I meant to write this months ago. I started this blog and then big brother at work blocked the website! The nerve of my company, blocking websites to try to keep me focused on work ;)
Now on to the good stuff....
Luis met me in NJ on Christmas Day. His family, as per usual, had the typical Spanish Christmas Eve feast until the wee hours of the morning. Being the selfless person that he is, he basically took a nap and met me up at the Manasquan House in the early afternoon. He took the Amtrak up and the Callahan's picked him up from the station. My Christmas Eve was spent at Church with the family and then at the Morris family annual Christmas Eve party. Christmas morning was perfect. Hannah and Finn (Hannah turned 6 three days after Christmas and Finn turned 4 in October) came over and opened their presents. Santa came to Gigi and Papi's (my parents) house as well so it truly was a joy. They are at such a fun age. Hannah was thrilled about her nail polish design studio and Finn got a mini ride on quad. Side note: These kids are up to 3 power wheels toys in their 6 year span, Dennis and I are still at zero, but who is keeping track. Nannie and Poopa came over for breakfast and then my mom and I were off to the Manasquan house as she was technically hosting Christmas. It was a long day of set up, cleaning and running around making sure everything was perfect. Little did I know, the next day would be absolutely perfect. Space at the dinner table was tight, so the "kids" aka those of us in our mid 20's and early 30's were demoted to the smaller dining room table. We were having a great time, laughing, drinking, talking and Jackie's awesomely terrible rendition of " Oh Holy Night." I accidentally spilled some red wine on the carpet, but was able to blot it out with some seltzer water. The miller girls busted out the Bourbon & ginger ales and so I strayed from my normal wino pattern. The night ended with late night scrabble at aunt Patty Palkos.
At some point during the night, I was in the kitchen when Meredith turned to me and said, oh my God are you going to get engaged at Christmas? I turned to our family of 60 people talking loudly above one another and said... yea, he's going to do it right here in front of everyone.
The next morning I woke up with some Irish guilt and a touch of the Irish Flu. I remembered why I don't stray from vino as I felt pretty crappy. They were talking about the storm of the century coming through and it was already starting to snow. I was torn between getting purposely snowed in at my parents and sleeping the day away or getting a head start on the storm and getting on the road. Luis wasn't taking the bait and wanted to get back to DC. He was sort of antsy, but I didn't think anything of it. I had to cancel the brunch that I had planned to have all my NJ girlfriends and also going to see Kaitlin and Nate's new house. Thank God we left when we did because the snow was falling fast.
Ok so now we are mid day December 26, 2010. Luis drove the whole way home. When we finally got back to DC he suggested I take a shower. I relented and it turns out he wasn't just trying to make me feel better but this was all apart of his plan. When I was in the shower, Luis was busy hiding the ring (which he had in his backpack the whole time in NJ) under the Christmas tree. When I got out of the shower we had a lazy day watching football. I had some eggplant already fried (with gluten free bread crumbs of course) and frozen so I assembled an impromptu eggplant parm and we watched football. The Redskins were on at 1 and the Giants were on at 4. I kept pestering Luis to open Christmas Presents but he was saying, "let's just wait until after football." I was a little suspicious. I had my presents under the tree for weeks and now Luis who is a Christmas Eve shopper had nothing out. I joked and said "where are all my presents.." and he said "hiding," well he wasn't kidding.
Now all this time the ring is hiding under our very first Christmas Tree. We were both laying down on our "apartment size" brown leather couch in our 3rd floor story apartment in a historic row home in capitol hill. Luis was not being weird, like I said.. at first I was suspicious because there were no presents and I thought.. Oh my God, is this it? and then I quickly cancelled it out. No way: I don't feel so hot, we just got back from NJ (I was almost convinced he would do it up there in the spring/summer), I didn't think he would do it over the holidays he would catch me off guard on a Tuesday night and plus... he is sleeping on the couch.. there is no way someone could be this relaxed...
The Giants blew the game. Another reason I didn't think he would do it right then.. he wants to proposed to a crazy Giant's fan post loss? So I excitedly start handing him his presents . I was stacking the deck this year for Christmas, thinking he may be buying me a sparkling present in the next year or so.. so I better go big and keep it fresh in his mind how fabulous I am ;)
- Patagonia Fleece- looks like a sheep- Retro RX
-New duffel bag filled with Costco socks (his favorite present) and shoe trees
- A nice button down shirt which he subsequently exchanged for a sweatshirt.. interesting..
