Wednesday, January 21, 2009

The Engagement

As requested by Not the Queen (aka my sister) she asked me to blog about my engagement. I suppose it’s a natural progression from how we met, to the engagement, to well, the wedding (eventually).

So as promised, here’s the story of the engagement.

I first need to preface this story with everyone and their dog knew Corey was going to propose to me in Disneyworld, except myself and my sister (thank you mom and dad for letting me get to tell her!). I mean everyone, my parents, Corey’s parents, his sister & brother, his step siblings and their spouses, the girls he works with, even our travel agent. I’m still miffed that our travel agent knew… But such is life.

Anyway, back to the story.

About a year and a half ago, Corey and I began planning our latest trip to Disneyworld. We started planning shortly after our first trip since we had an amazing time! This trip, we decided to invite people along thinking it would increase the fun (yes and no). So after all the planning and cajoling, we managed to get my parents and Corey’s parents, sister and brother, to agree to go with us. All the rest of our invitees backed out of the vacation for a variety of reasons.

We planned, schemed, worried, fretted, reserved, argued, revised, and finally made it there all in one piece! Few… So we played in the park the day we arrived having as much fun as you can with pouring Florida rain, dashing from store to store, ride to ride, hoping you don’t drown on the way. And no I’m not talking about the daily summer showers where after 10 minutes of rain it’s dry and warm again, I’m talking about the daily summer showers where it just continues to pour non-stop. Welcome to Disneyworld…

We made the best of what we had. That evening, Corey and I had dinner reservations at Ohana at the Polynesian resort (the resort we had stayed at the first time we went to Disneyworld). The food was tasty. It was almost like a buffet. They start you out with salad, then deliver bowls of sweet “buffalo” wings, pot stickers, veggies of some variety, and noodles. The wait staff then brings around with, what I can only describe as, meat shish kabobs and portions you off some of the pork, beef, chicken and shrimp. It’s all you can eat and the food was terrific. They even brought each table a set of dipping sauces that were scrumptious. After dinner, they served a bread pudding with “burnt” banana caramel sauce. Ohhhhhhhh, so heavenly. I stuffed myself silly, but the food was mmmmmmm, mmmmmmmmm, good.

We finished up dinner with time to spare. Every night the magic kingdom has a fire works show. You can see the show from the 3 lagoon hotels (the Contemporary, the Polynesian, and the Grand Floridian). The beaches in front of the Hotel are the perfect place for viewing the fireworks. They even pump the music through the outdoor speakers in time to the fireworks so you can get the whole effect. So we wondered around the property. I thought it would have been a good idea to view the fireworks from our hotel (the Grand Floridian) thinking we could take my parents, but Corey convinced me that we should stay at the Polynesian with a little trouble (hey, I had no idea what was going on). We started out at the dock, and then decided to wander to the beach since the dock was crowded and it had stopped raining for a few moments. We wandered through the beach area, but there were no seats available, so Corey “suggested” we wonder further along the property. We hadn’t done a whole lot of wandering of the property last time we were there since there were obviously more important things to do like go on all the rides. So we wandered past the beach to a place they have called Sunset Point. Sunset point is this little point on the beach where there’s a circular cut of land that kind of juts out into the water, ringed by palm trees. So we wandered our way out there just in time for the fireworks to start. There’s this great view where the castle is framed by 2 palm trees and you get a fantastic view of all the fireworks.

So we were standing there, watching the fireworks (mind you, we had the point to ourselves) and Corey starts poking me in the back (not unusual) halfway through the show. I turned around to poke him back and he disappeared. As I turned around to find him, there he was, down on one knee, fireworks all around, holding out the ring box (thankfully not upside down. He was a little worried about that) and then he asked me. It was so sweet and uber romantic. Obviously I said yes.

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

How I met Corey.

I feel as thought all I do is pour out my sob stories and complain about my life (OMG, I’m starting to sound like my Grandmother, eek!!!). So in effort to put something cheerful down, I thought I’d start today. Granted I’m in a foul-ass-mood today thanks to my wonderful boss and job… So, here’s an attempt at making my day feel a little less crappy and a little more cheerful!

How I met Corey, my fiance (tee hee hee, It's still weird calling him my fiance).

This is a cute story, I think. Most people think it is too. Corey and I met in college. We had a class or 2 together before we really met, so we kind of knew each other through association but neither of us really talked to each other. December 2001, there was a school field trip for credit going to Hawaii (yes, the actual Big Island of Hawaii). We had both signed up to go, along with some other people, some from our major, some not. I didn’t really know anyone on this trip. I had just really started into my major and knew only 1 or 2 people. I figured it’s Hawaii, I’m going to have a great time regardless of who I know.

Well yes indeed, I had a wonderful time. It was my first and only trip (so far) to Hawaii. We traveled to the Big Island to play, hike, swim, and make lava spoons (those were a complete failure. I never would have imagined that lava doesn’t like to stick to your mother’s metal spoons. Who would have guessed?) Partway through the trip, the teachers had planned a few days of pure fun. Where we could go play on the beach, go swimming, sun bathe and all around screw off. The rest of our trip was full of hikes and extremely interesting geological sites, like old lava tubes, the green sand beach, fire hoses, surface lava flows. You name it, we probably saw it. So mid-way through the trip, the teachers took us to Kona and Hapuna Beach for 2 days. We body surfed in Hapuna Beach, and shopped and snorkeled in Kona. It was fantastic.

In Hapuna Beach, we stayed at the Hapuna Beach State park A-Frames (http://www.cabinweb.com/menu/hawaii/hawaiipics/hihapuna1.htm). They were a little special looking, but did the job. There was enough room for about 4 people to share an A-Frame, more if someone wanted to sleep on the floor. So (besides the addition 2 sleepers, we unfortunately inherited) Kim (our mutual friend), Corey, and I shared a cabin. The first night we were there, our entire group went out for margarita’s and Mexican food and then we spent most of the evening wondering the beach by moonlight. It was gorgeous. The 2nd day, we spent body surfing and relaxing. That evening was the evening Corey and I really met. Kim and I had purchased a bottle of rum in the exchange at the Kilauea Military Camp (where we had been staying for the majority of our trip) before we’d left for Hapuna Beach. That 2nd night, Kim, Corey and I mixed some Rum and Cokes to enjoy. We mixed Corey some rum and rum, with a hint of coke. He’s the one who asked for it!!! Needless to say, Kim and I got Corey a little tipsy. When Corey get’s tipsy, he gets chatty. That was the night we both really got to know him.

After Hawaii, began the Thursday night bar nights (with a small portion of our Hawaii group), where we’d go out and bar hop (yes we always had a dd), play some pool, and end up back at Corey’s place to watch moves. And well, the rest is sort of history.

We had our first date on April 14th, 2002. Corey made me chicken parmesan and potatoes au gratin. I got the stomach flu for the rest of the week afterwards (it was just bad timing) but he did bring me orange tulips when I was sick. Automatic keeper!!!

And that’s the story of how Corey and I met!