I’m happy to announce that two of our wonderful friends, Caroline and Nick, recently got engaged! Caroline is the incredibly talented baker who generously made Peter’s and my wedding cake. Now it’s their turn to bask in pre-marital bliss. Aren’t they an adorable couple?
About a month ago, Nick emailed me asking if I could pass on everything I knew about the engagement ring that Caroline wanted. Naturally—us being girls—Caroline and I had already had several conversations about what she would like her ring to look like, especially since she lived through the process of Peter and I designing mine. So, I put together a rather extensive email outlining her preferences, including pictures and a little advice on proposing. I wasn’t trying to overstep my boundaries, I just knew that Caroline’s intensely logical mind would spot a proposal from a mile away.
Off my email went into cyberspace.
Nick quickly followed up thanking me. After exchanging a few more emails about the specifics we were done. So I sent one more email reiterating the importance of surprise and suggesting that he do something to throw her off. Nick thanked me nonchalantly.
The funny thing about boys is that sometimes you tell them things and they act as if they’re completely ignoring your input and then BAM! You find out that they were listening to you all along.
A couple days before Christmas Caroline called me yelling into the phone, “YOU KNEW!!! All this time you knew!”
“Knew what, exactly?” I asked.
What if he hasn’t asked her yet, but she somehow found out? I wasn’t going to be the one to confirm her suspicions!
But then she exclaimed, “We’re engaged!!!!” Peter and I jumped up and down in our kitchen, yelling with excitement for them. I’m sure out neighbors though we were crazy, but everybody’s crazy around the holidays!
When Caroline told me the story, I was really impressed with Nick. He did an amazing job planning the proposal. First of all, he threw her off by getting her a bunch of really nice running stuff that she asked for for Christmas. He made sure to exchange gifts with her days before Christmas, ensuring that she wouldn’t think that she was getting an engagement ring. Then, taking it a step further, rather than taking Caroline out to a romantic dinner or waiting until they were on vacation together, he asked her to go on a walk. When they arrived back at their apartment he asked her to close her eyes. A super-confused Caroline walked blindly into their apartment until she nearly tripped over their dog. When she opened her eyes she saw that their roommate had set up the apartment with flowers. Nick said a slew of nice things and then asked her to marry him! Peter and I couldn’t be happier for them! We look forward to several months of wedding planning, a beautiful wedding, and a life long friendship with them both!
A year ago Peter and I were in Paris. He had managed to get an approval to do some research for his dissertation in a very selective archive and I had recently graduated from college. The boss of my internship turned part-time job (later to become my current full-time job) allowed me to work a bit from Paris. Knowing that another opportunity to spend two months abroad would be hard to come by, I had diligently saved my money and planned very carefully to maximize our experience. Let me tell you, the planning was worth it. Every day when we walked out our front door this is what we saw.
Yup, we spent a couple months living under the Sacre Coeur. Peter would go off to study for a couple hours everyday and I would sleep in and then wander the streets or read in a cafe. It was quite heavenly. Then one particular day (March 16, 2009) Peter and I decided it would be really romantic to have a picnic under the Eiffel Tower. At sunset, after he finished his research for the day, he met me at a vintage shop and we walked over to the Eiffel Tower.
We took a million pictures along the way, most of which have the Eiffel Tower peaking out in the background.
The whole time I just remember us laughing, hugging, kissing, pausing for pictures, and laughing some more.
We arrived right as it was really getting dark. The lights on the tower were lit and it gave off such a magical glow from above.
We took our little tote filled with a loaf of bread, a bottle of wine, and some Comte cheese to a nice grassy area. Peter was surprisingly particular about which grassy area we should pick. (I now know that he was worried that if it was too dark, I wouldn’t know what he was doing–doubtful, but it makes a lot more sense.) We selected a spot. Peter spread out the blanket and then he got down on one knee and asked me to marry him. Right when we kissed the tower started to twinkle. It does this about once an hour, but in the moment of him asking, us kissing, and then the tower sparkling, everything just felt so picturesque. It was terribly romantic. We hugged and kissed and felt really excited together. Then, we opened our tote and shared our simple dinner.
Afterward we didn’t rush to call our families. We just spent time together, walking, talking, and enjoying the magnitude of what had just happened. A lot of this happened over dessert. 
Yum!
The ring that Peter proposed with was a simple ring that I had liked in a shop. Awhile before this we had talked about how if we ever got engaged I would want to help pick out the ring. I feel like its such a symbol of the decision that we both made to spend the rest of our lives together, but the one he picked is so meaningful to us as well. I love that he listened to me as I made some off-hand reference that I liked this ring and went out and bought it for me while I was away.
When we got home we had this one made. I could probably write a book on the things that I learned while shopping for diamonds. I will definitely dedicate an entire post to it at some point in the future. It’s a very terrifying process and the more you know about it, the better off you are. Today is not that day. Today is the date the marks exactly one year from when my fiance and I committed to spending the rest of our lives together.
(Sadly, the Hello Kitty car is not ours.)
Happy Tuesday. I’ll be back tomorrow with the fabulous surprise that Peter had for me for our engagiversary. Get excited because it is home related.
