Ted and Pavlina met July 15, 2004 at a German Language Meetup event. Ted had studied German in college and spent a semester in Frankfurt, and Pavlina lived in Freiburg for a year. Ted had been going to Meetup events for about 9 months when he met Pavlina at her first event. Ted was comfortably seated at the table, having a German beer and chatting with friends when Pavlina walked in and sat down at his table. Ted immediately noticed this new pretty girl, and soon he had all his attention focused on Pavlina as he started “chatting her up.” Pavlina told Ted that she had just graduated from Mt. Holyoke College, and that she was living with friends in New Jersey. In fact her friends were out of town, and she had to take care of their dogs, so Pavlina had taken the hour-long bus ride from New York to New Jersey, fed the dogs and then come back on the bus to attend the event. Ted was so impressed by her loyalty and dedication. Ted was also impressed by her smile, and her easy going manner, and how she so eagerly shared her fries and cake with Ted (Ted loves to eat). By the end of the evening Ted had found out that Pavlina’s favorite lunchtime routine was eating lunch in Bryant Park, and he also got her number and email, which he wrote on the back of his business card and put back in his wallet. Ted also walked Pavlina back to the Port Authority so she could catch her bus back home. By the end of that first night Ted was hooked on Pavlina and he wasted no time in pursuing her.

The following day, by noon, Ted had already sent Pavlina an email telling her how great it was to meet her. It’s a good thing he did too, because that weekend he unknowingly gave away the business card where he had written Pavlina’s contact info when he met Dan P’s dad. It wasn’t until later that he received an email from Dan’s dad with Pavlina’s contact info that he had done this. Dan’s dad signed his email “PS sounds hot”. If only he knew!

The next week, Pavlina and Ted met up for lunch in Bryant Park to begin a long courtship, which consisted primarily of lunch in the park, and almost daily morning phone calls between Ted and Pavlina while they were at work (which continue even today). All the while Ted was growing more and more enamored with Pavlina, always looking forward to their next meeting. Pavlina’s actions spoke louder than words, as she had already given Ted an inflatable craps dice and a stuffed lobster from her trip to Boston, all the while Pavlina insisted that they were just friends. But Ted would have none of that. That Halloween they went to the parade in the village, and over dinner of sushi and a bottle of wine before the parade Pavlina agreed to go to Atlantic City with Ted the following weekend. After that weekend it was clear to Ted that they were not just friends, but Pavlina was still trying to hold out. Ted's birthday was coming up and Pavlina wanted to do something special for him, she planned a whole night of surprises: took him ice skating in Central Park, then sushi dinner, followed by clubbing and all this on his “pre-birthday”. To top it off, she decorated his apartment before he woke up the next day and gave him a Vegas Casino kit. Ted was so touched, and thrilled. It was his best birthday ever! What a great FRIEND he thought. Ted knew he would need to plan something big to finally capture Pavlina’s heart. He invited her to come to California for Christmas and he was delighted when she said yes. Finally the night before they flew out, Pavlina gave into the feelings for Ted that she had been resisting for so long, and a few days later when they visited Disneyland they made it official.