If you ask Evan, we met "volunteering... saving the planet." Which is pretty much the gist of it. As freshmen at Georgia Tech (go jackets!), we had just finished our freshman orientation (FASET). After, there was an opportunity to sign up to volunteer for a day at an urban community garden in downtown Atlanta. We met at the shovels and dug in the dirt all afternoon. We became friends, and started dating our sophomore year of college and have been together ever since.

Georgia Tech was a great time for us as we grew through adult life, made friends, and had a lot of new experiences, which was especially easy being in the heart of Atlanta, GA. We went out to eat and became mini foodies, having an array of favorite restaurants in Atlanta, so if you're ever there, ask us for some recommendations! We became really involved in the local bike scene, getting our first road bikes. We loved local events like Streets Alive, the Lantern Parade, Critical Mass, Musical Midtown, the Dogwood Festival, and more. Outside of the city, we got into hiking and camping for the first time. We made a trip to Asheville, NC for fall break. Jordan visited Evan in Birmingham while he was working there at the time. We had many experiences apart as well that we could share, thanks to the opportunities available at Georgia Tech. Evan got professional experience in Birmingham, Mountain View, and Los Angeles, while Jordan got experience in Atlanta and Baltimore. Evan studied abroad at Oxford, and France, while Jordan was in Hong Kong. These experiences and memories let us grow together and made us into individuals and a strong couple.

We moved to Tucson, Arizona after graduating from Georgia Tech. We were sad to leave Atlanta because it had grown to be our home and we enjoyed living in the middle of a large city. Determined to make the most out of Tucson, we decided to embrace what Tucson did better than Atlanta. We took advantage of the dark skies in Tucson where we could see the Milky Way with our naked eye. Also, our love of the outdoors flourished with such amazing mountains right near by and others just a long weekend away. In this time, we were able to visit friends and family in Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco and Nipomo. We also had fun going to concerts and an NBA game in Phoenix. We backpacked in the Grand Canyon, and saw Antelope Canyon and Horseshoe Bend in Page, AZ. We lived in Tucson for a year and a half before Jordan moved to Hawaii for work and Evan went to grad school at the University of Illinois.

After 5 years of dating, we had felt like it was time to eventually get married. However, with Evan in school in Illinois and Jordan in Hawaii, it was a question of where and when. Evan had convinced Jordan that it wasn't happening until after he graduated from his masters program (in May 2019), so Jordan was completely thrown off his plan. For March 2018, Jordan and Evan had planned a trip to the east coast, starting in her hometown of Pittsburgh, to see friends and family, but to also surprise her unsuspecting mom with a visit. To Jordan, it was just a fun trip to visit far away friends and family, but Evan (and everyone but Jordan and her mom) knew that they were about to get engaged during the trip. The day after they got to Pittsburgh, Evan convinced Jordan to go on a walk around North Park, the lake close to the house she grew up in. Jordan tried to rush off/cut the walk short because of "plans" they had with her family (which was really a cover up). Evan didn't let Jordan ruin the proposal, and they stopped by the lake, took a picture and he asked her to marry him. She said yes (!!!!) and they celebrated with friends and family all week long, making stops in Philadelphia, New York City, Baltimore and DC. Some would call this a "congratulate me tour" but Jordan maintains that since she didn't know she was getting engaged, she cannot be lumped into that.