Okay, so where did we leave off?

Oh yeah, the moment I’d waited 26 years for was about to unfold… :-)

Everything about this day was shaping up to be surreal. This day was unlike it’s friends. Unlike the other six days of the week. Because you see, not only was there magic in the air, but the weather was unlike any other day of weather that month. The sky was gray, the air was calm but chilly. And about an inch of frost covered every blade of grass, every twig on every tree. The kind of frost that stacks up on one another like a totem pole. And not the early morning kind of frost… the all-day-long frost. It was absolutely gorgeous.

And John… he was a gorgeous site too: standing on my front door step, handsome as can be, red roses and an Americano in hand. I hope I never forget the grin spread across his face… a grin that calmed my little heart and nerves, but at the same time sent so many butterflies through my body. I remember how exhausted John looked from his overnight drive… I imagined him sleeping in a rest stop. But despite his tiredness, that grin… it far outshined his tired eyes.

Suddenly, reality struck as I’m standing inches from his face on my front doorstep: I had John’s Christmas present (a scrapbook detailing our five year relationship) spread out ALL OVER my living room! Quickly covering his eyes so he didn’t see past me, I led him in and locked him in a room while I quickly put away his gift (threw everything in a closet). :-)

For the first couple of hours that morning, John assured me we had plenty of time until the day’s next activity and to just finish up the most important items on my to-do list. After basking in his presence and letting the shock of his surprise settle, I worked on my already established to-do list. A few emails, the completion of a blog post, etc. Meanwhile, John was sleeping with one eye open on the couch in my office when my door bell rang yet again.

“Hmmm who could that be?” he said with a wink in his voice.

I opened my front door to the surprise of another unannounced visitor… Miss Jesie who you all know and love. :-) “Get your things together, get dressed, we’re going out for a girls’ day,” she chimed! I wasn’t sure what to expect… was the proposal going to happen soon? Was I even getting engaged TODAY or maybe that weekend? Who was going to be seeing me? I had zero makeup on. “Are you SURE I don’t have to put on any makeup,” I pleaded? (I have a love-hate relationship with surprises.) She assured me that throwing my hair in a pony and putting on something other than pajamas was suitable. Yoga pants it was! ;-)

So fast forward like 3 HOURS later after I tried on EVERY article of clothing Francesca’s had to offer and I finally had a snazzy new outfit courtesy of my bestie. With every outfit I tried on the anticipation of the day’s finale nearly suffocated me. I knew John was proposing. I just didn’t know how or where or when exactly.  My stomach wouldn’t quit doing flip flops, my voice was quivering, hands were shaking, and I was growing stressed about the outfit that will always be the outfit I got engaged in. That’s a big decision to make when you KNOW you’re getting engaged!  Right ladies?!  And to make things more stressful, I still had no idea where we were going!  At this point, all I knew was John was picking me up at 5pm sharp and I needed to look dashing.

The whole afternoon in the Francescas dressing room, I was thinking John was taking me to the Nutcracker Ballet in Denver.  I just had this hunch… because you see five years ago we attended the Nutcracker – one of our very first dates – and we shared this really romantic moment on 16th Street after the show.  Since then, John has always said, “In that moment, I knew you were mine.”  Plus, Jesie told me that John would be wearing a gold tie… And knowing he only has one gold tie, I knew it was the same one he wore to the Nutcracker 5 years ago (see below).

As a backup to the Nutcracker, I thought perhaps this proposal was going down at the OneRepublic concert in Denver. John has some connections with Ryan Tedder, so I didn’t think it would be THAT far-fetched for us to get pulled up on stage during my favorite song on the planet, “Good Life,” and for John to get down on one knee. Cause after all… married life IS going to be a good life!  Hey, I dream big, what can I say?  I had reason to believe this was a proposal option because I had been dropping hints at John for months that Dec 20th was One Republic’s hometown concert (they’re from Denver) and the rest of their shows were on different continents.  If we wanted to see them (which I desperately did) then this was our night.

So that’s what I was expecting: a ballet or a OneRepublic concert. What really unfolded that evening was completely unexpected!

Stay tuned for part 3 of 3 of our engagment story! :-)