The story of our engagement is a good one. The whole story makes my heart warm...I have wanted to share it with everyone on a blogging platform for about two months now.
It was a normal Friday in September... I went into the office in the morning to make some calls, read through emails and run some property searches for my clients before I left town for the weekend. My best friend, Kathleen was in town visiting and we had all planned to go to the duck game in Eugene that night once Ben got off work. I was working away and I got a text message from Ben.
It read, "Happy Friday! Get excited it's gonna be a great day! Duck time woowoo!"
I responded.. "woop woop! I need to figure out what I'm wearing!"
obviously, Ben needs to know that....
He responded..."Just wear something cute and regular for dinner. I'm looking into reservations now, I am going to get off a bit early. Please be at our place at 4:30. I should be there around then and then we will go. That work?"
In my head... I was thinking, why would I wear something cute if we are going to drive to Eugene and why are we going to going to a nice dinner? I want to go down to Eugene and have fun!
I respond..."Where are we going? Is Kathleen going with us? Should I wear like a dress or are we leaving to go straight down to Eugene after?"
He responds..."What do you want to do? We should probably just bring out stuff with us so we can go straight there. You can wear a dress still, that's fine!"
smooth, Mr. Novak
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At this point, I turn to my business partner Jennye and said "I think I am getting engaged tonight!!!" She assured me that I was reading way to into the text messages and to move along with my day. I left the office, went and showed some properties and then stopped by our information center at the mall. While I was at the mall, the thought occurred to me... I very well could get engaged tonight... So I left my shift at our information kiosk and browsed all my favorite stores for a potential engagement outfit.... I had no luck. In my head, it seemed like I was definitely not going to get engaged. I didn't have the right outfit and my business partner assured me it wasn't going to happen. I went to pick up my dog to drop him off at my parents house for the weekend. I walked into my house with a big smile on my face and I go "Mom! I think Ben is going to propose tonight!!!" Just like Jennye, she assured me that I have had that thought a million times before and she hated seeing me get disappointed.
In my mind, my mom spoke the truth. These thoughts have happened a million times and never came to fruition.
4:30pm rolled around and I had our bags packed for Eugene and I was awkwardly my floral blue dress. For those who really know me, I don't travel in anything other than my comfy clothes. The plan was that Kathleen was going to meet us downtown for this dinner and we were going to jump in the car and drive down to Eugene for the weekend! I was anxious to get down there, so I recommended Chipotle for dinner. Ben assured me that we were going to a hip new spot that he thought Kathleen and I would enjoy.
Ben and I drove downtown listening to his music with the windows down. We talked about different neighborhoods and where we wanted to live one day. It was really peaceful and relaxing. He told me the restaurant was by the park blocks and it was funny because when he told me that, we were driving the complete opposite way of the park blocks. I announced that and Ben didn't look amused and told me we were going to park and walk...
We got out of the car and started to walk.... still in the opposite way of the park blocks. He told me to enjoy the walk and that we would get there! As we were walking past Lardo in SW Portland, his brother popped out of the corner in a full on cop costume !
He said.. "Excuse me, Miss but this street is closed and you are going to have to turn around."
I was shocked, we turned around... I looked back and he was no where to be seen!
We continued walking and different cops kept on popping out from the street corners and redirecting us. They were all Ben's best friends and they were hilarious. I kept laughing at them and I was also profusely sweating! Ben was playing along with his friends too. We had such a fun time.
Finally, we arrived at the park blocks, it only took us 2 miles to get there! Ben was looking at his phone and asked me if I could take a look at his map to see where the restaurant was.
I looked down and at the map on his phone and it said, "Marry Me". After the whole cop ordeal, I knew it was coming and I was so excited. I was smiling ear to ear and he dropped on one knee and asked me to marry him! After that, we hugged and kissed. It all happened so fast!
Our very close and wonderful friends, Audrey and Jeremy were there taking pictures and video of us! We enjoyed a few minutes with them and then headed off to Oba in the Pearl for a celebration with all of our family and friends!
It was such a wonderful night! A huge thank you to Ben and his friends for humoring me in cop outfits downtown, my cousin Kelsey and Anna for planning the special surprise at Oba and Jeremy for taking pictures and videos which we will treasure for the rest of our life!
Heres to the next year of wedding planning! October 2nd, 2015- We are coming for you!!!
photos by: Jeremy Roloff
