Throwback Thursday: Our Engagement Story

I mentioned in my Blogiversary post, that I had a few new post ideas up my sleeve. Since I started this blog two years after my wedding, I never got to share any of those fun memories here. I wanted to do this Throwback Thursday series to share a little bit more about myself so you could get to know me better. This is so much fun for me to write. Pulling out our engagement album made me so happy remembering how I felt at that moment.

After we got engaged, I wrote down our story so I wouldn’t forget any of it:

John had decided to propose during our trip to Anna Maria Island, Florida for a wedding in April 2009. This was our first long trip together and we had a lot of fun making the plans. The wedding was beautiful and we had a great time! John even mentioned to the groom that he was thinking about proposing.

Over the next month, John started researching rings. He wanted to get a ring that looked similar to a Tiffany ring that I had admired. While I was in San Diego for a friend’s wedding, John was busy going to five jewelry stores, shopping around and trying to find the perfect ring. He finally purchased a beautiful ring. John also took a trip to my parent’s house to ask my father’s permission to propose to me.

We both had 4th of July weekend free so John planned a trip to Toledo where we would go to a MudHens game and take a trip to the Toledo Zoo to see the elephants. This was something we wanted to do for a long time and John planned the entire trip and sent me an email with all the trip details.

When I returned from San Diego I noticed that John had lost weight and I was surprised that he hadn’t spent the week partying with his friends. I had no idea that he had been worried about getting the ring on time and nervous about the proposal.

Every time John and I went on a trip or took a long weekend, one of my coworkers, would ask “Do you think he’s going to propose?” I would always laugh and say “Oh no, he’s not going to propose for a long time.” When I told her that we were going to Toledo for 4th of July weekend she asked if I thought he would propose to me. I said “Oh no…he’s not going to propose in TOLEDO!” I had no idea that he was even thinking about proposing, I just assumed that the trip was something nice for my upcoming birthday.

On our drive down to Toledo I spent the whole trip talking about weddings and what I would do if we ever got married. I told him that my coworker had asked me if I thought he would propose on our trip and told him “I said, oh no, he wouldn’t propose in TOLEDO!” I even suggested a song that we should play as we were entering our reception. I was reading US magazine which happened to be Kendra’s wedding album and I kept running my mouth about weddings, weddings, weddings. I also saw an ad for a shirt that said “He put a ring on it” and thought that was hilarious. The whole time not knowing that John had a ring in his suitcase.

When we got to the Crowne Plaza and walked into our room I was so surprised! It was a beautiful room with a river view and we would have a great view of the fireworks later in the evening. When we walked in I said “This is pretty nice! I guess you could propose in TOLEDO!”

We had a few drinks before the game and while I was admiring the view, John retrieved the ring from his suitcase. When I turned around he started telling me how important I was to him and how much he loved me and then he got down on one knee to propose. I thought he was joking because of all the comments I had made throughout the day. I told him to be serious. I didn’t realize he was actually proposing until he presented me with a beautiful ring and asked me to marry him. I almost fell over before saying yes!

I took a few pictures in the hotel before the proposal, and I think this captures it perfectly. He must have been so nervous at this point because he proposed about two minutes after this photo:

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After the proposal, we had tickets to the Toledo Mudhens game and we could not stop smiling.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA The next day, I wanted to walk down by the river and take a few photos to commemorate the occasion:

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAThen we headed off to the zoo and had some fun with ring pictures:

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERASince we went to see the elephants, we had to get this picture:

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This was the most wonderful trip and one of the best weekends of my life. In the morning at breakfast, before the zoo, we made a lot of wedding decisions about what we both wanted. I remember walking around the zoo just beaming the whole time…I was on cloud nine!

We had a blast telling all of our family and friends that we were engaged over the following week. When we officially announced our engagement on social media, I shared this picture:

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I hope this gave you a little peak into who I am. I am a romantic at heart and would love to hear your engagement stories, whether they are recent or from years ago!


The City of Love

To kick off this blog I thought I would start by recapping our 2nd anniversary celebration. This seemed fitting to me because I first wanted to start a blog when we got engaged to chronicle the wedding, and then again after we were married to chronicle our newlywed adventures. I figured four years later, I’m finally going to do it!

My husband and I were married on May 7, 2011 so this was our second anniversary aka “the cotton anniversary.” We got married on the 7th because my birthday is July 7 and his is August 7 and we thought it would be cool if all of our big dates were 7-7-7 (21 in blackjack which I am obsessed with). Now in the future if we can make sure all of our kids are born on the 7th that would be pretty cool.

We got engaged in Toledo, Ohio (I will share our engagement story in another post) and ever since have jokingly called it “The City of Love.” We usually  go back there once a year to celebrate our anniversary and try to do a similar trip.

This year was even more exciting because we hadn’t been back since they opened the new casino and it was Star Wars weekend (yes, I’m a nerd, I know)!

Our trip started on Friday night after work. Toledo is only about an hour drive from us so it is a nice little trip. We stayed at the same hotel we did when we got engaged and they really rolled out the red carpet for us. When we were checking in I mentioned that we had got engaged there four years ago and that we were hoping to get a corner room similar to the one we had before.

They did better than that, they got us the exact same room!! I didn’t even realize that they kept records that far back. The room number was 1023, John said he would never forget it. Kudos to The Best Western Toledo  -they went above and beyond for us the entire weekend and made it really special.

After that we decided to head on over to the new Hollywood Casino for some grub and blackjack. The first thing I noticed about the casino was that it was smoke free which was just awesome! We had dinner at Scene, a sports bar restaurant and then proceeded to lose our shirts at blackjack. Oh well, we still had a great time.

We were so excited for Saturday because it was May 4 aka “May the Fourth Be With You.” We had tickets to go to the Toledo Mudhens game which was a Star War theme. The players were wearing special jerseys and they had their first fireworks of the season, set to Star Wars music. Even though they lost, we had a great time!

Chewbacca replica Mudhen's Jerseys (photo from Crain's Detroit Business)

Chewbacca replica Mudhen’s Jerseys (photo from Crain’s Detroit Business)

"Feel the Force!" - Yoda

“Feel the Force!” – Yoda

After the game, we came back to our room and did a special anniversary toast with our toasting glasses from the wedding. We opened a bottle of champagne that I had been saving from our honeymoon. We bought it from the Murgo Winery in Sicily at the bottom of Mt. Etna and it was delicious!

Cheers to us!

Cheers to us!

On Sunday, we made our way to the Toledo Zoo to see the elephants! My husband and I love elephants and the Toledo Zoo has a baby elephant named Lucas. We got to see their revamped African exhibit and we even got to see feeding time – it was so cool! The zoo also had two baby polar bear cubs that were about five months old. They were just darling.

Elephants Rock!

Elephants Rock!

 

Feeding Time!

Feeding Time!

We had a wonderful time and if it’s possible fell more in love, in the city of love.

Happy Anniversary!

Happy Anniversary!

 

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