Home
Children

Wedding

Steve's Writing

Other

Quick Bio's

Nikoo Born in Mashad, Iran to Abbas Ali and Nasreen Arasteh. She has three brothers, Nirou, Pirouz and Ehsan all living in Iran. She has double masters in  Industrial Management and Food Microbiology from University of Tehran and a PhD in Food Science from University of British Columbia. Many of her high school friends live in the Bay Area.
Steve Born in Yankton, South Dakota to James Wood and Delores Koster. He has two brothers and three sisters in this order: Kyra, Ceci, Eric, Sarah and Michael, all living in the Bay Area. He has a bachelor's degree in Business from Saint Mary's College and works in an area of software development. He also has a consulting business and works side-by-side with his father in an Estate Planning business.

Our Story

How we met 

We met accidentally (i.e.: destiny) in the Minneapolis airport in August 2001. Nikoo and I were both on business trips passing through the airport. I was living in San Francisco and Nikoo was living in Ames, Iowa - geographically a highly unlikely pair. But we had such a good time talking that we started writing to each other after we arrived back home.

On the surface, we appeared to have little in common - different cultural background, different upbringing and even a different primary language. But we did and do share some of the more important aspects: same perpetual smiles and good nature, similar political leanings and an interest in social activism, plans for the future, desire for children, and somehow (not sure if I can completely explain this yet) just a wonderful way of being together that produces happiness in each of us, our families and friends and an occasional stranger. Every day we say things to each other that show our unconditional support and we have never found ourselves in competition with each other, nor with our friends. This feels good!

Who we are

At the time we met, Nikoo was working at a company as a research scientist and I had a full-time job as software developer and an entrepreneurial consulting business.

Steve was born in Yankton, South Dakota and has three sisters Kyra, Ceci and Sarah and two brothers Eric and Michael, all younger. His mother Dee owns a bookkeeping business and his father James owns an estate planning business.

Nikoo was born in Mashad, Iran and has three younger brothers Nirou, Ehsan and Pirouz. Her mother Nasreen is a retired high school teacher and father Abbas-Ali is a doctor (anesthesiologist).

First things we did together

In early September, Steve made a trip to Minneapolis. We had a good dinner and looked for something to do. Quite accidentally, we ended up in a place called "Gay 90’s" (we actually went through a door that was only marked "Jazz Club"). This was quite a place and both of us saw our first drag show and danced among women with 5 o'clock shadows. Eye-opening, but we both enjoyed ourselves.

We first started to make expression of a long term relationship while visiting the Weisman Art Museum. We made a video of ourselves walking across the bridge.

Nikoo’s came to San Francisco for job interviews late September.

Steve’s visited Ames in mid November and met all of her friends at party.

On this November trip, we made a 2000 mile driving trip through South Dakota, Wyoming and Nebraska to Steve's Grandma’s. Grandma gave us a blanket because it was snowing on the road, it was very cold. Steve drove and Nikoo fed him dates, and pears and almonds the whole trip. Steve first proposed while in Le Mars, Iowa not too far from where his Father’s Dad was born and raised.

Bay Area events so far

To help Nikoo find other Iranians in the Bay Area, Steve took her to an Iranian Cultural event. We made lots of contacts that lead to joining the Iranian BioMed Society. 

We got married on March 20th, 2002 in the San Francisco city hall.

Norooz. (Iranian New Year on March 21) where we broke the news to many of Nikoo's friends. After the shock wore off, they were all ecstatic. 

Islamic ceremony March 30, 2002 and party at Jahan & Bahar, Nikoo's cousins' home. 

We attended the 20,000 person Free Palestine Protest at City Hall.

The wedding is planned for June 1st, 2002.

Trip to Iran This is planned for July 1-Aug 1, 2002 to visit friends and family and attend Nikoo's brother, Ehsan's wedding. More coming on this...
Favorite Links These are links to sites we find important in our life: