Nina and Nate met on a dating app in August 2020 during Covid-19. Nate was home with his family and Nina went for a weekend girl trip to the Cape. Although they never met in person, they stayed in touch after Nina returned to Long Island and Nate went back to Colorado. Shortly after, Nina quit her job to travel and invited Nate to meet her in Hawaii the following month. If you know Nate, you know that he booked his airfare within minutes of getting the invite. They were booked for a 10 day trip to the Big Island and they have yet to ever meet each other in person. **Que all friends and family thinking how crazy these two were for doing something this outrageous**. Nate picked Nina up from the airport and during the next week and a half they spent their days exploring and soaking up the sun at what quickly became their favorite beach, Ke'ei beach. The rest is history as they say - A rollercoaster of traveling to see each other across the country, including a week long trip to Cabo in January of 2021.

Towards the end of the Cabo trip in January of 2021, Nina had proposed the idea of them moving to Hawaii. By this time Nate had closed his businesses in Colorado and Nina wanted out of the car business in New York. On the way to Denver airport after their vacation, they spoke with the property owner of the Airbnb they stayed at in November and asked about the potential of them moving into that location full time. After receiving the news that they could movie in on May 10th, they jumped on the opportunity and took the blind risk to move to a Volcanic Island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

Nate had been holding on to the engagement ring since before they had moved to the Big Island in May, 2021. He wanted to bring Nina to their favorite beach (Ke'ei) where they would split up and canvas the sand to hunt for seashells and cowries every time they visited. After having to reschedule due to Nina getting Covid, he was able to plan the beach proposal day with the help of his sister, Andrea. Just like every time they visit this beach, they started with a shell hunt, this time Nate included the engagement ring in his "bounty". When they met back up on the beach to show each other their shells, Nate dropped to one knee and exposed the ring which lay in his palm surrounded by different colored sea glass he had collected. Later that night when they were at their home in Kona Paradise Nate had suggested they go down to the beach at the bottom of their hill to watch the sunset. Little did Nina know, our neighborhood friends and our crew from Kona had been waiting down there with food and champagne to help us celebrate!