I Said Yes, Obviously.

Steven and I have been (happily) engaged for exactly (pretty much to the minute) one week now : ) How crazy is that?? I can't believe it! I'll admit that I was expecting it sometime soon, in fact, we were already in the process of planning the wedding, but Steven totally took me by surprise!

****

He could not have chosen a more perfect day and when he suggested we go to Volunteer Park on Capital Hill to watch the sunset... well, I had no idea what was in store. I was certain he didn't have the ring yet so I was doing my best not to anticipate something that I didn't think would be coming so soon. We spent the afternoon playing Bananagrams in the Tea Cup and by the third round Steven's brain had "stopped working" so he suggested we head over to the park -- evidently his nerves were starting to have an impact on his spelling abilities, plus, little did I know, he had a schedule to stick to : )

As we walked through the park, I was a bit confused as to why we were walking away from what I thought would have been the perfect place to watch the sunset. Then, Steven kept suggesting we sit in the non-sunny places. And I was getting all whiny because I didn't want to sit in the shady spots... that would be my "princess complex" coming through -- I'm not always proud of it. Then he said, "Okay, well, I do have one more question for you..." my heart sort of skipped a beat and I got a little anxious but I think for half a second he wasn't quite sure this was the way he wanted to ask so he added "no, really. I have another question." And I think I got a somewhat exasperated look on my face thinking seriously?? What is he playing at here? And then he knelt down, pulled out a ring and asked me to marry him.

****

Here's where our stories change a little bit: I would tell you he that he knelt down, asked me, I said yes, and then he popped back up and I kissed him and it all went by really fast. He would tell you that I didn't say anything at all but just smiled and sort of nodded a little bit and he had to give me a questioning look before I said "uh-huh!" Uh-huh? Eloquent. Is that really what I said?

Anyhow, I thought it was a total whirl-wind. Regardless, I gave a positive response of some sort and Steven stood up and kissed me and it was a lovely moment. I thought that was it. I was wrong.

All of the sudden there were seven ninjas running out of the woods (okay, small cluster of trees) at us. I was slightly perplexed. They threw a blanket down on the ground and set out a picnic basket and pulled out plates of cheese and crackers and a bag of m&ms and someone was lighting a candle and there was wine and someone pushed Steven back down on his knees and handed him a bouquet of flowers to give to me and rose petals were being thrown everywhere -- you can actually see them flying in the photo below. It turns out that when Steven was suggesting we sit in the not-so-sunny areas, he was really just trying to distract me from the clump of trees to make sure I didn't see any of the ninjas who were hiding there.

While all this was happening, I was just standing there. Staring. At one point I think I asked Steven if I should say hello to them and he told me that they weren't supposed to talk to me. I didn't want to get them in trouble so I didn't talk to them either : ) At this time I noticed Mandie taking photos from the trees where everyone had been hiding. I was so excited to see that she was taking photos!! There are so many cute pictures from our proposal and I feel like I'm very lucky to have them. She definitely caught some interesting emotions from me...

Here's a photo of our ninjas: Morgan, Kira, Michael, Charlie, Tim, Lena and Aaron. Thanks guys!!

As the ninjas retreated back into the woods Steven looked at me and asked "are you going to take the ring?" "Of course!!!" He had been holding it that whole time and I hadn't even gotten a good look at it! It fit perfectly and it's absolutely beautiful!! He chose it all by himself and I just love it!
Steven was still shaking as we sat down on our blanket. I don't know why he was nervous -- we had already chosen a date and I had already ordered my dress at this point, I think that means I'm pretty darn committed -- but I guess it was just a big surge of adrenaline.

I called my mom and a few other people who I thought should be the first to know and we spent a little bit of time with a few of our ninja friends before settling down onto our blanket. We sat and enjoyed our picnic until the sun had set and we were so cold that my fingers and toes were starting to hurt. I didn't want to leave! It was such a special time and I really didn't want it to end. Honestly though, I was plenty surprised and I couldn't have imagined a more perfect proposal. I just love Steven so much and I can't believe I have to wait six more months to be married to him! Really, it's far too long.

****

From there, we went out for Thai food on lower Queen Anne and spent the rest of the evening calling everyone and sharing our good news. We even made a few surprise visits so that Hilde, Chelsea and Claire could be excited with us.

