Not just another Tuesday.

It's been almost 2 months since the day my love asked me to marry him and since that day it seriously feels like I'm living in a dream. ( a few words of warning before I go further, if you don't like sappy, lovey dovey,overly enthusiastic, flowery, dramatic stories, this entire blog probably is not for you).

I have never enjoyed anything as much as being engaged and it all started the Tuesday before Christmas, December 21, 2010. It started like any other hectic, "a day in the life of a couple working in retail during the holidays" kind of day, but I knew there was some sort of light at the end of the tunnel kind of surprise after work. Berg asked me Sunday night if I would like to go on a date on Tuesday since we were both off the following day and had been too exhausted to really spend quality time together. When I asked B what he wanted to do (being the designated planner of most of our outtings, which is the way I like it most of the time...) he said "it's a surprise." I wasn't sure how to respond to that because my brain was churning out all these crazy ideas of what he might have up his sleeve. I knew one thing... You don't question your beau when he says he has any sort of surprise. In my case, it has ALWAYS been good.

The next 2 days were the longest days of my entire life. The waiting, the wondering..what is going to happen?!? It was almost too much to take. Especially with B acting incredibly giddy, and many comments along the lines of "I think you're going to like it.... I KNOW you're going to like it." I couldn't take it. I also had the instructions to pack an overnight bag and something pretty for dinner. I had a general idea of what the date would entail. See B and I have a very simple idea of what makes a great date. I guess simple isn't the right word....unless you consider staying in great hotels and eating amazing meals at restaurants that even Anthony Bourdain couldn't complain about, "simple". We usually do this in our favorite city. The one by the bay that is home to some of the most colorful people you'll find and the BEST baseball team in the country...San Francisco.

Finally, it's Tuesday afternoon! I packed my little bag and had been waiting all day to get in the car and get this surprise started. So we made a quick stop at BevMo (I had to wait in the car, part of the surprise so still top secret) and then were on our way. We are easily amused so our car rides are usually pretty fun. As we drove up the 280, seeing the signs marking how many miles to different destinations, including the one I presumed was our final stop, I'd ask if the surprise was 40 miles away, then 28, then 10... and he would reply with "it might be...or it might not be. Maybe we are spending a lovely evening in San Carlos." We drove past San carlos, so that was out, and then we were in the city. He fought the traffic and the droves of people in the heart of it all, milling around and doing their last minute holiday shopping. The car stopped in front of the beautiful Westin St. Francis hotel and I was told this was our first stop.

Yay! Not only was the super surprise date unfolding beautifully, the St. Francis does not disappoint with it's holiday trim. There was a gorgeous tree, an amazing candy house and it even smelled like the holidays! Whatever that means... We checked in, got in the elevators and headed to the floor that is right under the tip top penthouse floor. The room had a big window that showed a few that went on and on....

This is only a small part of the view we saw the next day. It was awesome...

B called room service for a champagne bucket and place settings for the cheeses he bought for us to enjoy (2 of my favorite things...the surprise keeps getting better). Once we got the goods from room service, B showed me the champagne (real champagne from France, not sparkling wine he was sure to mention) and then he said he had one more surprise. I thought maybe chocolate because he knows the 3 things that make me happier than anything are wine, cheese and chocolate. But when he went into his jacket pocket, I got a feeling that it wasn't chocolate he was reaching for. He pulled out a little mahogany box and I started to cry uncontrollably. I was sobbing, and my mouth was open like I just saw a horrible accident and I could not close it. He asked me if I would love him forever and opened the box. Once I composed myself, we enjoyed some champagne and I continued to cry and say, "oh my god, I get to marry you."

Next was dinner at Boulevard. Boulevard is that restaurant that we kept talking about going to but somehow it was overlooked to try newer, more "interesting" places. Boulevard was fantastic. Warm and inviting, classy and upscale without being cold and stuffy. We had a fantastic meal, but to be honest I could probably have eaten bologna and cheese and would have thought it tasted like lobster. Here is the pork dish that we had that was amazing. It had these apples with white cheddar and bacon that I won't soon forget.

(Yes, it's blurry, but it still tasted amazing.)


It was the perfect way for us to get engaged. The funny thing is that we were at one of our other favorite places, B's parent's cabin in Arnold the week before and I thought he might have proposed then. I was a little sad he didn't, but after our perfect date, I was really happy with how it happened. The next day we had a fabulous room service breakfast followed by a little shopping in Union Square and a visit to see the kitties at Macys in their holiday windows.

We took a liking to these ones because they are orange and we aspire to one day own an orange cat that we will name Cheeto.

B told me he wanted to propose to me in the city where we fell in love. I'm completely in love with how he did it, and now totally in love with being engaged to him.