Engagement

Well, it seems some of you have not heard....WE ARE ENGAGED!! (and have been now for almost 2 months...sorry!). And even some who did know the news, have not heard the story...so if you are interested....read below:

Well, it was 7-11-07...I would say Roben planned for such a cool date...but if he had, he probably would have taken me to 7-11 for slurpies instead of Luigis for tiramisu. :)

It was a Wednesday evening and our last night alone in our little town of Mt. Clemens before the craziness of the weekend packing (we were planning on moving the next Monday and mom and Emily were coming to help the following evening). I certainly didn't suspect a proposal...even though we had reservations on a Wednesday evening (one barely needs reservaions on a Friday or Saturday in Mt. Clemens),..even though Roben opened a bottle of wine,...even though Roben put on a suit jacket in the middle of summer,..even though I saw him out the window photographing the wine bottle on the front porch (see pic)!!....I had no suspicions of a proposal.

Looking back, perhaps I should have expected it. But it was, after all, our last date night in the little town we fell in love in...so proposal or not, it was a special evening...the proposal was unsuspected and a wonderful, wonderful surprise!!

The walk downtown was perfect. It was much warmer than the first night we walked to Luigis over a year and a half earlier. At that time, we were bundled in winter hats and coats and walking through snow, 7-11-07 was one of the warm summer nights people write about.

So I learned later that Roben had planned on proposing with the tiramisu but I guess he couldn't wait...who can blame him right!? I don't even think I had a chance to pickup my menu and he told me he had a present for me. He said it was something to go along with our upcoming trip cross-country to Cali. I remember thinking, "You can't fit road flares in a jacket pocket." So he then handed me an envelope. So, then I was thinking it's a good luck driving card with maybe a couple gas gift cards or something useful for the drive. But once I saw the beautiful stationery with the hadwritten letter, my stomach tightened. The last page said, "Will you marry me (check yes or no)". I think I made Roben a little nervous because I didn't say anything at first. One reason is because just as I turned to the last page, the waitress brought some bread over so I was waiting for her to leave. The other reason is because I didn't have a pen to check an answer, so I wasn't sure what to do or say. After a slight pause, I said, "Well, do you have a pen?" He didn't....so I said yes and promised to check the box later.

I was then handed another letter describing the ring which I had just greatfully accepted! Roben thoughtfully designed the ring himself keeping in mind many aspects of our relationship and personalities. He then hired a jeweler in Colorado to make the ring. As you can see from the picture, it includes our 2 birthstones. The design around the band is made using a traditional Japanese technique called "mokume gane" which gives a woodgrain look to the metal. Roben and I later learned that his parents' rings are also made using the mokume gane technique....what a pleasant surprise!!

Roben would like me to add that to this date, I have not checked the yes box....despite the many pens he has offered......OOPS!!! I'm wearing the ring...what more do I need to say!! :)

Bye for now!

Roben and Adrienne

Little Italy

Well, Roben and I have not posted in awhile....so, as usual, we have some catching up to do. This post is about our first date night in our new home city...

It was back on Wednesday, August 1st. For those of you who do not know, my sister Nicky has lived in San Diego for over 3 years...and is VERY proud of that. She LOVES suggesting places for us to dine and visit. She has all kinds of "osusume"...("osusume" is the Japanese word for recommendation. It is often used on restaurant signs for the chef's recommended lunch special)...anyway....back to my story...my sister seems to have an osusume for everything we want to do or eat... So naturally when she heard we wanted to celebrate Roben's second interview and go out to eat she was quick to whip out her pen and paper and give us directions to one of her favorite restaurants.

So, we were on our way to Nicky's restaurant and we passed a cute little street downtown illuminated with white lights...what a cute area we said...and continued to Nicky's place. We arrived, got out of my car (Chester is his name for future reference), locked the doors, stopped in the street,...and got back in the car headed back to the illuminated street. We knew we would be in trouble with Nicky later, but hey, the lights were beckoning us!

We discovered it was fate after all, because the lights calling our name were Little Italy!! Roben is half Italian, our first dinner date was at an Italian restaurant, and Roben proposed at that same Italian restaurant...so it only seemed fitting that our first date in San Diego was in the heart of Little Italy.

So halfway through our meal, I get a text message from Nicky,...and I quote...well, maybe I shouldn't quote because I don't have the text anymore because I broke my phone by dropping it in a glass of sweet tea....but that's another story...anyway, her text was something like..."I'm trying really hard not to call you, but how do you like my little place!!??" We knew we were in trouble when we got back in the car in the parking lot of Nicky's "little place"....but man, I didn't know she was THAT excited about sharing this osusume with us!!

We had an awesome time that night and Nicky has only held this grudge for...well, we are going on over a month now...but I am sure she will get over it soon!!