Jessica & Thomas

Daily Dinner Together - We always pray and thank God for every meal. We use this time to catch up on our days and spend quality time together. Church Every Sunday - We are part of a fantastic parish, and Thomas is a part of our parish council. If we are traveling, we always find a church nearby to attend mass. Baking and Sharing Our Delicious Creations - We love cooking, and we enjoy sharing our creations with our family and friends throughout the seasons. In the fall, Jessica bakes zucchini bread. During the Christmas season, we make cookies and gingerbread houses. For St. Patrick’s Day, Thomas makes his family’s traditional Irish soda bread. During the summer months, we bring Jessica’s homemade guacamole to BBQs. We also absolutely love to make cheeseboards for a variety of occasions! Holidays - When we celebrate Thanksgiving, Thomas has an important role in carving the turkey. For Christmas, we decorate with lots of lights inside and outside our home. We always go to Rockefeller Center to see the ‘big’ tree and, we occasionally see the Radio City Christmas Spectacular. We host Christmas dinner with both of our families, making everything from scratch. For Easter, we go to Thomas’ parents’ home, where his mom gets everyone a bunny - of the chocolate or stuffed animal variety. On the 4th of July, we never miss the fireworks.

Our home is located in the safest community in New York City. In our neighborhood, people say “good morning” as they walk by with baby strollers or as they walk their dogs. Our home is two blocks away from an excellent elementary school with an amazing park to play in. Our neighbors have become great friends who we socialize with often and celebrate some holidays with. We even attend midnight mass together with them on Christmas! Inside our home, we spend a lot of time together in our open and bright living area that we decorate for each season. We have a beautiful collection of indoor plants that have been with us for years. There are three bedrooms and two baths. We’re in the process of finishing our basement, which will provide us with an additional family room and bathroom, a large play area, and an additional bedroom or home office. Our backyard has a grass play area, a swimming pool, and a deck where we host friends and family BBQs in the summer months. In the spring, we plant a lot of veggies, herbs, and fruits in our side garden.

As children, we each had pets as part of our families. Dogs, cats, birds, fish, and even a tortoise! We are looking forward to adding a dog to our family, but - we are waiting to have a child to share the experience with, as our parents let us be a part of choosing our pets who became a part of our family. These are our current furry family members who come to visit or stay with us: Buddy and Luna.

Jessica has a big blended family, who are all very close, although they mostly live distances apart. Jessica’s mom, stepfather, and her younger sister (aka ‘The Hair’) live in sunny Florida, but they see each other multiple times a year and FaceTime frequently. Jessica’s mom is a fantastic cook, is wonderfully crafty, speaks sign language, and can always be counted on for a more than a 60-second hug. She taught Jessica many valuable life lessons, and she plans to do the same for her future grandchildren. Jessica’s stepfather helped raise her since she was 7 years old, taught her how to fish, march in military step, go camping, and instilled in her a love for 60's music. ‘The Hair’ is a very talented hairstylist and the family’s fashionista, who always ensures they look their best. She will often coordinate the family outfits for celebrations, so they all look good in a family photo. She is known to be a fantastic and thoughtful gift giver, and she is very much looking forward to having more nieces and nephews to spoil. Jessica’s dad and youngest sister (aka ‘The Baby’) live nearby and have a weekly lunch date on Fridays. Jessica’s dad is a gentleman and always opens doors. He is family-oriented, caring, attentive, and always comes to ‘the rescue’ whenever family or friends are in need. He is great with tools, providing advice on cleaning products, and where to get the best deals on our favorite coffee. ‘The Baby’ is 13 years younger than Jessica, is a computer technician, and is a very talented make-up artist. She always keeps Jessica abreast of the best new beauty products to use. She is looking forward to one day being referred to as the ‘cool aunt.’ Jessica’s older stepsister (aka ‘The Mama Bear’), nieces, and nephew live in North Carolina but come to New York to visit often. ‘The ‘Mama Bear’ and Jessica love to go to craft stores together and hang out while crocheting and watching a movie. Jessica’s nieces and nephews are in college and starting their careers. They call their ‘TiTi Jess’ (Aunt in Spanish) and Uncle Thomas often to catch up, and they enjoy playing video games together.

Thomas has a wonderfully devoted and supportive family who live just 15 minutes from our home. They are looking forward to being a key part of our support system when we are blessed with a child. Thomas’ parents have been happily married for 43 years. Thomas’ father works in computer science, is a big hockey and soccer fan, and loves classic rock music. He is also an amazing cook who always can be found using a new high-tech cooking gadget and arranging a cooking class for the family to attend at the Institute of Culinary Education. Thomas’ mother is retired, and she is a profound woman of faith. She has a wonderful ‘gift of gab’ and also has a fantastic listening ear and shoulder that can be leaned on. She is a lover of pop culture, trendy TV shows, and QVC shopping, and is a fantastic home decorator. She has special decorative glassware for almost every holiday! Thomas’ older sister is a proud dog mom to our dog-nephew Buddy. Thomas’ sister is a fun-loving and prayerful person. She can be counted on to bring a fun game to play, and, at our Christmas dinner, prepares and hosts ‘Christmas Trivia,’ where she gives away fun gifts to the winners. She loves all things about Irish culture, and country music, and can often be found singing a song. Her dog, Buddy, was lovingly named after the elf in the “Elf” movie. Thomas’ uncle is the family’s world traveler and a dedicated family man. He was like an additional ‘dad’ to Thomas growing up because he was always there for Thomas and his sister. He is retired, and he previously worked in banking for the same institution for 40+ years where he traveled to many countries. He loves to arrange family cruise trips, and he always creates lively dinner conversations and provides insightful career advice. Thomas’ grandparents, although no longer with us, played a significant role in his upbringing. They met during the Great Depression and worked hard every day to make a better life for their children and grandchildren. In their later years, they picked up Thomas and his sister from school when Thomas’ parents were at work, and they instilled in Thomas many of the values he maintains to this day, including generosity, kindness, hard work, and a great sense of humor.

