: No one commented with permanent links! If you DO have a link to my site and you commented, let me know!

P.S. My finished apartment:

     
That's right. I was going to open with some witty line as I attempt to do in my updates, but the title says it all perfectly. Over the weekend, my boyfriend of almost two years proposed before my VIP birthday party at my favorite club (the one where we first met). Our friends coming into town did not know that they were not only celebrating my birthday and seeing my place for the first time, but they were also coming to a surprise engagement party! This will be a long post because it deserves to be detailed. I'll be able to look back on this years later .

On Saturday the 25th, D wanted to take me out to an early dinner for my birthday and to celebrate our two years together before all of our guests got into town. We went to Bistro Bella Vita (where he took me on our first date), at 4:30PM and found out that they didn't even open until 5 on Saturdays. So we waited, hehe. After 20 minutes, we were seated at the booth right next to the booth that we were in on our first date. He had the Atlantic Salmon with a glass of Buchli Station Pinot Noir and I had the Duck Two Ways with a glass of Trefethen Merlot. We shared each other's plate (I know I know, *gag*) and enjoyed reminiscent conversation about how nearly two years ago, we were sitting there and he was describing to me what a pharmeceuticals sales rep does. The food was impeccable. We couldn't have picked better birthday dishes.

We each ate half of our meals and he declined dessert to the waiter even though I was thinking, "I WANT DESSERT!" After dinner, we were scheduled to go to Monte's at 6PM so that D could give them a credit card number to start some bottles for my VIP birthday party later. When we got there, Nick, the general manager, opened the door to let us in. I was confused as to how we knew we were there and why he even opened the door for us that way. The club looked so different in the daylight compared to how we normally see it--drunk at night. I met Heather, their promoter, who was there to collect his credit card information, but to my surprise, Jeremy, our favorite Monte's bartender, was also standing there.

Heather told us that she needed a credit card and I looked over at D. This whole time, I saw a white cloth covered table in the middle of the dance floor, but I didn't connect that it would be for anything special. He told me that he had one more thing to show me first. He walked me over to the empty dance floor to the table decorated with my favorite purple orchids. On the table was a bottle of Moscato on ice and a gold Godiva box. All I could think was, "No way. I can't believe you did this for my birthday!" Jeremy came over to the table and offered us the delicious dessert wine. Now it made sense that he didn't want me to order dessert at Bistro.

From entry to sitting down, love songs were playing over the speakers. We took our seats and he told me he had a gift for me. I immediately thought he was pulling out a jewelry box from his jacket, but it was a green flat rectangular box and he proclaimed that he made it for me. I was slightly disappointed, but gave up the feelings immediately because I realized that he made me a mixed tape. It was so adorable. We had just been joking about how our kids in the future wouldn't even know what a tape player was. He hand wrote the song titles on the sleeve. Being the girl that I am, I started to cry. My birthday last year was already spectacular. I wasn't prepared to be swept away this year.

  
After looking at the tape and giggling for a bit, he told me to open the chocolate box. AGAIN, my heart skipped a beat thinking that my ring would be in the chocolate box. I opened it to find chocolate covered strawberries with no ring in sight. I was disappointed, but so happy at the same time. After the second I-thought-this-was-my-proposal-moment-but-it-wasn't, I gave up on thinking that he would propose on that day. We talked over the strawberries. I told him that I have been so happy and he told me that all this was the reason why his mind had been all over the place lately.

After finishing my last bite of the first strawberry, he asked Nick to take a picture of us and handed him the camera. Nick positioned himself so that he we got the whole dance floor in the picture. Then, D said he had one more surprise for me. Our song played in the background as he scooted his chair backwards. I gasped. His two previous tricks left me unprepared for the real thing. "Omg, this is it. Is this real?" The thought racing in my head overshadowed his initial words. I quickly turned off my mind to listen to him.

He told me that I was the best thing that ever happened to him and that he loved me. There was more, but I won't bore you with the sentiment. In the end, admidst my crying and uncontrolled freaking-out, he told me that he wanted me to be his wife, opened the red box, and asked, "Will you marry me?" I shook my head quickly since my mouth was failing to convey it through words and eventually uttered, "YES!" He took the ring out of the box, laughed, told me to take the ridiculously huge fake red heart ring off my finger, and placed his engagement ring on it. I actually didn't even realize what the ring looked like because excitement overwhelmed me. It got stuck on my knuckle, but I was determined to shove it onto my finger. SUCCESS! I got it on, wiped my eyes, looked down at the rock, and thought to myself, "OMG. It's huge."

