We met at Ithaca College in 1996. I was a Freshman and became close friends with a group of guys... Jay being one of them. It turned out that we both lived in Roland Hall - "The Quiet Dorm." Although, while Jay was in there by choice, I had been placed in there completely against my wishes. (What perfect symbolism of our differing personalities!) I was completely attracted to him, but he was shy as hell, and quite intimidating with his enormous vocabulary and his awesome artistic talent. Haha. So, we didn't date for the first three years... however, my mom kept telling me that he was the cutest of the bunch! :-)

We began dating September 25, 1999. I was a senior, and Jay was taking a year off from school and just living in town. We were the only two remaining in Ithaca of all of our friends, so it gave us a chance to really get to know each other. In May of 2000, I graduated and moved down to Piscataway, NJ. He graduated in 2001 and moved in with me. In January of 2002 we moved up to Montvale NJ, and, well...

He asked me to marry him October 18th, 2003.

No, he didn't surprise me like they do in the movies. Haha. But it's a sweet story, and I love it all the same. We were talking about Christmas shopping, and he asked me what I wanted for Christmas. I said I didn't know, and he kind of jokingly asked if this was the year he should "buy me the rock." I kind of laughed and said "Welllllll you knowwwww Jay I have to admit - I sure couldn't help but be jealous when I saw that ring on Justine's finger last weekend." He looked a little surprised, but he said, "Yeah??" I told him - I was just thinking - well why aren't we engaged?!? I mean we have been together for 4 years!! We love each other to death. We know we want to spend our lives together. So what are we waiting for?! :) We talked a bit, and decided that yes - it was due time to makes us official!! :) And he said it was OK if I started looking at some rings!

After we settled on The Ring and Jay paid for it, we went into Nyack and ate lunch at our favorite little cafe. We had sandwiches and Chai and Peppermint Stick ice-cream cones. Then we went down by the water (the Hudson River) and we sat on the little pier overlooking the water (the beautiful mountain side, not the George Washington Bridge side!! LOL!!) and that's when he officially asked me to marry him. It was so sweet and I had tears in my eyes.

~ Newspaper Photo ~

Daily Sentinel, Rome, N.Y., 12/1/03

~ Here are some old photos from while we were dating ~
(click to enlarge)

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