Their story started back in 2014 during their freshman year at Penn State where Vicki and Ali met through mutual friends. Throughout the next 4 years, they remained friendly and crossed paths frequently at sorority and fraternity events, football games, and bars. It wasn’t until the very end of senior year when Ali asked Vicki to his final “frat formal” that they truly got to know each other more. Fast forward two years to 2020- Vicki had been living in Pittsburgh, PA after college and Ali had returned to Orange County, CA. Vicki decided it was time to start travel nursing and accepted a contract in Los Angeles. Ali caught wind that Vicki would be coming out to California and took the opportunity to reconnect. They spent the pandemic going to the beach, hiking, playing games, and having many “lockdown” date nights at home. As Vicki continued travel nursing throughout the state, Ali faithfully traveled to wherever she was most weekends. Finally, they moved in together in Irvine, CA in 2023. Not long after, Ali was looking for a new job to gain more clinical experience while working on his medical school applications. Vicki put in a good word at her hospital, and soon they were coworkers at UC Irvine Medical Center- with cubicles only 50 feet apart. In 2024, their journey took them to Arizona where Ali started medical school at Midwestern University and Vicki started working as a pediatric nurse at Phoenix Children’s Hospital. Their little family grew to 3 members in February of 2025 when they adopted their dog, Arthur! Unfortunately, they had to spend part of their summer apart as Ali completed his Navy officer development school in Newport, Rhode Island. Little did Vicki know that while he was there, he was putting together his plan to propose to her. As soon as he came home, they took a trip to Lisbon, Portugal where Ali asked Vicki to marry him in front of the Quinta da Regaleira castle in Sintra. Now, the two of them are preparing to move to their favorite city, San Diego, in the summer of 2026 for Ali’s third and fourth year clinical rotations. Just in time for their wedding only an hour north.