Because I Can't Tell This Story Enough

Because nearly all of you are my close friends and/or family, I doubt you missed the texts, phone calls, or Facebook posts announcing that last Friday my boyfriend asked if I would do him the honor of becoming his wife and I said yes. But I know that many of you would like details on how the whole event went down - squeals, giggles, meatloaf and all. And because I get swept off of my feet everytime I tell the story, I'm gonna indulge us both. Nice how that works out, eh?

To begin.

Nic (my now-fiance) and I had planned for him to fly down last weekend to visit. I asked for Monday off as a personal day so that we could have a long weekend together. He told me that he had purchased tickets for a flight that would arrive at 8:24pm Friday night. I took a babysitting job that afternoon after work, partly for the money and partly because it would help kill time before he arrived. I know that if I had stayed in my apartment that whole time I wold have tested the durability of all surfaces to withstand the 100th time of me bleaching, cloroxing, or lysoling them. Yes, I am a compulsive cleaner. In the words of fair Bess, judge me. But back to our story.

Nic texted me throughout the day, as usual, reporting on the progress of his day and his whereabouts. He told me when he was at work, when he left for lunch, when he arrived at the airport, when he was about to board the plane - the works. I, in turn, told him when I picked the kids of up from school, when we went for a bike ride, and when I was headed back to my apartment.

Because Houston traffic on a Friday at 5pm is like molasses in winter, the mom was running late so I didn't leave their house until well after 6pm. I texted Nic that I was headed home, but first I had to pick up some drycleaning (which, by the way is wallet rape and next time I think I will leave the peanut butter stain on my skirt, thank you very much!).

I live on the third floor of my apartment building. I had just spent 3 hours riding bikes, playing soccer and basketball with youngsters. So, I arrived at my door sweaty, panting a little, and carrying at least six things up from my car.

Insert key.

Turn.

Open door.

And see boyfriend dressed in suite and tie holding a rose and surrounded by candles? WHAT??

Oh, you better believe it sister. My romantically sneaky boyfriend had actually left Nebraska at 11pm Thursday night and had driven to Houston. All the while keeping up the pretense via text that the he was still in NE and then in the airport. He was aided by my mother, who knew all of this and played along as she chatted with my on Yahoo IM (should I be worried they work so well together in tricking me?).

Nic had arrived at my place a little after noon and began to set up his surprise evening for me. He rearranged and decorated my living room by buying new linens for my table and setting it with my grandma's wedding china, putting blue and green colored pebbles (the color theme for the night  - yes, there was a color theme) in small bowls with floating tea light candles, having roses in a vase on the table, and putting nine other candles (one for each month that we've been dating) in glass holders leading up to him as he stood waiting for me.

But that's not all folks.

He had also spent all day making us dinner. My favorite dinner.

He spent 5.5 hours on a chocolate cheesecake complete with oreo crust, he had gotten my mom's meatloaf recipe and made me meatloaf (a first time attempt for him), garlic mashed potatoes, grilled asparagus, and of course champagne to drink.

After letting me change and freshen up and just before we ate dinner, he  took me around the room to show me all of his decorating skills. Lastly, he handed me a few pieces of paper.

Hold up, I think ya'll need some history about us to understand this.

Before we were ever dating, we had made boyfriend and girlfriend resumes - just for fun. I thought it would be funny to write a resume mimicking the format of my business resume, but for a potential boyfriend. Well, it was a hoot and probably should have tipped us off that we were meant for each other when things started matching up on both of our resumes. Ok, flash forward back to the blue and green themed room with a dozen candles smoldering away....

He hands me several pieces of paper stapled together. The opening sentence:

Objective: To illustrate my love and admiration for you in the hope that you will do me the greatest honor of becoming my wife.

Yes, he had made a husband resume for me. Of course, I didn't get an further than the objective before I started beaming, laughing, hugging him and saying yes. Then he very loving asked me if I would wait and let him ask the question, where he then got down on one knee and asked if I would do him the honor of becoming his wife.

Well, I had already said yes but I repeated it for him, followed by more hugs (and maybe a few kisses) and he slipped the ring on my finger.

And hot damn, the ring! Well, in my honest opinion it's so wonderfully and beautifully "us" that I already feel it's an extension of me.

Some pictures for you:

My diamond and turquoise ring. Nic helped design in with the jeweler.

One of the engagement photos a friend took for us. This one probably won't make it onto any of the Save the Dates because it's showing a bit more of my leg than is prudent for such things....but I love it just the same :)

A fun side note to Nic's proposal: he joked afterward that he wanted to propose before we ate the meatloaf in case he ruined it...well, he did a superb job. I would have said yes especially after eating his cooking :)