Let's start from the very beginning...

John and I met through our mutual friend, Paige. Paige was one of the first friends I made when my family moved from Maywood, NJ to Howell, NJ in the summer of 1986. We were in the same first grade class and I noticed her immediately. She had pretty, platinum blonde hair and she was wearing a hot pink shirt with black stars all over it (very appropriate for the mid-80's!), as well as a "birthday girl" crown, as her early September birthday always coincided with the beginning of the school year. I liked her immediately and we became really great friends.

I eventually left our elementary school before the start of third grade to join a G&T program at another school in Howell, but luckily Paige joined the same program the following year, so we were able to complete fourth through eighth grades together. We were also each accepted into the Humanities special learning center program at Howell High School, and it even looked like we might go to the same college, as we were both accepted to Drew University. In the end I opted to go to TCNJ instead, but we remained great friends throughout our college years and to this day. She even flew thousands of miles just to visit me while I attended graduate school in Glasgow, Scotland!

In fact, while I was in Scotland, Paige told me that she took a part-time job at a local supermarket and met a very nice guy named John while working there. She described him as an intelligent, sweet, athletic guy, and he even became a running partner for her as they jogged around the Manasquan Reservoir together.

After I graduated from the Glasgow School of Art and returned to the United States, Paige threw a party in honor of her 24th birthday in September 2004. At that party she introduced me to John, and I remember thinking "Oh right, this is the John she told me about" and thinking he was quite good looking, although we didn't really talk at all that night.

John and I met again on New Year's Eve 2004. Paige was throwing a party at her new townhouse, and a group of the guests met for dinner at Chili's before heading over to Paige's to join the festivities. The group included myself, my high school friends Amy and Kristen, Kristen's boyfriend Andy, and Andy's cousin.... John! We chatted a little bit at dinner since we sat next to each other in the booth, and chatted more at the party, where we traded Pulp Fiction quotes such as the famous "Royale with Cheese" scene.

The next day I was feeling a little bit under the weather due to the festivities of the previous night, but nevertheless I accepted Paige's invitation to join her and John at her parents' house for a viewing of Napoleon Dynamite and The Naked Gun. I guess I made a good impression that night despite my hangover, because two days later John called me and asked if I would like to see the new film Sideways with him.

But was it a date? Or was it just a guy who wanted to see a movie but had no one else to see it with? Ha ha. I decided that if he paid for my ticket, it would be a date. And he did! We had a great time and laughed out loud at all the same jokes during the movie--always a great sign. But when we went to Applebee's after the film and he suggested that I pick up the tab to keep things even, I decided it probably wasn't a date after all, ha ha.

We got together for a few more dinner-and-a-movie outings after that, but I still wasn't sure if we were dating or not. And I guess John felt the same way, as one night he called me and said "I have a question... are we dating?" Ha ha! We agreed that we liked each other and would like to see it through, but we both felt strangely awkward about it since we had Paige as a mutual friend. We didn't want things to potentially get messy and have her in the middle of it. So we agreed that we would basically ask her for her blessing before officially dating. And luckily, she gave it to us!

John and I dated throughout January and February and then became boyfriend/girlfriend on March 9, 2005. During those early years of dating we were happy and in love and although we never really had any plans to get engaged any time soon (it was always a "maybe we'll think about it in another year or two" sort of thing), things started to progress in that direction as we moved in together in May of 2007. And chances are, if you're reading this blog you can pretty much figure out what happened next, ha ha, but I'll leave that story for my next post!