the one where I got ENGAGED!!!!!

2006 is off to a GREAT start. Here's the detailed story:

Sometime after Christmas, Sara Banks and Leslie Mac and I decided we would head down to Waco to see Zeta's Skit Day during Rush. Brian said he wanted to tag along so that he could see Waco again and some friends and go to Common Grounds. He managed to get the day off and we had room in the car and I didn't think anything more about it. We drove down on Thursday (Jan 5). Sara, Leslie and I had so much fun surprising everyone and getting to see everything that morning. My Zeta's did a great job, but it was so wierd to just watch everything after 2 years of running the rush show. Anyway, after the parties, we went to lunch at Olive Branch with us girls and Brian and Heidi (another ZTA alum). Heidi just got engaged so she was telling us her story. I was happy for her, but also very jealous because I had gotten tired of people passing me up. After lunch, we took pix at the restaurant. Brian wanted one of just us....we were trying to come up with a fun pose so we started posing like people do in engagement pictures to make fun of them ( : Little did I know...

After that, we shopped at Spice for a bit, got Bush's sweet tea and then went to see a friend (to kill time). Brian really wanted to stop by the Armstrong Browning Library where he worked, so we did. Then Leslie said she wanted to take pix by Judge Baylor. So we started walking over there, then Les and Sara turned back to "go to the bathroom". Brian and I kept walking over to our swinging bench. Most of you know this, but that's where he and I would meet just about every night during freshman year. We would sit there for hours talking and talking. I really think I fell in love with him on that bench. I loved him in high school, but it turned into real true love on that bench. We always try to stop by our bench when we're in Waco so it wasn't wierd at all to stop there.

Then, the bells started playing "At Last" and all of a sudden Brian is on his knee. I kept asking him "are you kidding me? is this really real??" I just couldn't believe that the moment I've been looking forward to for so long was actually there. He asked me if I would love him forever and make his life complete and then said those 4 magic words: will you marry me? My jaw just dropped. I said yes and he put my gorgeous ring on my finger. I was so surprised that I couldn't stop shaking ( :

Sara and Leslie had been secretly taking pix of everything (they're on my picture link). I'm very impressed with how Brian got everything together in such a short time. He's always wanted to propose to me on our bench, but didn't know when his next opportunity would be. When he heard we were planning to go for rush, he made sure to be in the car with us. AND he's been lying to me about the ring since October!!! On Wednesday, he threw me off my saying we should go look at rings again and telling me that he was confused about what I wanted and how much he should spend. I'm so impressed about how he kept a secret.

Anyway, thats the story! I'm so glad I finally got to tell it. I'm so lucky to be engaged to the love of my life. We're taking wedding planning slow and thinking about May 2007. Details to follow. For now, I'm back in the 'Burg and starting class tomorrow morning.

Jeers: to "engine trouble", changing planes and a 2 hour delay
Cheers: to no problems at the airport with getting all my junk to the car, to my car starting and to my apt being totally fine
Double Cheers: to my hott new fiance