details... I think before Thanksgiving, I brought up the whole engagement thing again, and was (finally?) met with no resistance. (It *has* been 5.5 years...) I'd been looking at titanium rings for a while, and found a couple of people that made some I liked. It just so happened that one lived outside Atlanta... and we were going to Atlanta for a wedding...

We went to this guy's house last weekend. He showed us a bunch of rings, and his shop... titanium can't be cast like gold or platinum- it has to be milled out of a solid rod of material- he had several humongous machines in his basement! We (as dorky engineers) were impressed.

The guy shipped it Tuesday afternoon with priority mail.. Usually fast, right? Marcel kept it secret though- Friday (Xmas Eve), the mailman came THREE separate times. No ring. I was starting to get sad! Marcel even seemed sorta sad about it. We went and had Xmas Eve dinner at his family's home- we got our two fortunes below, and others got fortunes suggesting another baby in the works (!) and new jobs- went to midnight mass in DC... he acted quite normal even! Only on the way home, he suggested that we wouldn't be drinking the vodka I'd ungraciously won/stole from the gift swap earlier that evening!

So we get home, come in... and there's a cockroach scurrying across the wall. (we've been developing problems lately! :( Ew!! We take care of that (think it got away), rush to the bathroom (you try waiting 90 minutes before mass-early birds get seats!- and then another 90 minutes mass and all, then the ride home...)... and come out to another gift under the tree- a big fuzzy stocking. I give him a gift first (a woodie guthrie cd), and then start in on the gifties in the stocking. Some kool aid, some gel food colorings (my wool will be happy), some coffee, cookies, about a pound of mini reeses cups... was so hard to avoid the little box! :)

I finally got to it and opened it, and he did the deed. on one knee, even!

We opened the bottle of Edgefield wine I got at Melissa's wedding outside Portland and was saving for a special occasion. Wierd how this all revolves around weddings, eh?

Anyhow, not super fussy, but just my style. The wedding might perhaps be spring 2006 or so. This year is for PhD-ing and buying a home. And travelling far distances for other weddings. However, the fight over indoors/outdoors, church/not, and the degree of catholicness involved has begun! ;) Should prove interesting!  ¶ 11:40