Tara grew up in upstate New York. After graduating college, she moved to Virginia Beach and lived at the Oceanfront for 15 years. She always wanted to live in San Diego; for the weather, the adventure and the carefree life! When the 2020 pandemic hit, she decided to begin her California travel journey that started at the Venice canals, continued through the most beautiful West Coast sites, officially landing in San Diego in March 2021.

Thanking God for modern day technology, Jeff, a San Diego native, reached out online about a week before Thanksgiving 2021. They messaged randomly back and forth for about two months while Tara was busy with visitors and travel. He referred to Tara as “Lady Bird”, and now he now refers to her as “Baby Legs”. They finally met one Saturday morning, mid-January. Tara, directly from yoga and Jeff rolled in on his Harley. They met in the Ocean Beach area of San Diego at “Wonderland”, for brunch. Over the next few hours, they briefed each other on their life stories. As Tara was about to leave, she mentioned she wanted to go to the Motocross races at Petco Park that evening. Without skipping a beat, Jeff responded “Let’s Go”! The brunch evolved into a later-in-the evening "2nd” date. He picked Tara up at her house (on Thompson time), and from there, instead of playing in the dirt, they went to the famous Mr. A’s in San Diego. To this day it’s still their favorite spot. It overlooks the harbor, the airport to see the planes land, Little Italy, Downtown and you can see the Coronado bridge.

Clearly Tara was impressed. Two days later she left for a ski trip with a friend in Utah. Upon her return, they curated the most adventurous 22 months of travel, weddings, funerals, fun, LOVE, growth, and commitment to one another that promised a very exciting future ahead.

Three days before the engagement, Jeff and Tara parted with his little love Maggie (10 year old Pit-mix) which was very unexpected. The loss was devastating for both. Tara suggested they cancel the trip to Tahoe to celebrate two close friends' marriage. Cancelling the trip was not an option for Jeff, so they moved flights and made it to beautiful Tahoe for a super fun trip/celebration on Thursday, October 12, 2023.

About a week prior to the trip, Jeff told Tara to plan a hike for Saturday for the eclipse. So they picked one out together that morning and headed out to catch the cool ring of fire. The morning started with realizing a bear had gotten into their car in the night. Thank God it was just mud and they got on the road to catch the hike and eclipse. Towards the end of the hike, Jeff pulled out surprise “eclipse glasses”. He is definitely the romantic one in the relationship. It was so cool to watch it through the glasses, but no ring of fire💍 (which was a part of his plan). They finally reached this beautiful tiny lake, called Lake Watson. He cued up their favorite Chris Stapleton song and there was the very unexpected, beautiful and most heartfelt proposal a girl could have ever wished for.

Now it’s time to say “I Do” 💕

Things to Do coming soon!