It all began with a typo and two cups of Intelligentsia's espresso. Alli, punctual as always, texted her hinge date impatiently,  "Are you far?"  But her thumbs, betraying her flustered mind, morphed the message into a blunt, "are you fat?" An unintentional ice breaker as Allison Atkenson first met Marcin Waz. 

Alli, in a denim-on-denim ensemble, met Mar, braces twinkling and Patagonia vest shielding him from September's chill. Coffee warmed their hands as they talked, discovering Mar's espresso addiction, a quirk that would later become a symbol of their shared mornings. A date at Lula Cafe followed. Alli watched, captivated, as Mar tackled tiny quail drumsticks with cutlery, while she lacking his refinement, went in with her hands.  For Alli and Mar, conversation was easy,  but the evening ended with an awkward handshake and Mar friend-zoned.
 

 A week later, fate- or maybe just Alli's love of Asian cuisine- intervened. When a dumpling festival beckoned, Alli excitedly invited her small circle of Chicago friends. But everyone was unavailable. Desperate to avoid going alone, she took Mar up on his offer of friendship. Thus beginning -a somewhat unofficial- date number two : Alli's personal Chicago fairytale.

One rainy day, dumplings, a zoo stroll, hot chocolate, a noble square festival, a bowl of ramen, and a borrowed sweater changed everything. By the time the last ramen slurp echoed in the air, Alli knew she had made a mistake. The friend-zone wall she'd so diligently constructed around Mar had crumbled faster than a poorly made pierogi.
 

And so began a love story born from a typo, nurtured by espresso and quail, and sealed by an eventful rainy day. Denim and Patagonia, laughter and ramen, a friendship that blossomed into a love as enduring as the Chicago wind.