This post was taken from my original blog back in 2008, that I no longer utilize, and so I wanted to incorporate it into blog to share with my readers. Enjoy!
Do you know that feeling you get when something so fantastic happens, that there
simply aren't any words in the english language that can come remotely close to
pegging exactly how you feel? Well, getting engaged is one of those fantastic
moments. And well, as most of you know by now...
I'M ENGAGED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The special date that will forever be so fresh and special in my memory is Saturday, November 29th, 2008. Here's the story:
About a week before the 29th, D had sent me a text message asking if I'd like to go ice skating downtown Chicago in the infamous Millenium Park. For those who aren't familiar, Millenium Park is a very artsy outdoor area that has one of the largest outdoor ice skating rinks in the winter. Well, D knows how much I've been wanting to go ice skating. He attempted to take me to a local rink for my birthday this year in February, but unfortunately, it was closed to open skating as there were hockey games already going on. So, needless to say, when he asked, I was thrilled!
Later on in the week, he told me he would also like to take me to dinner but refused to tell me where. He said since we've both been so busy, that he wanted to take me out on a date night and do something nice together. What girl doesn't love a date night? I was beyond excited!
He asked me if it was possible to bring a change of clothes, so we would be warm while skating and then could dress nice for dinner. Not a problem, we'd work it out. We head out Saturday afternoon and arrive downtown at about 4:45ish. D had told me our dinner reservations were at 6, so we'd need to be back to the car around 5:30. Well, we get up to the skating rink and there's a sign posted notifying us that there would be a 40 minute wait for a skate rental. We wouldn't have enough time to get any skating in, so we decided to skip it. I could tell D was really disappointed, but I honestly didn't mind. Anyone who knows me, knows how much of a klutz I am, and while I enjoy ice skating, I'm the one who ends up face down with my legs and arms sprawled around me. (Believe me, its happened before.) Since we had a little bit of time to kill, I told him I wanted to show him the Bean. (Can you believe he'd never been to Millenium Park!?). I was glad I got to show him, because its one of my favorite sights in the city. :) We walked around the rest of the park for a bit and then decided to head back to the car. We made up our minds go to the restaurant and have a few drinks while we waited for our reservation.
D ended up making us reservations at Rosebud's on Rush Street (http://rosebudrestaurants.com/rest3.php). For all of the non-Chicagoans, Rush Street is one of the fancy places downtown with so much hustle bustle and a beautiful place to enjoy the holiday lights and decorations. A very cool place to hang out and very, very classy. We went downstairs to the bar and ordered ourselves a drink: D, a Miller Lite, and my choice, an Amstel Light. We figured we'd be waiting for about 40 minutes, which was no big deal; we had our own corner at the bar and were enjoying each other's company. No sooner than we got half way through our drink, they came to seat us... definitely earlier than 6pm! They took us upstairs and sat us in a corner table by the wall. I thought it was pretty charming, but little did I know, D had requested a window table -- with the best view in the house, overlooking Rush Street and all the pretty Christmas decorations. Upon being taken to this other table, D was pretty upset. He asked to speak to a manager and they pulled us aside. I was wondering what the fuss was about but I went with it anyway. I caught the tail end of D's comment to the manager, but all I could hear was "......my girlfriend." Apparently, Rosebud's 'never promises any seating, they can simply take requests and hope it pans out.' A window table would not be available for about an hour and 40 minutes. D was pretty upset. We took the quaint seat by the wall. I come to find out at the end of all this, that the comment D had made to the manager was: "Dude! I'm trying to propose to my girlfriend!!" The manager apparently was trying to quiet him down as he was looking at me... I was clueless. I thought D was saying something along the lines of.. "I'm trying to plan a nice dinner with my girlfriend.. etc.." I'm not one much for picking up on things... obviously. :)
We wound up ordering another round of drinks; munching on bread and ordered some bruschetta. It was all really great and I was looking forward to dinner. After we finished up our appetizer, the manager came over and let us know that a window table had opened up, and if we'd like to move we were welcome to. So, we did what any person would do - we took the prime seats in the house. :) There, we ordered dinner: D had lasagna, and I had cheese ravioli's (one of my favorite meals!!). I was already full from the appetizer, but I ate what I could anyway because it was all so delicious. After we were done, D offered desert. So, we ordered tiramisu... and let me tell you, it was thee LARGEST order of tiramisu I had ever seen!
