Today we celebrated by going to dinner at a lovely Italian restaurant. It was great! Some highlights…

Prosciutto, arugula, “torched” pears, mascarpone, twelve year balsamic.

Killer braised Angus beef short ribs, warm pancetta spinach salad, garlic and mushrooms.

Crème brûlée! Mike had never had crème brûlée before! Thank goodness for anniversaries to fix such wrongs!

I asked him, “Are you going to sing for me at our wedding?”
“At the ceremony or after we’re alone?”
“Either.”
“Will you still make me sandwiches?”

Later on…

“I’m registering us for all of the Rachel Ray cookware on Bed Bath & Beyond.”
“That’s grounds for annulment.”

The planning has been exciting, though a bit stressful because we are taking care of everything ourselves. So far we have our invitations ordered, quirky wedding cake toppers (vintage salt and pepper shakers!), photographer, and wedding dress. We had talked about doing wedding bands because the whole engagement ring thing just seemed a little over the top and what’s really important here is that we’re together. Putting off getting married to purchase what some politically unstable industry tells us we should spend on our love just seemed, well, retarded.

Yesterday we walked to the park where six months earlier we had our first date. Mike took a knee, pulled out a ring and did the old fashioned proposal. I think I scared him because my initial reaction was, “CRAZY BEANS! I love you!” before saying “Yes!” I wasn’t expecting anything and was so surprised and happy. The ring is yellow gold with an aquamarine in the center and diamonds on the side and it’s just fucking perfect. It really suits me. Making it even more sentimental: the ring was his mother’s. Nothing to let you know you’re really in with your future MIL like an engagement ring!

Here is a picture of the slide at the park six months ago.

This is what the slide looked like yesterday. HA HA.