Monday, July 16, 2012

My Proposal Story!


I am a true romantic in the way that I absolutely love hearing stories about other people's proposals, so I thought I'd share mine in case any other 'romantics' are out there somewhere. So here it is.

As many people who keep tabs on my little blog are aware of, Jeff and I took possession of our first home two days ago. Little did I know that Jeff was also planning on proposing that same day. Friday morning, Jeff had more energy than normal; he was packing up all of our stuff at light-speed, and he kept pushing me to be out the door! Now I know why of course, but at the time I was a little bewildered. We went to the lawyer's office to pick up the key to our house around two in the afternoon, and Jeff suggested picking up a paint sampler of the color I wanted to paint the walls of the main floor of our house to 'save time'. He told me that he was planning on getting started on the edging while I went out and picked up the rest of our paint in Dorchester and made a run to Home Hardware to get all of our supplies for the big move, which was happening the next day. I almost blew his plan when I told him that I didn't want him to get started on the edging, because anybody who knows Jeff also knows that he absolutely hates to paint, particularly edging. I didn't want him to get frustrated and make a big mess! He asked me to trust him, and after a little discussing the matter back and forth, I gave in. I'm so glad that I did! When we got to our house, we were touring around, and he kept asking me if I was going to get the paint. I wasn't even suspicious!

Once I left for the paint store, he kept asking me when I thought I'd be on my way, and he made me tell him when I was coming back. I walked in the door, keys and a bag from Home Hardware in hand, and just froze in the entryway. Because there was Jeff, standing in the middle of our new living room, holding a ring box, our song playing on my Ipod stereo, with the words "Will you marry me? Check Yes or No" painted on the wall behind him in huge letters. I dropped my keys, my hands were shaking, and just froze, speechless.

Jeff grabbed my hands and pulled me into the center of the room. He got down on one knee, and told me that he couldn't live one more day without me agreeing to marry him and spend the rest of our lives together. I said yes of course!!! He got up off his knee, put the most amazing ring on my finger, and then we slow danced around the room, letting the music surround us. It was truly a beautiful moment. It still makes me tear up, just thinking of how I felt in that moment and how perfect it was for us.

Once Jeff had told me the story of how he had planned out the whole proposal (he's sneakier than I realized, or maybe I'm just not very suspicious!) I checked the 'yes' box on the wall in paint. The whole 'check yes or no' part is a nod to a country song Jeff and I love - 'Check Yes or No' by George Strait. Here are the lyrics to the chorus:

Do you love me, do you want to be my friend?
And if you do, well then don't be afraid to take me by the hand,
If you want to. 
I think this is how love goes; check yes or no. 

Clearly a fitting song. :) Jeff actually had made a playlist of our songs, which is what he played as I walked into the room. He played "Big Green Tractor" by Jason Aldean, "Come A Little Closer" by Dirks Bentley, and "Check Yes or No" by George Strait. 

Jeff, you did a good job! I love you!

Here are a few pictures of the wall, and my sparkly ring. I don't have too many, because we didn't have a whole lot of time before we had to get to work unpacking and unloading boxes. Whew! The past three days have been pretty crazy, but I've never been happier in my entire life. 



I so wish we didn't have to paint over this, but I'll always know it's there somewhere, under the paint. :) 
I catch myself staring down at my hand all the time now!
So pretty!


Friday, July 06, 2012

Goodbye Apt. #909...

Well, it's t-minus seven days until we get possession of our house, so the countdown is officially on! I will definitely miss our apartment here, and I'm actually really sad when I think about leaving. As much as I am beyond excited for Jeff and I to move to a new house and start making new memories, I'm so attached to this building and its location. Everyone is so nice here, our apartment is really comfortable, and it's just minutes to everything here in London. I know that this sort of attachment is pretty normal, but I've never been attached to any place that wasn't my parents' house before. Not residence, or the first apartment that I lived in (although it was very nice) held very sentimental memories for me, so this is a pretty bittersweet feeling.

Things I will miss: not having to pay for utilities (I was able to run the A/C as much as I wanted at any time of the year), being a 5-minute walk away from the grocery store, being close to Western, the public pool in the summer, underground parking (I will now have to shovel snow off my car!), less stress/bills, our extremely large master bedroom, the view from our balcony at night, and probably just how comfortable we are here.

Things I will not miss: not having any storage space, not being able to control the temperature (they run the heat until mid-May here), not having a yard or a bbq, the tiny fridge, having to pay to do my laundry, being pretty far away from our families, and not really being able to paint anything (although I did paint some walls anyway).

I finally got around to taking my 'glamour shots' of our apartment here, and I'm really glad that I did. Years down the road I can look at them and remember the first place that Jeff and I lived in together, and I thought I would share a few of them here.

Goodbye #909! Thanks for being so good to us!

Apt. #909! 
Living room



Lovely balcony view - I saw some great sunsets from here
Kissing salt shakers
Jeff's John Deere piggy bank and my Dutch Shoe piggy bank
Bathroom

Our massive master bedroom

Sadly, this is 'clean' - it really will be nice to have storage at our house
Cluttered kitchen - again, yay for gaining storage! 


We'll miss you!