A Long Time Since March

Remember the old days circa 2009, when blogging was just a journal of sorts? Those were great days. I also remember back in March I said I would return to blogging and well…it’s been a long time since March.

While then I did say I would share bits and pieces of turning our forever house into a home, I got seriously overwhelmed. Here is the full back story. We decided to update the major rooms in our home because we were planning an intimate affair for the summer here. We started with the kitchen (the post is in drafts, I swear I will share), and then realized the cost and labor of doing this intimate affair at home, was now sky rocketing. You see, one-night last year, Mr. A woke up in the middle of the night proclaiming he needed to buy me a ring. It was clearly one helluva dream and I replied with ‘sure honey’ because we were both half asleep, I was tired and did not take him seriously. This would have been random proposal number six or seven. In November, however, before date night, he walked me into a jeweler where I fell in love with a Montana Sapphire but almost had a panic attack when the lady said we could size it right then and there and he looked at me and asked if I truly loved that ring. Over dinner, Mr. A asked if I really wanted to do this because of my reaction and that is when I realized he was serious, he is after all the most spontaneous person I have ever met. He does things the moment he feels like it and fast. So, we had a ring custom made by a good friend, a Montana Sapphire like I fell in love with that night in November and he proposed at our favorite spot in downtown St. Charles in March. The proposal was a slightly funny one.

Mr. A was in a meeting downtown on a Thursday (he usually works from home) when I had to call him to ask if we could switch our dinner reservations to the following day. My girlfriend needed some alone time, and I was going to meet her for drinks. A big thing in our relationship is making sure that we make time for our friends especially if they need us, so I found it odd that for the first time ever, he hesitated initially but I made nothing of it since it was subtle and so out of the ordinary. I went out with my girlfriend and had a great time. So, the next night as I am getting dolled up for date night, I’m checking emails and telling him about this attorney on a deal I was working on that was suffering from little man syndrome and being extremely disrespectful and how my attorney partner and her paralegal put him in his place in the most professional and beautiful way. He usually loves these stories but is so crazy quiet. Again, odd but I make nothing of it. So, we pull up to our favorite spot, but I make a suggestion to go across the street instead to a new place that I went to the night before. He hesitates but agrees which is odd again because he is so “go with the flow”. I still make nothing of it as I’m in my head still talking nonstop about work. I did cave and we go to our usual spot. He doesn’t want to sit at the bar like we usually do but instead wants to go to the back room where we sat the first time we were there. A woman walks in to take photos and I offer to take some of her. Yet another odd reaction as he is usually the more social one, offering to help everyone and makes at least one new friend every time we leave the house. You can read my subtle post about “my friend” here. She finally leaves and I turn to ask him what is wrong when he pulls out the most beautiful pear-shaped Montana sapphire ring, the perfect ombre stone and I scream and burst out into laughter. Probably not the reaction anyone expects but I’m not good with surprises as I always figure it out and this time I really was. Now while we did design the ring together, I had no idea it was even ready, between design changes and my requests that it be smaller (I know, I’m an odd woman), it was taking a fairly long time and our jeweler was not really answering me. Now I knew why, and I was putting all of it together. He was planning on proposing the night before, and I changed the plans on him. But it sure makes for a great story now.

This is our spot…

maybe a few weeks after but you get the idea.

A week later while hangout out at The Baker Hotel, I said I would need a full year to plan. He said he could plan the whole thing on a napkin, and we could be married in a month. We settled on five. Our first date was in St. Charles, most of our dates were. We bought our home here, got engaged here and built a life here so it was only fitting that on July 30th, we were married here.

We did this thing…

We both gave love and marriage a second shot.

In the end, we ended up putting a few home updates on hold temporarily since Mr. A didn’t want to do a courthouse/dinner style wedding and although we had a very small wedding with less than 30 guests and their children, it still felt like a huge production that consumed so much of my time. But in the end, I am glad he pushed for a semi-traditional wedding (more on that later) because I wouldn’t have changed a thing or asked for anything more.

With that said… to my husband:

Thank you for taking on every DIY project for things I absolutely needed to have, for surprising me with a coffee bar that served cafe con leche, for actually helping plan and make this day so special and for the constant “whatever you want baby” that I heard often during the planning process. I pray time slows down so I can enjoy this life of ours for as long as possible.