Slowly But Surely

Well, the move is in progress. Setting up the new apartment is fun, but I feel like the boxes keep coming! Where did all this stuff come from? Certainly not us. We just don't have this much junk, right? Anyways, junk or not we've had some progress and like we all learned from the Tortoise, "Slow and steady wins the race."

Warning! The following pictures may cause anxiety!

Stacks of boxes:


Stacks of stuff:


But moving isn't all bad. Allow me to introduce our (Nate's) new flat screen. Or, as he likes to put it, 52" of glory.

Nate is away for business, so there are some half-completed projects around. By the way, I got this (soon-to-be) bookshelf at Target for $69.99. It was a steal!


With moving comes adjusting to a new place. Stevie already has her new spot picked out.


These first steps to co-existence are actually kind of fun. Makes me look forward to more in the future. Oh and one more thing... ONE WEEK UNTIL THE WEDDING!

Honeymoon Booked!

WoooHooo!! Nate and I just booked our honeymoon! I am so excited. I just wish it was sooner, but I know it will come up quickly.

In case you are wondering, Nate and I are going to Belize from June 9th to June 16th and will be staying at this awesome resort, Matachica (click on link to see pics).

Have a mentioned how excited I am???!!! It will be a trip of both relaxation and tropical activities, which I think is a perfect combo for our honeymoon. We will be staying in the Beach Casitas, they are little beach cottages which will make it so nice and a little more private than a hotel. Here is a picture of the interior of a Beach Casita..



I CAN'T WAIT!!!!

UNBELIEVABLE UPDATE: After I posted this blog, I wrote to our friend Clare who had suggested the resort and said thank you and how excited I was... Well, she replies back that they had booked Belize, too... THE SAME EXACT DATES! What are the odds. They are staying in at a different beach house on a nearby island. But we still couldn't believe the coincidence. THEN, she asks me what flights we are taking... WE ARE ON THE SAME FLIGHTS!!! Is that not unbelievable. So funny! I look forward to meeting up for dinner and/or some snorkeling :)

We're ENGAGED!!

For those of you who may not have heard, Nate and I got engaged last Saturday, Valentine's Day. I can't even begin to express the joy I feel having been asked to marry this absolutely wonderful person. I feel like the luckiest girl alive and I can't wait to build a life with him.

So the million dollar question: how did he do it? Well, lucky for you all I had a camera along that wonderful day so I can tell and show you :)

A few days before, Nate told me he wanted to go on a hike in Torrey Pines for Valentine's Day. He looked a little distraught when I told him it was supposed to rain that day, but then I consoled him by reminding him how wrong our weathermen are.

Saturday came and it started off just right, with some home-made waffles (Nate's favorite), a walk with Stevie, and beautiful weather. We went to a sandwich place on the way and got to Torrey Pines in the early afternoon.

Then we started down the trails. See, it really was pretty out!

View to the north:

The first mishap, I found out later, was that the point where Nate wanted to propose was under construction. But we decided, we would take the Beach Trail instead. We headed down to that flat rock:

Here Nate is on the flat rock. Looking at this picture is funny, because Nate is looking over to where he would eventually propose. Probably thinking something like, "That will do."

After getting off the flat rock we started down the beach. What was going through my mind was this has been an absolutely perfect day. Little did I know it was about to get MUCH better. I was having fun by the cliffs:


And hiding out in coves:
Finally, we came to a rock and sat down. Nate asked if I wanted to check out the scenery with the binoculars and I said, "Yeah!" So I was looking up the coast and being amazed by how neat binoculars really are, when I felt a tap on my leg. When I looked over there was Nate on one knee and he asked me that magical question (I am smiling really big and kind of giggly as I type this).

So here is the big mishap, the one that now makes our engagement even more memorable.... When Nate asked he held open an empty ring box. I hugged him, said, "of course," but then asked "what does this mean?" and pointed to the box. Nate was confused until he looked for himself and saw no ring. That's when his panic set in. He informed me quickly that the ring should have been in there and was rifling through the backpack where he had hid the box. I picked up on the panic, and as he moved onto looking at the ground, I started searching too..... BUT, then he saw it - FACE DOWN IN THE SAND. WHoooooooooooo (big sigh from Nate). He brushed it off and put it on my finger. And I saw for the first time, the most perfect ring I had ever seen. After the panic subsided Nate grabbed the camera and took a couple "after" pics of me:


Right down there was where the ring was (oh yeah, and the binoculars.. I have no recollection of this but I must have just dropped them when he asked, haha). I love the story, but at the time.. MAN NATE LOOKED WORRIED when he couldn't find that ring!

He felt like he slightly blew it since he proposed with an empty box, but I love our unique story.


Engaged and in love: Nate and Nikki February 14th, 2009