How it happened...

Good stories have a great beginning, so I guess I'll start there!


Stephen and I met during his first year at USC as a grad student, and my last year as an undergrad. He was teaching a lab that I had begrudgingly signed up for in order to graduate. The first day of class, I immediately noticed him and was so glad I had signed up for Weather and Climate. You could definitely say I was "hot for teacher!!" I had a crush on him the entire semester and made a lame attempt to flirt but he didn't seem interested.  My friend and fellow classmate, Leigh, and I used to joke during class not to look directly in his eyes cus you wouldn't be able to pay attention to a thing he was saying! Being a moral teacher, he paid me no special attention and I earned that "C" fair and square.

Once the semester was over, we continued to talk just about every week. I was dropping hints like crazy to let him know I liked him, but it took about a year for him to take a hint! Finally we set a time to hang out, and my best friend Erin and I went out to Flying Saucer to meet Stephen and some of his friends. Afterwards, my last lame attempt, "Hey, you wanna watch Season 1 of Lost together?" (..yea, don't laugh) it WORKED and we watched every single episode together. On St. Patrick's Day 2010, we had our first real date.

Since last Christmas, Stephen and I have kind of joked and flirted with the idea of getting engaged. One night during the summer, he mentioned that we should get a blender to make milkshakes. I told him, "Ya know...people put blenders on wedding registries..." Taking the hint, he never bought us a blender, not even a cheap one. We've joked about the blender since the summer and talk all the time about how much we wished we had a blender but instead, we've just made our milkshakes with a spoon!

This morning, Stephen woke me up with a peanut butter and banana milkshake. I looked inside the glass and thought, "This looks rather emulsified."  I squinted my eyes and asked him, "How did you make this? ..not with a spoon.." And he said he'd bought a blender!!!!!! Then he got down on one knee and asked me if I would marry him!

I have no idea why my hand looks red here!

It was absolutely perfect. Being the morning, I didn't have my contacts in and couldn't see a darn thing! I could see a blurry box with a blurry shiny object in it and said YES! I'd hoped and wanted to be Stephen's girlfriend for so long... and our relationship has been more than I could have ever asked for. We've built a happy home full of love together, and have become part of each other's families in the 2 years we've been dating. Good things come to those who wait.....and I have been waiting my whole life for Stephen.

I love him more than myself.