About Me

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North Hollywood, California, United States
I am a fun, sometimes boring person. I am an outgoing, shy kind of girl. I'm pretty easy going when I am not being uptight. All in all, I am a walking, talking, contradiction.
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Wednesday, August 31, 2011

A Tuesday Night Proposal


I'M ENGAGED!!!



So here's the story that everyone's been waiting for! Sorry it took so long to get this posted, but with only nine weeks to plan a wedding, I've been a little preoccupied to say the least. I apologize to those friends who had asked me to tell them how it all happed and I hesitantly declined and told them that it would be easier if I could write it all and then they could read it instead of me retelling the story 100 times. Those of you who have been engaged know exactly what I mean when I say how quickly you get tired of telling the engagement story over and over no matter how good it is.



I will start out by saying that despite how obvious all the events were leading up to the life changing question, I did not see it coming.



It was a Tuesday, so like any Tuesday, I went to work. When I got there, my coworker told me that Dave was just there and he left something on my desk. I was confused because I had just spoken on the phone with him and he didn't mention dropping anything off at my work. What I found on my desk was a small handheld video camera and a note. The note said:



I'm sorry all this work stresses you out. I'm sorry sometimes I don't understand. Help me. With this camera, record a few minutes a day in your life so I can see all the exciting or not exciting things in your day. I LOVE YOU! Dave.



Now before you get as confused as I did when I first read this, here's the back story. If you have read any of my previous posts, you would know that I worked two jobs. You would also know how stressful and crazy my life was during that time. I am also writing this in past tense because I have since quit. I will explain all that at a later time so that only one story is being told right now. But for the past 5 months, David has put up with my mood swings, mental break downs, and lack of time to spend together. He is so sweet and I am a lucky girl to have him. Anyway, about a week before I got the note on my desk, I quit my second job for various reasons but still had 2 weeks to finish up there and at the same time commute from Lehi so the stress level was kicked up a notch. My initial thought when I got the note was, “This is a weird but sweet way of Dave reaching out to me trying to cheer me up and understand what's going on right now.” I left it at that and went back to work. A little later, my coworkers and myself were called into a meeting and toward the end of it, another coworker knocked on the door and told me that there was gentlemen here to see me. Of course I thought it was Dave, so when I walked into the area I work in, I was surprised to see a tall, skinny kid holding a bouquet of roses. Before I could say anything, he asked me if I had the camera. I had to think for a moment to remember what he was talking about but then it came to me and I got it from my desk. He told me to turn it on and start recording. In my confusion, an enthusiastic coworker (by now a number of people had begun to gather) volunteered and grabbed the camera and began to record. Before I knew it, I was standing red faced while the kid read the note that Dave wrote. I thought about writing what the actual note said on the blog post but I decided against it. Remembering the reactions from the others listening is enough to know that some people just won't get it. And why should they? It was full of inside jokes and silly things Dave would say but if you didn't know him may sound, well...weird. Plus having the mono-toned kid reading them outloud didn't help either.



After the note was read, I was somewhere between amused, flattered, and completely mortified. Somehow though, I was able to get back to work and focus again. But before I did that, I tried calling and texting Dave to tell him thanks and how embarrassed he made me and received no answer to either. I brushed it off and decided that telling him in person would be better anyway.



Two hours later, in comes the same guy with a bigger bouquet of flowers. My face returned to its former shade of pink as he read another even more embarrassing and awkward note while being recorded by another entertained coworker. I was left completely speechless. If this was Dave's attempt to be sweet, the roses would have done well. Now I knew he was going above and beyond to get a laugh and a good story. I tried calling him again to ask him what he was thinking, but again, no answer. At this point, many coworkers were teasing me about how Dave was going to propose and I had to keep shooting the comments down really truly believing that this was not was was going on. I just laughed and forced myself to brush off the gestures as Dave being Dave and wanting to be silly.



Two hours later, lo and behold, same guy, more floweres, same protocol, same red face, same crazy note this time filled with Seal lyrics and sappy lines meant for a romantic comedy. As cute and sweet as it was, it was now becoming too much. Had I known what was to come, I would've soaked in all that cute and sweetness, but I was not longer thinking Dave was doing all this for the message of sending me love and support. What I was thinking, is no reflection of Dave. It is just a perfect example of my negative thinking during my especially stressful state. What I was really beginning to think was, Dave did something bad. Couldn't really think of what he could've done, but all the flowers and over the top public cheesiness was totally out of character so I began to make up things in my head. Needless to say, getting back to being focused on my job was a hard thing to do after that. Dave was still not texting me back or returning my calls so I had to stop myself from getting irritated by thinking, “He's obviously NOT ignoring me...”



