Last Saturday started out like any other day.  Lloyd and I worked on our fitness at the gym, had some breakfast and coffee, laid out at the pool, and enjoyed a River Monsters marathon on Animal Planet.  (P.S. If you haven’t seen that show, check it out.  All I’ll say is that there is some crazy stuff in the Amazon river.)

The afternoon flew by and before I knew it, it was almost dinnertime.  Lloyd told me that he wanted to go to one of our favorite restaurants downtown – La Bodega – and I happily obliged. (Sidebar:  I was sporting some new skinny jeans and flat sandals.  Love!).  Around the time we started to head out the door, Lloyd told me that I should pack an overnight bag.  At this point, I pretty much knew what was going down….

From where we live, it takes a solid 30 minutes to get downtown.  So on the ride there, I started to get butterflies.  I kept asking Lloyd where we were going and why I needed an overnight bag.  He was being all cute and mysterious.

We went straight to La Bodega for dinner.  Which was good for 2 reasons:

1. I was starving and was about to eat my arm off.
2. I need a mad drink to calm my butterflies.

I may have taken #2 a little too far.  Oh well…you only get engaged once.

The thing about La Bodega is that it’s a Spanish tapas bar.  Ah-mazing.  If you’ve never had tapas, you need to get some in your life, and fast.  Another popular item on the Bodega menu are the pitchers of Sangria.  We polished off one two over the course of our 2 hour meal.

After dinner, we started to head to a location unknown to me.  It turned out to be a fancy hotel in downtown Kansas City.  One that we had celebrated our 2 month anniversary at like 3 1/2 years ago.  The hotel has all these scenic waterfalls and romantic areas.  We had taken pictures in front of the waterfalls for our 2 month anniversary so we did that again…which was cool since it was 3 1/2 years later.

Anyways, Lloyd finally led us to our hotel room.  When he opened the door, there were rose petals and vases of roses all over the room.  There were my favorite chocolates (caramel & toffee if you’re wondering) and candles (not yet lit – I guess he didn’t want to burn the place down).

I was in shock and excited and didn’t really know what to say.  So, I did what I always do when this happens.  I excused myself to use the bathroom.  I also kind of figured that Lloyd needed a couple minutes to do whatever he needed to do anyway.

By the time I emerged, he had opened the blinds to reveal floor to ceiling windows that showcased an impressive view of the Kansas City skyline.  (I’m a sucker for good views of any city.  I think it’s awesome.)  We looked at the skyline for a bit and made dumb comments about how pretty it was (I mean we’ve seen the KC skyline a bazillion times).

And that’s when things started to go down.  Lloyd planted one on me and as he was doing this, I could feel him reaching into his pocket.

There must be some genetic switch in women where when they know they’re about to be proposed to, the waterworks come on and they started bawling like a little girl.  Because that’s what happened.  Lloyd was reaching into his pocket and I started crying.

Lloyd started saying all these cute things like ‘you make me so happy’ and ‘I want to spend the rest of my life with you’ and ‘you are a super-duper hottie’ (okay maybe not the last one).

And before I knew it, he was on one knee and pulling out a ring! Whoa!  I couldn’t believe he actually had a ring in his hand!

So he slipped the bling on my hand and we talked and cried and kissed and yada yada yada.  It was very private and just the two of us and I couldn’t have asked for anything differently.

(P.S. Mazzy Star “Fade Into You” was playing in the background.  One of my fav songs ever.)

I found out that his family had helped pick out the ring and that he spent 3 hours at my parents’ house one night asking for permission to marry me.  What a stud.

So, there you have it.  We’re engaged!  And I couldn’t be happier.

MORE TIDBITS:

Most annoying thing about being engaged:

• Being asked “have you set a date?” a bazillion times
• People forcefully saying “We better get an invite!”   Wow, really?  That makes me want to invite you less.

Little facts about Lloyd & I:

• We knew each other for 1 1/2 years before he asked me out.  I think one of us was playing hard to get.
• I was in love with him 6 months before our first date.  Ha.
• I told my BFF that I would marry Lloyd one month before our first date.
• Lloyd makes me laugh more than any person on the planet.  That’s how he got me.  If you can make me genuinely laugh, then I like you.
• We are each others biggest supporters.  We decided early on in our relationship that there would be no toxicity or name-calling.  We don’t complain about one another to others and we fight fair.  It may sound impossible, but it works and it’s great.  I get pissed at him sometimes (and him at me, but that’s a lot less often), but I tell him and we move on.
• I have this thing….where I feel the need to recite every minute detail of my life to someone.  Lloyd is so sweet and allows me to do that.  I feel better after I do that and he somehow manages to listen to all the boring details.  It’s a gift of his.  One of my BFF listens to the stuff, too, but Lloyd really get’s the brunt of it. 
• Right before we started dating and during the early stages of our relationship, we used to stay up until 5 or 6am talking and laughing.  Wow, the first few months of a relationship are surreal, aren’t they?  They are so worth it.  I feel so lucky to have ever had something like that.
• I kept a diary for the entire first year of our relationship.  Sometimes I’ll read it and it brings back a lot of great memories.  We were so engrossed with each other for that year. 

I am so lucky and blessed.  Thank you all for your congrats and well wishes.  It means the world to me.

Lloyd and I got engaged on Saturday night!  Post with all the deets to follow!