The ring-a-ding for proposing

Much like the story of our wedding, the story of the ring started long before the proposal.

Like many long-term couples, we dabbled in diamond shopping a couple years into our courtship. I'm thinking the guy does this to satiate our nuptial appetite for a bit, and then they continue to humor us to keep the fantasy alive.

Well, on Mother's Day, my mother, my brother's gf and I stopped by a funky jewelry shop and spotted what I thought was the ring of my dreams - a canary diamond surrounded by a halo.

I took a picture and texted it to Brian right away - subtle, right? I proceeded to show it to pretty much everyone and even finagled Brian into treking all the way down to San Juan Capistrano to see the ring in person - with the promise of Pedro's Tacos to keep him happy.

To my dismay, he wasn't a big fan of the ring. Mostly he was not a fan of the cost (wayyy out of budget for a girl who said she would be pleased with a ring pop...I lied), and not a big fan of the color - which he referred to as the color of piss.

After a few half-hearted attempts looking on Amazon and scoping out the selection at Kay's, we gave up the search, and like most of life's precious moments, that's precisely when we found the ring-a-ding.

We were on our way to see a movie with my brother at the Bella Terra in Huntington Beach, and on a whim stopped by Princess Bride Diamonds - a lovely little store with lovely little gems. While Brian and I oohed and ahhed over a few pieces, Keith couldn't stay farther away - as if buying a ring might be contagious.

We left the store and a piece of our hearts, and a few hours later had to come back to try on THE RING. I wanted it to be a surprise, but who are we kidding, Brian and I are really bad at keeping our mouths shut, especially when we want to surprise each other.

A few weeks later, on a Tuesday, I came home from Zumba and while Brian and his buddy Chase were glued to gaming on their computers, I spotted what looked like a receipt from none other than Princess Bride on the floor - it said pick up Tuesday.

Now, I'm pretty good at putting two and two together, but Brian is even better at throwing me off his scent. So he fed me some lame ass excuse when I asked what that was all about, and I pretty much bought it, but in my heart I new something was up.

There were a few more close calls - an e-mail here, a text message there - and Brian was fully aware that I was on high alarm, looking (almost) everywhere in the house to see if I could find his hiding place.

At 7am on a Sunday, when all I wanted to see were the insides of my eyeballs, was when he was finally able to catch me (and apparently my parents when asking their permission the day before) off guard.

He placed the royal blue box into my hands.

I laughed, I cried, I wanted to throw up, and when he popped the question, I replied oh-so-eloquently, "duh!"

It's so surreal to wake up thinking about this one accessory that makes every outfit and every day special. I can't believe I get to have it (and Brian) for the rest of my life.