This is how we met:

Amanda's Story: 

Well it has been quite an interesting journey.  So here is how it began....   I decided to begin searching the AOL personals to see if I could meet new people, friends etc.  Never did I think I would do this.  I felt  somewhat strange meeting people in this way, but it seemed much better than the typical bar scene.  At least this way you could find out some more information about a person before actually meeting.  Thanks to my sister, Melanie and Jessica I decided to take the journey along the information superhighway to change my life. On January 6, 2002, I received a simple email from Dave basically saying hello, how are you etc.  I checked out his ad and was, of course, instantly hooked.  We began chatting online and then a week or so later on the phone.  We would stay up for hours discussing everything and anything.  I was having a blast.  I had never been able to talk to a guy so easily and about anything.  We finally decided to meet - January 26, 2002 at Houlihan's for dinner.  I will admit I was as nervous as could be.  In fact, I talked to Mel the entire car ride there hoping I would have the guts to get out of the car!  I did. He was great.  We went for drinks afterward and ended up sitting in his car for a few hours just chatting till the wee hours of dawn. I have to admit the first date was not what I was expecting. It was better than I could have ever imagined, which was a welcomed change.  We actually seemed to hit it off and have a great time....He was a true gentleman.  Little did I know how great all of this would turn out.  We started going out once a week, then twice and eventually by summer were pretty much inseparable.  By December 02, we decided to move in together and the rest is history..... 

Dave's Story:

Hmm...  Let's see -- While searching through the AOL personals, looking at many different postings, I remember that Amanda's stood out immediately.  Besides us having many things in common and being attracted to the photo in the personal, I vividly remember the statement "friends tell me that I could be the daughter of Bob Vila and Martha Stewart."  This sounded very interesting to me.  So I sent Amanda a response to her personal.  And guess what --- NO REPLY!!!  That's right - she didn't answer me the first time I sent her an email.  But - as fate may have it - I was persistent.  Several weeks later I sent her another response.  This time she did respond.  We chatted on line for a while --- then on the telephone --- we seemed to have a lot in common and enjoyed each other's conversation.  We found out that we could talk for hours without ever being bored and we always seemed to have something fresh to talk about.  <Then again - when do I have nothing to say  ---  :o) --- >  Anyway --- we decided to get together on January 26, 2002 at the Houlihan's on Route 46 in Fairfield.  I was looking forward to our first dinner together but it seemed like Amanda was a little nervous about finally getting together.  I remember talking to her on our cell phones while I was sitting in the parking lot of Houlihan's.  She was on her way to meet me and talking to her sister while she was driving.  (I found out later that she was very nervous and was  trying to have her sister calm her down so she would actually still come to meet me - Thanks Mel!!!)  Anyway --- when Amanda arrived I was sitting in the parking lot in my car -- The Probe.  She drove up in her Saturn and pulled up next to me.  She got out of the car and I rolled down my window to ask her if she wanted to come sit in the car and chat for a while since there was a long wait in the restaurant.  I told her that it was probably better to chat for the first time in person in the car rather than in the noisy restaurant waiting area.  She agreed (surprisingly with all the internet psychos out there) and we chatted for a little while in the Probe.  It seemed just like it did on the phone - very natural conversation without any weird, stilted pauses.  We went into the restaurant, had dinner, and then went back out to the Probe and talked some more.  I got hungry so we decided to go to Dunkin Donuts for a bagel.  (Imagine that  --- going for a ride with the "possible internet psycho" a few hours after we just met!!!)  We then decided to go have another drink at Bennigan's across the street from Houlihan's.  Still we chatted away, without end and spent a good part of the evening chatting away, wherever we were.  I finally let her go home sometime in the early morning after spending some more time chatting in my car after we left Bennigan's.  (Thought she had enough of me for one day --- you know you can only take so much of me in one sitting --- especially for the first time)   :o)   After the first date we still talked on the phone almost daily --- got together as much as we could --- once a week, twice a week, etc --- and although my schedule had me traveling all over the place, we seemed to hang in there and our relationship blossomed pretty amazingly.  I got to the point where I wanted to see more and more of Amanda and knew that I wanted to spend every minute I could with her.  I guess the rest is history --- we moved in together in December  ---  I also got the pleasure of adding 2 amazing dogs, Buck and Buttons, to my life when we decided to live together.  Things are great and I could not ask for a more perfect life.  Well  ---   maybe just a little more time to spend with Amanda, Buck and Buttons would help a little.....but we will see if we can work on that.............    :o)