He was definitely not ignoring me because two hours later, on the dot, in comes a different guy with an armful or yellow flowers and a note in hand. It was the fourth time and by then, I was really thinking this was an early apology for something. Once again, no reflection on Dave, just a perfect example of my negative thinking. He was still not answering or texting me back so that further solidified my idea that he was just waiting to apologize in person. I feel so bad now thinking back at how I couldn't give Dave the benefit of the doubt and I could've just really enjoyed the day that I would remember forever. But instead I just caused myselft worry and anxiety and finished up the day at my first job very much distracted.



I had never hated going into my second job as much as I did that day. Instead of being able to get off work and meet up with Dave and figure out what the heck was going on, I had to go back to work, sit at a desk and answer phone calls like nothing was going on. I was pretty distracted at this point thinking about all kinds of scenarios and all the things I would say when Dave would finally answer his phone or text me back. But my thoughts were inturrupted about an hour into work because I was suddenly presented by the same last guy with TWO more bouquets of flowers. I was dumbfounded. Since the camera was still in my car because I thought that there would be no way he would send flowers to my second job, I whisked the guy out of the office and had him follow me back into the parking lot to get it. As he read the note, I laughed, felt less embarrassed due to the lack of audience, and my anxiety began to decrease a little. I started to think that this should be expected from a guy like Dave. Afterall, it will be a great story to tell. After the flower guy left, I decided to calm my irrational thoughts and wait to hear the explanation from Dave himself. I focused back on my job and before I knew it, the last two hours went by and I was getting ready to clock out. I did find myself thoughout the last two hours, looking back and forth to the door and anticipating the next arrival. But no one came. As I walked to my car, I decided to text Dave and let him know that I was leaving just in case there were more flowers on its way as the pattern would suggest. I didn't expect a response also in accordance to the pattern but within about 30 seconds I heart my text alert sound. It read: “Wait!” I laughed to myself and rolled my eyes and texted him back asking him if I should turn around since I had just left the parking lot. He again quickly replied that said to turn around and go to the back of the parking lot. As I drove to the back, I looked around for another awkward guy holding flowers ready to read a ridiculous note while being recorded. But instead I saw David's car and him standing out in front of it. He was holding a red long stemmed rose.



He had a mischevious look on his face so as soon as I pulled up to him and he opened my car door, I raised my eye brows and said blantantly, “What did you do?” He laughed at me and asked what I meant. I repeated my question with the same demanding tone and look and he laughed again and said, “We're celebrating!” I now rolled my eyes and asked him what we were celebrating. As soon as I asked he began to sink down to what should have been his knee but I immediately grabbed him by his elbows and lifted him back up and I begged him not to do this... Let me explain my actions.



For the past couple months, David had found a new pastime in teasing me with fake proposals. In the most random places he would tell me things like, “I need to ask you something...” or “Lisa, will you...” or “I have something for you...” He would always accompany these remarks with either pretending to pull something out of his pocket or starting to go down on one knee. I had gotten used to his teases and even warned him that if he kept it up, that I would never think he was being serious even when he really was. And thats exactly what happened.



As I was saying, I started to pull Dave back up and he must have known what I meant when I said not to do it because right then, he pulled out the little box and opened it up for me to see and finally understand what was going on. As soon as I saw my ring and realized what the whole day had been about, I burst into tears and cried. I'm not talking a couple of tears of joy but a real sob. Somewhere in between my pathetic crying, Dave managed to tell me that he loved me and wanted me to be his wife. He then asked me if I would marry him and after composing myself a little, I finally got out a yes.



And that's how it happened.






The first flowers delivered at 10 AM



The second flowers delivered at 12 PM



The third flowers delivered at 2 PM



The forth flowers delivered at 4 PM



The fifth and sixth flowers delivered at 6PM



This silly guy showed up at 8 PM...



...and shortly thereafter, I said YES!



Happiest moment of my life.



Did I mention that I'm crazy about him?



Here it is!









Monday, August 15, 2011

Oh! The Places You'll Go!


Congratulations!
Today is your day.
You’re off to Great Places!
You’re off and away!
You have brains in your head.
You have feet in your shoes.
You can steer yourself any direction you choose.
You’re on your own. And you know what you know.
And YOU are the guy who’ll decide where to go.


For now, it's Lehi. To make a long story short, my contract for the place I've been in for the past 7 month just ended and in the last minute, the place I had lined up to move into fell through so for now, I'm squatting at my Aunt and Uncle's place. They were gracious enough to let me move in for the time being until I figure out my next move. Life is one crazy, interesting, unpredictable, sometimes inconvenient mess. But I am excited to see what is to come in the future. Anything is possible...


But on you will go though the weather be foul.
On you will go though your enemies prowl.
On you will go though the Hakken-Kraks howl.
Onward up many a frightening creek,
though your arms may get sore and your sneakers may leak.
On and on you will hike.
And I know you’ll hike far and face up to your problems whatever they are...


