Why are you all fancy?

As many of you know, last night, nearly 5 years after I tore a hole in the side of my car door at the south bend airport as i was trying to get to Chicago to see nick's poster presentation at the ACS meeting, he finally popped the question, and I finally said yes.

and so I use this post to show pics and tell "the story" and answer those questions.

We begin back a few days before my knowledge in an attempt to illustrate Nick's sneakiness.  A few days ago Nick's phone rang, and he left the room to answer. "Who was it?" I asked.  "The kid who wants me to tutor them."  he responded. what I know now... LIES  it was the store telling him the ring was ready.

Fast forward to Thursday afternoon...around 1:30 Nick says he's going to a meeting and he'll see me at home.  strange I think, his meetings only last an hour.  Whatevs...perhaps this is a special meeting.  what I know now...LIES  he was off to pick up my ring.

and then Friday rolled around.  I ask Nick if he wants to do pizza for dinner.  He asks if we can discuss it at home.   strange I think, he never says no to pizza, but whatever apparently he's busy.   I go about my day, come home and start dipping things in chocolate for emily's valentines day present.  and then Nick walks in, all fancy in a shirt and tie (from me) and the pants we bought at Disneyland when we realized the only non-suit dress pants he had were SUPER old man pants.

"why are you all fancy"  I ask.  thinking did nick have a super important meeting about a job or something today that i didnt know about.

"for you"  said nick. 

"what?  Lies.  really, why are you all fancy?"  I ask again.

"for you" he said again.  and got down on one knee, taking my chocolate covered hands.  why is he being so silly  i think.  then he pulls out the ring and the rest is [recent] history. 

We texted our friends and family, posted our status update on facebook, and started fielding the wave of congratulations.  Meanwhile nick relealved all his lies and deceptions, and told me how the jewelry store was the one we saw on the news the night before while they were covering the ROBBERY that had taken place there Wednesday night. 

I then matched his fanciness...and we ventured out into the cold and snow to have dinner downtown to celebrate with my consumption of baby cow...trekked through the snow to meet claires for cocktails and pics (since my stupid camera battery was dead and since the stupid snow and cold ruined our plans for pics at the bean)

and now your most favorite questions:

the ring: as you may know there have been talks for awhile about how my future ring would be Nick's mom's ring which Claires wore most of the time.  What it turned out to be is the stone from her ring, in a new platinum setting.  which is very classic, simple, and elegant.  aka JUST MY STYLE. 

the date:  WHO KNOWS  we're not even sure where we'll be living in 5 months much less when, or where, we'll be getting married.  Once we know, you'll know.

why now, (and why not Valentine's day): Nick has an offer for a post doc position,  this is close enough to that "real job" my dad told him he had to have first.  (my dad, of course, denies that he actually meant this...and was just trying to get my Grandpa to stop asking me about it :) ) as for Valentine's day, apparently that would be too cliche.