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An Engaging Tale

Well, here's some news. . .

Lydia and Bob got engaged over the weekend!

Yes, he put a ring on it. And the proposal was a complete surprise to me - the boy did good in keeping a secret. Here's the story of how it went down.

We had decided to visit the Art Institute on Saturday morning to get our culture on - it is one of my annual goals to visit two museums after all. I had a membership (the first Groupon I ever bought) that lasted a year and I never actually used it. So over another year later I thought it might be time to check it out. Bob says he started planting the seeds a couple weeks ago mentioning how I hadn't used the membership and getting us to plan a day to go. That sly fox.

The special exhibit was "Windows on the War: Soviet TASS Posters" from World War II. Now doesn't this banner evoke images of romance? It was actually a pretty cool display - I can now say I have walked through a gallery called "Belligerent Encounters: Graphic Chronicles of War and Revolution, 1500-1945." The exhibit is up through late October - check it out if you get the chance. TIP: Chicago Residents who can show an ID with a local address get $2 off the ticket price. I did notice Bob was texting a lot during the day - a pet peeve of mine is when someone is glued to their phone. He said it was a work thing and was convincing enough. But there was another reason he was texting. . .

On the way out of the museum we walked through the Modern Wing and took the bridge across to Millennium Park. I didn't know at the time, but am now glad I snapped a few shots from the day. See that garden in the lower corner of the photo? Keep that in mind. We walked through the park and headed into the garden area. I noticed a bench full of vases of flowers and said, "oh, can you just take these?" Bob said, "well, you can." When I turned around to face him he was on his knee with a box in his hand. Surprised to say the least, the next few seconds felt a bit unreal. He said some sweet sentiments and after a "yes" came out of my mouth I noticed some movement out of the corner of my eye. Our friend was across the way with a camera in hand, he was trying to duck away from my glance, but the jig was up. Bob had enlisted friends to set up the bench with the flowers ahead of time and scope the place out for him. This also meant we got the unique pleasure of having the entire proposal captured on film. Apparently this was a "Plan B." The first choice was the mini-golf course in the park with the flowers on one of the greens. The course was closed when he did a "site visit" but you could still get into it. However, there were now workers in the course which would probably put a damper on the whole romantic vibe.

So the paparazzi shot on, and we got ourselves a few instant engagement shots! I don't wear jewelry so Bob had nothing to check my ring size against. It runs a little big on me right now so we'll need to get it re-sized. That isn't stopping me from wearing it though - just being very protective so it doesn't fall off as I'm crossing the bridge or stepping off the red line. . .this is not the best photo of the ring. . .I'll get Bob to do a write up about how he picked out the ring and show off some better angles soon. And the surprises didn't stop there - Bob had booked a room at the Sofitel downtown, a hotel he had always admired architecturally and we had wanted to check out. Our other friends were also in on the plans and had checked into the room early to set up champagne and an overnight bag Bob had packed for us without my knowledge (that explains why he sent me out to the 7-11 the night before to get some sodas. . .).

We grabbed a cab and not 2 seconds later it started to downpour - talk about luck of timing for the young man's plans! We checked into the hotel, made some happy phone calls and relaxed before going out for a sushi dinner.

When we were checked in we were asked what brought us to the hotel so we said how we just got engaged. A nice surprise of chocolate covered strawberries awaited us when we got back that evening. So sweet. Brunch the next morning at Tavern on Rush capped it all off before we headed back to our neighborhood and back to reality. A few more calls, a few more facebook posts and a few more tweets and it was all starting to sink in!

I don't know that we are ready to pick a date and get the show on the road just yet, but it is fun to start thinking about it all. I would keep an eye on the "wedding" category on this blog sidebar if I were you - methinks it is going to start growing in size. . .

Posted by Lydia at 7:50 PM