Our paths crossed early on, having joined the marching band together in our freshman year. Though we only shared passing glances and mutual friends, that was all we had. Dean had seen me perform in our school's "Guitar Showcase", and from there harbored a long-term, secret crush on me. Time went on, and separate relationships came and went quickly. In late junior year, he finally asked me on a whim to see a rock show in the park, and on an equally matched whim, I said yes. Best decision. ❤️

While there are so many we'd love to share, we think the most important to share is the origin of the "oinches". You may have noticed that we've even officially titled ourselves "The Oinches" for this competition, and it all started in such a silly way. It was one of our earliest dates; his basement, scrolling reels, when we saw someone jokingly pronouncing "orange" as "oinch". One thing led to another..."you're my oinch"... "I love you oinch"... and "oinch" became essential to our love story.

As grandiose as it may sound coming from two young lovers, we would start our life together. While we dream of one day settling down in the most perfect Victorian, Gothic, vampiric castle, complete with a music studio for Dean's songwriting and performance passions, as well as a professional home film/movie theater for screening my future works... we have to start somewhere.