Christmas

I thought about writing a wonderful post about Christmas, but then I didn't feel like writing.

So I'm drawing it instead.

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And that's how the rest of my day went.

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But I'm better today, so that's good.

Stupid friendship.

The other day, one of my co-workers asked me if I wanted to make some Amish Friendship Bread.  Since one of my new favorite hobbies is cooking/baking, I was like HECK YES!  Because I love the Amish (they make amazing furniture)!  I LOVE friendship (that's why I have so many Facebook friends)!!  And I LOVE bread (I never understood people who don't like bread)!!!  What's better than having friends that give you a bag full of bread batter?  NOTHING, that's what!!!


I was all excited about this bread. 
Until I read the directions.  This bread is too high maintenance for me.


Day 1: Do nothing.  Hey.  I can handle that.
Day 2: Mush the bag.  Is there a proper technique to this?
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Day 6: Add xxx ingredients.  Good thing that I have milk in my fridge since we had company over for dinner and I had Peter buy milk because it's rude to not have milk.  Is it supposed to smell like this??


On Day 10 when it's baking day, before you bake it you're supposed to put a cup or something of batter into x number of gallon sized Ziploc bags to pass out to your friends.  Who the heck am I going to give this bread to?  Can't pass it out at work, because I don't want it back in MY kitchen.  I'll tell you what.  I'm going to be a good friend and NOT pass those out.  I don't want to burden people with the pressure of finding more friends to bake bread with!  Why did I ever agree to a friendship that has "baking bread" in the contract?? 


Jenna called me on Sunday.  Turns out that she was making her first batch of Friendship bread too.  


Jenna: Have you ever made this?


Sara: No.  I'm only on Day 4 of mushing.  I don't want to make it anymore.


Jenna: I'm on the baking day.  I don't want to do it anymore either.  I already divided the batter into other bags and started thinking about it.  Am I going to give people rancid bread batter?   I put milk in it like I was supposed to, but milk goes bad.  And then I started thinking about it, and if everyone takes a cup of batter out to give to people, how old is the milk in MY bag?  Seriously, I don't want to eat this.  What if people get sick?


Sara: ... I didn't think of that.  I don't want mine either.


Jenna: Stupid friendship.


Sara: STUPID FRIENDSHIP.


Jenna told me later that after some googling and widipedia-ing, the milk keeps the yeast alive or something.  Whatever.  


Guess what.  My baking day is on December 17.  Super convenient because it's a Saturday.  Well.  Not for me.  Do you know what I'm doing on December 17?  I'll just tell you.  Peter and I are driving to River Falls because my brother is graduating college (high five!!).  So now, I have to wake up at like 6 or something to bake this bread that I don't even WANT anymore.


STUPID FRIENDSHIP.


So.  Does anyone want a starter bag of Amish Friendship bread?  


I'm serious.

A very Peter and Sara proposal

Bottom line: I said yes.  And now we are engaged. 

And I AM SO EXCITED THAT I NEED TO WRITE IN ALL CAPS LOCK AND USE A LOT OF EXCLAMATION POINTS!!!!!!!!!!!  BECAUSE THAT'S HOW EXCITED I AM :D :D :D :D

There are two background stories that you need to know so that you can fully appreciate how wonderful my fiancé is.  And yes I love using the word fiancé.  LOVE.  And then after I say it, I get all giddy and smiley.  :)

Background story 1: The first move

In January 2008, Peter asked me on a date.  But he didn't just call me and ask me out.  He sent me a letter in the mail.  And the first page of that letter was a word search.  That he made.  All by himself.

I waited for TEN DAYS before I called Peter and told him... No (gasp, what?! I know.  I'm really cruel).  I was sorry, but I was not interested in going on a date with him.  It's truly a miracle that we are engaged today.  Especially because a few months after I told him no, I told him I was ready to go on a date, and he told ME no.  And then I went to Mexico.  And then nine months after the first move, we started dating.

Background story 2: The time I thought Peter was proposing but he wasn't

I kind of mentioned this in another blog post, but I didn't actually write the story because I was really embarrassed, but now that we're actually engaged, I can tell the story.  But it's still embarrassing.

Peter bought a car in August, and when he took me for a spin, he told me to open the center console because "there's a box in there".  So, I opened the center console, and I saw a little white light shining on THIS little box.

I know it's a little beat up - it's been through a lot.
And you can't tell in the pic, but it's glossy.  GLOSSY.  OBVIOUSLY
that means that there is a RING inside.

So, naturally, I started having a heart attack and blah blah blah I thought he was proposing to me, but it turned out being a box of candy.  After THAT little incident, I drilled it into my head that Peter was not going to propose to me for at least 3 years.  I truly believed that.  If you haven't heard it from my own mouth, then ask someone.  Because they know.

The main event

A few weeks ago, Peter told me that he wanted to go shopping on Black Friday.  Excuse me? I gently explained to him that shopping on Black Friday was worse than shopping on a Saturday, which he refuses to do.  But he was insistent.  And I really wanted to buy Christmas decorations for 50% off at Michaels.  So, on Black Friday, we went to Janesville, about 45 minutes from my parents' house.  And we shopped.

Actually, I shopped.  Peter didn't buy anything.  We ate lunch.  Then, we went to a movie at 2:10.  Mr. Cool, Calm, and Collected was being so cool, calm, and collected that I did not suspect a single thing all day.