I'M ENGAGED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The special date that will forever be so fresh and special in my memory is Saturday, November 29th, 2008. Here's the story:
About a week before the 29th, D had sent me a text message asking if I'd like to go ice skating downtown Chicago in the infamous Millenium Park. For those who aren't familiar, Millenium Park is a very artsy outdoor area that has one of the largest outdoor ice skating rinks in the winter. Well, D knows how much I've been wanting to go ice skating. He attempted to take me to a local rink for my birthday this year in February, but unfortunately, it was closed to open skating as there were hockey games already going on. So, needless to say, when he asked, I was thrilled!
Later on in the week, he told me he would also like to take me to dinner but refused to tell me where. He said since we've both been so busy, that he wanted to take me out on a date night and do something nice together. What girl doesn't love a date night? I was beyond excited!
He asked me if it was possible to bring a change of clothes, so we would be warm while skating and then could dress nice for dinner. Not a problem, we'd work it out. We head out Saturday afternoon and arrive downtown at about 4:45ish. D had told me our dinner reservations were at 6, so we'd need to be back to the car around 5:30. Well, we get up to the skating rink and there's a sign posted notifying us that there would be a 40 minute wait for a skate rental. We wouldn't have enough time to get any skating in, so we decided to skip it. I could tell D was really disappointed, but I honestly didn't mind. Anyone who knows me, knows how much of a klutz I am, and while I enjoy ice skating, I'm the one who ends up face down with my legs and arms sprawled around me. (Believe me, its happened before.) Since we had a little bit of time to kill, I told him I wanted to show him the Bean. (Can you believe he'd never been to Millenium Park!?). I was glad I got to show him, because its one of my favorite sights in the city. :) We walked around the rest of the park for a bit and then decided to head back to the car. We made up our minds go to the restaurant and have a few drinks while we waited for our reservation.
D ended up making us reservations at Rosebud's on Rush Street (http://rosebudrestaurants.com/rest3.php). For all of the non-Chicagoans, Rush Street is one of the fancy places downtown with so much hustle bustle and a beautiful place to enjoy the holiday lights and decorations. A very cool place to hang out and very, very classy. We went downstairs to the bar and ordered ourselves a drink: D, a Miller Lite, and my choice, an Amstel Light. We figured we'd be waiting for about 40 minutes, which was no big deal; we had our own corner at the bar and were enjoying each other's company. No sooner than we got half way through our drink, they came to seat us... definitely earlier than 6pm! They took us upstairs and sat us in a corner table by the wall. I thought it was pretty charming, but little did I know, D had requested a window table -- with the best view in the house, overlooking Rush Street and all the pretty Christmas decorations. Upon being taken to this other table, D was pretty upset. He asked to speak to a manager and they pulled us aside. I was wondering what the fuss was about but I went with it anyway. I caught the tail end of D's comment to the manager, but all I could hear was "......my girlfriend." Apparently, Rosebud's 'never promises any seating, they can simply take requests and hope it pans out.' A window table would not be available for about an hour and 40 minutes. D was pretty upset. We took the quaint seat by the wall. I come to find out at the end of all this, that the comment D had made to the manager was: "Dude! I'm trying to propose to my girlfriend!!" The manager apparently was trying to quiet him down as he was looking at me... I was clueless. I thought D was saying something along the lines of.. "I'm trying to plan a nice dinner with my girlfriend.. etc.." I'm not one much for picking up on things... obviously. :)
We wound up ordering another round of drinks; munching on bread and ordered some bruschetta. It was all really great and I was looking forward to dinner. After we finished up our appetizer, the manager came over and let us know that a window table had opened up, and if we'd like to move we were welcome to. So, we did what any person would do - we took the prime seats in the house. :) There, we ordered dinner: D had lasagna, and I had cheese ravioli's (one of my favorite meals!!). I was already full from the appetizer, but I ate what I could anyway because it was all so delicious. After we were done, D offered desert. So, we ordered tiramisu... and let me tell you, it was thee LARGEST order of tiramisu I had ever seen!
