Guess who's engaged?

So as long overdue as this may be I guess its time to dish out the news. Kristiaan and I are engaged!

I had an overly elaborate plan to propose that did nothing but get more elaborate the closer and closer I got to the special day. I would actually turn into a book if I wrote it all out.

I've actually had the ring for almost 2 years now. It is a family heirloom on her mothers side which was sent to my mother from her mother.

Back in April '08 I decided I was going to buy her an iPhone and use that to propose. However just an iPhone was not enough. I put together a slideshow which includes pictures starting from the first day I met her to many moments in between and ended with pictures me and the ring at the Nipple Tree... What is this nipple tree you say? Well a special location from one of our first big dates in Shenandoah Valley which we've dubbed, the nipple tree (for obvious reasons). Now mind you there are a variety of pictures that I included, some of which I had to remove for safe public viewing :) Some are meaningful, some are funny, some are simply random, some are out of focus and others are just confusing - but in the end its been a great series that I am happy we'll be able to continue together.

After spending a little over a month creating the slideshow which actually plays along to one of her favorite songs, 'Wind' from Naruto, I decided to present this to her on August 13th.

As the whole event was a surprise I came home from work, tested the slideshow on the iPhone and waited until she got home. Around 7:30pm I slipped the phone into her purse and began calling it as she was making dinner. Of course I assumed that she'd hear it, look for it and find it in surprise... Negative, the ring couldn't be heard because I had accidentally turned the volume down. So then I had to sneak into her purse to get it out and find another suitable location.

Every night she gets on her computer and this evening was no exception, so I hid the phone in her top right drawer and left the room to go play some Playstation 3. During my gametime I called the phone over and over only to hear her screaming out "Babe, there's this weird noise in here and I don't know what it is!" Of course each time I walked into the office where she was sitting I would stop calling from my phone and act like I was totally clueless to her complaints. Yet she didn't bother to really look around for what was making the sound - for you iPhone owners I had set the phone to vibrate + Harp.

After about almost two hours of calling her (22 missed calls) I got fed up and walked in there while calling (phone in my back pocket) and pretended to be surprised by the sound. I asked her if she looked around in her drawers or other places and had to suggest for her to open the top right drawer.

FINALLY!!!

She was in total shock and I was an nervous wreck from all the anticipation. We spent the first 25 minutes going over features until I mentioned there was a little video on there for her. Of course I practically started sweating and she later informed me that she was sweating while watching as she suspected it was coming.

Now I wouldn't be telling the story if she hadn't said yes so no need to ask what her answer was :)

Well here is my little iPhone picture proposal (I'm sure there will be pictures or sayings you wont understand but it all means something to us).

Thanks for viewing:
(You will need quicktime to view this)


p.s. No official date has been set but it will not be in 2009...