Sunny San Francisco Engagement!

Welcome to my new blog site. Same name, same great content, new platform, new location.

So what better way to start my new blog then with new news. Matt and I are engaged! It happened Saturday morning and here’s what happened:

I actually planned the entire day out…obviously not knowing anything about the planned proposal. It all started with a school project. One of my best friends, Erika, has a niece (Annie) who lives in the Los Angeles area and her class was doing a “Flat Stanley” project for school. Erika had Flat “Annie” in Sacramento and had been telling me about how she took Flat Annie to visit the capitol and some other sights in the Sactown area. I had the idea, since it was supposed to be a gorgeous weekend in San Francisco, that Flat Annie should come down to visit us. I had planned for us to take BART over to the city from our home in Oakland and bike from the Ferry Building, down the Embarcadero, visit Pier 39 & Fisherman’s wharf, Ghiradelli, view Alcatraz island,  then head up through Fort Mason and down into my old neighborhood the Marina & Crissy Field leading up to the Golden Gate bridge, snapping pictures of Flat Annie along the way.

We are making our way to the bridge and Matt keeps suggesting good spots to snap a photo of Flat Annie and the bridge and I keep saying, “No, not here yet, you can’t see the bridge, that tree is blocking, let’s keep going”…not getting the hint that he was trying to find a quiet place to ask the question.

We get to the right spot and I pull my bike over. Matt hands me the backpack so I can fish out the camera. While I’m distracted with the backpack he fishes the ring out of his saddlepack and stashes it in his pocket. I hand him the camera and hold up Flat Annie for her shot at the Golden Gate Bridge. Matt snaps a few photos of her and hands me back the camera to check the photo.

I turn away with the camera and approve his excellent photo taking skills and then I hear “Oh, hey…Jo…” so I turn around and there he was, down on one knee, with a shiny diamond ring in his hand. And he said “Will you marry me?” Short, sweet, perfect.

I on the other hand (as many times as I had thought about how this would happen, and what I would say) said “Is this for real???? Is this really happening?? Oh my god.” Not short, not sweet, but perfect nonetheless. Matt stands up and we start hugging and he says “So…there was a ‘yes’ in there right?” And then of course I said “Yes, yes, of course yes, thank you!” I was SO surprised and so shocked I don’t even remember what I was saying. He placed the ring on my left hand, “it fits!”…was my reaction. And then more surprises…

We had “planned” to meet his sister Christina at The Grove on Chestnut Street but I guess I was the only one who still thought that was the plan. Christina was in on it the whole time. She was coming to meet us with Sparkling Chardonnay (which was awesome), strawberries, goat cheese & bread, cupcakes and a lovely little picnic for us to celebrate and enjoy the amazing San Francisco day (trust me, those days don’t happen often but when they do…there is no place more wonderful to be.) So my fiance (!!!!!!!!!!!!!) my sister-in-law-to-be and I sat on the Marina Green for a few hours calling family and friends and breaking the news. More surprises…

Sunday Matt had planned an engagement brunch up in Sacramento at my parents house where not only my parents, but his mom, his sister, my brother, my two best friends (and their hubbys) and one of Matt’s best friends (his wife and baby girl) were all invited, and were also already “in” on the proposal. I was completely surprised (which is hard to do because I am one who usually likes to know what’s going on at all times…I hate to love surprises.) Surprises are also extremely hard when you are living with your boyfriend while he’s trying to plan a surprise engagement.

So little did I know that a few weeks ago Matt had gone up to Sacramento and had “secret dinner” with my parents where he asked if it would be okay to ask me to marry him and if he could use my grandmother’s wedding ring. My mom, being the sweetest woman that she always is, I’m sure gave him no flack at all and was overjoyed. My dad, being the jokester he is ( and where I get my sense of humor from) said “Well, what do you think she’ll say?” :). Oh dad. So last weekend WHILE I WAS THERE TOO they somehow made the hand off of the ring. I guess I am not as observant as I like to think I am.

I had talked with my mom probably a year or so ago about using my grandmother’s ring (her mother’s). My grandparents were married for over 50 years and loved each other through thick and thin. The sentimental value of that ring far outweighs anything else. To be able to wear something everyday that reminds me of such a lasting love, well I am getting tears in my eyes just thinking about it.  So Matt had planned to design a ring using one new center stone and then other smaller stones from my grandmother’s ring with our great friend Marlene (who is a jeweler at a fabulous store in Berkeley). He also hadn’t thought the proposal would be so soon, but then I had planned this Flat Annie day and he realized that it would be perfect. So he used the main center stone and set it in a temporary solitaire setting for the big ask and now we get to work together with Marlene to design my own ring. I’ll have something new (center stone from Matt) and something old (diamonds from my grandmother’s ring) and I think something blue (stay tuned, I’m excited about this possibility) all on my engagement ring.

I am still completely stunned and it hasn’t quite sunk in yet. I keep looking down at my new ring and I keep asking Matt to pinch me to remind me that I’m not dreaming…this is real. We are getting married. I am going to be a wife. I will have a husband. I cannot wait.

The one thing I know is that I want an outdoor wedding, in the general Sacramento area in the spring/summer. So we are waiting until 2011. Yesterday when we were driving back from Sacramento I asked Matt “So…what happens now?” He said…”Now, we don’t do anything. Not for one week. We enjoy this. Then we start planning.” So that is just what we are doing.

Here is the Flat Annie photo progression:

*for older posts please visit: yearofjojo.typepad.com (post will be migrated over to this site early in April 2010, hopefully.)