I said, "Yes!"

So yesterday was by far one of the most beautiful days of my entire life. It began with my sisters bringing me an incredible breakfast in bed (cinnamon raisin french toast, frozen fruit parfait, scrambled eggs, eggnog hot chocolate, and orange juice) prepared by my adorable, thoughtful boyfriend. I was given an invitation sealed with wax that gave me my itinerary for the day, requesting I join my "host" for a day of "arts and culture." I was told to dress appropriately for the weather as it would be sunny with a high of 61 and very windy. Also, I was given a video camera and digital camera to borrow for the day's use.

A couple of hours later (plenty of time to shower and prepare) Joshua picked me up and we headed for the Kimbell Art Museum. They didn't have any extra exhibits open but we looked at their own collection and walked around the outside gardens a bit. We went to Jimmy John's for lunch and had some great laugher and conversation. I ended up making a request to switch out the Modern Art Musuem with "007: Quantum of Solace" (very "arts and culture," I know). Either way, we enjoyed the movie. Originally the plan before the movie was to go to the Fort Worth Water Gardens for sparkling cider and chocolate (no wine for the underage, heh) but it was such a blustery day that we sat in the car and looked like winos laughing and filming ourselves drinking bubbly stuff.

Finally, after a day of pleading and teasing to try and discover what the "mystery dinner reservation" was, we were headed there! I pestered him the whole way but he wouldn't relent especially since I had "like three seconds to find out." Whatever. We parked on the far side of a building on Camp Bowie and I thought that the coffee house we'd pulled in front of must have some really grand surprise. But we walked right by it and I was thoroughly confused. Instead we descended into the basement of the Italian Inn. It was a unique dive and I was thinking that dinner looked like it was going to be a lot of fun. Little did I know that when the waitress got his name and said she had "something special" it would mean a room full of my close family and friends!

Completely shocked (and I mean completely!) all kinds of emotion flooded my chest and head.  I looked at Joshua, swung my gaze around the filled room, and stared at my parents. As I returned my eyes to Joshua's, he began to talk about how everyone in the room had been a part of my life in some way that was really important and he had wanted them there to share in this very important part of our lives. As he got down on his knee, I thought my heart would explode. Even writing this, my eyes are welling up with tears. Then he asked me if I would spend the rest of my life with him.I said "YES!!!"Family is everything. 

The details: Yesterday was actually my Grandpa and Grandma Carrigan's wedding anniversary. Italian Inn is where my parents got engaged twenty-something years ago. My ring belonged to my Nana who gave it to my mom who passed it on to me.

A fun note: Joshua had a whole speech prepared (that of course went out the window and boiled down to the most simple, meaningful words) and when he panicked, he put the ring on with my purity ring still under it, so in some of the pictures you can see me wearing one super long ring and not bending my knuckle, haha. 

P.S. I will post the video on Facebook and/or Youtube when it's edited. Pictures are to come... they will both be on Facebook and our wedding website.