Lydia and some of her girlfriends had planned on spending a long holiday weekend in Santa Barbara. The girls trip started with a 4 a.m. wake up call to make the 5-hour drive down south. Lydia didn't know a lot of details for the weekend but was along for the ride. After arriving in Santa Barbara and grabbing some breakfast, Lydia's friend, Kriss Heron, said that the crew was going to head to where they were staying for the weekend. When they got to the front door, there was none other than a handsome guy in PJ pants and a Captain America t-shirt to greet them. That guy happened to be Ryan. It wasn't love at first sight, but Ryan and Lydia certainly noticed each other. After the girls settled into their home for the weekend, they went out as a group with Ryan and some of his buddies to the Funk Zone, a hub of wineries and breweries near the ocean. Lydia found herself wanting to be around Ryan and learn more about him. By the end of the day, she was on the way home with her girls and called "dibs" on Ryan, which is what happened when there was a guy that caught their attention. That night, somehow out of all of the people in the group, Ryan and Lydia happened to be the only ones who wanted to go out that night to meet up with their friend, Erin Kumar, and her friends. As a group, they had fun and danced at a popular Santa Barbara bar made famous by Katy Perry. After Ryan and Lydia were finished dancing for the night, Ryan told Lydia that he would be her "fullback" out of the bar given the large crowd. He was thoroughly impressed when, after they got out of the bar, she stepped aside and kept running carrying an imaginary football toward a "touchdown." Dancing was followed by talking late in the night and learning more about each other. As the weekend ended, Ryan and Lydia exchanged numbers so they could keep in touch. Long story short, Lydia showed up on Ryan's doorstop and the rest was history!

Ryan and Lydia kept in touch after the first met. About a month after meeting, Ryan was conveniently "hanging out with friends in San Francisco" for the weekend. Later did Lydia find out that he was actually coming up to spend some time with her. Ryan and Lydia decided that a little friendly game of 1-on-1 with some stakes involved would be a great way to spend time together. Soon after the game started, two kids asked if they could join in on the fun. Of course, the answer was "yes." After realizing that they were both a little winded from playing with the kids, and knowing there were still stakes involved, Ryan and Lydia settled on a game of "PIG" instead. The game went back and forth: first each had "P", then "P-I." But finally, Lydia sunk a 3-point granny shot from the wing and Ryan couldn't duplicate, ending the game. Despite the loss, Ryan still shared the orange slices and Gatorade with Lydia that he brought as a surprise. So what were the stakes? Loser of the game had to buy the other person a beer... while wearing a reindeer onesie. Although everything in Ryan didn't want to do that, he was a champ about it and bought Lydia a beer in the onesie! Check out the picture on the Photos page.