The PURfect Proposal ( I'm Engaged!!! )

Posted by Liana at 11:41 PM

It's officially been over 24 hours now... so on to the juicy details!! Considering it may take a good week to dish out all the important stuff like how we met (many thanks to Delta canceling my flight two years ago and mutual friends from church for connecting us), the dating details, and all the fun stuff like ring shopping, and him asking my dad for my hand in marriage over 4th of July weekend... I'll save more in-depth recaps for future posts and get on to the PERFECT PROPOSAL details for now :)



I knew something MIGHT be up since he took me back to Tiffany's on Sunday after church and to the store where I found MY ring that I liked best... just to "make sure I really like it the best." Little did I know that he'd already purchased THE ring days earlier and this shopping trip was great for throwing-me-for-a-loop and adding to my confusion. Later that day he mentions it's time for us to celebrate our 1-year Anny on the 15th. I don't ask too many questions because I'm thinking this MIGHT just be THE occasion...but doubtful since he probably hasn't even picked the ring since we just went looking again.

Tuesday rolls around and after an hugely successful trip to Lenox mall's BCBG (can you say 70% off RUNWAY fashion!?? LUV me some BCBG!!) I land home in time with new work outfit, dress for my sister's rehearsal dinner, and a flowing summery white sheath perfect for a special date. He's running late but arrives looking more handsome than ever in my favorite color blue with a blue bag in tote.

We have this joke about Hello Kitty because I pretend to like it more than I do because I know it bugs him and he'll tease me about it and it's this constant goofy game we play... me being the annoying kitty-lover and him enabling me! LOL. Well, my anniversary gift is a 3-pack of Hello Kitty candy charm bracelets and I put one on immediately and proceed to bite pieces off as we race through Buckhead towards our dinner destination.


Look what I got on our 1-year anniversary: adorable Hello Kitty candy bracelets when he came to pick me up... and then a diamond engagement ring when he dropped me off :) I'll wear both with pride and joy! :)



Dinner and dessert was just as perfect as our first date... if not more so... because it's a replay of the same places we went for our first date minus the first-date jitters, plus lots of reminiscing about the past year and joking about how Mike grows sillier every day (indeed I'm rubbing off on him). Hahaha. We moved from our outdoor dinner at Horseradish Grill to the Grape in Vinings for chocolate dessert and champagne. I notice he has his phone very close by and start to wonder why he keeps telling me not to have too much Champaigne because he knows I'm tired (hey... I've been like a kid on Christmas eve not sleeping for 2+ weeks now!!) and he 'wants my attention' when we get back to my place. Hmmmm....

On the way home and a train holds up traffic and suddenly he's going 90 on the highway like we're in a hurry to get home for some reason. He's got that phone nearby still. I wonder if there's a ring hidden in his suit jacket that he hasn't brought out of the car all evening because that's the only place he could possibly hide it. We get out of the car and he walks me to the door empty-handed. Darn. Disappointment that I'm left with that little-kid-on-Chritsmas-eve feeling for who-knows-how-much-longer. Then I walk in the door and call out to Charlie and Grace.

All is dark in the house but there's music and lights coming from the back. Someone has been here! In a bout of nervousness I hop into the restroom and emerge minutes later to be escorted to my own back deck. On our first date we spent 5+ hours talking out there after dinner by the light of the tiki torches... it's my favorite place to be with him even to this day. I know by the flowers and candles and champaign though that this is more than a re-enactment of a first date... this is a start of something completely new to both of us... something we've been talking about and praying about for months and it's finally here.






He pulls me into a slowdance for a song or two. I marvel over his shoulder on my tip-toes to admire the twinkle lights, flowers, linens, and the transformation that has been made. The moon is almost-full over the opening in the trees... in perfect position and moving quickly to the right. "Who did all this!??" I wonder out loud, knowing one of my best of friends, Kimberly, obviously was in on it from her signature flower arrangements she always made for me when Mikey brought me flowers in the past. They were all over the deck now in different pretty colors. "My mom and Kimberly" Mike let me know. "Your mom!!" I had NO idea how many people he'd gotten in on the surprise. They'd obviously all put a lot of thought into everything... Mike leading the way of course.






The dance is over and I know what's coming and his sweet, poetic words start the tears a pourin. He's got a handkerchief in his back pocket... a REAL one... not kleenex... and through my tears I object for a second not wanting to ruin it. He talks about the past, the present, and our future together. He prays for us. The tears really come then. I try my best not to choke on them... oh Lord what am I going to do when I'm actually saying vows if I can hardly hold it together now?? LOL. Then it's up on our feet again and now everything is a blur but then he's on his knees with a box in his hand and the next thing the pretty PURfect beautiful diamond engagement ring is on my finger... "no, honey, not the right hand... the left hand" and he finally admits his nervousness. There's more dancing and finally the Asti is opened and then the calls to mom and dad and Kimberly because I know she's up still and she HAS to hear from me ASAP :)






I try my best to not turn instantly into bridezilla pretty-princess-planning mode and instead savor the last few minutes we have together on the transformed deck before it's time to say good night. I find the pictures from Greece of his that I picked up from the lab today and bid him good night and hop into bed. I wonder if you're supposed to wear diamond rings to bed and figure I will... at least for the first night...until I figure that out... and fall asleep quickly with a smile in my heart...


..... and now on to the pictures....

So pretty! Mikey brought me carnations on one of our first dates and explained, no he isn't cheap... it's the Ohio state flower (where I'm from!) So thoughtful!!




The Ring. It's on a REAL handkerchief that he had stored in his back pocket and pulled out when I started to sniffle/cry. I was like "I don't want to ruin this it's too nice!!"



The Ring is a Scott Kay Crown Vintage Setting... beaaauuuutiful, IMHO. He took me to look at Tiffany's (and other stores too) to look but this was the ONE I knew is PERFECT despite my Tiffany-blue-box-luv :) Hehe.



Flowers and Candles Kimberly put together for us when she and Jason snuck in to help Mikey's parents set everything up.



Ooooh how cute/purfect are these linens?? Mikey's mom picked them out and set them up and Kimberly did the arrangements just like she did with the ones Mike originally got me.




I just couldn't decide what I liked to photograph the ring on best.. so I tried it all :)









And of course like anyone who does it for a living, I forget to take many pictures of ourselves so most of the pics I have of us are self-portraits on a tiny point and shoot camera.

Here's a bunch of us from this past holiday season... New Years Eve, my birthday last year....


....getting all muddy ATVing in the jungle in Belize...


....floating down a river in Belize after cave tubing...


...being goofy on that trip (Lehman family vacation cruise in January)....




...him looking super handsome all dressed up for dinner...


...and us hanging on the back deck during his surprise birthday luau we had here last month...
.

A day later I don't think the full reality has set in yet because today was such a whirlwind but I'm so at peace and excited for the future and tonight I rest again thanking God for this amazing man He's put in my life to share and grow with... together soon as husband and wife :)