the morning. We had some friends who worked for the airlines, and they had a couple of free tickets and invited us, last minute. So we jumped on a flight, two a.m. to Tijuana, and spent a week there. It was awesome.

Sex on the beach?
Well, in the cabin.

Any regrets?
Not one.

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