once upon a time...

One day Marshall and I went to NYC to celebrate Halloween and hang out with our friends, the Bryant's.

We had so much fun laughing at the slutty girls and dancing the night away. I didn't think the weekend could get any better!

Until. The next day...

It was a beautiful fall day, so we took a stroll through Central Park.

We stopped for cute and cheesy pics along the way.

Marshall said he wanted to race row boats. Whatever. I was tired of walking, so sitting in a boat sounded lovely!

At one point I had given Val my camera to take our picture. And boy was I glad I didn't get it back.

Marshall even let me row. I lasted a whole 4 seconds before breaking out into a sweat.

I gave up my power and he rowed us under this secret bridge. Put the oars in the boat...

Reached into his pocket, and pulled out a lens cloth. I thought he was going to clean his glasses. This is normal Marshall. But wrapped inside....

WAS A RING. A REAL RING. And it looked like it had my name written allll over it.

He said some sentences that I had to be told later what he actually said because my reaction was confusion, surprise, and joy. This can't really be happening. This is a joke. I'm getting punk'd. Where's Ashton?

I actually laughed and screamed before I even said YES and cried! I don't even know if I did say yes... I just stuck out my left hand so he could put that big beautiful rock on my ring finger. And then I squealed some more!

Scott and Val took a video, and over 300 pics of it all. There were so many pictures it looks like a flip book.

I couldn't stop smiling, I couldn't stop laughing. I still didn't think it was real.

I couldn't stop yelling "I'M ENGAGED" I've been waiting a long time to yell that and it actually be true.

We made our phone calls as we rowed back to shore.

She knew for a whole hour before and didn't even act like she knew anything! That's skill.

We walked back through the park

And stopped for some more cheesy photo opts.

Marshall taught Val how to balance on the light pole... my fiancé is so talented.

They were so great to us. Scott's fast shutter finger, and Val's impromptu video will keep that memory alive until our computer's crash and we lose it all!

Who would have thought this was happening today. I might have tried to cover up the giant zit on my face a little better or pop a fresh piece of gum in my mouth if I had known I was getting engaged!

Then we walked down to Chinatown so I could be amongst my people.

But I didn't take any pictures because I was too excited just looking at my hand.

But this Indian was very happy for us.

We celebrated the night on the roof of their apartment building with a bottle of wine and a camera.

Val introduced us to the "custom" setting on the self timer button on the camera. I know what the self timer button does, but I didn't know about the "custom" button.

Has everyone known about this setting?

We took 10 pictures in 20 seconds.

It has changed my world.

And so has Marshall.

kisses.