Connect How did your love story begin?

On Christmas Day at a local pub in St. Croix, a California girl met a tattooed Missouri boy. Nick made the first move, and Kerissa was intrigued enough to stick around. What started as a holiday encounter turned into eight years of island adventures, life aboard a pink boat and proof that some things just belong together like a hot dog and a bun. When it came time to say “I do,” they traded the Caribbean for Las Vegas, where Elvis sealed the deal.

What is your favorite memory you've shared as a couple?

Our favorite memory is a 17-hour layover in Shanghai we fully justified as a life mission. Kerissa needed Nick to experience her favorite noodles in the world, so we wandered the Bund, ended up in a tiny shop where nobody spoke English and the menu was a mystery. Kerissa pulled up a photo of the noodles from a past trip, we pointed like it was official, and it worked. We ate like it was fate, slept a few hours, and left China full, happy, and very proud of our life choices.

What would you do with $20,000?

First stop: back to Shanghai for the noodles that started it all. Then an elaborate “noodle world tour” eating our way across cities with zero regrets. The rest would be invested into our future so we can keep funding questionable layovers, unnecessary detours and a lifetime of choosing noodles over logic.