I’m engaged!
Oh my goodness. I’m so silly, stupid, happy in love and I still grin ear-to-ear and get all the butterflies when I think of this day.
Here’s the story..
Sunday, July 3rd
Nate and I went to San Francisco for 4th of July weekend. We decided to travel to San Francisco on a whim; I went once when I was very young, and he had never been, and we both love to explore new cities, so we booked flights to spend a 5-day weekend away from Austin and work.
First of all, I should have known that San Francisco would be chilly. I mean, I checked my weather app every day leading up to the trip and knew it never got over 60 degrees, and I had just been in LA 2 weeks prior, and I was FREEZING the whole time and promised myself I’d bring a warmer jacket next time I was in California! Apparently, I learn things slowly, because I didn’t pack anything warmer than a light jean jacket. So while Nate and I were walking around the bay area, I was constantly cold.
On Sunday, we spent a day in Berkeley. It was wonderful, and we have lots of fun memories and stories from that day. In the evening he thought it would be fun to make it back to Fisherman’s Wharf for dinner with a view of the sunset, which I thought was incredibly sweet and romantic of him to want to do. (Note: I had no idea proposal was in the books for this trip…I had kind of guessed that my birthday weekend, 3 weeks later, or sometime in the fall would be when he proposed).
So we grabbed an Uber across the Oakland Bay Bridge and we were dropped off at Pier 39 on a freezing cold, windy, cloudy Sunday night. I was miserable.
Now, Nate and I don’t love super touristy things in cities, unless they’re well justified by being super sweet. Fisherman’s Wharf is kind of like a carnival on steroids. There were drunk tourists stumbling around, lots of chain restaurants, and annoying, loud music played by flimsy rides and cheesy games. And it was cold and windy, and after wandering around and finding nothing better to eat than Bubba Gump Shrimp or Applebee’s, the night was getting later and we were both really hungry. And COLD!
I think that both of us expected Fisherman’s Wharf to be a more serene place with cool views of the harbor and good seafood…and it is not that, friends. It’s loud and obnoxious. Lesson learned, San Francisco.
So we had to find somewhere to eat, and I could tell he was wanting to find a nicer restaurant with seafood, but on a Sunday night at 8:30 there weren’t a lot of options. And I was FREEZING. Like, so so cold that I couldn’t even think.
We ended up standing in a Starbucks just to escape the wind for 10 minutes while we yelped and googled and tried to find anything in the area that was A) open on a Sunday night, and B) not Hard Rock Cafe…
BLESS! We found Bar Crudo, and although it was a long Uber ride from the Wharf, it had the most delicious seafood chowder I’ve tasted, a good wine list, and a interesting take on Branzino, a fish we both discovered the week before at dinner with my grandfather! So we knew we should order it 🙂
The dinner itself was lovely. I was still cold and asked to borrow Nate’s jacket, which he wasn’t using. He hesitatingly handed it to me, which I thought was odd. (Geez, don’t be so stingy with the jacket…) I had not the slightest idea that the ring was in the pocket of his jacket, which was sitting on my lap all night. Clueless..
Now, for some reason I decided to bring up the topic of a ring during dinner. We had never discussed it, and he had never asked me my ring size or what sort of ring I wanted. I had also mentioned that we don’t have to do the traditional route with a ring if he didn’t want…I could be happy with or without a ring, but I just wanted to subtly bring it up. (Note the heavy sarcasm…nothing about my comments that night were subtle).
I asked if he should propose…or me? And when might it happen? He rolled his eyes, said he wanted to propose, maybe it would be sometime in the near future, and we don’t really need to talk about it any more. I quickly dropped the subject…and just as quickly picked it back up again 5 minutes later. Hehe… He was giving me NO answers! His version of this story is that I kept bringing it up all night during dinner, although I feel preeeetty strongly that I didn’t mention it any more. No one really knows..
After dinner I had tunnel vision for my bed. All I could think about was getting home and under the warmth of a quilt. Cold. Tired. Apparently Nate mentioned taking a walk to the Japanese Peace Pagoda, which I hardly remember him mentioning because I was just so cold! Did I mention I was really cold?
Long story short, we almost got engaged on July 3rd, but Kelsey was being such a brat about being cold and tired that it didn’t happen. #sorryNate
4th of July morning
Nate and I are both coffee drinkers, so we love to try a different specialty coffee shop each morning when we’re in a new city. On Monday we walked about a mile to Wrecking Ball Coffee Roasters, a shop we were excited to try! The bay area isn’t known for bright sunny mornings, but this one was clear and warm, and the good vibes were flowing while we walked up and down the hills to get caffeinated.
Nate saw a city park on his google map and asked if I wanted to go out of the way of our route to walk up the hill for the view of the bay. I happily obliged. It was a gorgeous morning!
We walked and talked, just like a normal morning. The views were incredible so he handed me his phone and told me to take a selfie of us. While I was fidgeting with his phone and took the gorgeous ring out of his jacket pocket, turned me around, and asked if we could spend our lives together.
Although I was completely surprised by the timing of the proposal, I had thought it through many times before he popped the question. The thoughts that went through my brain when he asked this question were very rational, which I never expected to feel during a proposal. I expected happy tears and laughter and then my brain might probably turn to mush. But there were no tears at that moment, and my brain was functioning as well as I could hope. I just pictured, very clearly, what a lifetime would look like with Nate. I imagined going through all the big stages left in life with Nate as my partner in life, thinking is this what I want?
Yes. Yes, it is.
I realize that doesn’t sound incredibly romantic to a lot of people who might have wanted to have the tears and laughter and mushy brain. But, first of all, remember that I’m an ISTJ, and I like that my brain responded in its normal way. The feeling was perfect to me, because I really really knew that I wanted this man by my side for the rest of our lives. The proposal was actualized, and I thought through my options, and I definitely knew that this is the thing that will make be so, so happy. And knowing that we’re both 100% certain in our decision is the most romantic thing in the world to me.
(Oh yes, and poor Nate…he tells me it took about 45 seconds for these thoughts to go through my mind before I said “YES!” while he stood there with the ring. He is an incredibly patient man.)
The ring fit perfectly! I have no idea how he guessed, because I couldn’t have even guessed my ring size, but even after going to the jeweler to have it sized, they told me not to change anything.
And the rest of the day? Pure bliss. The tears came soon after, as well as the mushy brain. The day was sunny but my mind was in a happy fog all day.
We chose not to tell any family or friends for the first 24 hours while we enjoyed our first day of being engaged.
We went to a game at AT&T Park to see the Rockies play the Giants. I remember absolutely nothing from that baseball game, except that the view was beautiful and I had a diamond on my finger and a fiancé by my side.
I am the happiest ever!
Oh, and after he proposed we finished walking to Wrecking Ball for a couple coffees and scones. The pour-over was a really good one, so we bought a bag of their Columbia roast to bring back to Austin. Every cup made me so happy!
I take a ring selfie just about every day…because no matter what I told him about not needing to have a ring to get engaged, it’s just really fun to have a diamond on my finger. 😉
So much happiness, friends. Thanks for taking the time to read!
Kelsey
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So exciting!!!!!!!!!!! I love reading engagement stories and that ring is so beautiful and sparkly!
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