I said yes!

Well, since Brian and I have decided to join the world of "grown ups" and get hitched, we knew we would have to start a blog. That's what people do right?!?!

So, I suppose we could start things off with the proposal story . . .

A good friend of mine from college got married over Memorial day weekend. She and her, now husband, are both from Hawaii and that is where the wedding was held. I wasn't about to go to Hawaii just for the weekend, so Brian and I decided to make a vacation out of it. We headed over to Oahu for 10 days!

Brian and I had been talking about "the future" and all that fun stuff, we'd even ordered a ring and had been house hunting. However, by the time we left for Hawaii, the ring hadn't arrived yet and we were still trying to find a house. I figured things weren't quite ready yet for an ideal proposal situation, and EVERYONE was going to be expecting Brian to propose on this trip to Hawaii, and if everyone thinks Brian is going to propose, well then he's definitely not, because the last thing Brian wants to be is predictable!

So we started off the trip on the beautiful North Shore of the island of Oahu. A bunch of the out-of-town wedding guests were able to all stay in a row of great beach houses on a bluff right above the sand where the wedding was to take place, we were among those guests. Our first full day on the North Shore was Thursday, I had to take Brian to one of my favorite shaved ice spots - Matsumotos! http://www.matsumotoshaveice.com/

I love Hawaiian shaved ice, and Matsumoto's is the best! As you can see from their website, Matsumoto's is the worst kind of tourist trap. Not only do they make the most delicious shaved ice treats ever, but they sell a host of other goodies that you "just have to have!" We placed our orders, (which involved red beans and ice cream hidden away under the shaved ice) and while we're standing in line waiting for our order, we notice this box of jade rings for $3 each. Well, we start joking around, like ohhhh its a sign, and Brian had me try on a ring for fun! It fit perfectly and we got a good laugh out of it, but we put the ring back in the box, our shaved ice are ready and we headed out to partake of the syrupy goodness. That was Thursday.

Mo (my friend from college) and Doug, her hunny, got married on Sunday the 25th. Tuesday the 27th was our last day on the North Shore. We were flying home Friday the 30th and would spend Tues-Fri back down south towards town (Honolulu). As we departed the North Shore on Tuesday, we decided we needed one more shaved ice from Motsumotos, just to make the day that much better. We placed our orders (I DID NOT get the red beans and ice cream this time) and roamed around the shop of wonders while we waited. Brian was particularly interested in some Hawaiian "trucker"-style hats. . . we picked up our orders and decided to sit outside to eat them. Brian scarfed his down and decided that he needed to get one of those hats that he'd been eyeing earlier. Hey, if he wanted to spend his money on another hat, that was his prerogative right? So I'm outside, enjoying every last morsel, every last bit of syrup and ice, and unbeknownst to me, he's inside not only buying a hat, but a $3 jade ring! He tucks the ring into his wallet, dons his Hawaiian hat and heads back outside to get me.

Tuesday and Wednesday we stayed busy at the beach and going on multiple hikes. . . Thursday was going to be our last full day on the island, we would head home Friday morning. . . so of course we had a full day planned for Thursday.

Those of you who know me, know that I am not a morning person. So when we woke up at 5-whenever AM to get ready to head to Hanauma Bay Nature Preserve to go snorkeling, I wasn't the happiest of girls. http://www.hawaiiweb.com/html/hanauma_bay_beach.html

We arrived at the Bay by 7am, I was tired and the water was chilly but hey, it was our last day in Hawaii so might as well make the best of it right? Right, until you get stung by a jellyfish!! Yes, a jellyfish. We're out snorkeling around, taking pics on our cool new camera that you can take in the water, I'm having a good ol' time, and then a jellyfish decides to wrap it's tentacles around my left arm (three weeks later I still have a mark). I'm mad. I'm tired, my snorkel goggles have already broken and now I have welts on my arm that won't stop burning. I tell Brian, you go snorkel, I'm going to lay on the beach and be miserable. I went to the lifeguard tower and they sprayed some vinegar on my arm, which was supposed to neutralize the burn. . . it didn't.

Well, poor Brian! Little did I know, he was already on Proposal Plan C. He had to improvise with the jade ring, he was planning on proposing in Maui, (we were going to take the ferry over there for a day or two, but didn't end up having time for that), and now, here I am, cranky and mad and don't want to snorkel any more! I don't understand why he's getting so frustrated with me? He tells me, "Mari, I did not come here to snorkel by myself!" Fine, I head back out in the water with him. So we're swimming around, he goes off one way to look at something, I go off the opposite direction to look at something else. . . then he starts hollering at me to come over to him. I was like, "WHAT?? There are fish over here why do I need to go over there?!" I feel so horrible looking back on it, I did not make things easy on the guy! Finally, I swam over to Brian. He was holding his hands underwater like he'd found something. He told me to look under the water. I look down, and it registers finally, hey he's holding a small round object that appears it might fit on my finger. I lift my head out of the water and stand up and say, ever so gracefully, "WHAT IS THAT?! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!?" He says, "Mari, I'm trying to ask you to marry me!" ***ohhhh, awwwwww*** I was like REALLY!? Then he said lots of other cute stuff, we hugged, the waves pushed up around in the water. . it was perfect!!

It was a perfect end to an awesome trip (except I had to call my family collect from Hawaii to tell them about the engagement because Brian had forgot his cell phone and mine decided to stop working the day I got engaged)!