****

And now, I have a wedding to plan... good thing I like lists : )

**For a better look at the photos check out my sisters blog
http://sindisiwephotography.com/blog/?p=430

Well Friends...

It's official.
Steven and I are engaged.

My ring is gorgeous -- and sparkly. I couldn't be happier.

Bananagrams in Berkeley.

(Should have written this a while ago -- I struggle with procrastination. Check in with Ellen DeGeneres. She can tell you all about procrastination.)

*
A couple of weeks ago I went down to Berkeley, CA to spend the weekend with my beloved roommate -- Paige. Isn't she the greatest? I just love Paige.

*
We had an absolutely marvelous time!! We did so many super fun things you just wouldn't believe it. Even if I told you, which I'm about to do. (Of course, Paige may very well be the only person who still reads this and there's a very good chance that she will believe me!)

*
I arrived on Thursday and Paige picked me up from the Oakland airport. It was so great to see her!! We drove back to her home in Berkeley and I was so happy to be in her car -- a silly thing to be happy about really but Paige and I have spent so many hours together in that car and it was like my own little piece of home in this new city I had never even been to. We spent the evening hanging out with all six of Paige's roommates, eating chocolate cake (don't act so surprised -- this is Paige we're talking about. Chocolate just seems to find her.), and watching Ellen DeGeneres on DVD. We laughed a lot. It was during this time that we found our theme song for the weekend:

****

Momma keeps whites bright like the sunlight,

Momma's got the magic of Clorox bleach!

****

Sorry Paige! You probably just got that unstuck from your head. Anyhow, Ellen sang that song on the show and it was ridiculous and we were all singing it for the next three days straight.

****

On Friday, I got to go see Paige's work. She is a full-time volunteer at a place that helps homeless and nearly homeless seniors. That's totally lacking in detail but, you can ask her about it. I met some of her coworkers and Paige and I served lunch together. After work we went to Fentons for ice cream! Yum!! And so cute! It's this ice cream shop slash restaurant and it's the same one that they go to at the end of the movie Up! Evidently the Pixar team always goes to Fentons after they finish a film or something like that so they decided to throw it into the movie. We shared some coffee-cookies-n-cream ice cream and it was a lovely little much needed roommate date.

****

That evening, Paige and her roommates took me to this restaurant called The Cheeseboard. At that place they serve pizza and they only serve one type of pizza all day long but it changes everyday. The pizza is $2.50 a slice and they give you a little baby slice on top of the big one. The night we were there we had pizza with olive oil instead of sauce, pears, walnuts, gorgonzola cheese and mozzarella. Strange, but tasty. I also just really enjoyed the experience. You can tell it's totally a Berkeley hot spot -- it seems to be busy all the time. On the way back to the house we stopped for frozen yogurt. Paige and I shared raspberry and chocolate with pecans mixed in and it was delightful.

****

On Saturday, we planned to spend the entire day in San Fransisco. We woke up super excited to see the sunshine coming in the windows -- it had been raining all week. We dressed all cute, packed a lunch, grabbed our cameras and drove into the city. The rain beat us to it. Fortunately, it was only sprinkling. We met Erica for breakfast at a cute little French cafe. It was so fun to see her and hear all about what she's up to in San Fran these days.

****

We had planned many great things for after Erica went to work but the rain started coming down really hard and by the time we had walked through China town, we looked like we had taken showers fully clothed.

It was rather comical actually. At some point we stopped avoiding puddling and dripping eaves and we laughed the whole time. The best part was probably when a huge drop of water fell directly into Paige's eye and she squealed startling every pedestrian in China Town... I was amused : )
*
We decided we had had enough of San Fransisco and as we drove back across the Bay Bridge, the sun came out. Figures. We'll win next time. We went back to the house and got all cozy and dry before heading out to do the grocery shopping. They have this really great shop called Berkeley Bowl. They have everything there. Including durian!!! Really, no one should have durian, it's unnecessary. Sometimes I see it at Uwajamia but the ones there are usually quite small. These ones were legit -- just like the ones in Singapore. Fortunately none of them were cut into so you couldn't really smell them too much.

Since the sun decided to come out for the last half of the day, Paige took me to Indian Rock to watch the sunset!

As Paige described it to me, Indian Rock is pretty much like the Kerry Park of Berkeley. It's the place to go for a really good view. It was really pretty and since the weather was nice, it felt good to just spend a little time outside.

