Amanda Jane and Thomas
April 22, 2023
We met online through the dating app Hinge - known as the "app designed to be deleted" - in March of 2020. The world was still in COVID lockdown so we could only text or talk for those first few months. When we finally met in person, it was in May at a restaurant in downtown Delray called Rose's Daughter, which is still one of our favorites. Thomas fell in love at first sight, Jane took a little while longer to see where things were headed. Those early days were filled with mask-covered dates, including at our favorite restaurant of all, the Jaguar Sun pop-up called Sonny's Steakhouse, pictured here.
As with all great love stories, we first fell in love because of an intense mutual attraction that was all consuming. And as with all lasting love stories, our love has only grown stronger over the years because of our many shared interests and ideals. These include our love for adventure, cooking, travel, fine dining, live music, and fitness. Most importantly, we share a strong love for family and children, including the four-legged kind.
Life is an adventure and we like to think of ourselves as adventurous people, although Jane is definitely the more adventurous of the pair. Early on in our relationship, she suggested we go swim with sharks in the ocean near Jupiter, FL. Thomas assumed she meant in a protective cage, but no, it was just open water with 9-foot bull, tiger, and other shark species. We made it out with all limbs intact and a greater appreciation for those majestic creatures.
We both love to cook and really love cooking together in the kitchen. We have made many a delicious meal together, whether for just the two of us, with friends, or for family get-togethers. This picture was taken during one of our most memorable dinners-for-two. We cooked up a pasta extravaganza, with Thomas making the homemade pastas and Jane taking care of the amazing sauces. We ate outside in our summer kitchen under the stars.
Travelling with a partner is one of the best ways to get to know each other and to find out how compatible you truly are. Thankfully, we make excellent travelling companions and have already travelled to many exciting places together. Some of the highlights include New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Napa Valley, Austin, Washington DC, Chicago, the Keys, and the Bahamas. Pictured here is our greatest trip so far - Machu Picchu and the wonder that is Peru. Up next for us are Chile and Argentina on our magical honeymoon!
As good as we are in the kitchen together, there are still some dishes we just aren't skilled enough to make. Thankfully, we also share a love for fine dining or, more accurately, artistic dining. We have been lucky enough to have meals at some of the most exciting restaurants in the world, including Maido in Lima, Le Bernadin in NYC, Alinea in Chicago, and Atelier Crenn in San Francisco. Pictured here is arguably the best restaurant we have been to, Central in Lima, and standing behind us is Chef Virgilio Martinez, who served us our dessert. If you've seen the movie "The Menu," know that it was making fun of people like us. Up next on our list is Don Julio in Buenos Aires, which we will visit on our Honeymoon.
To be honest, live music was definitely more Jane's passion than it was Thomas's, but over the years it has become a shared love. Our first concert together was a Brandi Carlile concert at Wolf Trap near DC. Since then we have been to dozens of concerts and festivals together and have seen many of our favorite artists, including Maggie Rogers, Gregory Porter, Allen Stone, and Lake Street Dive. We even made it out to Coachella last year, which was definitely a unique experience.
Early on in our relationship, Jane had mentioned how great the Peloton Bike was, but Thomas was very skeptical, claiming that spin bikes just weren't made for someone his size. In January of 2021, however, Thomas bought a Peloton ostensibly as a present for Jane. Fast-forward two years and Thomas has joined Jane as a full-blown Peloton cult fanatic. We now have the Tread in addition to the Bike+ and have logged thousands of classes both individually and together. We even made it to the Peloton Studios in NYC for live classes in November!
This proposal was a long time in the making. As a present for her birthday in September of 2020, Thomas gave Jane tickets to see Maggie Rogers at her next scheduled live concert - in Orange County, CA in September of 2021. Thomas already knew then that he would use the trip as the opportunity to propose. The trip turned into a week-long California vacation, with a two-day stop in Jane's favorite city, Santa Barbara. We had a contest (Jane's idea) to see who could plan the better day. Jane's day was first and she planned a nice day of bike riding, but everything went wrong - the bikes were cruisers that couldn't handle hills and we barely made it back to the hotel. Thomas's day went notably better - horseback riding in wine country, wine tastings at two vineyards, a private sailboat on the Pacific, and, of course, he proposed. Needless to say, Thomas won the contest (and Jane's hand in marriage).
More important than any of our other shared interests is our love of family. Family is so important to us individually and has become even more important as we have blended our two families together. Jane has developed a strong bond with Thomas's three children, Ethan, Ben, and Rachel, and they have taken to her in a way that is truly special. Beyond that, we have gotten to know each other's parents, nieces, cousins, and extended family through our many trips and get-togethers. Whether playing board games for New Year's, dressing up like Elsa and Olaf for a birthday party, or celebrating Thanksgiving on a day other than Thanksgiving, we have had many family moments to be thankful for together.
Our love story would not be complete without sharing the love we have for our dogs, Calvin and Georgia. Calvin pre-dates our relationship, but we picked out Georgia together. Calvin, the brown dog on the right, is a four-year-old Havanese who is still the same size as in this picture. Georgia is a six-month-old Newfoundland/Poodle mix who is now about four times bigger than in this pic and still has a ton of growing to do. Our house is a whole lot noisier with these two crazy pups, but we wouldn't have it any other way.