- Colbert Report book, Diner Drive ins and dives recipe book
Now he was excited about the fleece but he didn't jump over the moon. This was a big surprise and he wanted the fleece but he wasn't doing the screams and jumping jacks that I was anticipating. I had been hiding the fleece since black Friday.. and it is REALLY hard for me to keep secrets about presents that I bought.
Luis tells me my present is under the tree as well. Impossible, I just handed all of his presents from under the tree. I didn't see anything under there. Not to mention since we were gone for three days, when Luis was sleeping I WATERED THE TREE! No, I wasn't being sneaky I legitimately watered the tree and didn't see anything. I sat down on the hardwood floor Indian style. I was in my fairly new sweatpants (Chatham written in Navy blue on the side from our November trip to Cape Cod) and a long sleeve blue t-shirt. Another point for Luis.. the man who does not own a pair of sweatpants and has given me so much crap over the past 4.5 years, there is no way he would propose when I am wearing sweatpants...
Just to set the mood. It was a quiet night on our street with no traffic. The street lights looked romantic, as they produced a yellow orange glow. Did I mention, that it was snowing. The perfect beautiful, clean, barely dusting the ground snow.
I entertained the idea that the present may be under the tree, so I start hitting the red velvety tree skirt. We had bought it at Walmart and Luis was trying to convince me we didn't need one we could just sweep up the needles... well good thing we did buddy, where would you have hidden the ring! My hand hit something. A small red box. Obviously the cardboard box around a smaller box containing jewelry.
Luis- Do you know what that is?
Kathryn (Thought)- If this is a pair of earrings, I'm going to be pissed. All this build up, me waiting all day, and things have been so fabulous lately.
Kathryn (speaks)- ummmmmm
I slowly open the cardboard box and see a smaller ring box inside. I crack open the box. I am freaking out. Luis and I haven't even talked about rings.. what if I hate it? how am I going to be excited about an engagement and then hate the ring? It's not about the ring, obviously, but I am going to be wearing this thing the rest of my life. Oh my god, is this really happening.
The box opens and I see the most gorgeous ring I have ever seen in my entire life. If I had to pick out a ring, this is what it would look like.
Luis- Kathryn you are the love of my life. You mean everything to me. Will you Marry me?
Words didn't come out. I immediately hugged and kissed him, a few tears came out and then pushed him away and said YES YES YES OH MY GOD YES! I kept play hitting him on the shoulder and saying SHUT UP. SHUT UP oh my god SHUT UP! Repeat this cycle. Hugs, tears, shaking and shut ups for the next few hours.
The next few hours were a blur of phone calls. If I had to given anyone engagement advise.. call your parents and turn off the phone. It takes a little away from your moment when the news gets out and everyone in the world is calling you. My first phone call, I called my house.. Jenn and Jay were snowed in there
K- Mom, We're engaged
M- Yea, its still really coming down out there (it had been snowing all day)
K- no mom, we're engaged
M- I don't know maybe about 10-12 inches (They eventually got 3 feet and were snowed in for 3 days)
k- MOM I REALLY NEED YOU TO FOCUS. WE ARE ENGAGED. LUIS AND I ARE GETTING MARRIED
m- oh my god, (turns to my dad) did you know, did you know
d- know what (Luis had asked him in the summer but didn't say when or where)
m- Kathryn and Luis are engaged..
The room erupts in cheering and crying.
I also called the Manasquan house to talk to Nannie and Poopa and that room erupted in cheering as well. Funny story is, I beat my cousin Brett to the we're engaged call by 5-10 minutes. He flew back to Costa Rica and proposed to Yalile the very same day we got engaged.
One question I do remember asking that night to Luis
K: "Did you talk to Kaitlin about the ring?"
L: No, why? I did not talk to any of your friends, they all have big mouths!
K: I have sent Kaitlin pictures of rings, and they all look like this
L: No, I didn't talk to anyone. I designed it myself.
I guess some things are just meant to be.
Disclaimer: The Blue shirt & sweatpants were the night of the actual engagement. Black Sweater was a few days later w/ makeup and non sweatpants monster.
