Year one

We celebrated our one year anniversary on October 18th, 2024. Last year, we were sitting in his car parked outside of Spirit Halloween in Santa Cruz, when Antonio fist asked me to be his girlfriend. I would have never guessed that we’d be moving across the country to New York. The universe really surprises me and my entire life has completely changed.

Here we are a year later, in our first apartment together! I’ve been on cloud nine and felt like I’ve been floating all day. My heart is filled with so much joy and gratitude to be on this journey together.

A new tradition, I can’t wait for next year. These bubble balloons are the cutest.

Our relationship has been feeling like a fairytale. This is the kind of love that heals. It feels pure and unconditional. Since both of us have been in unhealthy relationships in our past, we’ve done a lot of inner work on ourselves before we met each other. This is something we were able to deeply understand about the other and our own self love as individuals has been the foundation of our relationship. I think it is so true that we can only meet others as deeply as we have met ourselves. 

Antonio is such a deep and compassionate soul. The darkness we have both experienced in life has lit a fire within and the vision for a better world. As artists, this light within is expressed through our different mediums to uplift others through what we create and the energy we put out. He is a musician and I’m a photographer/content creator. It feels like we’re on a bigger mission together while also supporting eachother through personal cycles of evolution.

I came home from work and there were flowers all over the bed, what a romantic surprise.

He also got me the self love gift box from House of Intuition, which is perfect because it’s basically this box filled with mystical goodies like magic dusting powder, intention setting body + room spray, moon matches, and a few other things.

After getting ready and our gift exchange, we headed to Catch in the Meatpacking District for our anniversary dinner. We spent the evening deep in conversation and laughter. At the end of the meal, the server brought us freshly baked chocolate chip cookies, with a single candle on the plate. We made a wish together for the year ahead as a couple and blew it out at the same time. It was so cute, romantic, and naturally, a little magical.

I remember telling Antonio how heartwarming it is that, even in a world full of strangers, people still find ways to care for one another. Like when our cookies and candle were brought to us for our anniversary—there’s something truly special about those small gestures of kindness and care.