Our story left off with Bry home in Connecticut, and me at college, wrapping up my senior year of tough classes and student teaching. I had told Bry that I did not want to be proposed to during my student teaching. He agreed.
My spring semester was pure craziness. I was basically working a full-time teaching job- without getting paid AND writing out every detail of each lesson plan
{trust me, you don't do this once you actually start teaching!} I was a busy girl but made time for my favorite frequent visitor.
Student teaching wrapped up May 4th, 2010. I was thrilled to be finishing up college! Last few papers/projects were all working themselves out and I was so flipping excited to be two weeks away from living in the same state as the best boy ever!
Bry was due to come up that Friday for my Senior Formal. There were so many fun events and parties to go to. So here I am getting ready to go out to a friends house on Wednesday night, and what do I find outside my apartment? That's right. The guy showed up to surprise me and spend some time with me. I was so excited!
Senior Formal night came and we went into Boston. Our senior formal was being held at Top of the Hub - right at the very top of the Prudential Center. It was so much fun! Great food {yes, I still remember the lobster ravioli}, great dancing, & great views- the Yankees were playing at Fenway and won!
look behind me for fenway!
So, we have a great night in Boston. The next day, Saturday, May 8th, we planned to go into Boston for one last time before I graduated and moved home. So off we went back into Boston. Our plan was to go out to dinner at a cute little restaurant to celebrate my graduation.
We'd gotten into Boston a bit too early for our reservation, but I wanted to walk around Faneuil Hall. The weather was not agreeing though. So we went into a little pub for a few beers at Black Rose Pub. We sat down to watch the Yankees game. Now, I'm not one to want to watch many sports games on TV, however, after walking around cobblestone streets in heels, I wasn't about to protest.
We started having a discussion about getting engaged. I had made a comment the night before about "Oh, I'm just waiting for my next piece of jewelry he gives me..." He wasn't a fan of this little comment. He said, "Ali, I know you want us to get engaged, and I do, too. But you've got to stop making comments like that. This pressure isn't fun for me. Our time will come."
Well, that made me think our engagement was waaaay off. Like 6 months off. I said okay and knew to drop the subject. Meanwhile, this kid kept having to go to the bathroom. Bry always has to pee, so I didn't find anything unusual about this.
So it was almost time for our reservation. We walk to the Little Italy section of Boston. We ate at this restaurant called Mamma Maria. Pricey, but the boy said it was worth it because we were celebrating.
look straight up! ^ our table was right next to this little balcony by the staircase
We sat down and I see flowers on the table. Cute little display of purple and pink roses. He goes, "Babe, those are yours." And I said, "No, they aren't..." And he goes, "Yes, they are." I argue back, just because my guy has given me flowers maybe five times in the last 7 years {not to knock him, he's sweet}. I did look around and saw that there weren't any other tables with flowers so I sheepishly said, "Wow, thanks!" And we sat down.
He'd brought me a card and a gift for graduation. Of course, the card was full of mush and sweet words that I love to read. Then, he gave me a necklace. A pretty necklace that I really liked. It seemed to be weighted strangely though, and flipped around when it was on. So he suggested we return it and get something different.
Our meal came and we enjoyed our delicious dinner. We'd ordered a bottle of wine with dinner as well, and this really makes B have to take trips to the bathroom, so he kept getting up and down like a nut. He went again and on his way back, he sat down in his chair, and then stood right up and got down on one knee. I looked over at him, on one knee, holding a gorgeous ring out at me. He said, "Will you marry me?"
My eyes immediately got teary, even though I didn't even realize what was going on. I thought he was playing a trick on me. Could this actually be our proposal? He just said to stop talking about it.. How could this be? I started babbling on about this joke. I started saying, "Stop messing with me. This isn't funny. I'm serious, don't joke with me", all the while my eyes are blurry from tears and I'm trying to process this whole situation.
Then I stopped. I just stopped and started to believe him. I sat there and started to take it all in. Is this real? Could this be true? My thoughts were interrupted by his words, "...Ali?" I snapped back into reality. This was really real. Goodness! I quickly said "Yes, of course I'll marry you!" We hugged and kissed. And both of us couldn't believe this had actually happened.
The restaurant brought us champagne and congratulated us. We realized that we were being stared at by a bunch of other people who were all clapping for us. Bry went and sat back in his chair and sent out a bulk text saying "I'm engaged!" Which then caused about 40 other Congrats-texts.
We left the restaurant and snapped the one good photo we have from that night...
can we get any happier?!
{Turns out- all that peeing B did, well, that was just to check to make sure the ring was still in his pocket. And nerves. I'm pretty sure he was a bit nervous. And the comment about waiting for "our time"... And the necklace that didn't work... And the flowers on the table... That was all to throw me off. And he did.}
We got into the car and made all of our phone calls and when we arrived back in my neighborhood, our friends were all gathered for a mini-congrats party! What a perfect night!
4 days after student teaching was completed and we were engaged. And so the wedding planning began...
