I apologize for the lengthy gap in blog updates, but the past two months (wow has it really been two months since my last update??) have been crazy!! Things are just as crazy now if not more crazy, but I am making time because it is important to me to stay in touch with all of you. It was so wonderful to be home and see everyone! I am so blessed and grateful that Garrett gave me the opportunity to spend a weekend with my family and share with you guys my wonderful news and happiness. Speaking of news and happiness, I am pretty sure (at least I hope!) that all of you know my news by now, which is that Garrett and I got engaged on January 23rd! (: I am, like I said, the happiest girl in the whole world, and for those who don't know, I would like to share with you the story of our proposal:
On Friday, January 22nd, Garrett and I headed to Gatlinburg, Tennessee with four of our close friends Steve, Mike, Charliann and Kristen. Steve and Charliann have been dating for 2 and a half years and Mike and Kristen actually became an "official" couple the night that Garrett and I got engaged. Anyway, we rented this AMAZING cabin up in the beautiful mountains. It had a sauna, hot tub, pool & foosball tables, and three bedrooms. The funniest part about it is that between the three bedrooms and pull out couches, there were three king size beds and two queen sized beds.. and yet all three of us girls ended up in one king bed together, and (hilariously) all three boys ended up in one king bed together. It was like two giant sleepovers. But it was definitely a lot of fun.
On the afternoon of Saturday the 23rd, we drove into downtown Gatlinburg. We spent some time just walking around through the shops and having a good time. We sat down to dinner at a delicious restaurant and enjoyed great food. When our waitress brings out dessert, she hands me this little packet of papers. I looked down at the papers and see that it is the first three pages of a story of some sort. I read the pages and it turns out to be a fairytale about a girl named "Anneastalla". Along with the three pages there is a small paper that has directions on it, telling me that the rest of the pages are hidden throughout downtown and that I have to find them. Garrett tells me that this is my present for our three year anniversary which was January 4th (though I am secretly hoping that it might be leading up to a proposal). I end up going on a scavenger hunt all through downtown which takes me places like up the gondola to an ice rink, to a candy shop, and to a little river that runs through the town, receiving more pages of the fairytale at each place.
The fairytale tells the story of a girl named Anneastalla who is chosen as the next princess of "Chicagdria", signified by an old shoe of Anneastalla's being turned into a pink glass slipper in the middle of the night. Before Anneastalla sees the pink glass slipper and realizes that she is the new princess, the evil Lord Vicis steals the glass slipper. The kingdom has no idea who the new princess is, and by default, Vicis becomes king. One day Anneastalla meets Garricus, who is the prince of the nearby kingdom (though he does not reveal this to Anneastalla). They spend the day together and fall in love. Anneastalla has to return to Chicagdria and her and Prince Garricus must say goodbye, though they continue writing letters to each other every day. Prince Garricus discovers that King Vicis has stolen the pink glass slipper from Anneastalla and he sets out to go tell her. Before he can reach her, King Vicis kidnaps Anneastalla and locks her up in the castle. Prince Garricus rides to the castle to rescue her and when he gets there, King Vicis reveals his true form, a dragon. Prince Garricus slays the dragon and then frees Anneastalla and they live happily ever after. (the fairytale is much more complex and longer, this is just the summary version)
We reached the end of the scavenger hunt and the last few pages were sitting on a blanket near the small river. Garrett asked if I had liked it, and I told him that I loved it and tried to act so happy about it, although I was secretly totally disappointed, as at this point I had definitely been expecting a proposal at the end (later I found out that I had done a terrible job of acting happy, because Garrett could tell I was totally disappointed!). We got in his car and headed out on the 20 minute drive back to our cabin, and in my mind I had the slightest hope that maybe there would be a surprise back at the cabin and that really wasn't the end, but I pushed that thought out of my mind. We arrived back at the house and as soon as we pulled up, Mike came out and told Garrett that our pipes had froze and we had no water, so Mike and Garrett disappeared together. (at this point I knew that there was definitely something going on, because I didn't believe the whole we-have-no-water gimmick). I head up the front steps to the door and I see a sign that says "Alternate Ending - Anneastalla" and there's an arrow pointing to the right, to the pathway that leads to the balcony in the back. My heart started pounding like crazy and I followed a trail of rose petals and votive candles around to the lower balcony, up through the house, and out to the upper balcony which was covered in rose petals and light strands. On the floor of the balcony I see a pink glass slipper along with a beautiful book that is the fairytale Garrett had written, and it is opened to the last two pages. I read the ending and it is different this time, it says that Prince Garricus and Princess Anneastalla not just live happily ever after, but that they get married, uniting their two kingdoms, and live happily ever after. I am shaking like crazy and my heart is nearly pounding out of my chest. Garrett comes up behind me, turns me around, and then gets down on one knee and asks me to marry him. I said yes, of course, and cried (a good cry). It was the most magical and beautiful night of my life, and I am the most blessed girl in the whole world to have a man who loves me so much that he would plan this incredible proposal for me. I loved that he wrote our story into a fairytale, especially because he is my prince and he truly makes me feel like a princess. I know that I have found my prince charming who will take care of me and love me my whole life, and who I know I will spend happily forever and ever after with.
Whew, okay, I know that is really long but I really wanted to share the story of our proposal with you guys because it is so special and magical and amazing!! I am truly the luckiest girl in the world. I had so much fun that weekend with our friends, and January 23rd was an incredible night!! Because of our proposal of course, and also because as I said above, Garrett's best friend Mike asked Kristen to be his girlfriend that night (and what makes it even neater is that we found out he asked her to be his girlfriend pretty much at the exact same time as Garrett was asking me to marry him. cool huh!?).
Well anyway, we don't have any big details set yet, all we know is that the wedding will be on January 1st, 2011. (1/1/11, kinda neat huh?) We of course will keep you all updated as we make more decisions.
I will update soon with more of the details of what's going on in my life in general in school and work and all. As of tonight, I was up last night until 2am doing homework, so I am going to enjoy a cup of hot tea, some relaxation, and a good night's sleep!
Hope everyone has a blessed week! (:
xoxo annie
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