the next chapter...

So this is the engagement story. It's much easier for me to post about it here than to retell it 100 times in person. I love storytelling and making a chronological adventure out of every blog post as you can probably tell... but the first few times I tried telling THIS particular story, I was a stuttering awkward mess. I've gotten better, but now for all of you people who have been asking me about it, I can just lazily direct you to this link... hahaha. Anyway, here it goes...

It happened a few days before Christmas. The day after I got off the plane, Randy took me out to a super cool lounge called Raw Canvas in Yaletown, where (as their motto states) you can eat, drink, and make art.  So that is exactly what we did.

 We ate...

drank...

 and made art.

 It's really fun because you pay for a canvas and you can use as much paint as you want. Randy and I decided to work on a painting together. Little did I know he was secretly texting and setting up a surprise behind my back... but I didn't notice anything because I was way too into the painting. HAHA.

 In the end, we painted cartoon versions of ourselves, complete with a jetpack and hot air balloon.

 Near the end of our session, Randy kept on rushing me to finish but I was having so much fun that I didn't want to leave...

Finally, I was reluctantly dragged away from painting to my heart's content. haha. Then, Randy suggested that we open our Christmas presents. He specifically wanted to exchange gifts at the fountain where he had first asked me out almost 6 years ago. It was freezing cold, but I'm always up for something random, so we grabbed Tim Hortons coffees (how Canadian) and off we went! When we got to the fountain, I saw this this random light display that seemed a little out of the ordinary...

There were other Christmas lights on surrounding trees and lampposts, but this particular light display looked suspiciously different because there were battery packs on either side... like someone had just left it there. I pointed out that the lights were "interesting"... but I didn't think too much about them.

 Anyway, I gave Randy his Christmas present first and he totally rushed through opening it. I kept on saying things like "wait... there's more inside..." but he seemed super excited to give me HIS present. It came in a box and it was a photo album (an empty one that I had given him two years ago to fill with photos). This time, he gave it back to me and it was filled with photos of us with a storyline, kind of like a picture book. 

When I got to the last page... it said this...

...and when I turned the page, there was a picture of a ring box. DUN DUN DUNNNNNN!!!!!!!!!

That was when I finally clued in (haha) and went into "shocked" mode. Randy asked me, "Will you be my Mrs. Potatohead?"  and of course I said yes! Then he said, "Okay guys, you can come out now!" and two of my best friends came creeping out from the shadows where they had been hiding in bushes like the shady lurkers they are. 

Quite useful lurkers they were though, because they helped us document the excited aftermath. haha

So THESE TWO were the culprits who set up the lights... they were good sports because they had been freezing their butts off outside while waiting for Randy and I to arrive, and warding off curious kids who kept on trying to touch the lights.

After much happy dancing and prancing, we finished off the night with class... AT McDONALD'S. HAHA. Burgers, fries, and ice-cream make the best celebratory meal! =)

As for the ring, I never had any expectations because all I ever wanted was a RING POP (or a LORD OF THE RINGS ring!!!... although that represents total evil, so maybe not)... but considering my utter lack of knowledge regarding engagement rings/shiny things and the fact that I know as much about carats as I do about carrots, I have to say that Randy + my close friends know me well... and I absolutely love the delicate vintage-esque setting that he finally decided on.

I feel so blessed because honestly, it was a very special moment. Both Randy and I dislike unnecessary extravagance so just being able to spend hours painting and working on something together was one of the best things in the world.

Anyway, that's the whole story! And I'm officially on my way to being Mrs. Potatohead!

=)