It was arranged for a Friday evening after work. The romantic setting: A dark basement bar that had ping pong & skeeball. Nicole's enthusiastic co-worker Sandra brought Nicole to the bar early, for a couple of pre-meet up drinks. Sandra's husband (also named Chris), worked with and was good friends with Chris (Nicole's Chris, everyone with me?) It was to be a casual set up from a married couple that each had a co-worker in mind that would be "perfect for each other". Sandra positioned the seating so Nicole & Chris would be near each other. Chris reminding himself to dial back his competitiveness with the games. A mixture of cheap happy hour drinks, shuffleboard, skeeball, connect 4, and a subtle "so what do you think of him?" check-in from Sandra every 15 minutes, led to a long fun night out. "I know a great BYOB sushi spot that turns into a party late night" - Chris said, thinking to himself "what better first date could she ask for." "Want to go sometime?" - he asked her with the confidence only your 4th cocktail gets you. She agreed to the date (to this day we're unsure if it was out of politeness or a true desire to go out with him). Probably for the best that sushi place ended up being closed for reservations, but they made a plan b for a more formal sit-down dinner and from there their relationship took off.

Chris asked Nicole to go on a walk with Milo one Saturday, like they do most weekends. Little did Nicole know Chris had planned to have an acoustic guitar player on Pier A playing Free Falling, John Mayer's version (an important detail & her favorite song) as they walked up the pier. Chris had Shelly and Adam (her sister & fiance) staged there to hold Milo and take photos of the proposal. After Chris got down on one knee and Nicole said yes they danced to Free Falling, I Will Wait, and Perfect. Finally, as they walked back to their apartment Chris staged both immediate families for a surprise engagement party! The two ended the night at Nicole's favorite Hoboken bar, Willie McBrides to celebrate with some friends before a week long vacation in Naples Florida.