After the movie, we were sitting in Peter's car in the parking lot.  I was on my phone, reading some texts that I had received while getting a little teared up at The Muppet Movie, many of which were from my sister because she was supposed to be getting Peter's Christmas present.  Anyways, the point is that I was paying no attention to Peter.

Peter: I'm hungry.

Sara: Seriously?  We JUST ate lunch like, 2 hours ago.

Peter:  Yeah, I'm hungry.

Sara: *shrug* texty texty texty

Peter started rummaging around in the car.

Sara: *glances up* What are you looking for?

Peter: Candy

Sara: *shrug* texty texty texty

Peter did not know that I had eaten all of the peppermints that were in the car.  I love candy.

Peter: Hey, is that little box of candy (reference background story 2) still in the car?

Sara: I don't know. texty texty texty

Peter opened the glove box.

Sara glanced up.

Sara: Pete, if it's still in here, it's in there.

Sara gestures to center console.  I did not know at the time that I was supposed to be all nicey nice and Oh, that box of candy that I thought you were proposing with on August 8th, love of my life?  My darling, that box is still in the center console!  Here, sweetheart, the box of candy if right here.

Sara was still texting away.  Peter opened the center console.  And then placed an envelope on my lap.

Sara: (Still oblivious) OH!  What's THIS surprise??

Then, I opened the envelope.  And unfolded the piece of paper that was inside the envelope.  And I saw this:

And I started crying.

Sara: OHMYGOD!  OH!MY!GOD!  I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS IS HAPPENING!!!  

And then I looked at Peter, and I saw this:

Obviously this picture was taken in my living room.
When Peter was proposing, he had it in his hands.
And he was smiling.  And getting teared up.
Because he loves me so much.
Not because I didn't say YES right away...

And then I started crying harder.

Peter: Will you marry me?
Sara: I WAS NOT EXPECTING THIS TO HAPPEN RIGHT NOW!  I WASN'T EXPECTING THIS FOR A LONG TIME!  I JUST CAN'T BELIEVE THIS IS HAPPENING!!
Peter:  ... Well?
Sara: YES!!!!!!!!! YESYESYESYESYESYESYES!!!!!!!!!

More crying.  A lot of laughing.  A TON of staring at the sparkly ring that was on my finger.

Sara: You asked my dad, right?
Peter: Yeah, I talked to your mom and dad.  And Laura was there too, and she nodded her head.  So that's good.
Sara: I HAVE TO CALL MY FAMILY.

So then, I called the house.  No one answered.  I tried 4 times.  No one answered.  And then I tried calling my mom.  STILL no answer.  Peter told me that they didn't know he was proposing today.  So naturally, they wouldn't be waiting by the phone for my call.  I came up with a BRILLIANT plan, since no one was answering their phones.  We were supposed to have dinner with my family when we got back from Janesville.  Instead of calling them, we would go home and SURPRISE EVERYONE THAT WE ARE ENGAGED!!!!! PERFECT PLAN!!!!  And I LOVE surprises!!

I called Jenna to tell her our exciting news because I didn't want her to feel left out, since I wasn't going to see her until Saturday.  It's shocking that she understood what I was saying, because I was screaming and crying into the phone.  After I got off the phone with Jenna, Peter said that we should stop at his parents' house first.

Peter: My parents know that I was proposing today.  Let's stop there first, and I'll drop off the wreaths anyway.
Sara: Are your parents even home right now?
Peter: I think my mom is.  I'm not sure about my dad though.  We can just stop by quickly, and then head to your parents house to surprise them.
Sara: OK!!!!!!  

The 45 minute car ride went by REALLY fast.  I couldn't stop staring at my ring, and I couldn't stop smiling.  And I kept getting teared up.  And then I would want to hug Peter, but I couldn't since he was driving, so I would latch on to his arm and just lay on his arm and tell him how happy and surprised I was.  And he would tell me to stop doing that because he was driving and he didn't want us to crash.

When we got to his parents' house, I was talking away (surprise!) about how excited I was to surprise MY family, and he was nodding and listening and thinking about how much he loves me.  As we pulled up the driveway, I saw his grandparents' car.  Then I saw my mom's car.  Then I saw Jenna and Mark's car...

Sara: *Crying.  Again.* Whaaaaaat?  I can't believe this!!!  THIS IS PERFECT!!!
Peter: ... surprise... 

I got out of the car and started jumping up and down.  And crying.  And hugging my fiancé.

We went up to the house and I just couldn't believe it.  Both of our families were waiting for us at his parents' house for a surprise engagement party.  There was more crying, more laughing, and a lot of hugging.  And I was sweating a lot.  We posed for pictures, we ate food, and we talked about how Peter planned the PERFECT proposal.

Throughout the night I was finding out more and more that a lot of people are a lot better at keeping secrets than I am.  Jenna went with for moral support when he picked out the ring... I was on speaker phone when I called her to tell her that I was engaged... Peter drove down to Lake Geneva and asked my parents' permission when I was in Colombia for a work conference... He kept the ring in a lock box at the bank... So many secrets...  And I never would have guessed.  At all.

So yes - Peter and I are engaged, and we are SO happy and excited to get married.  It's been a little over a week since he proposed, and I still can't believe it.  

Sigh.  Best. Thanksgiving. Ever.

FYI: WAY more sparkly in person!!!!!!!
(And although you can't tell in the picture - my nails are manicured)
(Yes I got a manicure less than 24 hours after I had a ring on my finger)
(EVERYONE IS LOOKING AT MY HANDS!!  I WANTED TO LOOK PRESENTABLE!!)

:D