For those of you who don't know the full story I will start from the beginning.
Ryan and I actually met at a wedding. We were paired up together in the bridal party of our good friend's Joe and Adrienne. I had arrived a little late for the rehersal and snuck my way in to the line up. I remember counting down the line of groomsmen to see who I was with. And there he was. We met in the middle and as we had our practice walk down the isle I introduced myself. To which he replied "we already met, a few months ago when I was visiting Adrienne". Way to go Kristen, you are off to a good start...As the day progressed and the wedding day came we both obviously tried to come up with reasons to talk to one another. But it wasn't until the reception dinner that I knew there was something really special about this guy. We were so comfortable with each other right away that we even ate off each other's plate. So comfortable in fact that Ryan dropped food on me!! And when I told him one day I wanted to learn how to fly a plane. He flirtaciously told me his dad is a pilot...he had caught me, hook lined and sinker.
A quick side note to TC Bennett: You were right when you told Ryan about the "Bennett Charm". It really works...
Let me tell you, the lesson in this story is not to go to a wedding, have a few drinks and hope for the best. It is in fact a true tale of why you should always listen to your mother. Before I went to Adrienne and Joes wedding my Mom said to me "you know Kristen, people meet at weddings". I thought, what does she know, she hasn't dated since disco was in. But sure enough Mom, you were right. I did meet someone at this wedding. And my life has not been the same since.
It's so true that love is not always easy. For a year and a half we dated long distance from Detroit to Chicago. It was difficult, and seemed never ending at times. But we both knew we were in this for the long haul. But with hard work comes victory. In October of 2009 I made my final trek accross Michigan and Indiana and moved to Chicago! I showed up at Ryan's door with a car full of clothes and IKEA furniture. It was a big step moving in together but for us it was the right step.
Ryan and I often talk and fantisize about traveling around the world. Neither of us were able to study abroad while in college. So the time finally came for us to take a big trip together. Some friends of ours had gone to Costa Rica the previous year. It seemed like the perfect combination of adventure and relaxation. And it was....we hiked through the jungles, drank margaritas, rode horses up a mountain, drank beer, zip lined in the tree tops, layed by the pool (with margaritas and beers), and ate, ate, ATE the best food!!
I knew Ryan's proposal was coming. The funny thing is, he still thinks he can hide things from me. But I see right through that boy : ) Anyway, some conversations prior to our trip lead me to believe that it was coming. The first night we arrived in Costa Rica we went to get dinner at the resort's restaurant, Rico Tico. And sure enough, mister "I can't hide anything" told me he had a surprise dinner planned for us the following night. As we were getting ready for dinner the next night, I started to question if it was going to happen. Ryan sat on the porch, calmly reading a book while I frantically tried to make myself look perfect. How could he be so calm?! Especially after seeing this one trying to curl her hair like a psycho in 90 degree 112% humidity--not a pretty sight. But never the less Ryan told me I looked beautiful (awww). So off to dinner we went. The restaurant was way on the top of a hill. It opened up completely to the outdoors. Our table overlooked the rainforest and the ocean below, it was breathtaking. As soon as we sat down I was nervous-When was it going to happen? What is he going to say? What did the ring look like?! Luckily my old friend Chardonnay was there to calm me down. For whatever reason, and to this day I still don't know what came over me, I started to talk politics. I never talk politics. I try to avoid talking about politics like it's the plague. Can you tell I was nervous?? But very quickly and politely Ryan switched the subject. Before I could take a breath, he was down on one knee purposing. Now as much as I like sharing all of this with everyone, Ryan would kill me if I told all the sweet things he said. Plus I like the idea of that just being between him and I : ) Without a seconds thought, I wholeheartedly said YES! We were ENGAGED! Waiter, bring on the champagne!
A funny side note: when the waiter brought us champagne, he showed us the bottle for our approval. We could have cared less about what kind of champagne, we just wanted to celebrate. A $3 bottle of Boonesfarm would have been fine. It wasn't until the bill came that we realized what we had agreed to. And $215/bottle later we drank EVERY drop of that champagne : ) You only get engaged once!
Besides actually getting engaged, the most exciting part was calling all of our parents and sharing the good news. We had a 20 minutes international phone card and damnit we were going to use every one of those minutes! I will never forgot those calls. The love and excitement was overwhelming! We had 2 minutes left-not enough to call our siblings, but just enough to call my bestfriend (and MOH!) Jessica. I literally yelled "we're engaged" and hung up!
It was actually kind of great that we were so isolated afterwards. It gave us time to just let it all sink in and enjoy every moment. We also quickly learned that if you tell people on vacation that you just got engaged, they buy you drinks! Hey, we're on a budget, we'll take anything for free!
So that's our story in a nutshell. Thanks for reading! Now it's time to start planning!
