The day before Alisa’s fight for Haymakers for Hope, Daniel & Alisa took 12pm Kimbo’s class together at STC Boxing. They shared “Oh my Lanta”, love-hate relationships with planks, & many laughs through the class.

DAN TEACHES, ALISA ATTENDS. Alisa started attending as many of Daniel’s classes as possible, as she quickly learned how kind, hard working, & genuine he was. She was very vocal about how anyone would be lucky to date Daniel. Yes, everyone in this photo knew about her crush on him (except for Daniel…. And Rishabh).

A group date in Salem, MA, 2 months before Alisa & Daniel started dating. Some would say this was a day where they both realized “something was there” when Daniel offered to buy Alisa a drink at a brewery. Others (like Jess) would say that Alisa planned this to hang out with Daniel and she was along for the ride in full support. Katrina would confirm that sparks were flying, & Rishabh had no idea that any of this was going on and enjoyed his first visit to Salem with his friends.

WINTER SOLSTICE. Kimbo, co-owner of STC Boxing, coached Alisa through her crush on Daniel from the beginning. She saw them in class together, got to know Alisa more and believed they were a good fit for each other. SO MUCH SO, that she even planned a Winter Solstice party to offer an opportunity for
Alisa and Daniel to hang out outside of the gym.
Rishabh, finally catching up to speed that Alisa and Daniel liked each other but were too afraid to make a move, took matters into his own hands very quickly and set Alisa and Daniel up that night. Without the help of Kimbo’s encouragement, party planning & Rishabh’s assertiveness (yes, he had to tell them that they liked each other), Alisa & Daniel would still be working out at the gym.

WINTER SOLSTICE FOREVER. ‘Twas the night before solstice and all through the land, not a creature was actually working, not even Dan….

On the most special night of the year, Daniel had the surprise of Alisa’s life planned for her.

The night before, Dan got dressed and “went off to work” - even texting Alisa to confirm he arrived safely. Little did she know, he actually put his phone on airplane mode and drove to CT to meet her parents, Joe and Donna, for dinner to ask their permission to marry her.

Fortunately, Alisa was distracted by her coworkers all night celebrating Katrina’s birthday along with Natalie. She only noticed after dinner that his phone was green and wondered what part of the lab he was in where his phone was being weird all night. She played it so cool that she even called work to see if he was okay and they confirmed they had no idea who Dan Mahoney was.

Confused, Alisa dropped it when Dan called from MIT Lincoln Lab when he “got out of work” and apologized for being MIA. His supervisor (Alisa’s Maid of Honor, Carolyn) let him out to go Christmas shopping and he didn’t want to ruin the surprise for her.

The next night, on Winter Solstice, Dan played a song Alisa had told him about before they started dating, slow danced with her in the living room, and got down on one knee while Justin Bieber sang “you are a lifetime”.