I’m pretty excited to share with you guys that I’m engaged!!
For those of you who don’t know, here’s the backstory! Matt and I met after college through mutual friends but were acquaintances at best, both dating other people.
We reconnected one New Year’s Eve and I learned Matt had moved from Ohio to Chicago. While we continued to chat periodically, usually via drunk text if I’m being honest, it wasn’t until I took a trip to Chicago that summer where we again crossed paths through mutual friends and began to see one another in a different light.
We dated long distance for a year until I made the decision to move to the Windy City back in 2013. We went from seeing each other once or twice a month to living together with a dog. Basically it was going to make or break us. Thankfully our relationship grew even stronger than I could have hoped for and now here we are a total of 3 years later making it official!
How it the proposal went down:
I woke up the morning of our engagement, a Friday, with SO MUCH ANXIETY. I am very intuitive person and I knew something was happening that day but it wasn’t clear if it’d be good or bad. Truthfully I was taking my dog to the groomer that afternoon and I was SICK with worry something was going to happen to him there (a huge irrational fear of mine).
Once home from the groomer, those anxious feelings went away and I started to get ready for dinner that evening. Matt ALWAYS planned fun dinners for us at fancy restaurants or new hot spots so I truly thought nothing of it when he suggested we go to the Michelin starred North Pond for dinner.
While walking over a bridge in Lincoln Park on our way to dinner, Matt stopped to fix his shoe which allowed us to take in the most gorgeous view of the city. Normally a hotspot for tourist photo ops, the area was strangely desolate. It was then that Matt got all the way down on one knee and I proceeded to black out for next few seconds! I wish I could remember all of the sweet things he said but I was honestly in SHOCK. The minutes afterward were filled with so much love and happiness.
I then learned that we were not in fact going to dinner at North Pond, rather my fav steakhouse Joe’s Stonecrab. Matt had also worked in an hour so that we could go home and call friends and family. SMART MAN! I immediately called my loved ones to share the news.
After making the calls, we enjoyed the most amazing dinner (without our phones) and savored the moments we’d never get back. Once we finished our steaks, Matt suggested we pop into a champagne bar next door for one last toast. Just as I was finishing my last sip of champs at the bar, someone tapped me on my shoulder. I turned around to find my parents and my sister who had driven in 7 hours from Ohio to share in the occasion!
In hindsight, my parents and my sister were a bit short with me on the phone when I called to share the news and I was slightly disappointed by that. Here, they had been on their way all along and didn’t want me to hear anything/get any ideas!
It was midnight by the time they reached us, so we all headed back to their hotel for pizza and more champagne. We stayed up until 3 AM and it’s one of my favorite memories from entire day!
I am so excited to share our engagement photos and VIDEO taken by the talented Andrea Pabon. I thought a video would be a fun and DIFFERENT way to capture this special time in our lives. We will cherish these memories and can’t wait to share them with our kids some day!
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