OF COURSE I SAID YES!

So, it was quite a weekend! I spent Friday night with the girls. Melissa and I met Kate and Amber in Cape. We had a yummy, fun time at Olive Garden. Then Melissa and I went back to her house and hung out with her mom and Alexis....it was a great night.

Saturday night Ronnie and I had reservations at Celebrations in Cape. We have been there several times before. They have excellent food and Ronnie wanted to celebrate graduation, me opening the studio, him quitting B&N and starting his graduate assistanceship. I have been so excited all week because I was also planning to start a new diet (courtesy of the Healthy Lifestyles program recommended by my doctor).

I wish I would've taken pictures of the food. Presentation at Celebrations is a huge part of the experience that you get. It really IS an experience every single time you eat there.
OUR CHOICES
Appetizer: We had stuffed mushrooms for an appetizer. They were stuffed with a cream cheese base filling and topped with bread crumbs then baked. OH SO GOOD!
Salads: I had a ceaser salad. Ronnie had something with a buttermilk vinegarette...it looked yummy!
Entrees: I had linguini with mushrooms, squash, and tomatoes...the pasta was homeade! Ronnie had antelope. It was served on a bed of what he called 'cheddar grits' and grilled okra. He said the sauce was like the best steak sauce ever!
Dessert: Well, we ordered a peach crosata with blackberry sorbet and homeade whipped cream....

....but before they brought dessert, Ronnie asked me to marry him! He got down on one knee and held out a rather large ring box with a gorgeous ring and asked me to be his wife. I asked him where he was hiding that thing. He told me in his sock...oh yeah...I said YES! We both were a little teary-eyed.

Dessert was yummy and they brought us a small bottle of champagne - enough for 2 glasses.

A toast?

 We decided to play the 'torture her with text messages' game with Debbie. Ronnie sent her a pic of the ring on my finger. She sent like 4 messages back within a minute - did I say yes? (I tried to get Ronnie to tell her that I was bonding with the ring...I would let her know in a bit!), when were we coming home...I think she was a little excited! :-)

Ronnie told me that he had asked my dad and my dad had given us his blessing. I was curious if my mom knew, so I sent her a pic of the ring on my hand and asked if she knew about it. Apparently she did. She told us later (when we stopped by the auction on the way back to Anna) that my dad made her SWEAR that she wouldn't say anything before he would tell her. He told me that he almost didn't tell her.

When we finally made it back to Ronnie & Debbie's there was an entire welcoming committee: Ronnie, Debbie, Crystal, Chris, Sandy, and Jason. Tears and hugs all around! Come to find out Chris knew before we left. He was at the house and asked me where we were going and I told him where and why (or at least the reasons I thought we were going). Later when I remarked about his being 'stone cold' earlier in the evening he said, "Snitches get stitches." He did ask Ronnie if he came back in for the ring. I thought he came back in for his iPod. Apparently, he intentionally forgot the iPod so that he could sock the ring box! Sneaky, sneaky!

We have finally told everyone that we wanted to deliver the news to personally, so it's time to officially announce that Ronnie and I are engaged to be married. We don't have a date yet, so stop asking! ;-)

I feel overwhelmingly blessed! I was totally surprised by this proposal and the element of surprise was most certainly a nice touch. We've been together a little over 7 years (this time). We are closing one chapter in our lives and opening another. I can't wait to see what happens in this story. I am honored to wear this beautiful ring from the man who I will soon call my husband.

 my engagement ring

 Now I have some serious diet motivation, eh?