Want to know how we got engaged on Valentines day, February 14th 2009? I present a two-part blog covering it!
Just to be clear, it was a very elaborate setup starting nearly 8 months before I popped the question on Saturday the 14th (Valentines day). I had to arrange for vacation travel, pick the perfect diamond and ring, and setup all the other little (huge) details to ensure that she would be totally surprised. Guys, start early for something like this.
It all fell into place on Friday the 13th(!) as we headed down into Noe for a quick early-morning bite at Toast. We do this on occasion, having breakfast then heading into the office. On Thursday, I had sent her a bunch of roses with an encoded message on a gift card [
Surprise #1]. Therefore, she knew I was aware that Valentines day was lurking a few days ahead. For the entire week she had been nagging me to confirm some restaurant reservations on Satudray. She knows that I always get some reservations, but since I had apparantly done a good job of acting this year, she believed that I was totally dropping the ball.
Back to the gift card I had sent with the roses.
She hadn't had a chance to work on it on Thursday night because I had dropped her off for a "surprise" manicure, pedicure at her favorite nail place. I then went and had a few beers while she was being worked on. We met back up after the procedure and we went directly to Spork in the mission to grab some food. Tasty steak if I am not mistaken. One beer quickly became two, and the belgians we were drinking had no mercy. We got back home around 9 PM and she fell asleep like a rock.
[pre-dawn the next morning, a ninja appears and dissapears]
Now, jump back to Friday morning, sitting in Toast, having some great food while Ashley is working with a piece of paper trying to decode the message.
She finally! worked it out during breakfast (all on her own) and as it turned out the secret message was "
Get Ready For A Big Surprise" (emphasis mine).
Once she finished, a very curious Ashley and I headed back up to the house in the pouring rain to grab our things to head into work. About half way up to the house, I blurted out, "I feel like not going to work. In fact, I feel like you need a very relaxing weekend".
She told me she had a VERY busy day planned for Friday, and I know she wont admit this, but she was starting to get upset that I was going to delay her from getting into the office. It was at this point I told her that I really just wanted to drive away to a nice warm location (SF was underwater from all the rain at the time) because I felt like she could use the rest [
Surprise #2].
She finally gave in (I pulled no punches in my debate with her!) and I had her pack just a small essentials bag and a few warm-weather clothes. I gave her the impression that we would drive down to L.A. or San Diego and get some sun in a hotel. Or better, we could find a beach resort on the way by searching on the Internet for some good deals (we have actually done this before).
So, she packed her stuff in nearly 30 minutes. I had previously scheduled a cab to arrive at our house at 11:30 AM to pick us up to take us to the airport. It arrived right on time. I had the cabbie wait outside while I "packed the car".
Around 11:45 AM, when Ashley brought her only bag outside to put it into the car, she was surprised to find the cabbie there, waiting to pick us up. I told her that I decided to get some airline tickets instead of driving, and that we would probably just rent a car in L.A. and just start calling around looking for a place when we get to there [
Surprise #3].
I felt like she was starting to get wise at some point during the packing because it was at that time when she realized our dog ,Winston wasn't underfoot as normal. I kept covering for his absence. You see, the ninja in the early morning light had driven all the way to Hercules to check the dog into the dog spa Metro Dog (which he and we love very much!). I kept telling ashley that he was always either outside, or else I saw him under the bed.
Once we got into the cab, she told me she wanted to call her boss to let him know that she wasn't going to make it into work. I then revealed to her that I had confiscated her phone in order to force her to relax. "It is this constant connection that keeps you so stressed out!", I said.
It was then that I told her that I had taken the libery of contacting her boss (a very good-spirited guy) and asked him to cover for her while I took her off to a nice Southern California relaxation weekend (actually I told him what the plan was, but you have to wait for it). She was VERY excited about this [
Surprise #4] and she never asked for her phone back the whole trip except to tweet or browse the web the rest of the trip.
When we got to the airport, I had asked American Airlines to cover for my romantic surprise trip and they totally checked us in and checked our baggage without ever revealing to Ashley that we had a connecting flight in L.A. [
Surprise #5!] We left our luggage with an attendant and proceeded to grab some lunch at Mission in SFO while we waited for our flight.
So, we boarded the plane, bound for L.A. One and a half hours later, we arrive and deplane, heading for our baggage. Something fun for me was while we were still on the plane, on at least two or thee instances, the stewardesses made announcements concerning connecting flights and it felt that each time they mentioned our final destination, I was sure Ashley was going to catch onto the ruse. She never did!
Just before we reached the No-Going-Back exit from the American terminals in L.A., I stopped and stated that I had a change of mind. I told her that I had instead decided we should continue our journey. I asked her if she minded if I went in for some snacks before I made up my mind.
She went willingly, we browsed the isles of the newsstand, I think it was Hudson News. I selected a snack, Island fruit medley. I wanted another snack and I asked ashley if she could find me some of those onion chips... the Maui onion flavor. She looked around really hard for me, but she never found any. I told her it was okay, I would just get some later. She still didn't seem to get the hint.
After getting snacks, I walked to the terminal node where our connecting gate was. I believe there were 6 other gates in the area. Destinations were New York, Minneapolis, Maui, Kona, and I think Honolulu. I remember saying to her, "Go ahead baby, pick one". She said back to me, supiciously... "Hawaii"???
Part 2 continues the story ...*update* in a few days
. We are flying to NM to meet with family to share our good news!
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Created 153 weeks, 3 days ago