Engaged!

Today started like any other Sunday, waking up late and lazy and having a delicious breakfast (smoothies and peanut butter toast). Then we quickly packed up and left for an afternoon hike in Auburn at Hidden Falls Regional Park. We walked about forty minutes along the trail until we got to a beautiful secluded spot with trees all around, with a very convenient picnic table, where we took out and enjoyed our pasta salad, chocolate covered almonds, and sweet tea. After lunch we continued down to the falls, which were beautiful and also very crowded, so we didn't stay long.

Hidden Falls at the Overlook

We walked back to the main trail and then decided to hike the Pond Turtle Road towards the Seven Pools Loop and Vista Trail, where luckily we discovered there was hardly anyone around! We walked to the end of Pond Turtle and found a little vista overlook next to the river. We played in the river and attempted to skip rocks, and then went up a little hill and found a beautiful shady spot with some trees and flowers and a great view.

We sat down and enjoyed the scenery for a while, and had fun taking some pictures with Nick's fancy camera and the teeny tiny tripod. We had a hard time finding the right soft light but eventually got it right! It was set on a delay and took five pictures at a time. It was a beautiful day and was about three o'clock in the afternoon.

Nick set up the camera one last time to get a picture of us sitting down. He set the camera up and then walked back over to me, but instead of sitting, he got down on one knee and asked, "Will you marry me?"

Of course, the answer was YES! It came out "Duh!" first, of which I am not very proud of, but looking back is pretty funny. I said "Yes!" immediately after, so hopefully that fixes it. Nick just laughed.

Happy! 

Immediately after/during this photo, we were interrupted by a shirtless hippie hiker, who awkwardly asked to get past us on the trail. Poor guy! Now, we were still at the bottom of the trail, a good half hour away from the car, and I was so excited I practically ran up the first hill! We hiked up the rest of the way (all uphill!) holding sweaty hands and admiring my ring. I felt like shouting out at everyone we passed, "We're engaged! We just got engaged! LOOK!" and shoving my hand in their face so they could see what a beautiful ring Nick had custom designed for me. It even has my great-grandmother's (suspected) wedding ring melted into the gold, which makes it even more special.

Sparkly! My precious. ^_~

Once we reached the car, I called my house to see who was home, being very sneaky and casual about everything. My mom was running errands with Nanny, so we decided to surprise Nick's family first! We pulled into their driveway and they all came out of the house to greet us. Their first thought was that somethin was wrong, because we came up with no notice. We walked over to the deck and Nick told them we had a surprise for them. I held up my hand.

Their reaction was great! Nick's mom clapped both hands to her face and gasped, and they were all so surprised! They were also happy, which made me happy too, because I really love Nick's family. We spent about fifteen minutes there talking about how he asked, and when the wedding might be, and admiring my ring, and then his dad had to leave to pick up his grandparents from the airport (they just got back from Hawaii!) and so we left and drove to my parents house.

My mom was still out but would be coming back in about a half hour, and my dad had a member of his band "Close to You" (Carpenter's tribute band, they sound great!) over to practice, so I twisted my ring around so it looked like just a band and we pretended everything was normal. For over two hours, until the friend left.

IT WAS TORTURE.

It was pretty funny afterwards, though! I was dying to tell everyone and was having the hardest time keeping my hand from flinging out and accidentally giving it away. I kept my hand curled over and at my hip a lot, and spent the whole time my mom was back avoiding her. Last night we went out to the symphony with my parents, and my mom noticed that I had taken off my normal small diamond ring from when I was sixteen and was wearing a different costume ring. I knew she would notice this, so I had to stay far away! Nick and I took the dogs for a walk around the circle, and I spent a lot of time running around checking on the cats, and bringing in dog food, and looking at the flowers, and not talking to mom.

Today there was a solar eclipse! We poked a hole in paper with a pin and used it to cast the light from the solar eclipse onto another piece of paper. It was very cool, but also hard, because my mom was always there and I was so afraid she would see my ring and we would have to tell them then! I wanted it to be a big surprise.

After dinner the band friend left (I felt bad, I spent the whole time wanting him to leave instead of making him feel welcome) and we were sitting outside on the deck eating cantaloupe and mango and strawberries when I brought up our hike. Mom asked us how that went, and I said, oh, fine, you know, we saw the waterfall and then walked out to this beautiful secluded area by the river and Nick gave me this. And I held up my hand.

