Jake and I first met at The University of Pennsylvania and shared a heady, late-night smooch or two in the final days before graduation. But it was two years later before I really fell for him, at a New Year's Eve party in New York City that touched off a week of romantic shenanigans — hooky from work, ice cream in bed, snowball fights in Central Park. At the end of that week, Jake flew back to Moscow, where he lived and operated his own, newly opened health club. I returned to my studio apartment with my heart caught in a tangle of barbed wire.

   Somehow we made the long-distance romance work. I eventually moved to Moscow and now we live together in San Francisco with our Russian-born yellow Lab. Almost four years after that New Year's Eve — the day I'll always consider our anniversary — we find ourselves starting new lives and new jobs in the Internet industry and dreaming about a wedding that's just seven months away.

Read my monthly journal entries:

November 1999
"Let the joyous squeals and well-wishing begin!"

December 1999
Earning rightful admittance to a bridal salon

January 2000
"As each day clicks by, I am that much closer to knowing this thing is really going to happen."

February 2000
"It's a reminder that friends are thinking of us and wishing us well on our new start."

March 2000
"... I just need to step back, take a breath and try hard to remember every last moment of celebration. It goes so fast..."

April 2000
"If I didn't lift a finger again until W-day, the whole thing would probably go off just fine... But... in order for me to be proud of our feat I need to get busy with my personal touches. That's the fun part."

May 2000
"I'm about to get swept up in a whirlwind of excitement that ends with a vast span of responsibility and commitment. Whew, that sounds serious, but I think I'm up for it. In fact, I can't wait."

July 2000
"Our relationship is now in Technicolor."

READ THE JOURNAL ENTRIES OF OUR LATEST BRIDES!