Win $100 Visa GC from BlogHer and eHarmony

 Win $100 Visa GC from BlogHer and eHarmony

Click on the stories below to learn how eHarmony offers a better chance at love. Each of the bloggers is also giving away a $100 Visa gift card so be sure to stop by each post to read their romantic tales!
ends 3/15

The Perfect Match

Their union and relationship is a very apparent perfect match.  You can tell when you meet some couples that they work perfectly together and are clearly meant to be together.  I don't know anyone who knows Carolyn and Jason who would say they aren't perfect together...they complement each other well, their strengths and weaknesses exist together in a way that seems impossible. 

Give It A Shot

My advice to people reading this that might be in a similar situation is to just have an open mind and trust that eHarmony will deliver matches to you based on the criteria YOU select. This is not MySpace dating from 2005. Remember that? HA! No, this is truly a service that finds someone that could potentially be a good fit for you, based on what you value in life. Just give it a shot. You might find someone who is absolutely perfect for you, someone you did not know even existed. You have nothing to lose, right? 

Everything Happens For A Reason

Humbly, I think we both get that we are luckier than we deserve to be. The real fairy tale part of all of this is we never would have met if it weren’t for that job, which moved me from my family and friends. We never would have met if I wouldn’t have been SO lonely I resorted to the internets bringing me a man. I’m not a big believer in the “everything happens for a reason” thing; I feel like stupid people say that to make themselves feel better when they make a mistake or something, but I can’t think of a better way to put it. So there ya have it.  

It Was Immediate

So, right, we meet the next day–right here, this coffee shop, this table–and it was immediate. I know that sounds really corny, and I still insist that there’s no such thing as ‘love at first sight’, but there was definitely attraction–for me, at any rate-at first site; after all this time I still can’t speak for the cryptic Henry. We spent four hours at this table, and after sitting idle over the last cup of the night, we were finally asked to leave. 

It All Works Out In The End

Good news, kids. It all works out in the end. In the past year, I've watched not one but two of my most amazing single friends find The One. Just thinking about how happy they are now makes me break out in a smile as big as the sun. One of those friends, Jennifer, immediately came to mind when I received an email from BlogHer asking if I knew anyone who had found love using eHarmony. Jennifer should work for eHarmony's marketing department because HOOBOY does she sing their praises!  

No Sifting Through Pages Upon Pages of Profiles

Since I was looking for a quality relationship, I went to a quality website. No sifting through pages upon pages of profiles that fit some vague criteria you thought would 'narrow things down.'  No trudging through countless dates with people you have nothing in common with.  No canoodling with people who could care less about your values and life goals, let alone share them with you. (Plus, this process seemed to lessen the probability of running into the aforementioned Freaks, Liars, and People That Can Hurt You.  Bonus!)

Quality Over Quantity

That night we all asked both of them why they chose eHarmony. Jake said he wanted to find his wife, and that was not going to happen in a bar. He works in a very male-dominated field and did not meet women that way. Kayla is a teacher and said a very similar thing. Jake added that he wanted to meet a quality girl, not a quantity of bad first dates.  

You Get What You Pay For

If you google online dating sites, you come up with thousands of options. After I looked into some free sites, because let's face it, I'm cheap, I decided to look into sites with monthly fees. My thought was that if someone was willing to spend a monthly fee, it was probably going to weed out the kind of guys I didn't want to date. I ended up choosing eHarmony, in part because they had a sale going on, but also because they didn't take their matches lightly.  

I Could Listen To Him Talk Forever

His answers to my questions were very serious but also witty.  It was an added bonus that he was handsome, and I looked forward to our emails.  Within a couple of weeks he asked to meet me! Our first date was 5 hours long over coffee at The Village Inn.  I remember thinking I could listen to this man talk for the rest of my life!  We discovered  our families were so similar, and we felt the same way about so many things.  It didn't take long for us to feel like we'd known each other for years and to start spending all of our free time together.  

A Harmonious Marriage Thanks to eHarmony

We continually marvel at how much we have in common. We seriously say, "Thanks eHarmony," all the time!  We have a great deal of ease, and I really think it's because of our personality profiles being so well matched. We had basically no adjustment in moving in together or living together after the wedding.  Even in those silly-but-not-so-silly-things, like putting the cap back on the toothpaste.  We are really well matched in all areas.

It Was Like We’d Been Together Forever

From the very first phone call, I knew he was The One. I was head over heels in love with him before I’d ever laid eyes on him. When we went on our first date, it was like we’d been together forever. He told me it was so hard for him to not lean over and just casually kiss me randomly like it was no big deal, because he felt like we’d been together for a long time. (Don’t worry, it didn’t take him long to kiss me after all.) 

eHarmony's Guided Communication Leads To Success

We started communicating with each other via eHarmony's guided communication: eHarmony starts with multiple choice questions you can ask each other, then moves on to short answer, and then moves on to an open stage that's similar to email without having to give out your email address. It gently eases you into talking to your matches which is particularly awesome if you're not sure what you should say. 

Starting Off Slow

I started checking out eHarmony, and it seemed more to my liking than some of the other online dating websites. I wanted to meet someone else who was a Christian. eHarmony seemed to have my values in mind with their process. The other online sites were more of a, "Here is my picture; email me, and we'll have drinks," type of thing. eHarmony started off really slow with no pictures. Although I'm not scary looking, I don't think, I wanted to get to know someone based on non-superficial things.  

In The Right Place, At The Right Time

But even though we lived in neighboring towns at the time, chances are that without eHarmony Paul and I wouldn’t have met at all. In fact, he’d only joined for three months initially, and had extended his membership just a week or two before I signed up; if the timing had been wrong, we might not have met even WITH eHarmony! I never expected to meet someone so right for me, and especially not so soon; I barely got a month’s worth of matches out of that year’s membership in eHarmony. But it was worth every penny, and getting to share every day with my geeky dream guy is priceless.  

Similar Interests Lead To Love

I remember when she showed me his profile how oddly similar their tastes were…honestly, how else would you find someone who would list Stevie Ray Vaughn and Willie Nelson as their top two favorite musicians and who similarly shared a deep love for the Dodgers? Jake was the first person Melody ever reached out to on an internet dating site, and over a year later it’s easy to see why they fit so perfectly together. 

Finding The One

He was one of the first matches I had on the site. We knew it was "it" from the minute we met. He picked me up at the end of my dad's driveway, and we went to dinner. We sat on the patio and had a nice seafood dinner while the band played, and I did my best to keep the conversation going as he was super shy. We continued our date by hitting up the bowling alley before moving on to a pool hall. We ended up back at my dad's house to sit at the bar and have cereal at midnight. 

Avoiding The Meat Market

The other sites had reputations for being "meat markets." On one of the sites, it was possible for anyone to view your profile and see your photo. Most people base whether they want to date you or not based on your photo. That's not the case with eHarmony. I had to fill out a very intensive survey that took me a long time to fill out. They really try to get to know your personality. Then, the only people who are allowed to see your profile are those who eHarmony matches you with, based on your personality.  

Getting Off The Dating Roller Coaster

I would absolutely recommend eHarmony to a single person wanting to find "the one"! We have several friends in our extended circle who met their spouses on eHarmony after we recommended they try it. Chris is so perfect for me. He's patient, and we have a lot of qualities that complement each other. And one seriously funny thing-he wanted someone who didn't like roller coasters, and I was SO down with that!