I got a pretty decent view of the Golden Gate bridge. People always say that the Golden Gate bridge tends to be completely lost in the fog so I felt rather lucky. I got to see it a few times -- driving in and out of San Fransisco and then here from the park.

I liked the sitting-on-the-rock-watching-the-sunset experience. There were so many people there -- couples, families, friends -- and you could hear everyone talking but no one was self conscious about being so close to everyone else. Everyone was just sitting on the rock enjoying the same view but having their own individual experience. It was just a cool feeling I had while I was sitting there. Plus, Paige and I are really cute, so that's good too.

Saturday night was an evening spent watching Survivor -- Paige and her housemates have been getting the DVDs from Netflix. They were in the middle of season 2 when I arrived. We watched four episodes and probably would have continued watching if we had the other DVDs...

Sunday morning was super exciting!! We went to a Thai temple for brunch! It was pretty much the greatest!! You just go around to the back of the temple and they have all of this seating set up outside and then you go to this one tent and you give them money and they give you coins. So, I gave them $8 and they gave me 8 coins and then I took 7 coins to one of the food stations and got rice with phad thai, spicy green beans and yellow curry, and then I spent my last coin on a glass of Thai iced tea. We got two huge plates of food and a plate of dessert and Paige and one of her housemates and I shared all of it. It was SO GOOD and so fun and so special. It was just such a cool thing to do, I couldn't even believe it and it's probably good that I don't live there because I would want to go every week!!

Paige and I spent the rest of the day shopping, eating $1 ice cream cones from a place called John's and playing Bananagrams in a coffee shop with a couple of her housemates. Paige is fantastically good at that game -- I need some more practice. I still think it's great fun though.

*

It was a wonderfully phenomenal weekend that went by far too quickly. I can't wait to go back for another visit!

Missing you Paige!!

The Plan... for now.

Well hello!! And happy new year. A new year. Wow. Ridiculous. Here I am. All graduated and back in the country and everything. I even moved back in with my mom, which has been absolutely lovely. I've been missing my blogging and I figured as long as I was awake, this was a perfect time for it.

Since I've been back I've been going through one of those phases where everyone keeps asking "So, Steph, what's your plan now?" Man. I am so tired of people asking!!! It's a fair question, I would be curious too, the problem is: I didn't have an answer! I got really good at just smiling and saying, "I don't know!" as if it's all just one grand adventure and I couldn't be happier that I don't have a plan. Wrong wrong wrong! I'm a plan girl and I need a plan so... now I kind of have one. I've been working really hard and getting things done and filling out applications and things are starting to come together.

First of all, I am all registered to start substitute teaching in the Northshore School District -- woohoo!! It's not my first choice of things to do but the extra experience would be excellent and, let's face it, I could use some kind of an income. I'll probably apply to sub with another district or two to give myself a better chance of getting work.

Secondly, I'm going to start selling Pampered Chef! Also very exciting. I love cooking/baking and I love kitchen things and I think it will be great fun. I ordered my stuff for it this weekend and I've got 4 parties lined up as of right now.

Thirdly, I'm working on getting some sort of an internship or something with an event coordinator. I had coffee one last week and she's hoping that maybe I will be able to work for her a little bit this spring and summer. I would really love to learn more about that industry and do some networking. I think I could be quite good at that planning slash coordinating stuff.

And finally, I am going to start getting to sleep earlier!!! I don't know what my problem is. I just can't get my brain to settle down, which is why I am typing this at 2am...

So that's the plan. At least for now. I'll keep you updated.

I'm home.

Does anyone still read this? I kind of figured that most people knew I was home... I still meant to update a while ago but things have been busy. Real busy. Good busy though. It's so nice to be home!! I'm not really doing much of anything productive but I'm just enjoying spending time with people and watching those last few Christmas movies before we pack them up until next year. I'm looking for a job... sort of. If you hear of any good opportunities, you should let me know : )

That's pretty much it for right now but maybe I'll continue to post something every now and then... it's kind of fun. Hope you had a very merry Christmas.

Still Alive!

And having a blast! I know, it's been a few days since I blogged, but we have been crazy busy! I'm only going to give you a (very) brief overview and then I really need to be getting to sleep.
Last Thursday, the three of us went into London and took a 4 hour bike tour through the city. BEST day I had spent in London yet. It was absolutely phenomenal. The weather was brilliant and we saw so so so much in a short amount of time.

