Serena Mitnik-Miller and Mason St. Peter, owners of General Store

How did you meet? Mason: “We met through our mutual admiration of the ocean and of surfing. At the time, Serena was working at a local surf shop, Mollusk, and I kept coming in to 'see if there were any new boards for sale.' Ha!”

Was it love at first sight? “It was for me, but Serena didn't know I was interested. I had to make some changes to my life before we could make things happen and so I did and then the love came.”

Did either of you use a pick-up line? “If ‘Hey, I have a crush on you’ is a pick-up line then, yes. I'm not very subtle.”

How long have you been together? “Almost 5 years now. How time flies!” 

How did you know she was “the one” and what makes you click? “We pretty much love all the same things in life and we seek to discover and understand in a similar way. We also balance each other out. When one thinks one way, the other thinks about the other side of it and we're pretty good at meeting up in the middle.”

How do you make time for one another with your busy schedules? “It's not easy, but we make it happen. Sometimes, it's planned like date night, or sometimes it's just, okay, let's go away for the weekend and spend some time together.”

Where do you like to go for date nights? “We have a cabin we're building in Topanga, so Saturday night by the campfire has been our best date night in recent months. We also go locally from time to time to Outerlands, Pizza Place, Balboa Theater, and for long walks on the beach.”

Photo: Courtesy of Erin Kunkel