Meeting
We met with a "Hoodeloo" on the website OkCupid in February 2016. Shortly after we had our first date at Robert H. Treman State Park in Ithaca, NY. That's where our love story begins...
Dating
Carlin drove from Syracuse almost every weekend to visit Casey (well, Casey went to Syracuse sometimes too). He wooed her with fancy gourmet meals and showing her his favorite places and movies.
Meeting Family
We started to share our annual traditions of St. Patrick's Day and Easter celebrations in Ithaca, Christmas in Peekskill, Shewbash Family Reunion, and began to meet each other's family members.
Our First Anniversary
We began our yearly anniversary tradition of watching the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy in one day, a 12+ hour event that we would deem "Bub of the Rings" and repeat every year following.
Graduation
Carlin graduated college at SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry (ESF) and spent the summer working as an intern with Hudson Sloop Clearwater in Beacon, NY. Casey visited throughout the summer in support.
A Year of Trips
Casey went to Peru and visited Macchu Picchu with his best friend Christopher, we went to Six Flags Darien Lake for the first time, visited Casey's grandma in Maine for the first time, and Casey first joined for Carlin's family's annual camping trip at Allegany State Park.
Living Together
In September 2017, Carlin moved into Casey's small house in Ithaca after her ending her summer job. We became even closer as we learned to cohabitate.
"The Nest"
We purchased and completed our first big project together - a finished storage shed made into a studio that we dubbed "The Nest". This labor of love was given many uses in the years to come - a home office, craft room, music studio, movie theater; even temporary housing for our friend Andy!
Growing Together
This was a year of growth in many ways- we started our first garden together with the help of dear friend Allison, planted over 50 willows and multiple berry shrubs on our property.
Adirondacks
We took our first trip to the Adirondacks and hiked our first real mountain together, something that we would enjoy to do for years to come.
Enter Zappa
In September 2018, one year after Carlin moved in, we adopted our cat Zappa who has added so much joy to our life. Zappa had a difficult health scare in the first few days of his adoption. Through months of medicine and love, we nursed him back to health. This showed us that we work well supporting and caring for a little being together.
Career Growth
A big year for us in our careers. Casey was promoted to manager of instructional technologies at eCornell, and Carlin accepted a long-term position with New York State Parks FORCES.
Hootenannies
We started having more bonfires and parties at our place which forged many friendships and connections, some with coworkers, that would greatly enrich our lives.
Maine
We took another notable trip to one of our favorite places - this time in addition to visiting Grandi, we got to see Acadia National Park! We hiked multiple gorgeous mountains and stayed in a sweet little farm hostel on Deer Island.
Staying In
Like the rest of the world, this was a relatively uneventful and restful year for us. We spent a lot of time at home together, which brought us closer together as a couple as we continued to bond over our shared passions, goofy humor, deep love of music, and movies.We recorded our first musical covers together in an attempt to virtually connect with our friends and family during the holidays. This lit a passion in us for making music together.
Covers We Recorded in 2020
Froggy's Roast
In August 2021, Casey turned the big 3-0 and Carlin threw him a surprise Comedy Central-Style "Roast" (something he'd always mentioned he wanted to happen sometime in his life). Friends and family lovingly tore him a new one!
Summer Trips
A trip with Grandma Barbara to her hometown of Sodus and Chimney Bluffs State Park, a romantic birthday boat ride on the "True Love Schooner" on Seneca Lake, a paddle on Lamoka Lake, and...
Engagement!
On our annual end-of-summer vacation, Casey popped the question to Carlin on the front porch of our log cabin AirBnB in Penn Yan, NY. The ring was made with Amazonite and bore the mark of his first greeting on OKCupid: "Hoodeloo"
New House
After house hunting for years, we had an offer accepted on our dream home in May of 2021. Then came an unfortunate surprise when we learned the seller had big delays in closing. After 8 long months of uncertainty and waiting, we finally closed on our new house on 2/2/22!
The Great Renovation
The majority of the winter, spring and summer was spent renovating our new home together. We had so much support from dear family and friends (especially Jay Pyhtila!), who came together and made us feel so loved. We learned during this period that we could get through anything that came our way together!
A Whole New Home
After about 5 months of nonstop renovation every chance we could, we were able to move into our new home in Trumansburg in July of 2022. We started hosting monthly potlucks with our network of dear friends in the area; one of our favorite perks of having a larger place.
We are still writing the story of 2023 and are so excited to share in the joy of celebrating our wedding with you!