Engaged!

On August 7th, J and I celebrated our 7th year anniversary. Or at least, we were supposed to but one of his closest friends from high school was having a destination bachelor party that weekend and wouldn't budge on the date. Figuring we'd have more anniversaries and knowing I'd want some understanding if the roles were reversed, I pitched a fit and demanded 7 days of celebration when he came back to make up for the missed day.

I was partially kidding (like 99% kidding. I was fine with just going out to dinner) but he liked the idea and agreed. Starting that Monday, we had celebrations each day. Monday was a breakfast-for-dinner celebration. Tuesday, he surprised me with flowers and a candlelit dinner. Wednesday we were supposed to go to the park but J got food poisoning. Thursday, we went to our favorite park.Friday we went to see a special light exhibit at the museum. I found out later he was going to propose there but was thwarted by a 3rd person who ran into the exhibit at the last minute! 

Tuesday

Wednesday

Friday
Not pictured: Thursday pajama party 

When we got out, we drove to lunch and passed these beautiful gardens. He suggested we go out after lunch and I agreed despite it being about 1000 degrees outside. We ate at a place with gigantic portions sizes and accidentally ordered way too much food. We laughed and ate as much as we could before admitting defeat and driving over to the gardens.

Centennial Gardens

As soon as we got there, I knew something was up. He was being weirdly quiet and rushing us through some of the most beautiful parts of the garden. I followed along at his pace and we headed towards the hill that was sort of the centerpiece of the gardens. I'm going to interject here and remind ya'll it was A THOUSAND DEGREES out and the last thing I wanted to do was walk round and round to the top of the hill but J insisted so I said, "Fine."

He held my hand (despite the weather) and we talked about how the past 7 years had been for us. We stopped at every waterfall along the way to cool off and looked out over the gardens. When we got to the top, there was only another pair of friends there and they left as soon as we got there. I sat on the front bench and looked out at the gardens. He tried to squeeze next to me but there really wasn't space for 2. We took a picture and then he got up. He told me I should move to another bench that had '100 years' engraved on it. In the 2 seconds it took me to sit down, he had knelt down and pulled out the ring box. He was sweating bullets, was uncharacteristically flustered and barely got out "Ally, will you marry me?" without a stutter.

I always thought I'd know how I'd react in this kind of situation but apparently, I don't really know myself. Instead of answering, I grabbed his head and stared at him. I don't know for how long but eventually he said, "Is that a yes?"

I nodded, he put the ring on my finger and I grabbed his head again because I couldn't stop staring at him. I know other people cry but I think I was in complete and total shock. As we walked back down the hill, I held his hand and let it sink in. By the time we were in the car, I was in full out maelstrom-of-emotion mode. There's really not a single word I can use to describe it. I was excited and nervous and jittery and elated and joyous and shocked and I cycled between all of those on a pretty quick basis. On the way home, we jammed out to a soundtrack of 90's Nelly.

Needless to say, it was perfect and kind of a relief to have it done! I was so nervous the weeks leading up to it. Since then, everything feels right and I can't really remember what I was so nervous about. Maybe it was the anticipation.

Bahhhhhhhh. Now comes all of the planning things (It's really amazing how quickly people start asking you about the wedding) and everything seems daunting. I keep reminding myself that it's one step at a time. 

Dog Days

(To offset some of the more word-heavy posts, here's some pictures of dogs!)

As awesome as summer is, I've always been more of a 'fall' person. That could be because a Texas 'fall' is the same as everyone else's summer. If that's the case then you guys are lucky folks, because we're going on the end of September here and it is still outrageously hot. While I may not be the biggest fan of this season, Windy definitely is so we're trying to squeeze the most out of what's left of summer by hitting up parks as much as we can.

This past weekend, we were in Houston so my sister invited us to a dog park that recently opened. Apparently, it's the most expensive dog park in the city, but let me tell you, that money did not go towards pet clean up stations. Beyond the serious need for more bags and trashcans, the park itself was pretty nice!

I guess they had just installed new grass or something, because orange fences EVERYWHERE. 

There was a water feature with fountains so dogs could cool off and plenty of grass for them to run around in. Water + dirt/grass = mud though, so don't be the fool I was and wear sandals. Tennis shoes all the way.

In typical Winnie fashion, she wanted to play fetch the entire time and ignore all the other dogs at the park. I can throw a ball from underneath a tree though, so I don't mind.

There were also plenty of little dogs soaking up the shade who seemed to be having the time of their lives, so little dog owners, don't be discouraged! This place is great for everyone.

In the interest of full disclosure, I haven't been to another dog park in Houston so I can't compare, but this was a pretty decent park. There are benches for the humans and nice spaces for the dogs.

This may easily be Winnie's favorite part of summer, but I'm still anxiously awaiting the next season, which is today!