The final installment of the dating disaster... I'm sure many readers (ha, I say that like the majority of you aren't involved in my day to day life) are wondering what happened to Brooklyngirl, and more importantly, the Gentleman. I am very happy to say, that as of Friday, 11/11/11 - we are engaged! I am still in shock and couldn't be happier.
It was the perfect proposal, and the perfect ending to this story - back to the borough where it all began. The Gentleman and I traveled up to NYC on Thursday, for a long weekend. I had my suspicions that he was going propose while we were there, but I didn't want to get my hopes up! We had planned on doing something over our long weekend, first we thought about going to Arkansas to visit his extended family, then Boston to visit my sister and her husband, then when neither of those things worked out, we decided to go to NYC for the weekend. That's when things started getting suspicious... We were both off for all 4 days, Thursday - Sunday. I was researching places to stay, and wanted to stay all 3 nights to maximize our time in Brooklyn. There's a lot of things I miss about living there, and visiting never seems long enough! The Gentleman said he only wanted to stay until Saturday, but didn't really have a reason why. That was clue #1. Over the next few weeks, while we were discussing what we wanted to do while we were up there, he mentioned he wanted to visit the Brooklyn Bridge. I was thrilled because I love the bridge, and hadn't walked over it since I lived there, and would love to go back. But he asked me some very pointed questions about the bridge that made me think he wanted to do more than just walk across it to sight see.
Question #1 - Is it loud on the bridge, like, can you have a conversation? #2 Are there places you can stop when you are on the bridge?
Ok, so maybe they aren't dead giveaways, but I definitely started thinking that the bridge was going to be more than just a brief visit on our weekend away. Then he mentioned that he wanted to save Joya (my most favorite Thai food in all the world - the location of many a date in this very blog!!) for Friday night (the same day we were going to the bridge!) and when I asked him if one of my best friends from Brooklyn could join us for dinner, he said he'd rather it be just us. Having a dinner just us wouldn't normally raise my suspicions, if we were celebrating something, but we were just going to Brooklyn to see my friends and favorite places... so why would it be so important to be just us?? I was on the right track for sure. The next clue actually came from my mom. She was going to Boston for the long weekend, and that was the main reason the Gentleman and I decided not to go. So when she tells me that she's no longer going to go visit my sister (who is 9 months pregnant and going to give birth to my first niece, and my mom's first grandchild - any week now) I was suspicious. My mom has been planning this trip to Boston for MONTHS. And she used the excuse that she would be just too tired from traveling the previous weekend to New Orleans, but I didn't buy it.
I obsessed for weeks, trying to decipher any clues that came my way to see if I could actually know for sure it was going to happen when I thought it was. I told many of my close friends, and they all told me not to get my hopes up, and it probably wouldn't happen when I thought it would. The final clue didn't come until just a week before it actually happened, when we were at a party at his sister and brother-in-law's house. We were chatting in the kitchen with some of their friends, when his sister's friend comes into the kitchen across the room from us, sees us, and shouts, "CONGRATULATIONS!" I looked at the Gentleman, he looked at the friend, back at me, and I said, "For what?" and she replied, "Aren't you guys engaged?" I replied that we were not, and the Gentleman made a comment how another person in the party had thought the same thing because of a post he had made on Facebook about a ring (not a wedding ring or anything suspicious at all... but ok....) and we kind of left it at that. I saw him talking to the friend who congratulated us later in the night, privately, but I already had my clue. She knew that we were getting engaged, obviously, and somehow got the date mixed up or information incorrect, and I was now 90% sure it was going to happen in Brooklyn, the following week.
