We met while working on the boardwalk at George's Candies in Ocean City, New Jersey. I was in college & Mike was in law school. I'd help him chop up the ingredients for the ice cream flavors & Mike would operate the machine cranking out gallons & gallons of ice cream for the summer boardwalk crowds. We stayed friends for a few years until Mike asked me to have drinks with him at the Anchorage (a classic local Ocean City dive bar) when my family was in town for Easter 2018. I graduated from college a few weeks later, started my job in Pittsburgh, & put a million miles on my car driving down to Ocean City as much as I could for beach days, arcade dates, & many more nights at the Anchorage with Mike!

Mike proposed on the beach in Ocean City on the last true summer day of 2020. It was the final bathing-suit worthy beach day where you could enjoy the sun without having to bundle up from constant South Jersey wind. The weekend was a busy one as the Ayoobs had decided to tear down their much-loved beach house & rebuild for the following summer. My parents were in town & we helped them pack up & prepare for demo day. Mike was a great sport, carrying boxes & moving furniture. As I mentioned, it was a beach day & Mike kept asking me to go. I'd say, "Yes, I'm coming, just one more box." 40 boxes later he finally got me on the beach. It felt like any normal day. We parked our chairs & started to read. After a while Mike asked me if I wanted to go on a walk, as we did all the time. We walked & talked & commented on the perfect weather. Just as we reached the tip of the island, Mike turned toward me &... this part happened fast!! He got down on one knee & pulled out his grandmother's gorgeous yellow diamond ring that he had had reset for me. I was so surprised! He asked me to marry him & I, of course, said YES! Mike explained that we had dinner reservations that night with his parents & mine at the Knife & Fork Inn, my favorite fancy Atlantic City restaurant. To say we were all smiles as we walked back to our beach chairs would be an understatement! My parents, in on the surprise, joined us on the beach with drinks a few minutes later. We spent the next hour taking pictures & calling family & friends to tell them our news! We celebrated at dinner that night with oysters & champagne & I don't think we've stopped celebrating since. Mike told me he wanted to propose in that special secluded spot on the beach because its a place we often go, & every time we do, it will make us think of the day we got engaged. We'll be married almost a year to the day that Mike proposed - 9.25.21 here we come!

Ally's engagement ring is an emerald cut yellow diamond flanked by square traditional white diamonds. The ring belonged to Mike's paternal grandmother. As luck would have it, Ally's favorite color, from the time she was a little girl, has always been yellow. You may have noticed that in some photos from the day we got engaged that the ring is on Ally's pinky finger. Apparently the Lebanese/Italian girl hands run on the larger side! Nothing a quick trip to the jeweler's couldn't fix, but you know Mike was calling to schedule the appointment 10 minutes after he popped the question. To us those pinky-ring-just-engaged photos will be some of our favorite photos forever!