Engaged, December 21 2010

I'd like to announce- blog style- that Dave and I are officially engaged. To many this is old news, but I figured I should write up a little something. I did know that it was coming, but I didn't know when. I thought he was going to propose when we were home for Christmas, but it ended up being a day and a half before we left for the holidays. Overall, the evening was very low key. We went to dinner at Stephanies on Newbury for dinner and then cruised Boston Public Garden where there were lines of Christmas trees lit up with twinkle lights. It was when we were cruising the pretty, albeit cold, garden when Dave got down on one knee and said, "well Michelle Hartman..." and held out the ring. He actually forgot to say the words "will you marry me" but that's OK because as it turns out, I forgot to say "Yes!" I just kept saying "I wasn't expecting this" at which point he stood up and said, "you haven't said yes yet!" haha... oops! We didn't have a camera and so I waited until I found a passer-by that looked friendly enough to ask to snap a quick photo of us with an iPhone. I made a couple of attempts which Dave intercepted because he was worried that they looked too much like people who would want to steal my ring! haha... that made me laugh. I finally asked a guy who looked friendly. He was so excited for us! It was cute. He said, "Oh my gosh, Congratulations!! Can I give you a hug?" Who can say no to that!?! Hugs all around! :) He proceeded to take about 7 pictures, determined to get a good one despite the lack of light, and he went on his way. Well, that's the end of it! It was very nice. We went home and opened a bottle of champagne. All in all, a great time.

We went home to California almost right after that and got to celebrate with our families. It was absolutely lovely. My mom and dad threw an engagement party for us. We weren't sure who would be able to make it because it was in between Christmas and New Years, but we had a great turn out! My Aunt Listy and Uncle Bob wrote us a song to the melody of a couple Christmas carols that was so nice! Such a fun party!! It's been plan plan plan ever since, but we are sooo excited!!! :)

Celebrating with his mom, Denise and sister, Colleen.

Here are some pictures from the engagement party. Enjoy!