This love story begins with a playground-style tale of boy likes girl, boy dunks girl, girl hates boy for months. Kaleigh had recently graduated college in 2011 and taken a bartending position at Brewsky's Sports Bar & Grill in Columbus, one of Geoff's favorite haunts in grad school. Her first day comprised of participating in a dunk tank for charity, and in true Kaleigh fashion, she showed up in aviators, an america bikini, and a bubba keg full of booze. Geoff, also in aviators, with his shoulder length hair and camo shorts, decided to throw the first pitch, thinking that sinking her on the first toss would certainly be the way to her heart.
Oh, Geoff, this girl holds grudges like no other. He spent the next several weeks being snubbed and ignored while she refused to make him drinks. Ironically, it took him an accurately thrown water balloon to get her to laugh and start talking to him. It took a year of "woo-ing", as Geoff calls it, before they started dating. The rest is history.
Geoff and Kaleigh were nearing the end of a magical 8-day vacation in the US Virgin Islands (holy crap it's so gorgeous down there!) with Deidre and AJ, close friends with whom they were vacationing. All four embarked on a private day sail on a 40' catamaran named the Sweat Pea. After a spectacular morning spent sailing, munching on fresh fruit, downing mimosas and spicy bloody marys, lounging on the front trampolines, and snorkeling through crystal clear water, everyone paused for a refreshing lunch. Afterwards, Geoff tried to convince Kaleigh to come hang out on the front trampolines again, to which Kaleigh replied, "I don't want to lay in the sun, I have a massive food baby!".
He knew she'd follow him eventually, and went up there to wait for her. Sure enough, as soon as she got to the front of the boat, he dropped to one knee and asked her to marry him. Dropping her water bottle and freezing for a solid 10 seconds, it took Geoff a soft "Kaleigh?" to get her to overcome her shock and give a resounding "YES!". Despite proposing over a see-through trampoline with several large gaps straight through to the water, the ring made it onto the finger and both proceeded to celebrate with friends, crew, and champagne. The first mate of Sweet Pea is a self-proclaimed "lazy artist" and decorated the above shell taken from the ocean. It was a perfect day.
The majority of the first year of dating was spent long-distance as Kaleigh moved to Chicago, IL in the second month of the relationship. However, both knew this was something special and decided to find a way to make it work. Geoff eventually moved to Dallas, TX. The bi-monthly visits eventually became unbearable, and Geoff quit his position with SMU to relocate to Chicago. Best decision ever! Kaleigh and Peanut flew down to Dallas and rode up with him. This photo was taken moments before we hit the road <3
After a year of patient pursuit, Kaleigh and Geoff began to date. After a year of long-distance, Geoff moved to Chicago to kick-start a successful career as a research engineer for Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University, specializing in spinal cord injuries. Kaleigh continues her thriving career as a commercial real estate appraiser for CBRE, specializing in seniors housing. They share a passion for Ohio State Football, international travel, and dogs large and small. Their 7-year-old maltese/chinese crested mix Peanut and 3-year-old great dane Sawyer live a pampered suburban city life, having recently moved from a second floor loft apartment in the hipster Logan Square neighborhood to a historic two-flat in Forest Park, complete with yard and sun room. All is well.
After years of multiple adult roommates to keep Peanut in constant company, Geoff and Kaleigh moved in together and Peanut became very lonely at losing her favorite roommate, Caly. Geoff and Kaleigh decided it was time to get Pean a friend, or as Geoff called it, a "real dog". Apparently all the looks he got while walking the tiny fluffy dog wore on him. They needed a dog that met Geoff's minimum size requirements while being relatively low energy to accommodate their 2nd floor apartment with no yard. Both had secretly loved the idea of getting a great dane and the rest is history! They welcomed Sawyer in June 2015 and adjusted to a new, wild chapter of life with one dog that is 10x the size of the other :)