the bauble...

sparkle, sparkle, sparkle...



Way back when, before I met the man who exceeded any dreams I couldn't have even thought to have, I used to want a certain type of engagement ring. Once I met Keith, all the superficial cares about rings flew out the window and all I cared about was the amazing man I get to be with forever. So of course when the time came, he presented me with a stunning token of affection that, just like the man, makes my insides flutter. He really wanted to please me with the ring, so we did go looking ahead of time so he could see my taste, and after that night all I said to him was, "Above all else, aside from wanting just you, I want it to sparkle..."


And sparkle it does...

Lucky, Happy, Spoiled Me...

Short version?


Long version?



I am smitten! Smitten!



So, here's the story...



I've known this was coming for some time. Keith and I first talked about getting married back in August. In October we went to look at rings, just for him to get an idea of what I liked and then he'd take it from there. Shortly after that, Keith set up a date for us in Boston on DEC 4TH!! I knew right away that that date was a decoy. He may as well have given me a big bulls-eye on the calendar to wait for. He soon realized that he'd need to do a little more misdirection in order to surprise me.


Keith set up a whole bunch of dates for the two of us in November and December in order to hide when "the Date" really was. So, on Friday, November 20th, we were scheduled for date #4. Keith was using this day as a "work from home day" and I asked him to do a couple of LITTLE chores (pick up pumpkin from the store, do a load or two of laundry, etc.) and the stress on his face was a bit of a tip-off that something was up, but I had no clue what I was really in store for!



The calendar said we had a 6pm date in Worcester, so I thought I was going home after work (I was getting out around 3), getting ready, and leaving with him between 5:00 and 5:30. Well, when I walked out to my car at 3:07, I found roses in my car, post-it notes all over the place instructing me to listen to the CD, and there was a duffel bag on the floor that wasn't there in the morning. (I thought it was for him and that he was hiding behind a car somewhere!).



The CD started with him speaking, letting me know that I wasn't going home to get ready! That he packed a bag for me with my make-up, hair stuff, clothes, shoes, perfume, etc! He said I needed to be in the Boston Common by 5, gave me the address to park in the Boston Common garage, and then said to just relax and listen to some music. What followed was a very sentimental CD of songs that are important to us. The first song he ever sang to me ("Someday" by The Strokes), my favorite song ever, ("Lady in Red"), the most awful song by Rhianna and Jay-Z that played every 20 minutes for 2 weeks while we were refinishing furniture ("Run This Town", I think), "Sarah Smile" :-), etc. I was a blubbering fool by song 4!! It was the beginning of a night I will never, ever forget.



(I'm stubborn, I did drive home first as I technically had enough time and some essentials were missing.)



I got to the garage on time, and up to the Boston Common right on the dot. He was somewhere in the park; it took us about 10 minutes to find each other because we were navigating by texting each other! :-)



We went to Starbucks to get some coffee and a small snack for me since Keith informed me we weren't eating at 6 as I had thought, but actually at 7, so I was hungry. After the coffee, he asked if I wanted to walk around for a bit. He brought me over to the public gardens side of the boston common where I'd never been before (5 years in boston and I don't go over there??). We walked for a bit, he steered me towards a bench and we sat. It was this awkward bench that was leaning a bit forward, but for me it was surprisingly comfortable (short legs…), but he wasn't comfortable (but now I think he was nervous rather than uncomfortable!). We talked for a bit. Reminisced. Things like, "Remember when I showed you that text I sent to my friend when I told him you were the one?" and "Remember when you told me this?" It was coming, and I knew it, but it happened SO fast. In the weeks leading up to this moment, he had been collecting little things. A taco bell hot sauce packet that said "Will you marry me.", a RingPop that he bought for me, a sourdough pretzel that we made into a ring while at a basketball game. So when he reached into his pocket while saying, "This is related to what I'm saying." I thought he was about to pull out the hot-sauce packet! It was the ring! And he was down on his knee and asking me to marry him!!!


View 42.354400, -71.069722 in a larger map

I said yes, and we kissed and hugged and teared-up and I'm pretty sure he was worried that he was going to drop the ring since I hadn't put it on yet! It's gorgeous! I love it! Princess cut center stone with 2 princess cut side stones and then a whole mess of pave stones on a knife-edge setting. There's some amusing stories about the ring buying, but I'll let him share those.



We eventually headed over to dinner. We stopped in a specialty chocolate store to get some decadent treats for later (I was told there was champagne waiting), and then we went to dinner at OSUSHI in Copley Place. Dinner was phenomenal. I love it that such an awesome restaurant is now a special place for us. I tried to get him to go back for lunch the next day, but he said no. I think that was a first… :-)



We then had dessert at finale on Columbus Avenue. We got the sampler, so it was about 9 tiny 2-3 bite desserts and we got the 5 port tasting flight - YUM!



Then, we went to the hotel. He booked at room at the W, and it was stunning. Beautiful views, very decadent, trendy suite. We were there for about 5 minutes in just the main room and he asked, "Do you want to see the bedroom?" and I'm thinking, "Yippee, let's go!" When I walked into the bedroom, on the bed was another rose, a card, and my first bridal magazine. Isn't he the most amazing man ever? All the little details, all the planning.



The proposal itself wasn't a total surprise, but the way he did it all blew me away. I am so incredibly lucky to have someone who put so much effort into making this a day I'll never forget.



AND, while we haven't set a date yet, how awesome is it that I'm going to be planning a wedding with a project manager?!?! Won't that make this all so very easy??



