In the spring of 2002, there was a huge LiveJournal.com "bash" in Orlando, where Karen and Adrian both lived at the time. Adrian went to the event, but Karen was unable to attend. At the Bash, Adrian met one of Karen's best friends, Jessica Park, and they became friends. A few months later, Adrian, who is a photographer, did a photo shoot with Jessica. The pictures were beautiful, and Adrian posted them to his website.

Adrian and Karen had recently become LiveJournal friends at this point. When Karen saw the photos of her friend, she thought they were gorgeous and asked Adrian if he'd mind doing a photo shoot with her, as well. Adrian couldn't refuse, and they set up an appointment for June 29, 2002, to do the shoot.

Karen and Adrian met up that Friday afternoon at Adrian's place and got everything ready for the shoot. After a few hours of hanging out and taking photos, they decided to call Jessica to come over, since Karen and Jess had few photos of themselves together and thought it would be cool if Adrian took some photos of them, especially since Karen was moving to Gainesville at the end of the summer. Adrian and the two girls packed into Karen's car, and they went to downtown Winter Park for more photos. A few more hours later, they returned to Adrian's apartment and relaxed and talked for the rest of the night. Everyone was having so much fun that Karen and Jessica didn't end up going home until nearly five in the morning. Both Karen and Adrian couldn't remember the last time they had such an enjoyable evening with another person.

Sunday night, of that same weekend, Kristy, a mutual friend of Karen and Adrian, invited Karen to dinner at Seikyo, a sushi restaurant, to meet up with some other LiveJournal friends. Karen was busy studying for an online exam she had to take later that night, but decided to take a break and meet some new people and have fun. She arrived at the restaurant and was happy and surprised to see that Adrian was also there! The only seat left at the table was the one next to him (of course!).

Karen and Adrian really hit it off that night, talking mostly to each other than to anyone else, and really enjoy each other's company. Karen dropped Adrian back at his apartment after dinner was over, and both were sad because they wished they could have had more time to spend hanging out together.

Karen went home to work on her online math exam, and afterwards she hopped on AOL Instant Messenger to chat with friends and unwind. Adrian and Karen started chatting and enjoyed talking to each other so much that they continued chatting very late into the night.

The next day, Monday, July 1, 2002, Karen and Adrian officially had their first date, meeting for coffee and breakfast at Denny's.

The month of July was an amazing, special month for both Karen and Adrian. Unfortunately, they both were leaving Orlando in August - Karen transferred up to the University of Florida in Gainesville, and Adrian graduated from Film School and moved to Los Angeles.

The couple had a brief separation, and in October, Adrian decided to move back to Florida to be with the love of his life. He arrived in Gainesville on November 6, 2002.

Just 13 months after they started dating, Adrian proposed to Karen on August 3, 2003. Wedding plans began immediately, and everyone is looking forward to the exciting event, which will take place on July 4, 2004, right after Karen and Adrian's second anniversary of being together as a couple.

To learn more about the couple individually, visit Adrian's website or Karen's website.