Anastasia and Kevin’s love story begins July 11, 2021 on a lovely Sunday morning on the strand in Manhattan Beach. Anie was on a walk with her bestie Emily (their favorite COVID friendly pastime). Half way through their walk, a shirtless stallion went running by – and Emily declared “oh, that was Kevin Kretzmer!” Anie then replied “WOW I have not heard that name in YEARS” and then Emily explained that Kevin is good friends with her older brother Matt, and then proceeded to tell a hilariously embarrassing story about Kevin which Anie got a kick out of: Years prior, Matt was turning 30 and his wife Lagen was planning a beach bash for him in celebration. Kevin lived on 9th Street in Manhattan Beach at the time, which also happens to be the Nash family’s well established beach post, which was of course where the party was taking place. As Kevin was walking down to the party, he spotted Lagen who had her hands quite full unloading all the party goods from the car. She was holding a humungous bouquet of balloons when Kevin walked up to her and, being the gentleman that he is, Kevin offered to take the balloons down to the beach for Lagen. Once Lagen finally made it down to the beach after unloading the car and parking – she turned to Kevin and asked “Where are the balloons?!” With disdain, Kevin fessed up “I’m so sorry I went to give someone a hug and accidentally let them go.” A few hundred dollars in helium later, and with nothing to show for it, Lagen was understandably displeased with Kevin, and he knows he is still in the dog-house for that one. Luckily – there is a silver lining to this story. After Anie and Emily’s walk concluded, Anie went about her Sunday routine (#targetrun, laundry, Trader Joe’s, etc.) and when she finally returned home that night – she opened up her Hinge app. Serendipitously, the first thing she saw on the app was a “like” from none other than Kevin Kretzmer from 8 o’clock that morning – well before they even crossed paths on the strand earlier in the day. As Anie would normally struggle to come up with an opening line – the balloon story served as the ultimate ice breaker for the couple. Anie opened with “So… I have a funny story for you” and recounted the days events. As embarrassed as Kevin was by Anie having been told the balloon story, he was equally as embarrassed that she had seen him shirtless and sweaty working off the many beers which had been consumed earlier that weekend at his best buddy Drew’s bachelor party. He said in dismay “Oh jeez, I probably looked like a whale out there.” When Anie replied with “Absolutely not, you looked like a damn gazelle,” Kevin thought to himself “well – if she saw me like THAT and STILL wants to talk to me, maybe there’s a chance...” Two days later they went on their first date which was a taco Tuesday at Tacolicious. Anie was UNBELIEVABLY nervous, yet SHOCKINGLY – on time!!! Despite Anie’s extreme nerves, the conversation flowed at dinner and Kevin was stunned by Anie’s encyclopedic knowledge of their childhood community at American Martyrs. Kevin couldn’t recall nearly as much about AMS days as Anie – and essentially didn’t even knew Anie existed. Anie did know who Kevin was, and according to Kevin “that’s what playing Jesus in Way of the Cross will do for a guy” (eye roll). After dinner, they popped in to Kevin’s local watering hole Sandbar 66 (aka Side Door) for a night cap. At this point, Anie’s nerves were finally beginning to subside, and they ended up talking there for hours. At the end of the night Kevin offered Anie a ride home. While en route on very short drive home Kevin played Chris Stapleton which, unbeknownst to him, was Anie’s absolute favorite artist. The stars had aligned, and as he pulled up in front of her place – she leaned over and gave him a kiss before he could even attempt to open the door for her. The two have been inseparable ever since - and cannot wait to make things official in July!