During this time, he was continually pulling out his Blackberry. I always tease him that his phone is surgically attached to his hand, because he can never be without it. So when he kept pulling it out, I teased him about it some more, and I think I said something along the lines of "why in the world do you keep checking your phone?!" ...he looked a little caught off guard but he quickly changed the subject. I found out that the reason he was checking his phone was because we were on a "schedule" and he was checking to make sure we were "on time"... keep reading. :)
Anyway, the whole time throughout dinner, we're watching Christmas shoppers out and about on the street; tourists checking out the Christmas lights, people heading out to meet up with friends, and horse-drawn carriages taking people for a ride all over the area. I was fascinated. I had told D one thing that I'd always wanted to do was to go for a horse drawn carriage ride. He told me we should plan something sometime and I agreed; only I said not that night, because we didn't need to spend anymore money. We got onto the subject of how he used to ride horses down at his Grandpa's when his Gpa lived in Hannibal, Missouri. It was definitely one of his favorite memories. I then shared stories from my horseback riding days; when I used to take horseback riding lessons once a week in high school; a birthday present from my parents when I was a sophomore. Those were some of the most fun times for me and I truly enjoyed it. We then got to talking about Chicago and how pretty it was, and how we both enjoyed living there. He asked me where the best place to see Christmas lights and my response was, "are you kidding me!? Michigan Avenue!!!" (I was shocked he wouldn't know this information). Then I went into a story about how a neighbor of ours took us downtown each Christmas after church to look at the lights.. it was one of my favorite pasttimes. :)
So, dinner was wrapping up but D wasn't ready to go. The waitress came back quite a few times to check on us, but we were hanging out and enjoying each other's company. When we were finally ready to go, the waitress informed us that the manager took care of our appetizer and our desert as an apology for the table mishap... which was so very nice of them. :) Anywho, the reason D wasn't ready to go, was because he was stalling because we got seated so early, and he still had something up his sleeve :)
We got up to head out and D stopped in the washroom. When he came out, he insisted I go to the bathroom too. But, I had gone to the bathroom less than a half hour before... So, I go into the bathroom and there's a line, but I didn't really feel like waiting, considering, I didn't need to use the bathroom anyhow. I checked my hair and makeup, washed my hands and was on my way. D told me he had the valet getting the car as we headed outside to wait. Next thing I know, he's telling me the car is there... but I'm looking and I don't see his car anywhere... this is while he's walking up to the horse-drawn carriage that has pulled up to the curb. As we approach, I hear the carriage driver call out our names. And next thing I know, D is saying yes, and shaking the guys hand. My jaw hit the ground. This was the reason he was stalling and acting so goofy all night.. the carriage ride wasn't due to pick us up until 7:45. I stepped inside, in complete and utter shock but so unbelievably excited that I couldn't stop smiling. There was a brand new fleece blanket folded up with a cute little bow, bought by D with the carriage to keep us warm on our ride. Next thing I know, D is telling me he's arranged the carriage to take us down to Michigan Avenue to look at the Christmas decorations... I could hardly believe it! All the while I'm thinking of how much of a stud my boyfriend is for being so romantic. It was absolutely perfect.
So, we're riding along and as we approach this intersection, I look across the street to this absolutely gorgeous gazebo right in front of the Drake hotel. Its on the corner of the street, set back a little bit so its in its own little secluded area, and the entire gazebo is decorated with white Christmas lights. D points it out (even though it had already caught my attention) and asks if I wanted to stop there. I told him the night was his to plan and I was game for whatever he wanted to do. Next thing I know, the carriage is turning around as means to take us across the street to the gazebo - without D telling him to do so. Then my wheels start turning... I'm thinking, ok, he had that planned... how?? Why??? And the questions kept coming... I told myself that D was being sweet and had planned a romantic walk. We step out of the carriage and we walk over to the gazebo. It was stunning and magnificent. I was in complete awe. D gives me a huge hug and I enjoy the moment. We step apart, and he starts telling me the sweetest things I have ever heard. By this time, I'm beginning to catch and and go into complete shock-mode. Then -- he tells me he has a question to ask me... "Will you spend the rest of your life with me?" I could hardly believe it. Tears filled my eyes, I couldn't see, my hands and entire body start shaking beyond belief, my breath gets caught in my throat and I can't breath. I start asking.. what??? Seriously??? You're proposing!? And then cue the hyperventilating.. I give him a huge hug, I tell him yes through my tears, and then I look down at the ring. Its perfect. It is the exact ring I had envisioned, completely custom made and absolutely gorgeous. I could NOT believe it. I had to sit down... I wanted to enjoy the moment... OH. MY. GOD. I WAS ENGAGED!!!!! We strolled back to the carriage, where upon arriving, the carriage driver had a bouquet of red roses for me from D and tells us congratulations. We continued our ride in pure newly-engaged bliss and took a trip down to the Daley plaza to check out the Christmas tree. Unfortunately, my camera is broken, so we tried to snap a few pictures from D's camera phone. They aren't the best quality, but they will do. :)
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