Entertaining – The Beehive

January 18, 2010

The Perfect Proposal

I’m ashamed to admit, I no longer remember how the whole ring shopping thing came up, but some how, in about November 2007, we ended up at Shane Co.looking at rings. Digression: although we have received no compensation from Shane Co., I have to say we had a pretty great experience buying from them. Larry from Manila worked with us and we had a fun time. At least I did. I’m pretty sure Steve did too; he seemed to like examining the stones with a loupe.

Back to the point, we had purchased a setting and a diamond, and I knew that Steve had picked up the ring when it was finished and had it in his possession. But he wouldn’t let me look at it! It drove me crazy knowing that it was somewhere in his apartment. I think because we had gone ring shopping together and I knew it was coming he wanted to keep as much of the proposal a surprise as he could. And I did end up being surprised.

Fast forward to December 19, 2007. Steve had a gift certificate to a restaurant in SF, Town Hall, and he decided we needed to use it. I was certain he was going to propose over dinner. Of course, he didn’t. I was pretty disappointed. What could he possibly be waiting for?

Image courtesy of ovahere.com.

We drove back to Steve’s apartment. When he opened the door, there were candles flickering on the coffee table. They turned out to be real wax faux candles. He had worked hard to find something realistic looking that he could turn on before leaving for work that would be safe all day until I opened the door that evening. We still use the faux candles regularly; they sit atop our fireplace mantle.

When I turned on the lights, I saw a trail of pink rose petals leading into the kitchen and right up to the refrigerator, which had a single, pink long-stemmed rose slipped through the handle. When I opened the door, I saw that pretty much all the food had been cleared out and the center shelf had been removed. Instead, there was a silver tray trimmed with green Christmas garland and dusted with snow. On the tray sat a bottle of Dom Perignon, flanked by two crystal champagne flutes and two more pink roses. In the center was a box holding the sparkling engagement ring that we had picked out together. The next thing I knew, Steve was down on one knee, and I guess the rest is history.

The (empty) bottle of Dom is still around, sitting on our kitchen counter right next to our wine rack.

We used the champagne flutes from the proposal as the toasting flutes at the wedding.

January 17, 2010June 15, 2010

Newlyweds No More

It’s official: as of today, Steve and I have been married a whole year. And to celebrate the fact that we’ve survived relatively unscathed, we’ll be spending the next few days looking back on the big day and beyond.

It makes sense to start with the story of how we met. It was nearly 8:00 on a Thursday night in March 2005. I was flushed and sweating from my after-work spinning class, and I was rushing down to the Embarcadero muni station, hoping to catch the N-Judah to the Caltrain depot in time for the 8:07 train. But there was no muni in sight. So I waited. And waited. And waited some more. Typical. I looked around and saw a number of others waiting impatiently. Including that cute guy I saw on the train all the time, and me all yucky and sweaty from working out. How awful.

Of course, it was Steve, and I didn’t know it at the time, but he was working late because it was the middle of tax season and, being an accountant, that’s his busy time. He was also hoping to get the 8:07 train.

After some waiting, the muni came. I got on, relieved that I would likely make my train and not have to wait an hour for the next one. Steve got on too. My relief was short-lived, though, because the muni driver announced that it was going out of service at the next stop and we would have to wait for the next one.

I was frantic. If I missed the train it was an hour until the next one and I’d be getting home past my bedtime. So I disregarding my disheveled appearance and approached Steve. I asked if he was trying to catch the 8:07 train — which I was sure he was since I saw him on the train regularly — and asked if he wanted to share a cab to the station. No sooner had he said yes than the next muni came, so there was no shared cab ride. But, we did make the 8:07 train (barely), and sat next to each other on the train pretty much every day after that. And that’s about all there is to it.

July 17, 2009August 10, 2009

A Fabulous Fourth

We’ve been slacking on posting about our 4th of July fun. My dad had been prompting the whole family to “think about the 4th of July” for several weeks in advance. Which means he wants to throw a party. Or rather, he wants someone else to throw a party and that is his way of hinting at it. That Dad, he’s such a character! I think he was excited about our first holiday with his new granddaughter, who pretty much stole the show.

A nice crowd turned out at my parents’ house, including me and Steve; my brother; my sister, her husband (the other Steve), and their baby; the other Steve’s parents; one of my aunts, and two of my cousins and their significant others. Our family is all about casual, it’s just the way we roll, but my mom spruced things up with some festive patriotic napkins draped on the table, some dressed up daisies, and some sweet red strawberries that blended right in with the holiday color scheme.

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And to keep things simple and casual, we did a basic BBQ, complete with burgers, dogs, and all the fixings. The sides and snacks were supplied potluck-style by the guests. We had no shortage of choices, including a green salad chock full of goodies like avocado and corn, three bean salad, two different types of guacamole with chips, and our family’s favorite potato salad (which I probably will rarely ever make given Steve’s distaste for potatoes! sigh!). There were plenty of frosty beverages in an ice-filled cooler on the patio and free flowing margaritas. And we capped the whole thing off with Neapolitan ice cream and home-made chocolate chip cookies.

Aside from coaxing my sister’s five-week-old daughter to roll over (yes, she does it, she is a prodigy!), my sister’s dog Maggie and my cousin’s dog Fender provided the entertainment. Maggie is a yellow lab with tons of energy, and Fender is a Welsh Corgi with a bit of a round belly. The two dogs had never met before and they got a bit rambunctious and eventually had to be separated. I didn’t manage to get any pictures of it because, well, I was preoccupied with the baby. In fact, I barely got any pictures at all. But here’s is Maggie looking forlorn and wondering why Fender gets to continue playing outside while she is relegated to the kitchen.

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Hope your holiday weekend was great too!