About Us
About Amanda
Amanda is a special education teacher for children with autism, at a small non-profit school in San Jose, CA. She enjoys hiking, cooking, theater, painting, tennis and reading.Her thoughts on Jason: "Jason is very practical and sane, which means I don't always have to be. We complement each other and learn from each other. He makes me think and I help him to not think so much."
About Jason
Jason is an IT analyst at Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical Research & Development, in Mountain View, CA. He enjoys hiking, theater, chess, technology, tennis, racquetball, and anything else that doesn't involve cooking.His thoughts on Amanda: "Amanda pushes me to explore my boundaries. She helps me live life to the fullest."
How we met
Online...back when meeting people online was still unusual, in March, 1997. We started talking online, e-mailing back and forth, and that was the beginning of 9 months of incredibly outrageous phone bills. We finally met in December of 1997, for 8 amazing days together, when Amanda flew out to New Jersey. Another year and a half of visits and outrageous phone bills later, we drove from Los Angeles to New Jersey, so Amanda could attend Rutgers University. We've been together ever since.In October 2005, we moved from NJ to the San Francisco Bay Area. We currently live in Milpitas, CA with our cat, Kit Kat.
The Proposal: October 16, 2004
From Amanda's perspective
Jason and I were going into New York City to see the matinee of Mama Mia on Broadway. He told me to dress up for dinner afterwards, but wouldn't tell me where we were going. That was a little suspicious. I'd known that he was planning on proposing for a while so I thought this would definitely be the night.After the play we headed toward Weehawken, NJ to Arthur's Landing, a restaurant with a beautiful view of the New York City skyline across the Hudson. All throughout the meal I was expecting a proposal any minute -- through the appetizer, through the meal, through dessert. And then... nothing. Toward the end of the meal he kept saying how exhausted he was. Finally the bill was paid and we headed back out to the car.
Disappointed, I figured tonight just wasn't the night.
Jason started driving toward the NJ Turnpike and, I thought, towards home.
There was some moderate traffic, so he told me he was going to take a shortcut.
I didn't really think anything of it because he's always taking shortcuts.
He told me to keep an eye out for Harbor Boulevard, so I did. Finally I
saw it just ahead to the left and let him know. He said "Okay," and
made a quick U-Turn into the Sheraton on the Hudson where he
had reserved a beautiful suite overlooking the Hudson and the New York City
skyline beyond.
He took the ring box out and said "We've been together for a long time now and I think it's time I made it official that I want to spend my life with you." Then he got down on one knee and asked, "Will you marry me?"
And I forgot to answer him. I gave him a huge hug and he said, "I'll take that as a yes."
And then I said "Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!"