Stop the blogosphere. I know you haven't heard the end of Brisbane or about the Fringe festival or any of the other happenings in Melbourne this spring. But I know many of you care very little about all of that and are much more concerned with details of my bigger and more exciting news so I shall jump ahead and simple share the details of last Sunday's magical day when Adi and I got engaged.It's no secret that I knew (or expected) a proposal to be forthcoming. With a date set and a venue selected, the only remaining tick on the list was an engagement. In fact, it was getting to the point that if Adi and I were walking out of the house and he bent down to tie his shoe, my heart started pounding.
So last Sunday, I awoke to go running and instead of simply rolling over to spread out across the bed as he does most mornings, he woke up and said, "Go running then we'll go for a drive." I told him the weather wasn't very nice and also that I knew he had work to do but he insisted. I had afternoon plans (the first southern hemisphere Check Your Boobies party!) so our time was limited. As I began my run, it began to rain so I used it as an excuse to bail and returned upstairs. I was surprised to see him out of bed and looking a little guilty, but I decided to go with it.
Id be remiss if I didn't mention that I decided to put on a little makeup, even though we were ostensibly just going hiking. He mocked me but we both knew what I was thinking.
We got in the car and headed towards the Mornington Peninsula...I wasn't sure where we were going and it turns out neither was he. We ended up in a car park and he had to check the melways, during which time I self-talked to myself that I shouldn't be mad that he had what seemed like no plan.
He finally found our way and we arrived at Pt. Nepean, a spot I'd wanted to visit since reading about it in Bill Bryson's hilarious book about Australia (In a Sunburned Country). In addition to being an important military base during WWII, this is the spot where Prime Minister Harold Holt went swimming one afternoon, never to be seen again. Yes, Australia lost a prime minister. Too bad we haven't let W just wander off like that...
We took a short walk, up past some bunkers and artillery remains until we reached a beautiful overlook. We could see Melbourne across the water as well as Queen's Cliff and the Pacific stretching out in front of us. The area was deserted and I was disappointed that we couldn't find the former Prime Minister (for whom a public pool in Melbourne is named after!)
As I took in the scenery, Adi handed me his ipod and said, "there's something I want you to hear." I was excited and pleased that it suddenly seemed like he'd thought things through a bit and wanted to set the mood. Imagine my thrill when I realised he'd recorded himself playing and singing the song "just the two of us", even changing the lyrics from "i want to spend some time with you" to "I want to spend the rest of my life with you".
While we listened to the song, we hugged and I could feel his heart pounding which I thought was pretty cute since I think he knew there was probably a yes forthcoming. After the song ended, he told me lots of nice things about me, including that he'd had a conversation with mom and dad- NOT to ask permission, as I had told him not to do that- I never did so why set a precedent- but for their blessing...which I am assuming they gave. Then he said, "so..." and went rummaging through his backpack. It took a little longer than I would have liked and I started to panic that he forgot the ring. But he finally extracted a small box and got down on one knee and asked me to marry him.
I said yes and was excited to see the ring. I hadn't really known what to expect- didn't even think I was getting a "real" ring or anything right now, given his student status and an heirloom waiting for us in the states. But he had organised of his own volition a unique ring, designed and crafted by our friend Romy, which makes it all the more special. It's white gold with a bezel set round diamond and a triangular cut out underneath the setting. He had been having secret meetings with her months ago- even had the ring for over 2 months! It explains a bit why he has taken to pointing out on more than one occasion that a triangle is the strongest structure...
The only problem is that he used a pinky ring I never wear to size it so as he went to slip it on, it stopped just above my knuckle. He insisted he used a ring I wear all the time (it wasn't until we got home and he showed me the ring he'd used that i understood that it wasn't going to fit) , so as we walked down the trail and back to the car, I figured it was because my hand was a bit swollen from the hike and I forced it onto my finger. This proved to be a big mistake as my finger started to throb and quickly turned an attractive yet scary-looking purple. I tried to get it off and it wouldn't budge so in as calm a voice as I could muster, I asked my new fiance to get some sunscreen from my pack and we gooped it on the finger and after a short struggle and a little bit of ripped skin, I was able to remove it. I had a fleeting fearful thought that the day would be remembered as the time I had my finger amputated as opposed to the day we got engaged. But I got it off and decided not to put it back on that finger until it had been resized!
Romy came over the next day to pick it up and I got it back Wednesday and now, as you'll see below, it fits great and looks great and I love it! I even got my first manicure ever yesterday and it looks even more special. (I just stopped biting my nails a few weeks ago...see, I knew this was coming!)
We had originally planned to go to dinner to celebrate that evening, but I had the Check Your Boobies party- a huge success by the way- so we postponed until this past Friday night. We went to NOBU and had a fabulous meal. We put ourselves in our waitress' hands and she didn't disappoint- the highlight was the 3-day sweet soy and miso-marinated Black Cod. Yum! And we finished with a sweet dessert, emblazoned with good wishes from the kitchen.
And that is the happy ending to this chapter of our love story. I look forward to sharing many more happy stories with you all, and will do my best to keep wedding planning out of the blogosphere because really, that's boring!
But this is exciting and I am happy bride-to-be!
DON'T FORGET TO VOTE!!!!!
xxx
Moments after I say YES!
a mediocre self-timer but we're happy!
the romantic history of our engagement spot!Stuffed after 10 courses at Nobu.
Of course, we have room for dessert!Some ring pics:
and finally, I voted- so you should too!:
