We're getting married!

We are delighted to share with you this incredibly special moment in our lives, the celebration of our love! In order to prepare you for the Big Day, we have created this site where all information will be shared with you. We cannot wait to see you in November! Love, M & J

August 27th, 2019, the first day I laid eyes on Mario (he doesn’t remember this). I had just moved to the area and was interested in joining a new gym. I decided to try a local CrossFit gym and signed up for a weightlifting class. When I arrived, I don’t remember much, except everyone was incredibly friendly and ridiculously strong. Especially this one guy… Fast forward about a month and I was an official member of the gym. After one Saturday morning workout, I was invited to what I thought was a brunch with everyone from the gym. Turns out it was a brunch with Mario, Nicole (his sister), Heather (his other sister) and Heather’s friend Megan. I really thought nothing of it until Mario went to the bathroom and I was very politely interrogated by Heather and Nicole asking, “How old are you? Where were you born? What do you do for a living?”, etc. You know…normal sister things. At this point in my life, I was not looking for a relationship, so I didn’t let them dig too deep. Mario and I continued seeing each other at the gym and slowly built a great friendship. Fast forward to April 2020 when the world shut down, including Skyline CrossFit. Everyone was thrown off their normal routine, but Mario reached out to me and told me he had a barbell and weights and was going to start working out at Heights High School to try and stay in a regular routine. I was craving some sense of normalcy and human interaction, so I was totally up for it. The days at the track are some of my favorite. It makes me emotional just thinking about it. Life was weird and challenging. So many unknowns and so much was changing from one day to the next. I felt extremely fortunate that I had one thing to look forward to each day and that was getting outside and going to the track. One day after our workout, Mario walked me to my car and told me he wanted to hangout. “Outside of working out?!” I asked quizzically. “Yes, Janet, outside of working out.” He responded. I didn’t know how to react. I really liked hanging out with him and didn’t want to ruin our friendship (ugh, typical girl). The next night he had a full-on perfect picnic spread prepared for me and we sat up on the rooftop of his apartment until the wee hours of the morning talking and exchanging life stories. I had the best time but was still somewhat hesitant about progressing forward. I had just allowed myself to become open to the idea of dating again and I had some serious walls up. Later that day, I went over to my sister-in-law’s house and told her about the date. “WhAt ArE yOu WaItInG fOr?!” Was her response. Followed by the best advice and what I needed to hear, “At the end of the day, you just need to find someone you want to hang out with for the rest of your life.” That night, Mario invited me over for dinner. I went into the night with a different perspective, saw him through a romantic lens for the first time, and have fallen head over heels in love with him every day since. I can't wait to hang out with you for the rest of my life Mario Cicconetti!

Our gym posts daily pictures of members working out, and the new members joining the gym. I saw Janet pictured as a new member and had to introduce myself. It was a Tuesday. Fast forward, my sisters Nicole and Heather were visiting me for the weekend so we could celebrate Heather’s 30th birthday that fall of 2019. It was Saturday morning and we had finished the workout and my sister’s and I were just hanging out. They, too, noticed Janet. (She has that effect)They say, “who is that girl over there?” I say, “That’s Janet, she’s a new member. Do y’all care if I ask her to brunch with us?” Nicole: “Ah, no. You absolutely should.” Heather: “OMG. Totally. She is super cute.” And off to brunch the four of us went. I walked Janet to her car and asked for her number afterward. We then texted throughout the weekend and the weeks following. We went to a baseball game, a dinner party, and other events with gym friends. The holidays came and went, and COVID greeted us in March of 2020. While everything in the outside world shut down, Janet’s heart really started to open. My heart was full. We started working out on the reg in the afternoons at the local high school track. It was the best part of my day and I could not finish work quick enough so that I could see her radiant smile and spend time with her. I was so happy. The rest is history. She visited Ohio with me summer of 2020 and moved in with me that November. We have traveled the country together, with friends, with family, and the fun continues. We bought our first home near downtown Houston in August 2021. In November 2021, I asked Janet’s parents (Chuck and Patricia) for their blessing to marry Janet. They gave me their blessing and in just a few short weeks afterward, I proposed to Janet where it all began: at the gym, after a Saturday morning workout. We cannot wait to share our special day with you and have you with us as we grow our lives together.