I gave him a kiss and a hug. We laughed and cried the entire time. Nick had been snapping pictures throughout the whole thing! His plan was perfect. Our engagement was perfect.

   
We sat back down and proclaimed all of our excitements. I was still in disbelief! We took pictures with Nick, Heather, and Jeremy who were all instrumental for giving me my perfect engagement. Heather told us that she was watching the whole time and she noticed him wiping his palms on his thighs often. (He didn't notice--neither did I.) He told me that he planned everything to the minute. He gave the staff a schedule and he timed our song to play at the right moment. After finishing some more dessert, we grabbed our things, thanked Monte's for an amazing time and told them that we would see them later that night.

We had to quickly run some errands, so in the car he told me about how he had to talk to my mom for three hours the day before about everything for her to give him his blessing. His parents are thrilled! He even told me that his mother was walking around the house with my ring on her hand. His best men all knew and so did our couple friend, Devon & Karen. Everyone else coming into city for my birthday were all going to be surprised with a surprise engagement party!!!

I was so busy with work and school this year that I didn't throw a housewarming party. In reality, that night was to show off what I did with my place (come back, I'll post pictures tonight) and to celebrate my ripe age of 23. But now, everything changed, and I kept forgetting that it was for my birthday! I called my sister and her reponse was, "WTH?! CONGRATULATIONS!" I called my wifey, my best friend, Karen to share! She didn't pick up twice and when she finally called back, I asked her to sit down. I told her that D proposed and she was in HYSTERICS. "I'm so happy for you, you bitch! Congratulations!!" She cried and laughed with me. I could not get another word in edgewise!

Slowly, everyone arrived and heard the news. I am so happy that everyone has been so supportive. The only person that I wanted to be there but did not make it was my sister, but she had planned a vacation awhile ago and didn't know it was going to be an engagement party too. Anyway, here are some pre-party pictures :

  
At 10:30PM, we called two cabs to cart us to the VIP party. Our favorite door guy, Joe, doesn't work there anymore. I wanted to see him, but too bad. The new door guy actually checked my ID. I haven't had my ID checked in SO LONG there. D's brother, Kevin, and his friends were already there. Kevin found out when we got there and nearly got kicked out for putting D in a congratulatory head lock. It was so exciting, the festivities were amazing.

We started with a bottle of Sky Vodka and Captain's. That was followed with 4 more bottles of Sky . Only one of our friends got kicked out for too much boozing. I think everyone had a great time. Over the course of the night, more and more people found out that it was a surprise engagement party!

   
The DJ also gave us a shout-out and wished us a happy engagement. It was like a little girl's daydream! Right after that, the Monte's club owner, Dave, stopped in at the party to wish us a congratulations. He got us a round of Dirty Girl Scout shots and a complementary bottle of champagne. He and Heather, the promotor, told us that they have met a handful of other couples who met in their club, but we were the first to be engaged there. The entire staff was so accomodating and helpful. They even made sure to save the ordchids on the table that D set up for the proposal. We couldn't have picked a better place to meet, throw big birthday bashes, and to get engaged!

  
  
All night, people were wishing me a happy birthday, but I kept forgetting that it even was my birthday party. The engagement thing kind of trumps birthdays, hehe. After the party, the after-party was at my place again equipped with hot dogs! With all the visitors, partying, and etc... I have been up to my neck in excitement. I'm still working on the new layout, but I think all this news and events has been trumping the website. This weekend, we are taking a family tour to start talking business with our families. His mother already whipped out a box of invitation samples for him to look through .

There is tons to do while I'm studying for my masters and planning this wedding. It will take me awhile to return all those nice comments that I received. All I know is that I am on Cloud 9. We can finally talk about our future together without worrying that we're getting too far ahead of ourselves. Two years of dating followed by a two year engagement is absolutely perfect! In two days, I will be 23, engaged, working, getting my master's, and extremely happy.

Who said you can't find love in a bar?

Categorized: Love, Wedding, Birthday, Friends, Partying, Events
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