No?


Not easy?

That's OK. I get to spend the rest of my life with Keith Sather and I couldn't be happier!!






<3 <3 <3

well, that's fair I guess

So, Keith said that he didn't care that I told everyone the circumstances in which he's ticklish, however, I think the last line of this is an attempt to torture me disguised as romance  :-)

I do love the suspense, though!

Balance of Power is Important in a Relationship

Until a few weeks ago I thought Keith was impervious to being tickled. This was disappointing since I am ridiculously ticklish and that seemed rather unfair. Well, I am pleased to announce, I cracked him!!

If Keith is trying to lie (in order to keep the surprise going about "the date"), he can be tickled!!! A lot!! Oh, joy!

Do you have any idea how enjoyable it is to make a man laugh and squirm around who is, at all other times, able to resist tickling?!?!?!

I need to buy a video camera.

<3

The dyson is coming! The dyson is coming!

...and according to Keith, this is how our place is going to stay clean.

Hmmm, so on July 4, 2009...Keith and I have plans to go to the Red Sox game in the afternoon, and then to meet up with the Rienzo clan at Angus' place in Andover for his 4th of July party. We had a bit of juggling to do in order to get my buffalo chicken dip to Andover while it was still hot, and also to keep our beer cold while we are at the baseball game so that we'll still have cold beer 8 hours later. Tricky, tricky.

Our solution was two-part. We sent my delicious buffalo chicken dip to the party ahead of us, courtesy of the Rienzos. And the beer was to be put in my cooler and would travel with Keith and I for the day. The cooler is big enough for a 12 pack, and is collapsible. There is an inner liner that is made up of about 30 little icepacks. The entire cooler can be put in the freezer, or the liner can be removed and just that can be frozen.

I tend to prefer to put the whole kit-n-caboodle into the freezer, and that's exactly where it was on this particular July 4th.

I was getting ready still (hair, make-up) and Keith was gathering our supplies (tickets, hats, chairs). His next task was to put the beer into the cooler. He's in the kitchen and I'm around the corner near the bathroom. We are out of sight of each other, but can still hear each other.

He calls to me, "Where is the cooler?"

I replied, "In the freezer."

I immediately start giggling. Laughing. I know what's about to happen and there's nothing I can do to stop it. I hear the freezer door open. I hear him taking the frozen cooler out of the freezer.
Silence. He's not moving anymore, and I'm standing there laughing, just waiting.

He comes around the corner. Our eyes meet. Mine have tears in them from the laughter. His eyes betray his confusion. He finally asks...
…
…
…

"Why are there pants in your freezer?"


No vacuum cleaner is ever going to solve all of the crazy cleaning or organization scenarios that will exist within a Lupaczyk-Sather household (I admit that it's because of Lupaczyk, not Sather), but since it's a dyson anything is possible. Maybe the dyson can suck the pants out of the freezer!

Yay fanfoto

That's it.

Oh, and Keith and I are using MS Project Pro to organize our moving in together. Because we're geeks :-)

It's OK to wake me up for things like this...

I've known for some time now that Keith is an absolutely remarkable man. I've never felt so accepted by someone at the same time that I feel so connected to someone. I feel like I've found my other half. He's so similar to me in the parts of myself that I like (intelligence, sense of humor, snarkiness), but balances me perfectly where my weaknesses are (patience, sensitivity, diplomacy).

This morning, he showed me yet again how amazing he is…
He thinks I'm blown away by the beautiful dark red roses I had waiting for me on my desk this morning. Stunning! With an elegant, gorgeous tall vase and a sweet, loving card with a closing line of "With all my love, for all my life… Keith." (I KNOW!!!)

NO, this is NOT what gets to me! (don't get me wrong, I love them and I'm showing everyone, but I'm also telling them about what comes next…)

He told me, over 3 hours AFTER we woke up this morning, that he had to BEAT A BAT the night before while he was in the basement doing our laundry (while I was sleeping)!!

You read that right.

I was sleeping.
He was doing our laundry (while I sleep).
He encounters a BAT!
He tries to get the laundry anyway, the bat leaves him alone at first but then comes near him.
HE BEATS IT AWAY WITH THE LAUNDRY BASKET.He leaves the basement, only to wait to see if the bat will retreat. It does. He returns to the laundry, gathers it, and comes upstairs. (I'm still sleeping.)

Upstairs again, he doesn't wake me.
Instead, he folds our laundry.
At one point, I do recall waking up enough to feel him folding clothes on my legs (haha!).
I do not wake up again till around 4 am!

This morning, he doesn't even tell me about the bat for hours!! When I ask, "Why didn't you wake me up??" he tells me he didn't want to wake me up…didn't want to disturb me.
REALLY??? Keith, sweetheart…WAKE ME UP if a bat just attacked you!!
(No need to wake me up just to help with the chores though…) haha!

I love you so much!!! Love you for the beautiful roses and I love you for thinking that my sleep is more important than your trauma. For the record though, it's not…so next time, be a bit more selfish and wake me up! I'm quite sure I would have helped you fold the laundry while you told me your story...

my turn...

I am now going to tell the real stories about the people (and animals) that I love and since I'm pretty friggin' funny I suspect you're all going to enjoy this...

Oh, and you might also want to be a little worried.

Just kidding.

No I'm not.

:-)

So, since I have no desire to write about myself (or rather, solely about myself) I'll be updating this the next time I have a funny story to tell. If you have suggestions about past stories for me to write about, leave them in the comments section!