So Friday was my 26th birthday...man I'm getting old. Sorry to anyone who has been waiting impatiently for this post but here is an update on my weekend. I overslept in the morning because I was soo tired and then when I got to work (only a couple minutes late) somebody had to park in my parking spot. Grrr...so i ended up having to park really far away. Then i stumbled to the pepsi machine to get my morning diet mountain dew but they were out! Grr...so i go to the vending machines in the other building to get one and they were restocking them...Grr. Most of the rest of my work day went like that - i just couldn't get a break. Finally, it was the end of the day and I was actually able to leave on time (for once) so I was excited to go home and get outta there - it started pouring down rain and I had to schlep out to the far parking lot since someone had taken my spot. So my birthday started out kind of crummy but I still had hope I would have a nice evening.
When I got home, Ryan had two coolers packed (one with food and one with drinks) for us to go on a picnic on the boat. He had built a canvas shade/rain cover for the boat and put twinkle lights up on the inside. He had even bought a camping picnic table that folds up for us to eat on. We grabbed jackets in case it started raining again and headed to the boat but right after we got on the boat it started raining really hard again. I was pleasantly surprised by his romantic idea so i was being a good sport even in the rain...I suggested we just wait and see if it stops raining. After about 10 minutes or so, we finally decided to just go back inside. We headed back inside and Ryan unpacked the picnic for us. He had bought a camping set to pack up our meals and made us Salmon, rice and dill sauce with sauteed squash and zucchini. He had also bought a mixed six pack of beers from ABC so we had some new beers to try.
After dinner, we were just lounging around on the couch and I was talking to a few family members who had called me to wish me a happy birthday. Ryan kept watching the weather to see if it would let up so we could still go drive around (i wasn't sure why but I figured he just wanted to use his canopy and lights he went to so much trouble to put up). Eventually, it was clear that it wasn't going to stop raining so ryan said "ok Ashley, do you want your birthday present?" and I said "i have a birthday present? yay! sure". He made me go sit on a couch and close my eyes while he went to get my present. When he said I could open my eyes, he had a very small box in his hands. He got down on one knee in front of me (I immediately started smiling) and he said "Ashley, I know I don't tell you often enough but I love you very much and I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Will you marry me?" And I immediately said "yes, of course" and gave him a big hug and a kiss. Then the excitement started to hit me...I was bouncing around the living room and dancing around and just being giddy. Then the obligatory phone calls, text messages, facebook notifications, etc. Everyone was as surprised as I was and very happy :)
I'm still shocked. And so impressed, he got me a beautiful ring and had a very sweet proposal that I'll never forget. The rest of the weekend was filled with celebratory dinners and drinks and general excitement. Every time I see my ring or its sparkle catches my eye I get all giddy again :) We have not set a date yet, there is a slight possibility of the first weekend of november 2012, otherwise we would wait until next spring. I'm sure there will be many more posts to come about the upcoming festivities. I just still can't believe he finally proposed! Yay!! :)
