| Important Dates |
First Date: December 24, 2004
Engagement: December 31, 2006
Wedding: September 15, 2007
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| His Version of How we Met |
So I had gone up to LA to meet up with my cousin Josh and some of his friends for Josh's bachelor party/boys' night out. After a long night of bar-hopping at Universal Studios' CityWalk, we ended up at a country-western type bar called the Saddle Ranch. We stayed for a few hours, partaking in beverages, dancing, and for some of us, riding the mechanical bull (which will explain why you might hear someone at our wedding yell "RIDE THE BULL!!!" but I digress). As closing time approached, I realized that most of the guys had become separated; however, I found Drew (one of the guys) at the bar, talking to a girl. Knowing that he had a room key and I didn't, I decided to hang out and wait until he was ready to go. The girl that he was talking to was there with a friend, so I thought I would be courteous and try and strike up a conversation with the friend until they wanted to leave. Well, she wasn't the most receptive to chatting. I couldn't decide if she was just tired, or if she had mistaken my simple gesture of conversation as an unwelcome advance and didn't want to be hit on right at closing time. Either way, she seemed rather standoff-ish. Nonetheless, I stuck around as I still needed to get back into our room. As she was settling up her tab, I noticed that her card had slipped out of the billfold and fallen on the floor underneath her barstool. I looked at the card, then looked at her to see if she had noticed. Nope. I looked at the card again, then looked at her again - still no response. At this point, I found myself with a dilemma. In light of her cold shoulder and impersonal behavior, I thought "I could probably charge another beer on her card and she wouldn't even notice." On the other hand, I thought "I could be a gentleman and just give the card back to her." It was a tough choice, honestly, but after some lengthy internal deliberations, I chose the latter. I called her by her last name but she didn't respond. "Vanderpool!" I called a second time, this time louder, and she turned around with a confused "how did you know my last name?" look on her face. When she saw me holding her credit card, the confused look immediately changed to a surprised smile, and guess what? She was willing to talk after all! Once the tab was closed and her card was safely back in her wallet, Drew and I walked the girls back to their hotel across the street. Colleen and I exchanged numbers, and from there, the rest is history. My, what a difference the possession of one's credit card makes.
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| Her Version of How we Met |
Okay here is my version...I was lucky enough to be working in Van Nuys and Santa Clarita for the week, so my great friend Laurel says "Why don't you stay at the Hilton at Universal Studios, I'll come up and stay and we can go out Saturday night for some drinks and fun." Thinking what do I have to lose, and knowing I would have a blast going out with Laurel, I booked a room at the Hilton. So it ends up being a little drizzly outside and we get ready (hot looking really), walk over to the City Walk and look at every place trying to find where to go. We ended up in the Saddle Ranch - think "country meets rock." Anyway, we saddle up at the bar and start drinking, having a good time, flirting with the bartenders and watching these crazy people ride the bull. We pick out a few cute guys in the place but are content to stay at the bar with our beers. So as the night goes on, it is getting close to closing time and I come back from the girls room and Laurel is talking with this guy. I am tired and know I have to work the next morning, and am quite frankly a little cranky. Anyway, Eran comes up to me and tries to start a conversation which I didn't really respond to. I was busy trying to settle up the bar tab. Well, unbeknownst to me, my debit card falls out of the bill folder onto the floor. The next thing I know, Eran is calling me by my last name. I was floored by the fact that he knew my name, but then he flashed the debit card. How could I not smile and start talking to him? Wow! We ended up leaving together and he walked me back to my hotel where we ended up talking for what seemed like forever, but was actually just a few hours. We exchanged numbers as he left, and he was sweet enough to call me the next day to see if I got to work okay. It was about a week later when I just couldn't control myself anymore and called him. From there it was e-mails and long phone calls until our actual first date Christmas Eve.
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