We met in the fall of 2016 through a dating app, Coffee Meets Bagel. After exchanging KakaoTalk IDs and chatting for a while, we decided to meet up for dinner. However, Joe was going through a busy season with participating in races (triathlon, tough mudder, spartan race) so he originally attempted to schedule a first meeting six weeks out (?!), but Gina insisted on meeting sooner than that. We eventually decided to meet for dinner during restaurant week at BO-beau in Ocean Beach the following Friday after work. To break the ice, we both decided to try eating something adventurous to get us out of our comfort zones. We ordered escargot for appetizers and watched each other awkwardly try to fish out snails from their shells while keeping the small talk going. When it came time to order our meals, Joe let the server know which entrees we had chosen, but skipped all of the french words that he couldn't pronounce. Gina pretended not to notice when the server hilariously called him out on it! Fun Facts: Gina knew someone at the restaurant who was seated facing directly at our table -- not awkward at all! And Joe thought it would be amusing to have a broke college student pay for her share of the dinner. He claims that splitting the bill on the first date was the "trick" to paving the road for a successful relationship.

A big portion of our relationship revolved around stargazing. We drove out to the desert many times in attempts to watch meteor showers or to catch a glimpse of the Milky Way, but most times we were met with challenges. On our first attempt, the car got a flat tire and we spent more time trying to fix it than looking at the sky. Another attempt had a cloudy sky that blocked our views. Other instances were prevented because of full moons or light pollution. In August 2018, we took our puppy and headed up to Big Bear for the weekend to watch the Perseids meteor shower. We spent the weekend trying new restaurants, hiking, and piecing puzzles together. On Sunday night the shower peaked and Joe asked Gina to marry him as they watched the meteor shower.