Betrothed!!

September 14, 2010 at 8:30 pm | Posted in Uncategorized | 5 Comments

So apparently I decided to go on an unplanned, 5 month long, blogging hiatus. I never intended to take a break or to stop blogging for that long, I guess life just got in the way, so to speak. So many things have happened since I last wrote, I don’t even know where to begin! I guess first and foremost and probably the most exciting thing that’s happened: we got engaged!!!

Yep, you read that right, after 4 years J proposed & we’re ENGAGED!! J has always told me that he’d make sure I’d never know it was coming. He didn’t know how (since I’m in charge of all of the finances), but he was certain he’d figure out a way for it to be a surprise. He’s always been extremely adamant about it being a surprise, he’s very traditional in that way.

We’ve talked about getting married from the very beginning. We hadn’t even been together for a month and we were talking about proposals, weddings, and what all we wanted out of life. Of course after moving to Alaska together and buying a house, we’ve been talking about it even more frequently now. He once told me, “It’s bad enough that you already know it’s coming. I’m going to make sure it’s a complete surprise, you’ll never suspect a thing!”

Of course my response was always, “How are going to pull that off, when I’ll know as soon as you pay for the ring and it shows up on one of our accounts?” But he was bound and determined to get it by me and he did just that.

On our 4 year anniversary, April 20th, 2010, J said he wanted to get some food and have a picnic on the beach; which sounded wonderful to me, so I was all for it. Of course, in true Alaskan fashion, it was raining that day, but by the time I got off work it had started to clear up. So we stopped to get some take out and headed to the beach.

Our house is about a mile away from the beach and a week or two before our anniversary, while looking at a map, I noticed that there was a street not too far from our house, where it looked as if you could drive right up to the bluff. I mentioned to J that I wanted to check it out, so that’s where we went. When we got there, we got out of the truck and walked up to the edge together, overlooking the ocean. After a few minutes, we got back in the truck to listen to some music and eat our food.

We were sitting there for about half an hour, just chitchatting, listening to the radio, and eating our food. I was babbling on about all sorts of random stuff (no surprise there) and I could tell J wasn’t really listening. At the time I just figured that he was tired from work and had had a long day. He’d also been telling me how much he loved me, how proud he was of me and how far we’ve come, and just being sentimental. Now don’t get me wrong, he’s normally pretty sentimental, but this just seemed a little out of sorts. Of course I say that now, looking back, but in the moment I do remember thinking to myself, “Hmmm, that’s weird, but oh well, just soak it up.”

Then out of the blue he started to say, “Soooo….” and immediately I thought to myself, “Oh great, what does he want now?” You see, J usually only starts his sentences with, “Soooo….” whenever he’s got some sort of plan he’s approaching me with, whether it’s buying something new, a new fishing technique he wants to try out, or just any new idea he’s been pondering.

So I immediately turned to him and said, “Alright, what do you want?” He laughed nervously and said, “What do you mean, what do I want?” I told him, “You only start your sentences with, ‘Soooo….’ whenever you want something, so come out with it, what is it?” He of course said, “I do not!!” all while laughing, obviously knowing I was right. After a few seconds, he brought his hand up, out of his sweatshirt pocket, and said nervously, “I want you to be my wife.”

How did I respond you ask? True to myself, I of course shrieked, “SHUTUP?!?!?” (insert long pause here and emphasis for disbelief” “SERIOUSLY?!?!?” He laughed at me and said, “Yea seriously, will you marry me?” By this time of course I was a ball of nervousness and emotions and all I kept saying was, “Seriously?? No joke??” J kept laughing at me and saying, “Yes babe, seriously, what do you think I’m joking?” I said yes of course and he slipped the ring on my finger. He then went on to say, “Now this is just a temporary ring, but now we can go out and by you the real one.”

Here’s the best part of the whole story, remember how I said he wanted to make sure it was a surprise and I’d never be expecting it? He knew if he bought me a ring, I’d know he was going to propose as soon as it showed up on our accounts. So what did he do? When he got off that day, on his way home he went to Walmart and bought a $10 pseudo engagement ring to propose with. How hilarious is that? I thought it was not only incredibly funny, but also very creative of him. Being the girl that I am, I wore that ring every day until we bought the real one, even though after a week or two the silver coating started to wear off and turned my finger green.

You better believe I still have that ring too and I’ll keep it forever. His mom told me later that he spent a long time trying to figure out how exactly to get it by me and she thought it was a pretty smart idea he came up with, I’d have to agree. I just love our engagement story, it was so creative and unique of J and the whole thing is definitely so “us”.

After a month or two of searching, debating, and dealing with some seriously horrible customer service I might add, we found the perfect engagement ring and wedding band to go with it. Originally I had a particular ring in mind, that I had found online and fell in love with, but after seeing some similar rings in the stores, I decided to go another route. I couldn’t be happier with my ring, not to mention the lifetime guarantee that came with it (a big selling point for J of course). If anything ever happens to it: a diamond falls out, a prong gets bent, anything, it’s covered. Isn’t that awesome?

Alright, here it is, what do you think? (Click on the image, to see it larger)