Mom and Dad just froze, and Dad asked, "What kind of ring is that?" and I said, "An engagement ring!" and then they kind of exploded and were like "WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL US!" and they got up and gave us hugs and were so excited and happy and it was so much fun! And Troy was on his computer and only paid attention at the part where mom and dad freaked out so he was like, rewind and tell the story again! So we did. 

Currently my mom has sent me about five different emails with wedding venues that look good, and is so, so excited. She has been watching wedding shows for a while since she knew Nick and I were serious. Now she has a reason to plan and be excited! She and dad I think are both very happy for us, and a little bit melancholy for when we were little kids and not getting married. Troy is kind of shocked and keeps saying "I feel old!", but is also being so sweet and happy for us. 

I called all my family and friends and shared the news and they are all so happy for us! Everyone loves Nick already so it was so great to tell them that we were making it official! It was really a very fun evening, and we appreciate everyone's congratulations and good wishes! 

Nick and I are very happy and kind of overwhelmed right now. Tomorrow we are driving back up to Auburn to tell his grandma in person and to drive to my Nanny's and see her in person. I have some more calls to make and then will post it on facebook to let everyone know. 

I feel so very lucky and extremely happy right now! 

One

One class.
One paper.
One hour of evaluations.
One meeting.
One day of grading transcripts.

Then . . . SUMMER!

Overcooked

Just ran/ walked 40 minutes on treadmill. Feeling hot and limp. Am now spaghetti. Ciao.

Chai Tea

Yesterday I discovered an absolutely deeeelicious drink, that until I tried I thought I would not like.

(Spoiler Alert: I am so totally going to use this story when trying to convince kids to try a new food.)

I generally do not like chai tea on its own, but love those chai lattes or mixes because they are yummy and sweet. Luckily, yesterday in the market I saw a chai tea done by the Celestial Seasonings and decided to buy it, because I really love their teas. It is so good! And even better, the lid suggests brewing the tea, then sweetening it and adding milk.

IT IS DELICIOUS OMG. By adding honey and rice milk to the tea, I have discovered my new favorite drink. Which I am sipping right now.

It's so yummy go buy some! And then make me one. ^_~

Catching Up . . .

Well. I certainly seem to excel at waiting months between posts and then writing a belated summary of events, don't I? We'll see if I can nix that habit, but for now I will continue in that glorious tradition:

Work is going great: I love the kids that I teach computers to and my coworkers are all made of awesome.

ONE WEEK OF SCHOOL LEFT OMG. Technically two, but I do not have finals so HA SUCKS TO BE YOU NICK. Mwahaha!

Speaking of Nick, things are going great! Coming up on 4 1/2 years next month! And wow, it seems like our 4 year anniversary just happened, where the heck is time going? I have a feeling I am going to be one of those perpetually bewildered old people, always wondering how I suddenly got to be old when just a few minutes ago I was typing this post!

We're started going to the Farmer's Markets around us, and WOW real tomatoes taste amazing! I've been snacking on raw broccoli and ate a pear for breakfast and the oranges are so delicious and the eggs are tasty and the apple juice is . . . well, actually not as good as I hoped, I will try a different vendor next time. Overall, however, we love it.

My Uncle Steve is doing good! His fight with the brain cancer glioblastoma is documented here. To summarize: his surgery went well, his chemo sucked but he did it, and his latest MRI was the best it could be! There have been a lot of ups and downs and scary moments, but right now is good.

Oh! Hey! I got an ipad 2 for Christmas and I LOVE IT SO MUCH.

We ran in the Davis Lucky 7k and finished in like 48 minutes, or something. I forgot. But we did finish! We keep talking about doing more and then we don't. But I have found three new races in Sac that look interesting, so I will keep you posted.

I have one semester left at Sac State, and then I graduate! I should be graduating in December of 2012!!! Yaaaay!

That means I have to decide where to get my credential, and possibly my masters. Eep!

As for me, I keep pretty busy between work and school, especially this semester. I had to do 70 hours of fieldwork at 4 different sites, and write a lot of papers! That plus upping my work from 2 to 3 days a week teaching plus 2 days after-care . . . was challenging at times, but generally I enjoyed it. My stomach has been behaving (remember those days of gastritis/IBS/acid reflux? Me neither. Yay!) My biggest stressor lately has been trying to keep our apartment clean. That, plus wishing we had more sunshine on our patio so I could grow some non-shady plants (I would kill to grow some basil!).

Hopefully I will remember to update this blog every now and then. ^_~

Ciao!