Including Peter : ) We like him.

The next morning, Hilde was off to spend the day in London before heading home to Norway and Steven and I hopped on a train for Oxford. We spent the day exploring and then met up with Victoria.

Saturday morning we drove to Birmingham. We helped her family with the Christmas Fayre at her church and then went to the Birmingham City football match vs. West Ham. Followed by dinner at The Fox. A carvery restaurant (I will explain this later).

Sunday, we drove to Lichfield, wandered through the cathedral, met with Laura and her boyfriend for tea and then drove to Tamworth to see the castle. Woo hoo! Castle!!

It was a rather small castle but we had a smashing good time -- particularly with the dress-up clothes...

That night we made dinner for Victoria's family and had a relaxing evening in their home.

Monday -- Victoria took us for a fantastic fish and chips lunch, which we ate in her car while sitting at a park, and then went into Birmingham for a quick wander around before Steven and I caught a train into London. Where we saw Wicked. Marvelous. Absolutely marvelous. Loved it.

Tuesday morning (today - yay -- wow, I breezed through the weekend...) we took a little ride on the London Eye. It's that gigantic ferris wheel looking thing. Before going on the Eye they send you through this real short 4-D film... somewhat unnecessary. (p.s. 4-D means they spit things at you, like bubbles.)

There we are! What a view!! Hilde, you could totally do this. I felt safe and secure the whole time. The height thing didn't even bother me : )

Hmm.... thanks Steven, that's a nice one.... looks like I'm inspecting the Tube map.... where to next? Well, we had just walked around the Parliament buildings and Westminster Abbey and we decided it was time for lunch.

Steak and Ale pie AGAIN!!! Well, only the second time at this particular restaurant but... I'll admit, we've had it at EVERY pub we've gone into -- it's Steven's fav. We also popped into the National Portrait Gallery while we were in Trafalgar Square.

We visited the Natural History Museum. I was SO excited!!! I had been saving this one to go to with Steven. I think it is the best museum in the city! Seriously. The most interesting by far. I like the animals : )

After about 2 and a half hours in the museum (not enough, we left so much unseen), we walked a couple of blocks down the street to the Radisson Hotel for an Edwardian afternoon tea experience. Can you believe I almost left the country without having afternoon tea??? We were both so so glad we decided to do this. There was so much food! Six finger sandwiches each, scones, jam, clotted cream, fruit tarts... and LOADS of tea!! We were stuffed by the end. it was really relaxing and a nice break after a long weekend.

Tomorrow is our last day in London, sigh. We're going to make the most of it though. We plan to see the Tower of London and Hampton Court and take some cool pictures of the Tower Bridge. We'll tell you all about it later!! (and if you feel like you got cheated out of the copious amount of details I usually provide do not fear! I promise to fill you in when I get the chance)

off to bed!!!

love,

Steph

Steven's Here!!!!!

Yay-yay-YAY!!!! Oh my word. I could hardly sleep last night. I woke up at 5:30 this morning (an hour before I needed to get up) thinking "can I go now? maybe his plane will be early." I was super anxious. It was SO good to see Steven!! So so good! I can't even tell you how good.

Hilde spent the day in Oxford with Victoria so Steven and I had the whole day to ourselves : ) Hilde was oh so sweet and super understanding of the fact that Steven wasn't particularly wanting to share me today so she made plans to go somewhere else. I took Steven to the lake and showed him around Virginia Water, which takes all of 3 minutes.

It was such a lovely day to be at the lake! It wasn't sunny but it wasn't raining and that's a huge bonus these days!! It still isn't all that cold here either, which is wonderful. We walked around and saw the Cascade/Grotto (above) and then found some ruins.

We were a bit disappointed that we couldn't actually sort out what had been ruined... but the old columns and bricks and stones and statues still looked really cool : )

We were both real tired by the time we got back to the house and spent the rest of the afternoon slash evening watching Friends (because I do that everyday), eating left-over chili and playing Scrabble. Then we met Hilde on her way back from the train station and we all enjoyed tea and cookies (again), which was quite nice.

Tomorrow, we're all headed into London! It's going to be wonderful!!

GOODNIGHT!