Our individual families absolutely adore each other! Our whole family gets together for all of our important gatherings. It became clear to us at an early stage that we shared the same values, morals, and ideals, which we attribute to both of our families. -Unconditional Love: When I think of my late grandparents, I recall the unconditional love that I received from them as a child. They did not minimize my objectively minor problems. Instead, they listened to me and gave me help and guidance. My grandmother would insist that I take $20 from her during a visit - $20 that I later learned she never really could afford to give. They cared for my happiness above anything else. That is the kind of love that I know that Jessica and I (and our parents) will provide to our child. ~Thomas -Faith: From the time I was able to read, my mother would read scripture with me, and I found comfort in God’s word. More importantly, I do not fear the challenges in my life because God always gets me through everything - even if it is not in the way I want or expect - because everything always turns out ok! Faith is the bedrock of my life and our marriage. Thomas and I look forward to the day when we can attend mass together as a larger family and share our faith in God with the next generation. ~Jessica -Family Comes First: While work and school could make us all tired at the end of the day - it never stopped us from making time to be together as a family, eating dinner, and talking about our days. When someone in our family needs us, there is nothing that would stop us from being there for them. ~Jessica -Honesty: From an early age, I learned that honesty and integrity are some of the most important qualities you can have. I believe these qualities helped me become successful in my life and my career, developing trust and building strong relationships. ~Thomas

- Food: Pizza, Rice & Beans, Octopus...It’s hard to say...I like everything! - Drink: Starbucks Coffee. - Season: Summer. - Movie: Anything Marvel or Disney. - Ice Cream: Häagen-Dazs Chocolate. - Color: Lavender. - Sport: Hockey. - Game: Scrabble. - I love: Game Nights ♥ Crochet ♥ Calligraphy Travel ♥ Cooking ♥ Sunflowers ♥ The smell of fabric softener ♥

I pride myself on being a person that my family and friends can always depend on, and I find joy in being present for others. I always seek to focus on the positives in life and face challenges with strength and determination. As a child, one of the first challenges I faced was having scoliosis, and I underwent a major surgery. This was when I really recognized my durability (‘backbone!’) and conviction. I am a detailed planner and a problem solver, which made me a natural fit for my career in the audit and compliance field. I am the first person in my family to graduate from college, and my career has led me to a position where I am happily working from home, which has given me a great work-life balance. I rarely sit still, although I do love to stay in and binge shows on Netflix. I attend a weekly prayer group, and I love hanging out with my godchildren, starting crafty projects, and playing Pokémon Go.

- Food: Anything from my local diner. - Drink: Hibiscus Iced Tea. - Season: Fall. - Movie: It’s a Wonderful Life. - Ice Cream: Häagen-Dazs Chocolate Chip. - Color: Blue - Sport: Golf (to play); Football (to watch). - Game: Risk. - I love: Writing, Reading, 90's Alternative Rock Music, and Weekend Getaways.

My main objective in life is to provide a safe, secure, and loving home for my family. I work in the legal profession and pride myself as someone who is hard-working, sociable, kind, and principled. While I am very career-focused, my #1 priority is my family. Thankfully, I’m in a position now in my career where I have the flexibility to be there for my family at a moment’s notice at any time of the day. When I’m not working, I like to catch up with friends, binge-watch reruns of 90s and early 2000s TV shows, golf, and grow vegetables. I love to eat all sorts of cuisine (especially Italian and Greek), and I really like to cook. My specialty is beef short ribs over homemade mashed potatoes.

- Celebrate Everything - Our years are always filled with birthdays, anniversaries, baptisms, and wedding celebrations. - Cooking is our Happy Place - Food brings us together with all of those that we love. We cook many different types of cuisine in our home (Italian, Puerto Rican, Irish, French). We also host an annual pasta-making day, where we show our friends and their little ones how to make homemade pasta. -Travel - We love to visit places in New England, take cruises, and arrange spontaneous trips for fun (Greece and Disney World have been among our favorites). We’ve gone on weekend road trips to Rhode Island, Connecticut, Cape May, Maryland, Washington D.C., and Philadelphia. We believe in enjoying life and cultivating as many new experiences whenever we can. -Go Outside - In the summer months, you can find us hosting barbeques in our backyard, hanging out in the pool, and having movie nights on our deck. We love to take walks and boat rides, attend parades, and golf or mini-golf (which is Jessica’s preference, because she thinks it’s better for her shorter stature!). We also love to play in the snow in the winter. - Experience Culture and New Things - We love to go to NYC to see shows on Broadway and concerts, attend San Gennaro feasts in Little Italy, go to St. Patrick’s Day parades, and enjoy sporting events.