She said yes!!!

Well, exactly one year ago today, she did just that. It was on that day that Heather changed my life (well, both our lives for that matter), forever. For those of you who don't know the story, it went a little something like this...

We were both off of work that day, so we decided to go for a little run. You see, at this point we were training for a half marathon. I say "at this point" because I believe this was the second (and last) time we ran. I had it all planned out. We were going to run, then come back to my apartment, Heather was going to find the little surprise I left for her, I would propose, she would say yes, ofcourse, and we would go out to celebrate with a very nice breakfast. Well, it didn't quite happen exactly like that.

After our run, Heather and I were both hungry, although I think I mistook nerves for hunger because I wasn't able to eat a thing. We arrived at a little place called Legal Grounds in Lakewood, which is oddly enough very near where we live now, and ordered. As I just mentioned, no food for me, just a wee little bit of coffee. After a nice, short breakfast, we headed back to our apartments. We were going to look at West Elm, which just opened up. After dropping Heather off at her place, I ran home and set everything up. There were roses, notes, riddles, everything. It was perfect. But, I had to figure out some way to get her back to my place without raising any suspicion. So, I "accidentally" left my wallet at my apartment when I went to pick her up. "Oh no! I left my wallet, we have to go back to my place." was the line that started it all. When we pulled in the parking lot, I told her that she had to come up because Tommy, my roommate at the time, had cleaned. This was partially true. As she walked through the door, I ran into my bathroom, where the ring was waiting. Heather came around the corner and asked, "who got flowers?" Then she began to realize what was going on. As I came out, ring in hand, I told her that there would be no crying. That didn't last long, for either of us. Each of the boxes in the picture to the right, had a little note, and they are each very special to us. After she finished opening each box, I took her over to the couch (the very same place I first told her I loved her) sat her down, got down on one knee, and asked her to marry me. Her initial response, "I love you!", which as most guys will tell you, is great, but not the exact answer you're looking for at the moment. So, I had to clarify, "that's a yes, right?" She shook her head and gave me a huge hug.

So there you have it, our engagement story, not as exciting as proposing on a mountain in Alaska or something like that, but we were both very happy with it. It's hard to believe that was a full year ago now, but how times flies. Of course, a large portion of the past year has been filled with wedding planning. More to come on that later.



*all photos courtesy of Paul Golangco