Hello!

Welcome to “Ryan and Kiersten”, or more accurately, Kiersten blogging about Ryan and Kiersten’s life together.

Why is Ryan written before Kiersten then, you ask?

Once upon a time, Ryan and I were engaged. Ryan was arguing with me because EVERYTHING wedding related read “Kiersten and Ryan” and never “Ryan and Kiersten”. In order to compensate for that (and partially naively not realizing the repercussions I would face for the rest of my days), I agreed that as long as my name could be first on all wedding related items, his name could be first after the wedding was over. So, although I will likely be the only one writing on this blog, his name is first. Saving the best for last, I guess you could say 😉

Who Am I?

My name is Kiersten. I’m taking up this space on the world wide web to write about me and Ryan’s life, and to give you tips and insights that I/we learn throughout our journey.

I am passionate about travel, relationships, taking care of yourself, fitness, shopping, myers briggs personality types, and living everyday to its fullest, so you are sure to see those topics on this blog!

I hope to share my personal experiences, as well as our experiences as a couple in various areas of life that many 20-somethings experience. These areas include college, grad school, work, travel, relationships, fashion, fitness, faith, and most importantly enjoying the journey. I hope to inspire you, provide you with insight, and educate you from our successes and failures. Ultimately, I hope to create an uplifting blogging community where we can inspire each other and learn from one another.

Who Is Ryan?

Ryan is my husband, and an awesome one at that. His interests include youtube, working on his salt water fish tank, joining (and leading) a million clubs at school, hanging out with friends, eating cookies, and playing soccer. Ryan lived in Brazil for 2 years so he speaks Portuguese, so that’s pretty cool except when he and his Portuguese friends start speaking it and I don’t know what they are saying… especially when I hear my name mixed into the gibberish they are saying. He MIGHT post on here occasionally, but it’s mostly going to be me because, like I said he is in charge of way too much at school right now, so just take my word for it, he’s pretty awesome. And I’m not biased at all.

Who are We?

Ryan and I met my sophomore (his freshman) year in chemistry class. We had chemistry right from the start ;). My first words to my future husband were, “are you a freshman?” (Because I thought he was hot so I KNEW he wasn’t in my grade- there was nobody that hot in my grade) but he was embarrassed because an older girl he thought was attractive was asking if he was a freshman. We became good friends, and that next year, we became boyfriend and girlfriend on my birthday.

Us in high school…

• 

• 

• 

• 

 

After almost three years of dating, Ryan went to serve a mission for 2 years. Him going on his mission left me feeling confused, abandoned, and honestly depressed. I cried almost every day for months and had a panic attack for the first time ever… all while my parents exclaimed “now’s your chance to date other people” and had me seeing counselors because they disagreed with the church Ryan belonged to and didn’t want me with him anymore. Eventually matters got out of hand… Our innocent love story turned into a 21st century version of Romeo and Juliet. After 6 months of the constant drama, I was DONE, fed up, and just could not do it anymore, so I broke up with him.

But then…

A year and a half later, we met up to talk with no intentions of getting back together. We both thought we were better off apart, but once we started talking it was as though no time had passed since 2 years prior. Both of us knew it was a challenging road ahead of us. Ryan was living out in Utah for school, and my parents deeply disapproved of our relationship, but we made it! We survived long distance for the next school year and we were married in June, right after I graduated from the University of Georgia. Since my college graduation and us getting married 8 months ago, we have traveled on a road trip across the country together, been to 3 foreign countries and on a few weekend trips, moved out to Utah, started a fitness journey together, found jobs/continued school, got a puppy, and overall have been trying our best to live a happy, healthy, and fulfilling life.

• 

   

• 

   

 

There has definitely been a learning curve in pretty much all facets of being married and becoming a “real adult” outside of college. From dealing with household chores now that we live together, to earning and budgeting money, to getting a real job, to living with a boy, to realizing we needed to be eating way more protein to reach our fitness goals… the life lessons are all over the place. And I’m still learning. And that’s why I want to start this blog.

I want to offer advice and insight to 20-somethings and share our journey as well as our triumphs and lessons learned. I will blog about many topics 20-somethings face including traveling on a budget, fitness, living a healthy lifestyle, faith, school, work, and relationship advice. I’m here blogging for those who are struggling in a long distance relationship and are trying to figure out how to cope. I’m writing for those in college or just graduated from college to provide tips for succeeding in school and in the “real world”. I’m blogging to help those who want to travel, but don’t know where to even begin. I’m writing for those who want to improve their fitness and live the happiest, healthiest lifestyle they can. I’ve either been or am in these positions, and I want to share my experiences and take you on the journey to learn from our successes and failures.

So, enjoy my crazy modge-podge of a blog (and life) and check back each Thursday evening for new posts!

Until then,

Xoxo.

Kiersten