Engagement

December 20, 2008

I think I had the best anniversary this year. Not because I got some cool new toy or got taken out to a fancy dinner, but because Cody proposed to me.

Our anniversary is the first of every year, and that is when we celebrate when we first started dating. We had decided to wait to celebrate our anniversary for a week because of various circumstances. We ended up staying at our friend Abby and Jason’s house with our friend Randi because the girls had had a chocolate-laded birthday party the night before, complete with the game “I never” and plenty of wine. The weather had been getting progressively bad all day and night, and when Cody and Jason came back over after playing poker with the guys, we decided it would be fun, and safer, to have a group slumber party. We woke up early, to a very pretty sunrise and about 5 inched of snow and ice everywhere. It was very pretty.

After hanging out and talking with each other for a few hours, and sending the boys on a trek to McDonalds for some sausage McMuffins, we all remember we had things to do and so we went our separate ways. Cody went his own way to finish up some errands (unbeknownst to me, trying to get the ring), and I went home to shower and start the process of beautifying myself for our anniversary dinner. After probably four hours, I start to get restless because I’m ready and I have no clue where Cody has gotten too. Of course, at this point I don’t know that he is having major ring drama, which led to money drama. I am also starting to get r hungry, as I have not eaten since McDonalds at 10 am and it is nearing 6 o’clock.

Finally, at around 7:10, I hear a key in the door and I go to help him, being antsy to go, he opens the door slightly and tells me to go sit on the couch and close my eyes because he has my present for me. I do so and I hear rustling, then he tells me to open my eyes. I do and see him kneeling before me, holding out two KTX tickets to Seoul, and he proposes. Of course, I am feeling quite a bit startled, so I look at him and say “What?” He looked me dead in the eyes, expression never changing, and repeated the question “Will you marry me?” I am still quite a bit startled and just starting to think, he’s asking me now, if feels so sudden, and yet so waited for… so I say “really?” At this point, he is starting to look a touch exasperated, but all he says is “yes, really.” I, of course, forget to say yes, and just start hugging and kissing him just like in some Hallmark movie, and then, as if on cue, he reminds me that I still have to say yes, which I promptly do.

I am allowed a long hug and kiss, and am immediately asked for permission to take a shower, because due to his long day out and ordeals, which I will learn on the KTX, he has not showered. I proceeded to call some friends, and was just about to post it on Facebook, but was promptly ordered not to, as we have family of Facebook who had not been told yet.

We took the train to Seoul that night about hour later, laden with a few snacks to tide us over. We arrived in Seoul at about 1am, and the first thing I did was grab a spicy sausage from a food vendor, because I was starving. We stayed in a nice hotel that we hadn’t stayed at before; it had a Kingsized bed and a really nice shower and huge flat screen TV. The next day we had Quiznos for lunch and we saw some of our other friends who were visiting Seoul, including Fallon and Wim. We purchased some new clothes for me, and some fabric wall scrolls for us and one as a thank-you present for Abby and Jason (because they helped Cody out a lot with the ring fiasco). After that we took the subway down to an area of Seoul that has at least two jewelry stores per block and we went ring shopping. I loved the first ring that she saw, but was convinced that we had to shop around, just in case, so it didn’t end up me just picking the first pretty one because I was excited. We went looking in three more stores (each store has at least 15 separate jeweler stands) and seeing if there was anything I liked better. Cody kept having to ask me "I know you like it, but do you like it more than the first one"? I never did, they were only cute, or fairly similar to the first one, and the first one had the advantage of being sold by an English seller. About three hours later we went back to the first seller to buy the first ring I looked saw. I got to pick my diamond, which was pretty cool because the Jeweler too out a fat book full of diamonds and stowed me a few, and allowed me to kind of carefully touch them a little bit. We went with a Korean diamond because it was a really good one. There was an American one of a slightly better cut, but it was over twice the price, so there was no way, and I was more than happy with a Korean Diamond because it is just as pretty, and now I can commemorate my time in Korea in my engagement, which is fitting since the engagement happened here! Well, we purchased the ring with the promise it would be made (yes, made, not re-sized, whoo hoo!) and shipped to Mokpo by Christmas Eve.

We ended the day by shopping a little bit longer, and then we had some fabulous Indian food (which we would NEVER be able to buy in Mokpo), some Tandori Chicken, Curries, Naan, and Mango Lassi. Finally, we made our way via subway to the train station, and just like the first time we went to Seoul, we went to Seoul Station rather than Yeong-san (arg), and had to find our way to the correct station. We decided when we got there, that we wanted to sit and sleep in semi luxury, so we decided to go for business class on the KTX, which only cost us an extra 17,000 a piece. While I wouldn’t recommend doing that for a trip in the daytime, when you are awake, but when your tall and want to sleep, it’s fabulous as there is a lot more room.

We finally made it home that night, after walking a few blocks away from the train station to catch a cab, since there was a 2-block long line of people waiting for a cab at the train station. Yes, we were technically cheating!
About a week later, and a week earlier than promised, my ring was delivered to Cody’s school all shiny and ready to wear.

We are very excited, and barring things we can’t do while we are in Korea, we have started to think of things we want for the wedding. The main thing right now is we are pretty sure we will have the colors white and crimson and Cody really wants Calla Lilies everywhere. Oh, and not a church wedding, it will probably be in a hall with an official or justice of the peace. More blogs will come (probably late like always) when more details are hashed out.