Then - with her doctor's permission, no less - she drove to the store and found just the right man.
That's a true story, albeit a simplified version, of how Janell met Steve Taylor. She calls him the love of her life, and that's a sentiment returned a thousand-fold by Steve.
Married almost two years now, the McMinnville couple never tires of telling their story. It's a way of sharing the happiness they've found together.
"We've not yet exchanged a cross word," he said. "Every day with Janell is just a blessing. We support each other and share each other's lives."
Both he and his wife agree they treat each day as if it's their last one together. "We never know how long we've got, so we need to make the best of whatever time we have," she said.
There's a bit of a reason for that. When they met in August 2006, Janell had just emerged from a kidney transplant unit.
She was still waiting to find out whether she had a life-threatening cancer. As it turned out, the tumor doctors had removed, along with one of her kidneys, was benign.
She regained her health. However, neither she nor Steve has forgotten the lesson that came with facing mortality.
"Being together and being happy together is a conscious decision," Janell said.
While still in the hospital, Janell thought deeply about what she wanted for the rest of her life.
She hadn't really taken time for that kind of soul-searching before. She had been too busy raising two children on her own, following a divorce, while caring for her aging mother and working in a high-stress job as vice president of sales and marketing for D.R. Horton.
She came up with a list that included living in a resort area, owning a dog and finding a husband who shared her passions.
List finished, Janell was itching to get out and do something fun after weeks of being confined to bed. She called her doctor and asked if she could drive to the store.
She didn't mention that she was thinking of driving three hours south to a shop where she could pick up some original art.
She booked a room at the newly opened Dundee Manor. Along with bed and breakfast, the proprietors offered some advice about local art shopping opportunities.
They showed her a brochure featuring Steve's paintings and sent her to his gallery in Carlton.
As it turned out, he wasn't there. He was manning a booth at Carlton's A Walk in the Park.
But she tracked him down, and both knew instantly that the transaction would involve more than just a piece of art.
"We ended up talking for two hours, as people passed the booth," Steve recalled.
At one point, Janell cleverly worked in an important question.
"Where's your girlfriend's art?" she asked.
"I don't have a girlfriend," replied Steve, who had been single for seven years.
"Oh, that's too bad. I don't have a boyfriend, either," she said, ever so subtle.
Then Janell took the bold step of offering to cook Steve dinner if he drove to Seattle to consult about a piece of art for the space over her fireplace. Looking back, both are amused by that offer.
"When I told my friends I'd invited a good-looking man to dinner, they laughed," she said. "I don't cook."
Instead, she bought a pre-cooked chicken and rounded out the meal with bread, grapes and cheese.
Steve, on the other hand, loves cooking. And he excels at it.
Soon, he not only was cooking for them both on weekends, but also making meals to send home with her so she'd have good food during the coming work week.
When they parted after that first meeting at Walk in the Park, Steve said he felt "totally befuddled" by the unexpected turn the day had taken.
He went home and sent her a polite e-mail. As it turned out, she was sending him an e-mail at almost exactly the same moment.
It was the first of many moments when their minds worked the same way - moments that show they were meant to be together, they said.
Another such moment came on their first anniversary. They presented each other with near-identical gifts of hand-written love letters.
As their courtship began, they settled into a routine of alternating weekend visits.
The first time she returned to Yamhill County turned into a dark comedy, though, when he contracted food poisoning just prior to her arrival. He picked her up for their date anyway.
"I fixed her dinner and watched her eat," he said. The next night, they went out and he watched her eat again.
Another time early in their relationship, Steve decided to introduce her to his love of motorcycle riding. He advised her to dress for the conditions in boots, sturdy jeans and a long-sleeved, heavy shirt.
When he pulled up, though, she was waiting on the porch in a skimpy camisole.
"Does this work?" she asked.
"That works perfectly," he said, smitten.
After the first couple of weeks, he said, he was entirely comfortable with Janell. "I felt like I'd known her all my life," he said.
She felt the same. And her instincts were confirmed when he gave her one of the most thoughtful presents she had ever received - a personalized belt.
That's hard to come by for someone with an uncommon name like "Janell." Turns out, he couldn't find a belt with the correct spelling, so he made it himself.
"I knew then that Steve was the guy," she said.
While the belt sealed the deal for her, for him it was having his new relationship approved by the other lady in his life - Sophie, his miniature poodle.
"Sophie is very intuitive," he said. "She just took to Janell."
By December, he was shopping for a ring. It took him a while to find the right one, though.
It took him even longer to propose, as he was trying to get the words out during a family Christmas gathering. "I kept getting interrupted," he said.
The Taylors married in May 2007 at a winery in the hills overlooking Carlton. Their friends toasted them again and again, each trying to take credit for getting them together in the first place.
Soon after their wedding, Janell retired from her job and moved to Yamhill County. She now promotes her husband's art, an arrangement that allows them to travel together to his shows all over the country.
When they're home in McMinnville, they're often entertaining. They said they love living in the wine country, where they can share good food, good wine and good conversation with numerous friends.
They also enjoy staying home alone, talking for hours as they dine by candlelight on Steve's lovingly prepared food. It's become a Friday night tradition at their house, and they're planning a repeat tonight for Valentine's Day.
"We really love being with people, but we love being with one another even more," she said.
