I've finally found time to sit down and write this gem of a story, one that I'm sure I'll be telling for years down the road. That's one of the things no one tells you about getting engaged, everyone else shares their proposal stories with you! I think it's great, I think stories are great and I love hearing other people tell their stories.
Okay, so where to start? Well, if you keep up with my life then you'd know that for my Christmas/Birthday gift this year my boyfriend (at the time!) got me a trip to Ottawa. I've been bugging him to go on a trip together for some time now so I was thrilled to finally be getting just what I wanted. Did I think it was any more than a trip? Well, not really! I figured that money wasn't exactly falling from the sky for us, we're both trying to pay off student loans. I thought I'd be waiting a little while longer for a ring, which was fine... but it's not like I wasn't looking forward to it! So off we go to Ottawa. One of the reason I know Jeff really wanted to go to Ottawa was so that we could go skating on the Rideau Canal, it was a bucket list thing for him and me too. Sitting in the airport I got a tweet from a friend that said the Rideau was still closed. I told Jeff and he seemed really bummed out, I guess I got a little mad at him and said I didn't want the canal not being frozen to ruin our whole trip! I wouldn't be happy if he was upset the whole time. Oh, little did I know why he was so bummed. Luckily when we got there that Thursday night we found out that a small portion of the Canal, about 2.2 km at Pretoria bridge was open and ready to be skated on! Jeff was ecstatic, and we decided to go first thing the next morning. We dressed warm, because the weather was in the negatives. Being a girl I brought two coats, one nice but not so warm coat and one not so fancy but really warm coat. That morning Jeff had mentioned I should bring my camera to take pictures, so keeping in mind we might snap some photos I asked if I should risk being a little cold so the pictures would look a little classier. Oddly, he said yes, wear the nicer one... normally Jeff is the practical one, I thought for sure he'd have me in a snow suit. We left the hotel and hoped on a bus to Pretoria St, we just kind of assumed that's where the bridge would be and where we'd find the entrance to the Canal... we we're right! Thank God. So we geared up and nearly froze our fingers off lacing up our skates, then started skating down the canal. It was gorgeous!! Something about skating in an arena seems so fake after being outdoors on the ice.
We snapped a few pictures of us going along and then finally my feet hurt so we decided to take a break at some picnic tables the had set up on the ice. It was actually a cozy little area! Surrounded by little evergreens and nearby there were some food trucks being set up. I fidled with my camera and decided we should take some pictures together, could set it on a timer leave the camera on the picninc table and get some cute couple shots. Maybe my fingers were too cold, or I'm just really slow, but I couldn't figure out how to get the timer working!! I decided that we didn't need pictures that bad and gave up, but Jeff insisted I keep trying, unlike him, but okay I'll keep trying. Finally he left for a couple seconds to skate a little lap, and I got it! I called him over and we started snapping some photos...
The first one...
And a second one...
And as I'm smiling happily, you'll notice Jeff looks a little... tense. He missed two chances to change our lives! Finally, we decided to take a third. We switched sides of the table to where there was more light. Once again I clicked the button on the camera and started to skate over to where Jeff was standing. I said something along the lines of "I don't think I'm going to make it!" because I can't stop in hockey skates and thought for sure the timer was going off without me paying attention. Finally I got close enough and smiled when Jeff says "Would it be better like this?" and I saw this...
KFSNGKSOKALLQIRWOAN AK AHHHH... Is about the only way I can describe how I was feeling. Which was vocalized by repeating "WHAT?" "NO!" "REALLY?!" and my favorite, "Is this real life?". I'm sad to say that I didn't really hear any of the nice things he was saying, but I did catch the most important one "Will you marry me?". Obviously I sad "YES!". I forgot to mention that I was also crying this entire time, and for a good ten minutes after. It all felt so surreal!! In a matter of minutes my life had just changed completely. I wanted to stare at my left hand, but it finally got too cold and I was forced to put my mittens back on. We decided that it was about time to skate back, so we did being all cute and holding hands, cause that's what engaged couples do. You know, it's a few days later and it still gives me butterflies to say that!! After we got off the ice we went to a little pub near the Canal and had some coffee, soup and sandwiches. Then we realized what the hell, we should be celebrating! So we ordered some beers and called our close family to give them the good news!
If you're wondering, yes he asked my dad and we also discovered that my dad isn't so good at keeping secrets! But that's okay, we still love him! In the end, I had an absolutely amazing weekend, one that I will definitely never forget. My favorite part of the proposal? Having a picture to remember it with! And just the fact that it happened in general!!! You know how pregnant ladies get baby brain? I think I'll probably get bride brain, in fact I think it might have already begun! You can check Pinterest if you don't believe me.
So now I can say I no longer have a boyfriend, I've got something even better... a
fiancé!!!
I must say that on a weekly basis. 
