ENGAGEMENT!! whaaaaat?!?! :)

Yep. I said it.

Jamie and I are engaged to be MARRIED!

I can’t believe it. I mean, I can believe it (primarily because I’ve known for 2.5 years that I wanted to marry him!), but I can’t believe that there’s a ring on my finger and that he’s calling me his fiance! Coolest feeling ever.

I’ve been asked a bunch to tell the “how did it happen” story, so I figure what’s a better time than now since it’s very fresh in my mind; So fresh that I’m still shaking a bit as I type. I’m going to be up all night anyway. I have a Shakespeare final at 8 a.m., and we are leaving for Indiana to visit Jamie’s relatives at 11. I don’t mind procrastinating a little bit more.

Here goes! There’s a lot of little details, and I’m going to type out every little one. So sorry, but this will help me remember later on.

One of my best friends from high school, Emily Parker, is living with me this summer, and she was Jamie’s right-hand man for the last two weeks. I was absolutely shocked to find this out. She’s a good little secret keeper! Anyway, she sent me a text yesterday telling me that Jamie had planned a big date night for us tomorrow (which is tonight) and that I really needed to get all of my studying done. Like I said, I have a final tomorrow (Thursday) morning at 8, and Jamie and Em knew I had a study group Wednesday night. Jamie thought I finished finals Wednesday morning, so he planned everything for Wednesday night. Oops! Em said not to tell Jamie I knew, and that she just told me because she knew how important it was to him. Her reason for this big date was that Jamie had a lot of spare time on his hands and wanted to take me out for getting my new job last week. I totally bought it.

Side note – A lot of people have been expecting us to get engaged soon or said they saw it coming, but I really didn’t! We haven’t talked about “future” stuff in a while, and with my new job and lots of talk about his deployment, I thought an engagement would happen maybe Christmastime.

NOT JUNE 30, 2010. On a Wednesday. During finals week. Love it.

Back to the story. So I called Jamie around 11 this morning to tell him about my busted bathroom pipes that I woke up to and whine about an upcoming final, and I got sort of aggravated because he didn’t seem to be listening at all. Little did I know that he was just a tad bit preoccupied with preparations for tonight. 

So I got home from my final around 3:30, and Emily told me to be ready at 5:15; she’d be taking me to my secret date. When I asked her what I should wear (dressy or casual), if I should charge my camera, how long I’ll be gone, etc., she just casually blew off my questions and majorly led me to believe that this date was going to be very silly and that he was just planning something sweet because he’s bored. I’m telling you – this girl was good.

5:15 rolled around, and she handed me an envelope.

Clue #1 – a poem leading me to Brittany and Bethy’s
-because we met there for the second time in our relationship after his flight came in late and missed our march 2008 AOII date party

#2 – leads me to Epiphany in downtown Tuscaloosa
-he took me here on my 22nd birthday (soooo nice!)

#3 – leads me to the Bear Bryant statue
-we watched Alabama kill auburn in 2008 36-0 (RTR!)

#4 – leads me to Evangelines restaurant
-where he first told me he loved me on our six month anniversary

#5 – leads me to my final spot, the Black Warrior River River Walk
-where we love to relax and talk. A few weeks ago we grabbed a bottle of wine and stayed out there for three hours talking about everything. We both agree that that was the best night of the summer, before tonight of course!

So I got there, and he was dressed up. No picnic blanket? No second clue? OMG We cannot be getting engaged?! There is just no way!

So he sat me down on the bench, said a whole bunch of who-knows-what, asked me to marry him, and at some point put the ring on my finger. Sadly, I don’t remember that one bit.  I was shaking like a leaf and started crying (just a little!) out of pure shock. Jamie then turned me around and I saw my parents, his mom, and Emily walking down to see us. It was perfect.

 

 

 

 

We enjoyed a quick dinner at Bento (my favorite!) afterwards where I made about 20 phone calls and just stared at my ring.

AND THERE’S MORE! Jamie and I decided to run to Publix to grab some champagne, and when we got back to my apartment there was a PARTAY! Several of my sweet friends who are still in town got us a cake and lots of decorations, and Jamie’s dad and brother were there also! It was so great to celebrate with some of the people who mean the most to us, especially my parents. I am so thrilled that they were there.

It was the most perfect proposal, and I am so excited that everyone pulled everything off without a hitch! I HAD NO IDEA, and that makes it the most fun part.

I am so thankful that I have found my match in the sweetest, goofiest, smartest, most thoughtful, handsome guy I’ve ever met. We are so similar and so different in so many ways, and I think that’s why we work so well together. Jamie has been living with a couple guys down here in Tuscaloosa this summer, and he’s been doing that to see what our relationship would be like after seeing each other every day and just doing life together. Tonight he told me that it took him about one week of living in Ttown to realize 100% that we would be together forever. We have several road trips this upcoming month, so we both know we have LOTS of time to talk possible wedding dates. It may not be for a while, but who knows.

More: A recap of our beach wedding