Here is the Christmas Ornament Jenn got me for our first Christmas living together!
Now on to the good stuff....
Luis met me in NJ on Christmas Day. His family, as per usual, had the typical Spanish Christmas Eve feast until the wee hours of the morning. Being the selfless person that he is, he basically took a nap and met me up at the Manasquan House in the early afternoon. He took the Amtrak up and the Callahan's picked him up from the station. My Christmas Eve was spent at Church with the family and then at the Morris family annual Christmas Eve party. Christmas morning was perfect. Hannah and Finn (Hannah turned 6 three days after Christmas and Finn turned 4 in October) came over and opened their presents. Santa came to Gigi and Papi's (my parents) house as well so it truly was a joy. They are at such a fun age. Hannah was thrilled about her nail polish design studio and Finn got a mini ride on quad. Side note: These kids are up to 3 power wheels toys in their 6 year span, Dennis and I are still at zero, but who is keeping track. Nannie and Poopa came over for breakfast and then my mom and I were off to the Manasquan house as she was technically hosting Christmas. It was a long day of set up, cleaning and running around making sure everything was perfect. Little did I know, the next day would be absolutely perfect. Space at the dinner table was tight, so the "kids" aka those of us in our mid 20's and early 30's were demoted to the smaller dining room table. We were having a great time, laughing, drinking, talking and Jackie's awesomely terrible rendition of " Oh Holy Night." I accidentally spilled some red wine on the carpet, but was able to blot it out with some seltzer water. The miller girls busted out the Bourbon & ginger ales and so I strayed from my normal wino pattern. The night ended with late night scrabble at aunt Patty Palkos.
At some point during the night, I was in the kitchen when Meredith turned to me and said, oh my God are you going to get engaged at Christmas? I turned to our family of 60 people talking loudly above one another and said... yea, he's going to do it right here in front of everyone.
The next morning I woke up with some Irish guilt and a touch of the Irish Flu. I remembered why I don't stray from vino as I felt pretty crappy. They were talking about the storm of the century coming through and it was already starting to snow. I was torn between getting purposely snowed in at my parents and sleeping the day away or getting a head start on the storm and getting on the road. Luis wasn't taking the bait and wanted to get back to DC. He was sort of antsy, but I didn't think anything of it. I had to cancel the brunch that I had planned to have all my NJ girlfriends and also going to see Kaitlin and Nate's new house. Thank God we left when we did because the snow was falling fast.
Ok so now we are mid day December 26, 2010. Luis drove the whole way home. When we finally got back to DC he suggested I take a shower. I relented and it turns out he wasn't just trying to make me feel better but this was all apart of his plan. When I was in the shower, Luis was busy hiding the ring (which he had in his backpack the whole time in NJ) under the Christmas tree. When I got out of the shower we had a lazy day watching football. I had some eggplant already fried (with gluten free bread crumbs of course) and frozen so I assembled an impromptu eggplant parm and we watched football. The Redskins were on at 1 and the Giants were on at 4. I kept pestering Luis to open Christmas Presents but he was saying, "let's just wait until after football." I was a little suspicious. I had my presents under the tree for weeks and now Luis who is a Christmas Eve shopper had nothing out. I joked and said "where are all my presents.." and he said "hiding," well he wasn't kidding.
Now all this time the ring is hiding under our very first Christmas Tree. We were both laying down on our "apartment size" brown leather couch in our 3rd floor story apartment in a historic row home in capitol hill. Luis was not being weird, like I said.. at first I was suspicious because there were no presents and I thought.. Oh my God, is this it? and then I quickly cancelled it out. No way: I don't feel so hot, we just got back from NJ (I was almost convinced he would do it up there in the spring/summer), I didn't think he would do it over the holidays he would catch me off guard on a Tuesday night and plus... he is sleeping on the couch.. there is no way someone could be this relaxed...
The Giants blew the game. Another reason I didn't think he would do it right then.. he wants to proposed to a crazy Giant's fan post loss? So I excitedly start handing him his presents . I was stacking the deck this year for Christmas, thinking he may be buying me a sparkling present in the next year or so.. so I better go big and keep it fresh in his mind how fabulous I am ;)
- Patagonia Fleece- looks like a sheep- Retro RX
-New duffel bag filled with Costco socks (his favorite present) and shoe trees
- A nice button down shirt which he subsequently exchanged for a sweatshirt.. interesting..
