We met about 2 years ago through an online dating service. What first brought us together were our shared interests, and the fact that we were both living at the time in Menlo Park. But what led to our falling in love and wanting to spend our lives together was so much more than just a common love of the outdoors and gardening. It was also a shared bond of mutual respect, common life goals and values, but mainly the inescapable feeling that we belonged together! From our first date, we haven't wanted to spend a day apart from each other. One can list many "reasons" for falling in love with someone, but it all comes down to looking into their eyes and realizing that you never want to stop looking into those eyes. Anyone who's been in love knows what we're talking about.
While we each have separate interests and hobbies, we do share many interests in common. We share a profound love of and respect for nature. We love to hike together, and are learning to kayak. We both love redwood forests and the ocean (we're going to Sea Ranch for our honeymoon where we can have both!). We both enjoy gardening, and are having a lot of fun starting a vegetable garden (hey, it's organic and cheaper than Whole Foods!). And while Laith is not a vegan, he's willing to eat tempeh and tofu in exchange for Diane cooking the occasional chicken soup! We've been able to find a healthy balance between vegan and, well, not vegan. We also both grew up in the Bay Area Diane on the Peninsula and Laith in the East Bay. We're now living in the South Bay (Sunnyvale), so we haven't gone far!
Diane went to UCSC (go Slugs!), where she received a BA in the useful discipline of Art. While she gained a love of painting at college, it didn't pay the bills. After many years working in an office doing desktop publishing and managing a document production department, she didn't feel fulfilled creatively. About 4 years ago, after a health crisis that turned out to be a blessing in disguise, and getting laid off, Diane realized that life is short, and you can't waste it being unhappy. So she took the plunge, and went into business for herself as a florist (with much help from her family, especially her mom Jennie). She spent the last 3 1/2 years doing creative work she loved, and had a great time. However, being in business for yourself can mean long hours for little pay, and the schedule of working 7 days a week, day and evening, began to wear thin. Not only was it exhausting, but t here was no time to spend with Laith! Diane now works as an office manager for a startup. OK, so office work isn't as exciting as floristry, but Diane finds helping a company get started to be a fun challenge, and really appreciates having weekends off! BTW, the picture of the white flowers above is taken from a photo Diane took of a floral arrangement she created herself when she had her business.
After working in the car audio/video and security business for many years, Laith decided he wanted more out of life and went back to school to get his BS in Computer Science from San Francisco State University. Most recently Laith has been working for the web hosting company YoHost, and is lucky enough to work at home. He also is a freelance web developer, and enjoys the variety of projects his clients bring him. And, again, the ability to work at home!