Captivating Couples 2016: Part 2

Meet eight adorable duos and learn their secrets to enduring love

Tanya & Jane – Westchester & New York, NY
Tanya Palkaninec, 22, actress
Jane DiBartolo, 22, stage and event manager 
 
Jane was managing a show last fall for an eccentric director who “thought he’d do the funny but stereotypical thing of introducing the main two lesbian colleagues he knows.” Why? “He wanted us to ‘date and fall in love’ like in some awkward gay Disney movie where he played matchmaker.” Well, it worked. Jane messaged Tanya in rehearsal one day, and “our story started.” Turns out, the pair had already met. Tanya was a barista at Jane’s favorite coffee and smoothie shop. Though Tanya had originally thought of Jane as the "annoying protein shake order chick,” she now describes her very differently. “I love her smile and the way she makes me feel by just being in her presence, her energy can light up a skyscraper,” Tanya says. Though they currently have a semi-long-distance relationship, relying heavily on weekend visits and naps together over Skype, Jane sees a bright future for the both of them. In five years, she says, they will be “living in a West Village apartment with a large mastiff dog, two fat munchkin cats, and happy within our fields, to get to that power-couple level where we can be comfortable where life takes us.” 

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