Then we all went to our favorite restaurant in Austin and enjoyed great food and drinks.

We took some more pictures to remember the fabulous outfit that Peter wore. Don’t you love how Peter’s dad is teasing him in the picture?

And then I found Peter a wand and forced him to take action shots because we felt his doctoral gown was very Harry Potter-esque.

I am so proud of Peter and this momentous accomplishment. I can’t imagine what it must have felt like to go through the process of getting a PhD. I can’t wait to see what the future will bring us.

Special thanks to my brother, David, for taking all of these wonderful photographs.

The past few weeks have been so unbelievably busy. I’m sorry to say that it’s one of those super annoying situations where I will tell you that we’re busy, but won’t say why. I’ve been trying to follow along with everyone else’s blogs. I’m sorry that I’ve been a little MIA when it comes to commenting. Anyway, I want you all to know that I’ve been trying to keep up and that I have tons to post whenever I get a free moment, which will hopefully be soon. In the meantime, here’s a picture of Peter and me that my brother took when we were headed out to a BBQ restaurant in the middle of nowhere. Aren’t Texas wildflowers beautiful?!

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.

]]> http://www.startingoutsavvy.com/2010/03/its-our-engagiversary/feed/ 7 http://www.startingoutsavvy.com/2010/03/bathroom-makeover-chapter-three/ http://www.startingoutsavvy.com/2010/03/bathroom-makeover-chapter-three/#comments Mon, 15 Mar 2010 16:00:24 +0000 Jamie Lee http://www.startingoutsavvy.com/?p=1140 Before I got started planning out the bathroom closet, Peter had a much less pleasant job to face. While I was at work he created various pastes of bleach that we left sitting on the tiles for long periods of time. Is this the safest thing for you to do? Probably not, but we were desperate and as I mentioned before we didn’t have much money to throw at our bathroom makeover. He managed to gently chip away some of the freestanding grout that was dried to some of the individual tiles. Unfortunately, for fear of chipping the tiles themselves, he did leave some of the more stubborn grout. After just the bleach the bathroom was looking a million times better.

As you can tell from the photo above, the caulk and grout was way too disgusting to leave in tact. Even after bleaching it repeatedly, it still looked like a gross gray color.

Peter went in and removed the strange caulk/grout combination that lined each of the walls and connected the walls to the shower. After vacuuming up the debris, we were ready for a fresh new start.

Congratulations Sweetheart! I can’t wait to share in all of the wonderful things to come. Expect great things!