This past weekend Nate flew me out to San Francisco to visit him and for us to celebrate his birthday. I thought that was enough reason to celebrate, but no! He surprised me with a proposal! Nate asked me to marry him and I accepted! We are engaged to be married on April 16th!
Back up... I'll give a brief account of the events of the weekend, complete with pictures! I flew into Oakland Thursday night and planned to take the train into the city at which point Nate would pick me up. Turns out he just couldn't wait to see me any longer and actually met me in Oakland at the tain station and we rode it in together. He surprised me by coming up behind me as I was trying to figure out the ticket machines and said, "May I offer you my extra ticket?" I turned around and was just speechless! So cute!
That night I got to see where he lives in the city and meet his two roommates. He lives only five minutes from the Golden Gate Bridge and only one minute from the beach! Beautiful. We then made our way to the apartment of our friends Blaine and Jaymie Farr, who both graduated from accounting with Nate and are currently working in the city as well. They graciously hosted me on their couch this weekend.
Friday was Nathan's birthday, but he also still had to work, so I spent the morning visiting one of my best friends from elementary school, Meredith, and her little boy Will. Her husband also works for PwC in the Bay Area. We had a wonderful time catching up and speculating when Nate would pop the question! She said it'd be this weekend; I wasn't getting my hopes up for anything earlier than Thanksgiving.
I spent the rest of the day preparing Nate's birthday celebrations. He got off work and we opened his presents! Happy Birthday Nate! I gave him a wallet and sack lunches for two weeks! Everything's packed an ready to go- all he has to do is put the sandwich together each day. We had brownies and ice cream (with a match held by Blaine to serve as a candle) to celebrate- Nate's favorite dessert.
He and I spent the evening getting lost in San Francisco. We wandered all through China Town, spent not nearly enough time in Banana Republic (the world's largest, mind you), and ended the evening with dinner together.
Saturday was the big day. We spent the afternoon rock climbing at Mt. Tam (north of San Francisco) with our friends.
Then it was time for our date in Sausalito! Nate had asked me to dinner and took me a cute little Italian place. Sausalito is a little touristy town on the other side of the Bay from the city- we could see the city all lit up in the night lights and it was beautiful! After dinner we walked along the bay out on one of the piers near the yacht club. We were just talking when he casually pulled a piece of paper from his pocket and said, "Look, I forgot to show you- I found this." It was an ad from the Daily Universe (the school newspaper) from last winter semester. The ad featured a ring that I had clipped and hung up (last winter when we were dating), thinking it was absolutely beautiful. As time passed, however, I lost track of the picture. About two weeks ago (after we had gone ring shopping together) he set to work (unbeknownst to me) searching for the ad, and was successful! He called the jewelers and had them ship it to him right away.
Anyway, back to me looking at the ad on the pier over the Bay. It wasn't until that moment that I realized there was a possibility that he could propose that night, and sure enough, I looked up and he was on one knee in front of me, asking me to marry him. I started crying immediately, and just felt like the whole experience was so perfect and surreal. I could not have planned a better engagement myself. He did an absolutely fantastic job.
We spent the next couple of hours calling friends and family, sharing the good news. And, to top off the evening, we arrived back at the home of my hosts, only to find them waiting up for us a with a bottle of chilled sparkling cider to celebrate! We toasted to our engagement!
The next morning, my last day in SF, we visited Grace's Cathedral, which feel more like it should be in London or France, rather than in the middle of a bustling, modern, western city. An absolutely beautiful building and a must see for anyone visiting SF.
At church (the Golden Gate Ward) we ran into my sweet cousin Brad and his wife Danielle who have recently moved out there. Danielle was so cute to introduce me to the Relief Society and announce our engagement to everyone. I love it! Seeing them was the first chance we had to introduce ourselves as each other's fiances! Let the fun begin!
