A lot of people have been asking how it all went down, so I figured that if there was ever a personal thing to blog about, this is it!

Things to know about me:

• I adore dogs. I mean, really really love dogs. Especially my dogs!
• Lake Tahoe is one of my favorite places in the world. It’s just spectacularly beautiful there.
• Apple cidar is my favorite drink eveeeer. Forget wine or beer or soda, bring me a bottle of apple cidar (I don’t even need a glass) and I’m good.
• Tony and I met because of our mutual love of video games, but my primary objective when playing games is pretty much to FIND THE TREASURE. I love treasure. I want to become a treasure hunter one day.

How it Started
I had been away on a girl’s trip up to Mendocino from Sunday through Tuesday. And when I got home on Tuesday, I found my apartment filled with balloons. This led to a scavenger hunt that Tony had arranged. The scavanger hunt was in the form of puzzles, and after I finished the puzzle, I was given my prize: A trip to Lake Tahoe!

I was so giddy with excitement since Tony had been working so hard lately, and I’d been wishing he would take a sick day or something. So the fact that he took 3 whole days off work to surprise me with this trip blew me away.

In Tahoe
Tony treated me to some of my favorite things. An hour long couple’s massage, a massive lunch of TACOS (my favorite food!), and then finally took me up on a hike to this gorgeous view of the lake. He had brought up a bottle of apple cidar and it was amazing sitting on top of this mountain, overlooking the most gorgeous lake and having that spot all to ourselves.

The Proposal
He asked me if I wanted a present, which got me super alert (and a little tense) and then preceded to crack me up by reading a poem I had asked him to write weeks ago titled “The Hair on My Head”. I sometimes request random and silly poems for him to write, the other assignment I gave him recently was to write something called, “Where has all the Poop gone”. I was laughing, HARD. And I thought, “Huh, so he was just tricking me, I guess he’s not proposing!”

At which point he brought out a scrapbook called “The Adventures of Tony and Hannah” that he had been spending months putting together. It chronicles our whole journey from our very first date when we watched the worst movie in existence, The Legend of Zorro (the movie had a horse running on top of a moving train. I mean, really) and all the places we’d gone, the things we’ve done, the food we’ve eaten.

If you’d like to see a few pages from the book, you can do that here: Scrapbook

But it wasn’t until I got to the pages about our dogs that got me crying. My beautiful dogs, such a huge part of our lives and our familia. They couldn’t come with us to Tahoe, but I’m so glad they were in the book.

That’s when Tony brought out the treasure box. This adorable little thing that he had spent so long looking for because he knew it would be perfect for me. Waaay better than a regular box, a Tiffany’s box, any other box in the world. And inside was the most stunningly gorgeous ring.

Everything about the proposal was perfect and so in tune to who I am and who we are as a couple.

We were crying and laughing and I nodded my answer yes. I’m so grateful that we were able to have that amazing moment to ourselves. Almost as soon as we were done wiping away the tears, these two older ladies came hiking up the hill, saw us, and offered to take our photo. What great timing!

Still enjoying the post-engagement bliss and trying my hardest not to worry about all the stuff that’s going to come after (wedding planning, ahhhh!). I’ll be writing about all that stuff in the months to come. In the meantime, thank you all my dear friends, family, and my wonderful clients who have shown so much happiness and support for this new development in our lives. You’re all the best.

Turns out, we couldn’t have picked a better time to visit. The colors! Reds and golds and greens. I was blown away by how beautiful the natural surroundings of Korea were, and I was like a kid in a candy shop oohing and ahhing and snapping photos left and right.

Yes, a mosquito stung me in the eye, yes we caught the swine flu, and yes my cousin forced me to eat raw crab meat, but my overwhelming memories of this trip remain firmly rooted in the intense beauty of this country. This is only my 2nd time visiting and it definitely won’t be my last.

Enjoy!

More photos to come!

More to come soon!