ENGAGED!!!!!!!

It's been a few days since the big announcement, but the "Title" says it all in truth... I'm engaged!!!!!!!!!!!!! And I'm so so happy. Joyful and truly, fully, completely filled with happiness. It's a wonderful feeling.

My ring... my gorgeous, beautiful ring is outstanding. It's platinum and it has a marquis center diamond that is just under 3/4 of a carat. On the sides are 3 round diamonds that also total about 3/4 of a carat. I have 1.5 carats of DIAMONDS on my finger!!!! OMG! hehehe. Ok that's the giddy silly bouncy self typing.

I've of course attached a picture off the the right. :)

And of course... I must share all of the details of the night of the engagement...

We all (Sean, his Mom, his Dad, and his Grandfather) went out as a family to a place called Vic and Ike's (http://vic-and-ikes.com/), it's a new, very classy and modern restaurant downtown. We'd been talking about going for a couple of weeks once Sean's Grandfather was in town; little did I know that everyone knew of the additional plans at the restaurant other than me. :)

We arrived around 6:30pm and had an absolutely outstanding dinner which included a carpaccio of Angus Beef for an appetizer, delicious crab bisque for a starter, and a wonderful scallop dish for me. We sat at a round table together, Sean to my left, my soon to be father-in-law to my right, with my soon to be mother-in-law across the round from me. The restaurant is filled with black and white photographs of John Wayne, Frank Sinatra, and other classic legends. Frank Sinatra plays quietly and romantically over the speakers through-out the restaurant.

We had brought mother's camera with us which I thought nothing of, we've been taking pictures the entire time that grandpa has been here.

Through-out the evening there were probably a couple of hints that had I known what was happening could've clued me in, but I was totally oblivious. Sean's hands were clammy after bringing his Grandfather to the restroom; little did I know this was right before his planned time for the proposal. Additionally he seemed very fidgety and on edge at some points through-out dinner, in fact at one point I touched his hand and asked if he was alright as he seemed on edge.

The time for dessert came, and everyone had been very insistent through dinner that we all save room as their desserts were outstanding as well. I ordered a peach cheesecake and the others ordered a crazy-insane chocolaty dessert. The desserts came out about 15 minutes later and our waiter went around setting them down on the table, coming to Sean and I last. After setting down our desserts I could feel our waiters presence behind me still and I remember wondering what he was doing, thinking it was odd he was still standing there. ........

He then sat another platter down on the table, one that had a dark green box in the center of it. Sean's mom had pulled out her camera and started taking pictures. My face in the first picture says it fairly well. I was completely confused. haha. I looked at Sean's Mom, then his Dad, then back at Sean as he picked up the box from the platter and suddenly it dawned on me what was happening. The rest is almost a surreal blur. Sean got down on one knee in front of my chair and opened the box and said simply and beautifully, "I thought now would be a good time to ask, will you marry me?". I think I uttered, "oh my gosh....oh my gosh" as few times and I again looked to Sean's mom, grandfather, and dad, almost as if questioning if this was really happening. I then turned back to Sean and yelled, "of course!" and gave him a huge hug. He slipped my gorgeous ring onto my finger and everyone in the restaurant started to clap. As the clapping continued I held Sean's face in my hands and kissed him long and gentle. I was stunned, in awe, and so unbelievably happy.

Sean told me a few minutes later that I had scared him for a moment because I wasn't saying anything! hahaha. This pause was of course only due to my stunned state over what was happening. :) I've known for months that I would say "Yes" or in this case "Of course!" if and when Sean asked me for my hand in marriage.

A moment later I said that I absolutely had to call my Mom and apologized for being rude at the table. It was then that Sean told me that she already knew. He had called her a few days previous and asked for her permission to marry me. My heart fills with joy just typing it again now. It meant so much to me. I called my Mom with tears of happiness and said when she answered, "I can't believe you knew!"... I speak to her almost daily and she had never even let on in the tiniest way.

To top the evening off at the restaurant, our wonderful and talented chef came out (there's a picture of him as well), offered us his congratulations and gave us a bottle of wine as a gift. It was such a sweet and kind gesture.

The rest of the night is a total blur of phone calls, starring at my sparkly gorgeous ring, pictures, hugs, congratulations, and then finally snuggling up to my fiancé and drifting off to sleep.

I still look at the ring about every ten minutes; I love to look at the sparkle of the diamonds. It's absolutely stunning and perfect, just like my fiancé, the man I look forward to spending forever with.