Thursday, April 30th, 2009 was the first day Daniel and I connected via chat on JDate. We’d both been on and off the site for a few years.

That first online chat on Thursday led to a phone conversation Friday afternoon, and a date that evening. We met at Jones on Santa Monica Blvd. in West Hollywood. In Los Angeles, it’s not often that you walk anywhere, but Jones was equidistant from both of our apartments, so we both walked and met there. Jones seemed like a dark, rebellious place for a first date, and was a favorite of both of ours.

At first, I wasn’t particularly excited about the date at all. I’d had several promising JDates that didn’t deliver in the past. So, I wore boots and a sweater. I mean, I walked for heaven’s sake! Few girls would sacrifice date-ready hair and makeup to walk somewhere, but I did. It seemed appropriate.

We both happened to walk up to the restaurant at the exact same time and instantly recognized each other from our online photos (thank G-d for honesty)! We hugged hello, walked inside and parked ourselves on a banquette by the bar.

Four wonderful hours later, we’d chatted about everything and anything, and there was never a lull in the conversation. The night ended with a lot of butterflies.

The next day, he called first thing and we had our second date on Sunday.

Four more dates happened over the next five days.

Three months later we moved in together.

Two years and six months later we got engaged.

On October 27, 2012, we’ll be married!

Thanks JDate!

Lindsey and Daniel
Berkeley, California