The Engagement Story....FINALLY!

Well, after a week since our engagement, I finally found the time to post a story about the events leading to our official engagement last Sunday.

Everything started on Valentine's Day where our special day started off late since we decided to sleep in that morning. I wanted to stay fresh for the long day ahead ourselves. After some late morning vegging, Josh drove me to the Blue Line and parked the car so we can take it into the Downtown. He told me that all of the places in the Loop that we were heading to were important places and moments in our relationship so far. Well, I was quite hungry by the time we made it to our first stop, but he teased me by saying that we had to still take the Red Line to our final destination for lunch.

My 1st and 2nd stop for lunch ended up being at Wow Bow for lunch and Ethel's Chocolate for dessert. Wow Bow is one of our favorite chains in the Downtown where they make the awesome veggie baos and steamed dumplings. Josh and I LOOOOOOOVE our chocolate. Ethel's is one of the first chocolate places that he took me to when I visited Chicago for the 1st time on New Year's Weekend 2007. I feel in love with the chocolate treats and fell in love with him too at the same time. We had some yummy chocolate truffles before making our way to our 3rd destination.

After another train ride and a short cold stroll on Michigan Avenue, we arrived at our next destination - another secret one for me. It ended up being at the Museum of Contemporary Art. We walked around the museum and looked at all of the exhibits. I did not complain while I was there, but I can be completely honest that I was not impressed with what I saw. In fact, some of the portraits creeped me completely out and made very uncomfortable. Josh was disappointed with the art quality too.

After the museum, we made our way to stopping at a Starbucks before making way to the Nordstroms Mall on Michigan Avenue. We did some shopping and browsing since our dinner reservations were not for another 30 minutes. We sampled some chocolate and olive oil (but not together). I also looked some jewelry (or I call DROOL-ery - no explanation needed!) at some of the top boutiques.

When we were through with the browsing, we made our way to our 4th destination - BIN 36. I was not surprised at this choice. It's one of our favorite places where we get our wine and cheese fix. He also took me there for our 1st Valentine's Day weekend in 2007.

Once we finished with dinner at Bin36, we started to our 5th and final surprise destination. After another Blue Line train ride and a short cold walk, we arrived at Hot Chocolate. It is another destination has an important part of our history together.

Sometime between Bin36 and Hot Chocolate, our conversation turned to getting married. This has been a topic that been brought up for awhile, but has picked up speed the last few months. We continued the conversation once we got home and started getting very serious.

The next morning we agreed to go ring shopping after having brunch with friends. The ring search was a lot of fun and the most relaxing experience I have ever had. After we picked out the ring setting and diamond, we had to wait about 4 hours for the diamond to be mounted in the setting, which gave us some time to call family and spread the happy news.



Right now, we still not have a date set for the wedding. We are still working out the preliminary details, which involves a lot of wedding research. This will be very interesting with law school coming up too.

Josh, I am happy to have you in my life and looking forward to our future together. ILYMTICS!

Oh How I love THEE

.....especially after I am surprised by THESE!

Such a cute couple

Josh and I before dinner at the Hopleaf with his mom and her boyfriend. NOTE CORRECTION made...thank you, Jess!

Baby, this is for you...

To the greatest guy I know. I am the LUCKIEST woman in the world. Thank you for helping me get through this weekend. I am so thankful for you. I love you!

To my Valentine...

