THE Story

What an amazing week this has been!!! In case you've missed facebook, Joe and I are engaged!!! Some of you have been asking for the full story, so here it is. :)

On Sunday night, Joe invited me over to his apartment for dinner on Wednesday night. When he asked if I was available, I thought it was kinda odd for him to plan this a few days in advance, but he cooks for me every now and then on a week night, so it wasn't completely out of left field. I told my mom that I was slightly suspicious, but definitely not getting my hopes up about anything special occurring that night. Well, I arrived at Joe's on Wednesday night, and there was nothing that indicated that this would be a special night (i.e. no flowers, candles, etc). So, I told myself, "Ok, it's just dinner. No problem". We ate dinner while watching 50 First Dates (which was one of the first movies we every watched together), and dinner was fabulous! We were pretty stuffed, but when Joe asked if I wanted some dessert, I obliged. I never turn down sweets. He went to his kitchen and came back with ice cream from Yogurt Land, which is one of my absolute favorite frozen yogurt places. I was pumped! He had gone by there and gotten my favorite ice cream with all of my favorite toppings. Awesome! We started eating the ice cream, and after a few minutes, I saw something silver in my cup. I quickly said "What's that?" And he of course played it off like he had no idea what I was talking about... I dug the silver object out of the cup and realized it was a cheap ring... (Side story - A long time ago, when Joe and I were casually talking about proposals, I mentioned that I don't like when people put their ring in food because it's gross when you pull it out of there). So, I turned to him and again asked "What's this??" Joe said, "It looks like a cheap ugly ring to me..." I replied "Yeah, me too...." Then he said "Well, maybe you should have this one instead..." He reached under his coffee table and pulled out the box that contained the real ring. I was so surprised! He had me stand up and he got down on one knee and asked me to be his wife. I cried, of course, and said yes (although a few minutes later, he had me confirm that I said yes, because he wasn't sure that he heard it). LOL It was so perfect for us! We got to spend the rest of the night celebrating with my mom, Brian, Annie and Clay and calling all of our nearest and dearest. I could not have asked for a better night.

I am so blessed to have found someone who loves me unconditionally, and who sees marriage exactly the way that I do. A 100% commitment to one another forever. We are thrilled to begin this journey together, and looking forward to all that the next few months hold for our families and our relationships.

I have TONS of stories from school and how my students reacted to the news, but I'd hate for this entry to become a burden to my loyal readers. ;) So, I'll save those for a future post. Thanks for all of the sweet well wishes. I am overwhelmed with joy.

A piggy bank for our Honeymoon Fund :)