- Colbert Report book, Diner Drive ins and dives recipe book
Now he was excited about the fleece but he didn't jump over the moon. This was a big surprise and he wanted the fleece but he wasn't doing the screams and jumping jacks that I was anticipating. I had been hiding the fleece since black Friday.. and it is REALLY hard for me to keep secrets about presents that I bought.
Luis tells me my present is under the tree as well. Impossible, I just handed all of his presents from under the tree. I didn't see anything under there. Not to mention since we were gone for three days, when Luis was sleeping I WATERED THE TREE! No, I wasn't being sneaky I legitimately watered the tree and didn't see anything. I sat down on the hardwood floor Indian style. I was in my fairly new sweatpants (Chatham written in Navy blue on the side from our November trip to Cape Cod) and a long sleeve blue t-shirt. Another point for Luis.. the man who does not own a pair of sweatpants and has given me so much crap over the past 4.5 years, there is no way he would propose when I am wearing sweatpants...
Just to set the mood. It was a quiet night on our street with no traffic. The street lights looked romantic, as they produced a yellow orange glow. Did I mention, that it was snowing. The perfect beautiful, clean, barely dusting the ground snow.
I entertained the idea that the present may be under the tree, so I start hitting the red velvety tree skirt. We had bought it at Walmart and Luis was trying to convince me we didn't need one we could just sweep up the needles... well good thing we did buddy, where would you have hidden the ring! My hand hit something. A small red box. Obviously the cardboard box around a smaller box containing jewelry.
Luis- Do you know what that is?
Kathryn (Thought)- If this is a pair of earrings, I'm going to be pissed. All this build up, me waiting all day, and things have been so fabulous lately.
Kathryn (speaks)- ummmmmm
I slowly open the cardboard box and see a smaller ring box inside. I crack open the box. I am freaking out. Luis and I haven't even talked about rings.. what if I hate it? how am I going to be excited about an engagement and then hate the ring? It's not about the ring, obviously, but I am going to be wearing this thing the rest of my life. Oh my god, is this really happening.
The box opens and I see the most gorgeous ring I have ever seen in my entire life. If I had to pick out a ring, this is what it would look like.
Luis- Kathryn you are the love of my life. You mean everything to me. Will you Marry me?
Words didn't come out. I immediately hugged and kissed him, a few tears came out and then pushed him away and said YES YES YES OH MY GOD YES! I kept play hitting him on the shoulder and saying SHUT UP. SHUT UP oh my god SHUT UP! Repeat this cycle. Hugs, tears, shaking and shut ups for the next few hours.
The next few hours were a blur of phone calls. If I had to given anyone engagement advise.. call your parents and turn off the phone. It takes a little away from your moment when the news gets out and everyone in the world is calling you. My first phone call, I called my house.. Jenn and Jay were snowed in there
K- Mom, We're engaged
M- Yea, its still really coming down out there (it had been snowing all day)
K- no mom, we're engaged
M- I don't know maybe about 10-12 inches (They eventually got 3 feet and were snowed in for 3 days)
k- MOM I REALLY NEED YOU TO FOCUS. WE ARE ENGAGED. LUIS AND I ARE GETTING MARRIED
m- oh my god, (turns to my dad) did you know, did you know
d- know what (Luis had asked him in the summer but didn't say when or where)
m- Kathryn and Luis are engaged..
The room erupts in cheering and crying.
I also called the Manasquan house to talk to Nannie and Poopa and that room erupted in cheering as well. Funny story is, I beat my cousin Brett to the we're engaged call by 5-10 minutes. He flew back to Costa Rica and proposed to Yalile the very same day we got engaged.
One question I do remember asking that night to Luis
K: "Did you talk to Kaitlin about the ring?"
L: No, why? I did not talk to any of your friends, they all have big mouths!
K: I have sent Kaitlin pictures of rings, and they all look like this
L: No, I didn't talk to anyone. I designed it myself.
I guess some things are just meant to be.
Here is the Christmas Ornament Jenn got me for our first Christmas living together!
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