That week was the LONGEST week of my life. I hardly slept. I dreamt about it. And it was pretty much all I could think about. I bought a new outfit. I got a manicure and pedicure, just to be prepared. Thursday, we headed up to Brooklyn, and even though I was almost certain, I had to keep telling myself NOT to be upset if it didn't happen. We spent a great first day in Brooklyn. We spend the day in Williamsburg, eating great food, drinking cool beers, visiting hipster bars and hangouts. It's not a neighborhood I frequented when I lived in Brooklyn, so it was pretty new for us both, and a lot of fun! I actually let him read some of the blog posts about him. (I had told him about the blog in February this past year, but he never really expressed any interest in reading it before.) Thursday was a great day, but of course I was just so anxious for Friday, I couldn't sleep. I woke up around 7, on my day off, showered, got ready, and was ready to go by 10 am. Little did I know that we weren't "scheduled" to be at the bridge until noon. So the Gentleman had to kill some time, but I provided him with a great excuse. My manicure that I had done (ON WEDNESDAY) was completely chipped and looked terrible. It was by far the worst manicure I ever had in my life. I wanted to go to the drugstore, buy nail polish remover, new nail polish and redo my nails myself. The Gentleman argued that buying all that would cost as much as just getting a new manicure (and it would kill some time for him!), so before heading over to the bridge, I got a manicure (that still looks great, btw) and he then realized that I probably had my suspicions, since I NEVER get my nails done. We went for a great brunch at a French cafe, boarded the subway and headed over to the Brooklyn Bridge. As we were going, I noticed him checking his phone a lot, and he seemed to be getting quieter the closer we got. By the time we actually got to the bridge, I was doing ALL the talking. We walked along, and it was a beautiful day so there were a lot of people on the bridge. It was a bit chilly, but I thought it was perfect weather. There are always tons of tourists on the bridge, so I wasn't really paying attention to anyone but the Gentleman, trying to point out landmarks, trying to gauge his level of nervousness. Anytime we stopped to look at something, I was anticipating "The Question." Finally we got down to the second tower of the bridge, closer to the Manhattan side. We were looking over at the Manhattan bridge, and this group of people who had been keeping pace with us for the entire time we were on the bridge stopped right where we were. We walked over to the other side of the bridge, and it happened. At around 12:30 pm, on 11/11/11, the Gentleman got on one knee and proposed on the Brooklyn Bridge. It was perfect. Beyond perfect actually. After he put the ring on my finger (a gorgeous blue diamond in a halo setting of white diamonds!), he introduced the people who had been following us/keeping pace with us the whole time as photographers he hired to capture the moment! It was incredible! We had a mini photo shoot on the bridge, then took some engagement pictures down in the park that has the span of the bridge in the back ground. It was everything I could have wanted. We walked around, took pictures, I stared at the ring, took more pictures, for about 2 hours. By 2:30, we were done, and I still hadn't called a single person to let them know, and I was already exhausted! We were meeting up with a friend of mine at 3:30 in Manhattan (I planned that before I knew what was going to happen that afternoon!), and we got there early, made our phone calls, sent our texts, and let the world know we were engaged! When my friend arrived, we got the 5 star treatment at the restaurant as soon as they found out. No 20 minute wait for our table. Free glasses of champagne. And tons of people congratulating us at the restaurant as the news spread. I was on cloud 9. The night only got better as we celebrated that night at an amazingly cool bar near where I used to live, and of course, dinner at Joya (with my friend there after all!), and our smiles stretching from ear to ear the whole night.
Day 2 of our engagement celebration was a whirlwind as well. We had lunch planned with one of my closest Brooklyn friends before we headed home. We stopped by my parents' house, stopped by a bar to meet up with my brother, traveled to another bar to meet up with another close friend for her birthday, visited my grandmother, and then our final stop of the evening was yet another bar, where the Gentleman had arranged for our families and friends to gather to celebrate our engagement. It was such a great night, complete with celebratory balloons, champagne, and photos of us around the bar where our party took place, it was a party filled with the love of those closest to us, sharing in our greatest joy.
3 days into being engaged, I still stare at my finger in disbelief. I am so excited to plan our wedding, but I am most excited that I have found the love of my life, and we are starting our lives together.
We are thinking January 5th or 12th, 2013, as our wedding date. I can not believe that I am planning a wedding, maybe I will blog about the process! :) i3rooklynbride.com? Maybe.
