"It's Just ... 'Mokena'": Couple's Love Story Sparked At Small Town Pub Leads To NYE Proposal In Downtown

MOKENA, IL — It's a shining example of fate, "right place, perfect timing"—as sweetly serendipitous as it gets, really—for two Mokena residents whose story unfolds like a Hallmark movie.

Six months after moving to Mokena, Jennifer Newstat mustered up the courage to grab a stool at a beloved local watering hole.

A friend had previously insisted a visit to Little Al's was a must, but her nerves always seemed to get the better of her. Recently marking its 150th anniversary, Little Al's is the spot where most customers seem to know each others' names, and the proverbial record stops when a newcomer steps in.

"She said, 'You gotta go to Little Al's. However, if you walk in, everybody's gonna stare at you," Newstat recalled. "... That was a no-go for me. I'm not doing it.

"... But I was so curious about it."

But before she tackled that fear, Newstat had spent some time getting to know her new surroundings by taking her poodle Alfie on walks around town.

"I wanted to learn my area, my surroundings," she said. "So, I'm walking my dog literally every day. Just for miles and miles and miles and miles."

She passed one house and yard where another dog barked aggressively at hers. A bit flustered, she re-routed briefly, but also got a glimpse inside the house.

"The walls were purple inside," she said with a laugh. "I just always paid attention to this house."

It stuck in her mind, that house with purple walls and a loud dog in the yard.

One Tuesday night, she was at Zap Taco House with friends, when she decided she just had to try Little Al's—as long as they'd come with her. Newstat sat at the stool closest to the door, and playfully asked the bartender a very important question.

"'So, can you meet a future husband here?'" Newstat recalled. "And she looks around, she laughs, and she's like, 'absolutely not.'"

Later that same night, the door behind Newstat swung open, and two men walked in. She turned and briefly made eye contact with one of them.

Enter, Phil (literally).

Phil Danielewicz, 50, had grown up in Mokena, moved away after college, got married. He and his now ex-wife had two sons together, living in Rolling Meadows and Bolingbrook before ultimately circling back to Mokena in 2004.

"Before they started school," he said, "I decided I wanted to get out of Bolingbrook and move somewhere else. And decided that Mokena was the right area to raise my sons."

They ended up buying his childhood home from his parents. Their sons grew up, went off to college, and Danielewicz and his wife divorced. The two had simply grown apart, he said.

In the time since, he had been re-finding himself. On the way home from a business meeting, he decided to pop in to a Mokena spot a little more than a block from his home.

"I was on my way home about 8:45 at night and decided to stop for a beer before heading home," he said.

He walked in, met eyes with a woman by the door, and mostly hung out with the bartender's boyfriend. A few minutes later, bartender Caryn Arbuthnot called him over and introduced him to Newstat, who asked him the same thing she'd asked Arbuthnot: "Can I meet a future husband here?"

Danielewicz, too, looked around and bluntly said, "absolutely not."

But worth a shot, right?

The two chatted that night, and it slowly became clear that fate had been laying the groundwork.

That dog that had barked so loudly at Newstat's? It was Phil's. The house he bought from his parents? You guessed it: purple walls.

They left without exchanging phone numbers, but Newstat did her homework and found him on Facebook. A message request sat dangling.

"It was two days," Danielewicz chided.

"It felt like forever!" Newstat said. "It was just days, but it felt like weeks."

Her birthday was a week later and, now Facebook friends, Danielewicz asked if she planned on a repeat visit to Zap and Little Al's, and could he join her. After a complication in plans, she ended up at Little Al's longer than expected, and left without seeing him. He showed up later, and Arbuthnot texted Newstat to come back. She did, and they talked for hours.

"We went on our first date that next Friday," Danielewicz said.

Gentle nudges from fate—and the bartender who had made the initial introduction. Pieces falling into place as smoothly as the beers went down that first night.

Sitting in Clancy Brothers Coffee Shop nearly two years later on Jan. 3, an engagement ring sparkling on her hand, she realizes the irony in their exchange about finding a husband at the bar.

".... I literally asked my future husband that," she said.

'Had no idea what I was missing'

Among all the sweet notes struck in the couple's love story, is one of Newstat discovering the heart and charm of her new hometown. A longtime Orland Park resident previously, she had been reluctant to move to the small town nestled along Wolf Road. A family friend offered to sell her mother her home—a request her mother had mentioned prior—and the mother-daughter duo moved.

"I had no idea what I was missing for 32 years," she said. "And then you move here—I love this town, it's a great town. ... It's just so quaint. It's so cute."

"I don't know how to put words to it," Danielewicz said. "It's just ... Mokena. It's the small town atmosphere where everybody kind of knows everybody."

The two frequent shopping and retail in the town—along with Little Al's, Zap Tacos and Clancy's, they listed The Dock on Front Street and Hustle & Heart Boutique among their favorites—and it's quickly become endeared to Newstat.

So much so, that when Danielewicz decided he'd propose to her, he realized the perfect place: in front of the town's Christmas tree, at the corner of Front and Mokena streets. His plan checked most of the boxes she'd insisted on. She wanted it to be a romantic surprise, with her family there.

"I feel like I'm a pretty good listener," he quipped.

He planned a New Year's Eve dinner with family, at The Dock on Front Street. Afterward, they would take a family photo by the tree before he then asked for a photo of the two of them. He'd drop to one knee then.

He'd never imagined he'd get married again, he admitted, until he met Newstat.

"Just the way she sees the world and how kind she is to people and her faith," he said, of what made him realize she was it. "It changed me. I was kind of, just, stuck in a rut. Not that happy in terms of my life or whatever. And it definitely was just eye-opening for me to know what love really felt like."

Newstat had never been married, but had dated plenty. Centered by her faith, she had reached a place of contentment as a single woman, but still had hopes of meeting someone. She had never thought she'd meet someone in a bar, she joked.

"He was just so kind," she remembered thinking. "It was pretty darn fast for me. ... when I first met him, I just kept saying, he was just so kind. I had never met and dated a man who was so kind. I had never seen it before, it was so different. ... with him, it's just, it was different. So, it was very early."

She ticked off the things she loves most.

"He was smart as heck. ... I wanted someone good with their hands, someone smart, could fix anything. A good dad, just a kind human being. ... It was everything that I always hoped for. And I never thought one person could hold it. A sweet, sweet guy. And a good man."

Even the couple's dogs—her Alfie and his Lucy—you know, the two who once barked loudly at each other across a yard—seemed in agreement, and after an adjustment period, have settled in thick as thieves, the couple said.

Arbuthnot shared the couple's news on the bar's Facebook page.

"From a drink at Little Al's Mokena Inn… to a ring on her finger," the post reads. "What started as a night out at Little Al’s turned into the love story we didn’t know we were hosting. One thing led to another (probably shots ... definitely laughter), and now these two are officially ENGAGED! Shout out a huge CONGRATULATIONS to Phil and Jennifer!!!

"Proof that great things can happen when you least expect them — even in a bar that doubles as your emotional support system. ... So go ahead… grab a drink, strike up a conversation, and let Little Al’s be the new hot spot for meeting your soulmate.

"Worst case? You get a buzz.
Best case? You get a fiancé."

Arbuthnot is thrilled her one "set-up" attempt was such a success.

"They're both great people," she said. "And, you know, they just happened to meet at the right time."