Jillian and Pete first met in a gifted arts program during elementary school. Once a month, Jillian took the bus to Pete’s school where the program was held. Early in high school, Jillian and Pete were best friends. They dated for a year before breaking up and gravitating to separate social circles. A few years of radio silence went by until signing each others yearbooks and going to different colleges. After graduating college, the two shared parallel but different visions for exploring the world. Jillian bought her first camera and spent most of her free time traveling to faraway places. Pete was based in NY but worked with international concert tours.

In a rare window of opportunity, while Jillian was in NY packing for her move to Colorado, Pete slid into her direct messages on Instagram and asked her out. On their “first date” in Astoria, Queens 10 years later, Pete ordered every appetizer on the menu, in a comeback story for the ages. They were back! In an effort to keep up their new found love, Pete flew from NY to Colorado on a bi-weekly basis. Since then, the two have traveled abroad, visited National Parks, summited Colorado mountains, adopted cats, started businesses, and finished graduate school always ordering every appetizer on the menu along the way.