Thank you for being so sweet to me. Thank you for this wonderful weekend that you planned out for me even thought some parts of it did not work out. I love that you are such a good listener. Thank you for being so strong even though you do not think so. Thank you for having faith in me especially in my running. Thank you for motivating me to work hard in my job search even though I am sometimes up until 2:30 a.m. filling out applications or sending out resumes. Thank you for knowing how to make me laugh and smile. Thank you for being there for me when I needed you. Thank you for letting me cry at 12:30 a.m. on a worknight when you had to be up at 4:30 after I read Mouse's blog regarding her mom, which made me think about my own dad's passing. Thank you for helping me to explore new foods and experiences while I have been in Chicago. Thank you for being so understanding and loving towards me. Thank you for telling me that I am beautiful even when I am wearing no makeup and my hair looks like Frankenstein's Bride in the AM. Thank you for our deep conversations and how we communicate so far away either by phone, e-mail, and IM. Thank you for those cute picture messages that you send me especially when I am having a very rough day at work or home. Thank you for allowing each other to open up and say things about each other that could never be blogged about. Thank you for accepting our "minor" differences especially when it comes to politics and religion. Thank you for accepting for who I am and loving me for it. Thank you for making me feel so very special even though at time I do not feel worthy of it because of what I have been through. Thank you for making feel very fortunate to have you with me during a very difficult time in my life. Thank you for being yourself around me. Thank you being you. I love you, Josh. (Editor's Note: The pic at the top of the post was taken at Bin36 when Josh and I were eating cheese and drinking our first glass of wine.)

Bring out an important person in my life....

...and having been waiting a long time to do it too. Some may be already aware. Some many not be so aware. I am going to come out anyway with this. There has been an important person in my life that has helped through this difficult time over the last three months. Many of you may know him already as another blogger and as one of my best friends. What you may not know or have been aware is that there's another level we share together and have tried to keep hidden from the blogger world........until this morning. **ahem** (drum roll PLEASE!) I would like to introduce Josh as......... **taking a sip of water** Okay....um...wait a second. DO NOT MOVE your mouses...YET! (and I know you will just to get through this stalling part. No CURSING is allowed!) **taking another sip of water** **heading to the bathroom** **walking back to the computer** **taking another sip of water** ......my BOYFRIEND. (Now was that SO hard to wait? Geeez! What language you use!) Now all of you are going to wonder HOW this came all about. Well, I have written this little (okay - not so little) poem about all of it. I started writing this when I was flying back from Phoenix and even finished it at around 2 a.m. about a week before this post was written. Enjoy! Love is one big mystery You have helped me solve the clues that come with it. We did not plan to fall However, you were there to catch me when I did You are my best friend Someone who I can count on until the end Friendship was our original goal However, things started beyond our control Fate sealed the deal Life can be so unpredictable and surreal I had a world filled with pain and sorrow You bought hope for tomorrow I have cried many tears You were always there to dry them. You have listened to me when I needed it most Talking about things that I could never able to post We always find a way to talk to each other everyday You always find the right things to say You tell me that I am strong However, you have helped me along My heart was closed up tight You found the key to open it up to the light You have told me many times that I am beautiful Nevertheless, your soul is inviting and wonderful. I love how you make me smile You know how to brighten up a room and lasts awhile. Seven months ago, we were complete strangers Now we feel like teenagers We live so far apart now However, I can always feel that you are nearby. Spending at least two hours a day together on the phone We both never felt alone Countless text messages to each other in-between Along with the instant messages and webcams on the computer screen Running has always been my dream You are the number #1 fan on my running team I am inspired to be the best You can take care of the rest Your gifts are only what the heart could buy Bringing out an awesome natural high Our journey just started Far from being departed The stars are in line. Now I can make you mine. Who knows where life will take us Fate cannot break us Secrecy has been the key Our love was between you and me Holding this secret for over four weeks All without any known leaks Life could not be better Now that we are together Sharing this information was a must You are all whom we both trust Hiding this information was a chore Something we have not done before No more acronyms or hidden messages needed in our blog posts Hiding the deeper meanings of them from most Being out and open in the blog world is better for me Something that I wanted the world to see Thank you for reading this poem from the start This entire poem comes deep from the heart. Nothing written was posh Because I love you, Josh! Additional note: I ate more crow last night - leftovers from Saturday night - after my Avs LOST the Red Wings. Now I just have to wait until I get what is coming to me from my friend, Chris. I had the damn peanut gallery (my ex and my son) helping Chris out instead of ME. One can not get help you need it. Geez! I thought blood was supposed to be thicker than HOCKEY! More to continue....