Adam and Ramia: Smoke 'em

She just wanted to talk about guns. Pistols, in particular.

Ramia ended up finding her shooting partner for life when Adam started teaching her about firearms.

Adam, a Specialist in the Army, and Ramia (if you're wondering, it's "Rah-mia," not "Ray-mia"), have actually been legally married for more than two years; Adam's deployments and schooling prevented them from having a wedding until October. The couple lives in North Carolina, but had the ceremony in the bride's native Austin, Texas.

And the ceremony was riddled with bullets, and other paraphernalia of weaponry, to show off the couple's mutual love of firearms. That is, after all, how they got together.

The two met through a mutual friend (Chris, who was Adam's best man) while they were all living in the Kansas City area in the fall of 2004. Ramia's side of the story is that they nearly drew down on each other right away.

"My first impression of Adam was that he was a big jerk," his bride said. "Very arrogant."

A few years went by for Chris, Adam and Ramia; she began to see that underneath what she perceived as Adam's arrogance was really a lot of knowledge. Including wisdom regarding a subject she wanted to know more about: pistols.

"I still didn't have positive feelings towards him, but he did have some really good advice on pistols and what he thought would be good for me," she said. "During the fall of 2006, the three of us would go shooting at Chris' grandparents' house.

"My first gun I shot was Adam's very old revolver," Ramia said.

Adam and his father, Jeff

Adam turned out to be quite a marksman — he shot her through the heart. Ramia, Adam and Chris spent every Sunday of that winter and spring at a firing range, and with each pull of the trigger, Adam was pulling on Ramia's heartstrings.

He just didn't know it.

"In April 2007, on his 21st birthday, I let Adam know how I felt about him," Ramia said. "I wasn't sure what was going to happen."

Adam returned her affection, and they started dating — when his military career allowed it. Ramia said she knew that the start would be rough, and that how it would end would be uncertain.

"I thought it was only going to be a summer fling and come September we were going to part ways," she said. "That's not what happened.

"Adam left for the Army on Sept. 20th, 2007. We wrote to each other every day."

John, the father of the bride, checks out their eye-catching cake topper. See the rest of it here.

In August of 2008, the Army stationed Adam at Ft. Bragg in North Carolina; Ramia wanted to follow him. They both knew the relationship had become serious. On Sept. 27, they had a long, deep discussion about their future.

That talk ended at a courthouse, where a judge wearing a Snoopy tie married them.

Adam has been to Airborne School, the Ranger program and Afghanistan since then, and plans for a wedding ceremony have started and stopped. The couple finally got to be united in front of family and friends on Oct. 16.

And, seeing the trained marksman her husband has become, Ramia said she was glad that she went to him for advice.

Zenfolio

Facebook

Commencement ceremony for The Crossing

For post-graduate work in social structure and chemistry, visit Chicago's newest bar (as of Sept. 30, 2010, that is): The Crossing.

Named by a graduate of the University of Kansas, The Crossing takes its moniker from a bar that long ago became a tradition in Lawrence, Kans. Located across the street from the edge of the KU campus, the original Crossing quenched thirsty Jayhawks for years.

Wrightwood Park's updated Crossing will likely be doing the same — for Chicagoans of all backgrounds — for years to come.

"We picked the location because it was three lots with an amazing beer garden area," co-owner Marc Epstein said. "The neighborhood is upscale and needed something that could be utilized on the weeknights with great pub-style food."

Here we find Dana, Kelly and Sarah partaking of a Jayhawk Fish Bowl, while being photographed by Lizze (far right) and me (top of the stairs to the balcony). All KU alumnae remember their days at the first Crossing — and expect even better things from the new version.

"It is quite an upgrade," Dana said.

"The Crossing has graduated," Sarah added.

Facebook