As you've heard, the day we all thought would never EVER come, finally did. lol. We're engaged!

It's so exciting...and new... I think I've told just about everyone I know now, and they are all so happy for us. He proposed on Valentine's Day, which was a great surprise--he is generally not the overly-romantic and sentimental type. The proposal was perfect and the ring is beautiful. I asked one of my friends here at work how long it took her to stop playin with her ring and she said a few weeks. I can't get used to it...but I love it. We've already set a date and reserved the church, reception site, photographer, and the place for the rehearsal dinner. But we have so much left to do! And he leaves soon for his deployment...



Aren't we the cutest EVER??? :-) hehe.

This is the view I have on the way to work every morning...




Well, every morning that it's not foggy or rainy and cloudy. :-) So beautiful!

It's amazing how women react and what emotions and thoughts can be stirred up by something so simple as a little blue box with a white ribbon!

I have two of these little boxes in my collection right now. The first was brought back from Tampa, Florida last January when Mark was there for a detachment. It was a surprise! And a just-because gift of sterling silver rain/teardrop earrings. I think he was bored and went shopping with another one of the guys. Fine with me! haha.

The second box was my Christmas gift this year and was actually wrapped with a red ribbon. Mark wrapped it in red tissue paper (to disguise the white Tiffany & Co tissue paper it was packaged with) and put it in a gift bag. I would have been happy with just the little blue box! But inside that box was a beautiful sterling silver "j" necklace. What a sweetie! A necklace now, to match my earrings. We had to take the necklace to the Tiffany & Co in Portland to order a new one because the chain was too short! So when I received my new necklace in the mail, it came to me with a new white ribbon. No worries though, I had kept the original red one! haha.

Now, two empty little blue boxes. You certainly can't throw them away. That's against all laws of womanhood, I believe, and probably the 11th Commandment too...thou shall not throw away Tiffany & Co little blue boxes, little blue bags, or ribbons. So I took those two little blue boxes and white ribbons after they were empty, and WRAPPED THE WHITE RIBBON BACK AROUND THE BOX IN A CUTE LITTLE BOW JUST LIKE THE ORIGINAL! But doesn't it look pretty in that picture? Yes, I did that. haha. What a goofball I am.

feeling blue

I'm sick. It started Thursday night I think, with sneezing and an itchy throat...the sneezing continued on Friday and was then accompanied by watery eyes...Saturday came the runny nose, along with the previous two symptoms, and yesterday--well, yesterday all heck broke loose in my body. Runny nose. Sneezing. Coughing. Aching. Don't-even-want-to-get-out-of-bed-it's-that-bad feeling. Today. So far, nothing. :-) But I just woke up...so I figure the cold is still asleep too. lol. I stayed away from milk for breakfast (apparently not good for you when you have a cold/throat issues), and am playing it safe on the couch with a stack of papers to grade. Good thing today is a holiday!! :-)

Hope these winter colds don't get to you, too!