After much stress and waiting, here is the final product. We designed it ourselves and so there was no telling how it would look until it was finished. But I am a happy woman and all is well in the world. Thank you, Marty! It's beautiful and I love it! But I still love you more!
First of all, yes, I knew the night we were getting engaged and yes, I liked knowing...It all began on Friday the 13th because there was no way I was getting engaged on Valentine's Day (no offense to those who did). It just wasn't my style. Anyway, even though I knew WHEN the big night was, I had no idea what Marty had planned. We started out by having a really nice dinner at the New Yorker (ask Marty about his steak - then again, maybe you'd better not). The food was delicious. We had fancy calamari, a fancy salad and then we both had steaks. During dinner, our waiter brought out gifts every 20 minutes or so that had things in them that reminded Marty of me and/or us. The first one was a CD with a note on it that said it was to be played at 8:15. I won't bore you with all of the other items, but there were many and they were very thoughtful.
After dinner, we walked outside and Marty led me away from where the car was parked. Instead, we were standing in front of a white limo and he said that this was our ride for the next 2 hours! I had never been in one before so I freakin' loved it. We decided we needed to go on a road trip in one with a bunch of our friends someday. Anyway, Marty put the CD in which was a mix of songs that we loved. So we had the best music all night long.
There are many modes of transportation in SF and we decided to take advantage of them all. We didn't bother with cab photos as those are too common. We also rode the BART to and from the airport - we were too loaded down with luggage to worry about a photo op in those instances.
Here we are hanging out at the Wharf waiting for our ferry. (See ferry pictures in part 1).
If you've never heard of this play, it's one of a kind. We had hoped to go to Wicked or Les Mis, but we were 2 weeks too early for Wicked and nothing else was playing that I had ever heard of. But at the last minute I came across Tony 'n Tina's Wedding. I had been to it in NYC years ago and it was so much fun. Marty trusted me and we went. Basically, the audience is a part of the wedding party and it includes dinner and wedding cake. It's a representation of a tacky Italian wedding and it's hysterical...
Marty and I went on a much needed vacation to San Francisco in early January and had an absolute blast together. We had both been there before which was in our favor because we both knew what we wanted to do ahead of time. Marty hadn't been to Alcatraz yet so we made a point to go there. I always enjoyed it and didn't mind going again. I'm a nerd and love historical sites, but I also have a horrible memory so it was almost like my first time anyway.
In spite of our nations' economic crisis, Marty and I spoiled each other this Christmas. It was our first one together so back off. He got me some warm fuzzy boots (x2) and some running shoes. My favorite gift was a gift certificate to Anthropologie - my favorite store! I obviously got him some ties and dress shirts, but I also got him a DVD about the history of his favorite team, the Dallas Cowboys. Am I a cool girlfriend or what? I am. Merry Christmas, sweetie!
Cute grandma and grandpa Anderson joined us for Christmas Eve this year...They are always so fun.
For the past 7 years or so my family has all contributed to a book that my mom puts together for all of us to read on Christmas Eve. We each sum up our year and include pictures depicting our experiences. This year was no exception. We got our books and proceeded to read. I have never been able to read the entire book ever. I get distracted with games (see our Monopoly picture) or other fun Christmas Eve activities and then just never get back to it. My intentions were always good, but I never completely finished a volume. Gregan was at my house helping me wrap gifts one night and asked me point blank if I have read everyone's stories every year. I have never been a good liar and sheepishly admitted that I haven't. For some reason this question came up again on Christmas Eve, but was directed toward everyone. I didn't want to admit it again and kept quiet, but Gregan kindly shared my secret and I was shamed into reading the entire book this year and even started on the '07 volume. There is a picture of me reading and that is the reason I posted it - for evidence that yes, family, I read all of your silly stories and they were worth it. Maybe I'll catch up on the past years when I should be reading my scriptures every night. We also had our traditional Christmas Eve program with singing, piano playing and lucky us - Jaron's joke-telling this year. Notice his attire. Never a disappointment. As for Kryn and Ava's picture, I just loved it.
