Archive for July 2013

Proposal Written All Over It

Monday, July 15, 2013

I used to do the typical girl fantasy trips to Engagementland, making believe I had some bling on my left ring finger, imagining what it would feel like. But once the receipt was in the house and I knew the ring was in production, the daydreams were much different. There was an actual idea of THE ring, not just some maybe, sort of, it might look like kind of thought. I knew what it was going to be. I knew it was coming. I just didn’t know when.

The verbal timeline/receipt promise date snafu totally didn’t help my inner control freak. How could I mentally prepare to be proposed to on our anniversary if there was a possibility the ring wasn’t going to be ready? This thought obviously doesn’t fall into the rational category but this girl right here hates surprises, despises the unexpected, does not like to be caught off guard. Scary movies? No thanks, I don’t know what door the killer is behind. Movies in 3D (or even worse, 4D)? Uh uh, no way, not for this girl. Again, I know I sound like a whackadoo but it’s just how I roll. And honesty is the best policy here, right?

I promise this is not foreshadowing to Bridezillaland. Pinky promise. // Source: SheKnows.com

One person that wasn’t exactly the Xanax to my anxiety: Mr. PB. He loved the fact that the date mixup happened; it played right into his favor. Any time I would try to squeeze information out of him, he could play it either way – act like it was going to be ready for our anniversary or pretend that there’s no way our anniversary would be the day. Sigh, I guess I had to give up my grip on things a little.

Leading up to our anniversary, my Spidey senses were extra tingly. I had a heightened awareness of everything Mr. PB did, caught on to things that were out of the norm for him and tried to do my best Olivia Benson impression to find clues. As the night before our anniversary turned into the wee hours of what I originally thought was E-day, I still wasn’t 100 percent sure either way what the day would have in store. I finished up my gift to him and got into bed.

Mr. PB and I had planned a trip to the Toronto Zoo for our second anniversary so we woke up bright and early. I wanted to give him his gift right away – a framed page from my journal that I had written just after we started dating, in which I write a note to him saying that I was sure he is the one for me. After that, he brought my gift to me. It was something bigger, about 16×20, wrapped in silver holographic paper. He asked if I knew how much he loved me and that he wants to be with me forever and I was definitely sure of both. I opened the gift to find:

 IMG_5096

What’s black and white with proposal written all over it? // Personal photo

In all honesty, at this point, I STILL wasn’t sure this was it. Sure, he was giving me a canvas that had the word spray painted on it but he wasn’t down on one knee, he didn’t have a ring box and as far as I knew, the ring was still at the jewelers. Maybe it was the disbelief and the realness overwhelming me, but I definitely wasn’t with it. Mr. PB looked at me like he was waiting for something so my first response to his non-verbal question was: “Is this for real?!” (Smooth, I know!) He then walked over to his dresser, pulled out the Kay bag and brought a ring box over to me. I was totally overwhelmed. I said yes, of course, and he put my newest piece of jewelry on me.

IMG_5095

He liked it so he put a ring on it. // Personal photo

After calling a few people and texting many more (it was still early), we headed off to the Toronto Zoo as an engaged couple.

IMG_5099

The newly engaged Phone Booths cheesing it up in the Toronto Zoo // Personal photo

What’s your proposal story? Am I the only one out there that wasn’t completely sure what was happening?

Posted in Let's Be Real, When the Knot is Tied | No Comments »

Bling Bling Bling – All About the Ring

Wednesday, July 10, 2013

So after we lived together and adopted two fur babies, the Cliff Notes of the next 12 months went something like this: Celebrate one year anniversary. Decide to house hunt. Put an offer in on the third house we saw less than 12 hours after visiting it (another example of us going with our guts). Buy a house. Move. Begin to get settled.

If we were on a road trip, we’d now be entering August 2012. One day, Aug. 13 to be exact, I’m sitting at home, relaxing by myself, Mr. PB is off doing something with Gee and Gold. Whatever they were up to seemed to be taking a bit longer than originally planned, so I called Mr. PB.

Me: Where are you?
Mr. PB: I’m coming home soon.
Me: I thought you were coming home a while ago.
Mr. PB: Well, I had to help Gee move a treadmill.
Me: What?! That doesn’t make any sense. What were you really doing?
Mr. PB: Moving a treadmill…
Me: You’re up to something…
Mr. PB: If you open the door for me when you get home, I’ll tell you what I was really doing.

I anxiously await his return home and let him in. He had a strange look on his face and I inquired as to what he was doing. From behind his back, he pulls this out:

IMG_4910

Neil Lane and Jane Seymour may have been uninvited house guests but they were welcomed nonetheless. // Personal photo.

