As explained by Jinee [Editor comments by Jason]
AT FIRST SIGHT…NOPE…
Jinee had set up a Facebook event in fall 2009 with her friends to go for froyo (frozen yogurt for you non-froyo-ers) at BerryCup. Dave Ngo was one of those friends who was at froyo. Jason is also friends with Dave. Jason called Dave while he was at froyo and invited himself to the event. [To be fair, Dave and I were hanging out regularly and he was oddly not asking if I wanted to come with. I tend to think he was trying to keep all the pretty single girls to himself since he wasn’t with Tu at the time. ;)]
SECOND TIME AROUND?
Jinee set up another Facebook event to play tennis, and invited Dave, Jason and Jason’s brother, Ken. Jason showed off his incredible serve, but that didn’t grab Jinee’s attention. After tennis, the group went to Orange Ball Billiards to watch a game. There, Jason and Ken squished Jinee on the couch, and Ken asked Jason, “What about Jinee?” Jason said, “Nah.” [It was less ‘nah’ and more so ‘I’m not going to press anything, but if it happens naturally, it happens… and it will be better that way.’ And look how right I was!]
Jason delivering a surprise Valentine’s Day flowers and lunch to my office in 2012.
VALENTINE’S STALKER?
Jason and Jinee hung out at Dave’s notorious BBQ’s a couple more times until Valentine’s Day 2010. Jinee and a friend set up a singles happy hour on Valentine’s Day 2010, and Jason and Matt showed up without an invitation…or so Jinee thought. Jinee said to Jason, “Oh did you see that we were going here on Facebook, you stalker!?” Embarrassingly, the friend had invited Jason! [The presumptuous *witch. Sorry, Matt, that you had to hang out with all Asians. Poor you, forced to spend time with hot Asian girls.]
ON THE FIELD
Jason played a lot of sports and ran his own sports league. Jinee was talking to her roommate Glen about wanting to join more sports. Glen said, “Doesn’t Dave’s friend, Jason, play a bunch of sports? You should talk to him.” So Jinee Facebook messaged Jason, and they messaged and gchatted a lot over the next few days… that was the beginning of it all.
Finally, Jinee said she wanted to join the kickball league that Jason was in. Jason said, “Okay, well, give me your e-mail address and phone number and I will pass it on to the guy that runs the league -actually, I’ll pass on your email and keep your number for myself.” Jinee thought this was so suave and the two bantered for a bit longer before Jason asked Jinee out to dinner. [Score!]
Our first week
FIRST DATE
Cava Mezze in Washington, D.C. [Thanks to Ted’s cousin for seating us immediately without a reservation. Oops. :)]
MOVING IN
We spent every day together from the day of our first date, and one thing led to another, and suddenly, BAM! I had moved in to Jason’s condo in downtown Bethesda. [The practical Chinese in me said ‘why pay rent if you’re staying with me every day anyway. Just move in with me and we’ll pay off student loans instead. Much faster route to a sound financial future.]
Jason & Puppy outside our house.
OUR FIRST HOUSE
We started looking for places casually only 6 months into our relationship since Jason’s 650 square foot condo was great for bachelor life but not so much for two. Bethesda is not exactly budget friendly, but we were able to find a nice house in a nice, walkable neighborhood. [Jinee and I love walking together, and close-in meant quite a difference for our lifestyle and added meaningful connection to our relationship. So it was Bethesda or nothing. Jinee’s hour long commute to Baltimore be damned! (easy for me to say – my commute was 10 minutes)]
Our first moment with Puppy
PUPPY LOVE
Of course, with buying a house, comes dog! I grew up with dogs (Maggie and Molly), and we were just waiting for a yard to have a dog. We randomly stopped at PetCo on our way home from running errands to play with the doggies, and we fell in love with Puppy (yes, our dog’s name is ‘Puppy’ – get over it!). We hadn’t planned on rescuing a dog that day… but how can you say no to that face… and those ears?!??! Puppy was the first *real Christmas present from me to Jason… I’m sure you’re all holding your breath, hoping for another *real present very soon after the wedding… [My family adopted my Uncle Wei’s Dog GoGo when we were young. GoGo in Chinese means ‘doggy’ and we felt Puppy was a nice tribute.]
Jason and Jinee holding Puppy (at 1 year) and Marty (Jinee’s brother’s 6 month old dog)
Puppy is bilingual. She understands sit, lay down, go to bed, stand, handshake, handhold, and hug commands in both English and Mandarin. Jason’s mom taught her ‘handshake’ and Puppy got it on the first try!
(And by the way the rescue told us Puppy would be max of 40 lbs because “she is probably part beagle part husky.” Liars.)
We’re lucky to have great friends with great doggy playmates living in our neighborhood. (Thanks Brooke & Lilly; Tom, Diep, Liam, & Sophie).
HOME & HEART
Our house came with a guest house that needed a serious renovation. Jason basically was the general contractor… and we survived – with all limbs attached. And I still love him. So, I think we’ll make it okay 🙂 [If she hasn’t killed me and my high design aspirations/perfectionist mentality throughout this process we surely can make it through anything (such as a marriage). Jinee hand-cut every single floor tile and piece of hardwood with a wet saw and chop saw. Watch out!]
Next stop… full on main house renovation!
HIGHER AND HIGHER
By the day of the wedding, I (hopefully) will have graduated with my masters in health policy… and Jason has survived my mass produced lunchboxes and long *discussions about my paper topics and formatting. [And I thought I was never going to have to work on a paper again. But seriously, let’s remind Jinee she needs to graduate first, wedding second. How she’ll manage finals and wedding planning at the same time…]