Aurelia

My name is pronounced UH-REH-LEE-UH. I am 26 years old.I am of Cuban descent, my parents having moved here from Cuba nearly 30 years ago. I speak and write fluent Spanish. I have an older brother and an older sister. I was born in Elizabeth, New Jersey and moved here to Sarasota, Florida at the age of 9. I have been artistic since the age of about 10. I was designing business clothes at the age of 16. I was also designing "party" clothes and made my own little line of summer party-wear every summer. I was seriously considering becoming a fashion designer/illustrator but unfortunately my grades in high school wouldn`t get me a scholarship and I couldn`t afford to go on my own. I became very interested in doing comic book art at around 17 years old but reality set in when I realized that thousands of other kids out there also persued the same dream.
I designed wedding dresses for a while but pretty much just kept the illustrations in my (large) portfolio. I designed my dream wedding dress but never really thought it would be cheaper to get it made than to get one off the rack. Another dress design to go into my collection. Art is my everything. I don`t know what I would do if I lost my right hand! I`m very creative and have also made a small business venture due to my creativity. I started making fabric covered photo albums a few years ago and because the demand was too great and I was the only one making them I had to stop. I made my own wedding photo album as well as the guestbook, decorated our toasting glasses, and decorated my flowergirl`s dress.

Robert (Rob) is 24 years old. He was raised by his grandparents since the age of 9. He was brought up in the Amish community until, at the age of 16, decided he didn`t want to be Amish anymore. He has been brought up with their beliefs but doesn`t believe in most of their teachings. He was not allowed to go to High School due to the fact that the Amish are put to work after finishing 8th grade. He wanted to be a football player in High School but unfortunately that wasn`t possible.
Rob has an interest in guns, and knives, and swords.His favorite TV show is "The Highlander". He loves the way they show sword fights! He also likes the martial arts. He has a small collection of samurai swords and someday hopes to get a collection of medeival type swords. Because they are SO expensive, that`s a collection that will have to slowly accumulate. He`s made his own fighting staff made of a thick tree branch, and burned-etched intricate designs into it.
Rob was in a band for a while. They were just a garage band and played to relieve stress and have fun. He was the lead singer for almost 2 years. He listens to what I describe as "the hardest heavy metal". It`s music that you`d have to go to a specialty shop for because it`s such a hard rock. That`s the kind of music he and his band played.He stopped practicing with them a little bit before I met him and I`ve been trying to encourage him to go back. Unfortunately, the band broke up and now he just sings at home.

How We Met