Needless to say, my mind went a million miles an hour and my heart rate quadrupled. (Maybe that’s not scientifically accurate but it sure felt that way.) After the what, who, why and other questions I was able to muster out, I began to compose myself and realize that things just got really real. Mr. PB and I had been talking about marriage before we were even FBO but this took things to another level. Ring shopping. With his brother. Without me knowing. Wowzers.

Luckily, Mr. PB brought Gee with him and after Mr. PB looked at a few options, Gee suggested Mr. PB include me in the process. Gee wasn’t quite sure that Mr. PB was on the same page as me when it came to rings. Gee was right, I wasn’t thinking about sparklers from Kay’s. I had been pinning faux diamond rings from Etsy, sure that I didn’t want Mr. PB spending the amount of money associated with a diamond sparkler. Mr. PB, being the stubborn guy he can be every now and again, was determined to only get me a real diamond despite my plans.

Mr. PB and I chatted and opted that we would buck tradition like we had already with many other things. We decided to go ring shopping together. We could look at the options, I could narrow it down to three and then he could pick the final one. We went to Kay’s (Gold has a friend at one of the locations) and started browsing. I had an idea in my head of what I wanted: simple but not plain, round center diamond, a few smaller side stones. I wasn’t totally up to snuff with things like clarity, carat or cut. A few of the ring options piqued my interest but I wasn’t head over heels about anything. Trying to explain what I wanted, I pointed to a round cut solitaire and then a diamond wedding band, wishing the two were together. Apparently, my wish was the salesman’s command and he said it could be done!

IMG_4940

I was trying to envision and document what the ring would look like // Personal photo

I immediately became giddy and decided that was definitely one of the three options. I don’t remember what the other two were but I was prepared for Mr. PB to pick. The salesman was trying to help with the anticipation, playing it off like the other two were contenders but he knew that the customized ring was my fave. Mr. PB decided not to have me leave and just double, triple and quadrupled checked that the custom one was definitely my fave. After I confirmed it was, the deal was done and off to the register he went!

As he was checking out, the salesman told him that the ring needed to be sent to a central location to be customized and it could take a couple of weeks. It was August 17 and our anniversary was less than a month away. I was CERTAIN that he would propose on our two-year anniversary so I was hoping there would be enough time. The salesman verbally confirmed that the ring would be ready by August 30. In that moment, I basically had Engagement Day (or E-day) penciled Sharpied in for the second week of September. As we were leaving and I was looking over the paperwork, I saw the promise date for the ring: September 30. Womp womp.

Did your fiance surprise you with ring shopping? Did you go shopping with him? Were you sure you were going to be proposed to on a certain day?

Posted in When the Knot is Tied | No Comments »

The Fast and the Furriest

Wednesday, July 3, 2013

As foreshadowed in my previous post, Mr. PB and I moved quickly once we saw past our inaccurate perceptions of each other. From the Jedi mind trick to us going out for the first time to then becoming FBO (Facebook Official) to us sharing our love with each other, it was only 16 days. Mr. PB even jokingly brought up us going to Vegas and getting married before we were even FBO. Both of us weren’t shy with how we felt and neither of us were afraid to move the relationship further.

So after four months of being together (and just about as many sleepovers), we decided to start looking for our own place. By February 2011, we were moving into our own townhouse together.

fb_move

Looking back, I’ll definitely say rain on a moving day is good luck, too! // Source: Facebook/Paint

After getting adjusted to living together for just six months, our family doubled.

conan_belle

Meet Conan and Belle! // Personal photo

Mr. PB and I decided to adopt two kitties from our local Humane Society shelter, Lollypop Farm. They’re truly our babies and we may talk to them like they’re humans (but you don’t have any proof of that!). The kitties have grown since the above photo and so has our love for them. I wasn’t much of a cat person before we adopted the brother and sister duo but now I can’t imagine my life without these fur babies.

For those keeping score at home, that’s 11 months, a townhouse, two cats and a partridge in a pear tree. (Okay, maybe not the last one.) Mr. K and I never really thought twice about our decisions and the speed we were doing them in. Even if others didn’t completely understand or agree with our actions or the swiftness of our choices, we knew deep down that it was what we wanted and felt most comfortable with.

Did you move quicker with your fiance than the “norm”? Did fur babies make their way into your relationship as well?

Posted in Nice to Meet You, When the Knot is Tied | No Comments »

Newer Entries »