About Us
Our Relationship
Niki and Shelly met in early 2023 when they were both in the San Francisco Bay Area for a few weeks. After a whirlwind first few dates, which included drawing pictures of wombats on cocktail napkins and interpretive dancing as seals at Pt. Reyes National Seashore, they knew it was something special. Their love grew between the Central Valley heat and Oregon rain, through virtual Scattegories, Facetime accordion serenades, and animal-themed care packages. Sharing a love of travel, they got sunburned snorkeling in El Salvador and covered in mud while hiking the Kalalau Trail on Kauai. When Niki finished residency in Fresno, in true lesbian fashion, they drove a U-Haul up to Oregon, where they’ve been spending their time in Eugene and Roseburg. In December, Shelly proposed to Niki at the Oregon Coast Aquarium’s Sea of Lights, surrounded by fishes. In March, Niki proposed back on top of a volcano in the Canary Islands. Later this year, they are excited to head to Portland for Niki’s next chapter of medical training, and to continue building their life together.
Hiking the Kalalau Trail in Hawaii.
Chasing waterfalls in El Salvador.
About Niki
Niki grew up in Southern California, where she spent most of her time outside exploring the hills around her suburban home and finding joy in every sport she tried. Her athleticism continued as she ran track for UC San Diego, where she also surfed the beautiful waves and built a global community living in International House. She joined the Peace Corps and served in Rwanda, teaching high school Biology and eventually leading leprosy treatment outreach with the Ministry of Health. She returned and settled in the Bay Area, where she did refugee resettlement work and prepared for medical school. After getting her MD from UCSF, she did her Emergency Medicine Residency at UCSF Fresno. This year, she’s been working in a rural ER in Roseburg and looking forward to her Pain Medicine fellowship at OHSU later this year. She likes hiking, paddleboarding, and being outside, especially near rivers, waterfalls, and oceans. You'll also find her dancing to live music and cheering on the local college sports teams. A big fan of manatees and turtles, she loves living life at her own pace, one moment at a time. Lately, she’s been trying out linoleum block printing and mushroom foraging, and is excited to start fishing Oregon’s rivers soon.
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Proposal #1 at the Oregon Coast Aquarium.
Proposal #2 atop Mt. Teide in Tenerife.
About Shelly
Shelly grew up outside Eugene, in the forest home her Mom still lives in. As a kid, she loved both the woods and the library, and developed a vivid imagination in both. After being a theater kid in high school, she went to Harvard, where she learned what sociology was and worked alongside a documentary filmmaker. Next, she taught middle school science on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, before getting her PhD in Sociology at UC Berkeley, where she studied labor market instability while working as a snowboard instructor on the weekends. She worked in labor policy in Washington, DC for a few years before moving back to Oregon in 2020. She’s currently building a participatory research center at The Workers Lab, a workers' rights organization. She runs a lot to offload the stress of working on policy, and is usually getting ready for some sort of marathon or trail race. She loves animals, extinct and not. When not visiting zoos, she sews her own clothes, reads lots of queer fiction, and is looking forward to a clay wheel throwing class this spring.
Sunshine at Heceta Head on the Oregon Coast.
Family trip to Smith Rock State Park.
About JackaLu
Jack and LuLu are dogs, meaning they are infinitely wiser than their pawrents. Lulu, 7ish, mostly talks about beef, including writing haikus about it. She recently learned about an early 1990s beef surplus in the European Union nicknamed “beef mountain” and has been caught trying to put “1994” into the GPS so she can find it. She’s also a competitive and prize-winning athlete, having won the gold medal at last year’s Annual Dog Pumpkin Pie Eating Contest in the small town of Sutherlin. Born in the Central Valley and adopted at age 3, she has a mysterious past that inspires her perpetual hunger.
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​Jack is a radical socialist lab-hound mix Shelly got as a tiny puppy three years ago. During obedience school, he once maintained eye contact with his pawrent for a record-breaking 11 minutes. He is now a therapy dog bringing joy and cuddles to clinics and schools, and is hoping to start training to be a truffle dog this year. His favorite activity is beach, closely followed by telling his friends at the dog park all about the pitfalls of capitalism.
Fall mushroom hunting in the Cascades.
Helpful doggos in the kitchen.