And will you succeed?
Yes! You will, indeed!
(98 and ¾ percent guaranteed.)
Kid, you’ll move mountains!
So…be your name Buxbaum or Bixby or Bray or Mordecai Ale Van Allen O’Shea, you’re off to Great Places!
Today is your day!
Your mountain is waiting.
So…get on your way!


Wednesday, August 10, 2011

A fair trade



It all started with me falling in love with a pair of heels. So basically, it was a normal day. I blame this particular incident on David.

I was walking around Bebe at the Gateway mall in Salt Lake City looking for something to get my longtime friend Summer for her birthday. It was then that Dave came up to me with a sleek, black beauty and said, “Check out this heel! Have you ever seen a heel this skinny?” My eyes met the dainty shoe and that was it. I snatched it out of his hands and tried it on and sure enough, a perfect fit. I started to whine to him about how badly I “needed” these shoes and how I can afford them (I couldn't) but like any good and very frugal boyfriend would do, he reasoned me out of it. He reminded me of why we were there and eventually, I walked away from the heels heart broken and resumed my search for Summer's present. But I never forgot them.

A couple of weeks and a paycheck later, I decided it was time to reunite with the Naina Peep Toe Pumps. Since I looked online and they didn't have my size, I called the store to see if they had a pair in stock to order from. The girl there told me that they didn't but they knew of another store that did so they could order them for me to be delivered to the store in Salt Lake and then delivered to me. I was delighted and I started to give them my card number, but for some reason, at the time I felt like I should wait and order them the next day because I would get paid from my second job and then I would feel less guilty. Later on, I met up with Dave and told him about my plans to buy the shoes. This was the response I got:

Don't do it.

Why?! I have the money.

Just don't.

You can't tell me what I can and can't spend my money on, we're not married!

Lisa! Just trust me, don't buy them!

David, let me worry about my own finances. I gonna get them so just get over it.

LISA oh my gosh seriously, do I have to spell it out?


I was very frazzled and confused at this point but the look on his face told me that I wasn't understanding something. But since I am immuned to the obvious, I continued to question him until he finally admitted to me that he was planning on getting them for me for our upcoming one year anniversary (I know, so cheesy). Now I felt bad. I always seem to do this. I can never let anything go until I get an answer that I often ruin surprises for myself. I apologized over and over to Dave and tried to reassure him how excited I was that he was going to get me the heels, but no matter what I said, he was down for having to ruin the surprise. Poor, sweet guy...

I needed to redeem myself. I knew that we were going to do something little like dinner to celebrate our twelve months of togetherness, but I wasn't sure if we were going to do presents so this revelation was indeed a surprise to me. Now that I knew that Dave was going to get me something that I truly wanted, I needed to wrack my brain for what he would really want. I then remembered that he had been talking for about the past week or so about needing an air compressor pretty bad. It shouldn't be expected that I know what this is. All I know is that Dave is a true man in the sense of the mechanical side of his brain always going and going. He has rebuilt whole motorcycles and finds constant enjoyment in the taking apart and putting together of things big and small. So for a the past little while, this air compressor seemed to be his latest need for his collection of fix-it gadgets. So thus began my search for the simple sounding tool. Simple enough, I thought...

Well for starters, I would've rather gone to the mall and picked out an entire oufit for him from head to toe without any helpful hints or sizes. Who knew that going online and searching “air compressor” would give me a bajillion amount of results. First off, David being a frugal and practical kind of guy mentioned that he would want to buy one used since they would then be about half price. So I went to the Classifieds and also Craigslist to seek out a used but in good condition compressor at a good price. Little did I know all the many things I did not know about this tool.

Six gallon? Eight gallon? Twenty gallon?! Electric? On wheels? Pancake style?!

Needless to say, I quickly became overwhelmed at the prospect of choosing the wrong thing. I started asking male coworkers their opinions and it surprised me how much these guys didn't know either. Searching online and asking around became the theme of my day until I decided that I was going to cheat. I called Dave. I told him my frustrations and my true intention to redeem myself by getting him the compressor but had no luck and needed his help desperately. And by help I mean him going online, finding the exact air compressor he wanted and then emailing me the URL so that I could call the seller and buy it. Luckily Dave was happy to help and sent me the link. Turns out that even after I had the info I needed to buy it, I still needed to deal with the situation of getting it because I work two jobs and rarely get off work before 8:30pm. Dave came to the rescue again. He went to go pick it up and I handed him that cash for it after I got off work that night. Surprise! To make our anniversary presents sistuation stranger, Dave ended up needing to call me for the phone number of the Bebe store that could order my shoes and also needed the size and name of them.

All in all, our presents ended up in the proper hands with happy and grateful attiudes on both parts and we celebrated the evening with our orinigal plans by having a lovely dinner out. But I wouldn't necessarily say that the gift giving was romantic in any way...rather, a fair trade :)