Surprise! And a Special Dinner at Bella Notte

So... I'm engaged! Dave totally surprised me with a proposal yesterday morning. Here's the story, and some links for those of you who I called and were confused by the story.

Dave had driven to Lexington to see me this weekend, but he got in late Friday night. By the time he got here, I was already out on the town for Rosalie's bachelorette party. So Saturday morning, Dave and I wake up, eat our cereal, drink coffee, and are watching tv and checking e-mail, trying to figure out what to do that day and for the weekend. Basically, we're having our normal Saturday morning. I'm still in my pajamas, sitting on the couch, had not yet showered or brushed my teeth, and was pretty grungy after a night of dancing and being out at the bar. I suggested a walk, as it looked like it would be sunny. After checking weather.com and figuring out that it was going to be freezing, though, we decided we'd just find something else to do.

At this point, Dave gets up, leaves the room, and I assume he's going to the bathroom. I'm in the middle of e-mailing a friend, when he comes back in the room and says "Here, I printed out a lolcat for you."

Now let's break here. For those of you who don't know what a lolcat is, go here before continuing on with the story. Lolcats are a web phenomenon, and basically a website for pictures of cats and other cute animals with funny, nonsense captions. We are dorks. We love this site, and we laugh at it all the time. It is saturated with a high dose of cuteness, so it's just one of our little "things" that we like to share as a couple.

Back to the story. I think, "oh, cute, a lolcat, bet this will be funny." And I see this:


So here's my thought process over the next few seconds: "aw, Chloe! Isn't she cute. Wait a minute. Holy crap. Is he serious?" And then I look up, and there is a ring in my face. Dave is crouched down on my level, tells me I make him happier than anything in the world, and would I marry him?

After a moment of panic, screaming, uncontrollable crying, several "OH MY GOD ARE YOU SERIOUS"'s and a big hug, I said yes. I continued to cry and freak out, until Rosalie ran out of her room, asking what was going on, and shared in the excitement.

I was totally surprised. After he gave me the ring, I stood in the middle of the floor crying for a minute because I was in shock. I think I have never, ever been so surprised in my life. This tops the previous big surprise - my 17th birthday party. I knew he wanted to propose for a long time, but I honestly didn't expect it until at least after I had defended my quals, which will happen in another two weeks. I thought that by withholding my ring size and stone cut preference, there was no way he'd ever go out and get a ring. Oh, I was wrong! Dave has had the ring since before spring break. The only thing that kept him from proposing that week was my stress level. Apparently, I was so stressed out over studying for quals, that he feared a surprise proposal would add to my stress level, and/or distract me, and/or cause me to not give a very positive answer. He thought about waiting until after I defend, but he didn't want to wait that long. He wanted to propose while we were out on a walk, but since it was cold, and we'd already looked at lolcats that morning, he felt the timing was right that morning.

We are both very happy. It still hasn't really sunk in for me, but I'm really excited to have a fiance! Our families are happy, our friends are happy - it is a happy thing. Even though I gave him no direction on the ring (except for that one time I said I didn't like gold bands and liked solitaires), he did an amazing job choosing it. We are in the process of figuring out how to have a very small gathering to celebrate at some point next year, after I finish school.

I don't have a recipe to share, but instead, to celebrate, we went to our favorite restaurant in Lexington, Bella Notte. I'll share what we ate with you! Dave had amazing pork spideni, which was pork medallions, breaded and lightly fried, with apples, walnuts, and some sort of amazing sauce; I had penne kalamata, which is my favorite pasta there - penne with olives, pine nuts, grilled chicken, and a light butter sauce. Dessert was nothing less than stellar, and we even splurged and got two! Profiteroles, and panna cotta. The homemade caramel sauce and candied basil that accompanied the panna cotta took that dessert over the top. And the profiteroles were very nicely done; as if something made with espresso gelato can be less than amazing.

Oh my gosh. I'm engaged, to the most wonderful man in the world!