Engaged
Sorry I haven’t written in a couple weeks. I’ve spent most of my free time working on my marriage proposal to Cayla, and it finally all went down last night when I surprised her in one of Bangkok’s parks. Since I know the girls are likely to be frustrated with my masculine, detail-free version of the story I’ll try my best to give you a decent account of what happened…
Cayla arrived at the park to meet her friend, Rebekah, to ‘hang out’. Rebekah and I had already chosen the spot and, when Cayla arrived, Jon and I had already set up candles, wine, and a book I’d put together for her. The book is a compilation of ‘stuff’ collected throughout the past 12 months – in short, a scrapbook. I know scrap booking is a HUGE loss of man points, but I never really had many to begin with, right?
Anyway, Cayla arrives (frustrated and tired at having chased Rebekah all over the park trying to find her) at the pavilion and I show her the book. I then dropped a knee, presented the ring, and she said ‘yes’. After that I, having been raised in the Bible belt, spent the next 2 minutes awkwardly trying to get the bottle of wine open and we drank a little toast. Jon came out of hiding and Rebekah was snapping pictures wildly. We ended everything by hopping on the sky train and grabbing dinner at a rooftop restaurant in our neighborhood.
Today (8/27/08), however, we celebrated our “post-engagement-pre-one-year-anniversary” by spending the day together doing things I’d planned out. The first stop was a Thai massage; this experience is a tingly blend of heaven and hell. Like, you’re in pain, but you like it and you weep and gnash your teeth while not wanting her to stop wedging her elbow in between your calf muscles.
After the massage we got all dressed up (um…I combed my hair…) and went to ‘afternoon tea‘ at the Oriental Hotel. We seriously chilled at this ridiculous hotel for almost 5 hours and finally left for dinner. We arrived at the Banyan Tree Hotel’s “Vertigo” Restaurant for drinks and an incredible view. Unfortunately the ever-impending Southeast Asian rain forced us downstairs for dinner. After dinner we grabbed a taxi and headed home.
So all-in-all I’d say it’s been a good weekend! I’ll post pictures of everything mentioned in this post once my connection improves. Also, if you’d like any other details or info you can feel free to ask. I love you all!
-matt
"Thanks and thanks again to Him who offers to the man whom the sorrows of life have assaulted and left naked--offers to him the fig leaf of the Word with which he can cover his wretchedness." -Søren Kierkegaard 
lovely.
so pumped for you.
I’m really excited for you guys, and I totally win a bet! It’s win-win!
But seriously, congratulations!
Aww Matt you did good :)
I asked Ben how you were planning to propose but read this before he could respond. He did manage to tell me that you thought a LOT about it – his words, haha.
I’m so happy for you both!
Thanks guys!
Re: Ian
What bet did you win, exactly?
You provided hardly any details. I’m disappointed. How did you feel when you saw her? Were you nervous? What was the first thing she said? What was the first thing you said? Was there any crying? Laughter? Jokes?
lol.
Re: JK
I think the reason I’m hesitant to talk about that stuff is that I’m afraid I’ll get overly sappy on the internet. I’m trying really hard not to be that desperate stay-at-home mom who has nothing better to do than pour out her feelings in her blog.
Maybe that doesn’t make sense.
I wasn’t nervous until she rounded the bend and we both made eye contact. She didn’t seem all that nervous, but she was definitely excited. The first thing I said was, “Hey. I got you an early 1 year anniversary gift I’d like to show you.”
There was crying, but it was only because a bug flew into Cayla’s eye. At least that’s what she said happened…
And ya we laughed a lot of the time. We’re not the most serious of people when it comes to romance, so we spent a lot of it just being goofy and telling stories about how we’d planned the engagement and how she had no clue it was coming.
How’s that? You can also check on her blog for a little more ‘feely’ account.
How exciting for you! I just got a chance to catch up on blog reading and found out the good news. Yay!
Why am I so delinquent on blog-reading? Well, I am a stay at home mama, but I am neither desperate nor do I have nothing to do besides pour out my feelings in my blog. :) (However, I know what you mean… I have encountered those types!)
I’ve shared the good news with the hub and he is really excited for you guys, too!
well it wasn’t a “bet” per se, in the usual exchange of currency sense, but me and the guys took guesses on when you’d pop the question. I was closest :)