Ok, I now have a great reason to update the blog (since it's been over a month!!!!!!)
Andrew and I are engaged!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It happened last Friday, February 27, 2009! I was so surprised, and he did a PERFECT job with the proposal...which I'll get into a little later. First, I need to share another little funny story that some people know. I had been working on Thursday (the 26th) in the hospital. Andrew and I had seriously talked about marriage, but I had no idea that we'd get engaged so fast. Andrew still hadn't talked to my dad (or so I thought), and he'd just started asking me about what I liked in rings. So, on this long 12 hour Thursday, I went down to the gift shop to buy a Bridal magazine. A nurse looked over and asked, "Are you getting married???" I told her that I was sometime before the end of the month. She said, "Well, honey...the end of the month is in two days!!" I laughed and just reassured her that I would NOT be getting engaged that fast and that I had meant by the end of March!
So...fast forward to Friday. Andrew and I both had busy weeks. I knew that I would be exhausted by Friday, so we had just planned to go out to eat, then come back to my apartment to watch "The Holiday." Andrew had wanted to go pretty early, and I'd joked with my friends that morning that we were going with the senior citizens that day. During dinner, Andrew was totally normal....not nervous or jittery at all. He did eat almost an entire blooming onion and the loaf of bread, which made him unable to eat his meal--but that's normal too! So, we drove back downtown to my apartment. When we came in the door, I was already thinking about the comfy clothes I would change into for the movie. As I walked around the corner and looked into the "living area," I saw a vase of star gazer lilies sitting on the coffee table. (disclaimer: Andrew knows that I like flowers at random times other than predictable occasions) I was so happy to see them and said, “Aww!!!!!!!!!” Andrew said, “Yeah…I got you a little something!” I walked over to the coffee table and saw a Bible sitting on the corner of the table. On top of the Bible was a white note card. On the bottom of the Bible was my name. But wait…something was different. It didn’t say “Meagan Brown”…it said “Meagan Winburn.” At this point, I knew something was up, so I sat down on the couch immediately. I asked Andrew if I could open the note on the top and he said yes. When I opened up the card, I saw “Will you marry me?” The ring was tied to the ribbon bookmark from the Bible. I looked over at Andrew, who was down on his knee at this point. He asked me to marry him, and I said yes!!!!!!!!!! After what seemed like 5 minutes of us hugging on the floor, I said, “I want to see the ring!!!!!!!” He put the ring on my shaking finger.
I immediately called Mom four times in a row, but got no answer. Andrew told me that she knew it was happening, but that she and Dad were out to eat. He assured me that we’d drive to Greenwood later so that I could see them. As Andrew and I sat on the couch waiting for Mom to call back, he told me how the whole proposal was planned. He had Sara Lynn (his youngest sister) come downtown with him when he came to pick me up. She hid behind my apartment with everything in a box. When we drove away, she and Gavin set everything up in the apartment. Andrew told me that he’d sat down with Dad earlier in the week to talk with him about asking me to marry him. I was so overwhelmed with how much preparation went into the entire proposal! At that time I heard a knock on the door. When I went to the door, Mom, Dad, Andrew’s parents, Gavin and Sara Lynn were there! They’d been eating at California Dreaming while Andrew was asking me to marry him. So…Andrew made it possible for us to share that night with our families. It was perfect! After being with our families for a little bit, Andrew and I went to surprise Philip and Emily Ann (his sister and brother in law who started this whole thing!) Emily Ann screamed and cried...it was great!!!!!!!!! Andrew also surprised me with MORE flowers waiting in my room when I got home that night. I couldn't have imagined a better proposal and it was the most special day of my life... so far!!!
Sorry that this post was so long...and it probably has tons of errors. I've just had people begging me to update the blog. So, here it is.
Oh yes, one last very important thing. We are getting married on Saturday, August 22, 2009 at First Baptist Church in Columbia!!!!!!!!!!! Yay for finally having a wedding date!!!!!!!!!
The Browns
Sara Lynn (so gorgeous!) , me, and Andrew
The Winburns (minus Jay, Lara Beth, Ellie, Molly, Emily Ann, Philip, and Manning!)
Check out Andrew's super 80s shoelaces. Yes, those are my "cool" velcro shoes. Apparently, I didn't look old enough to get big girl shoes.
"And that is how it's done...." (So humble!)
I wondered why my legs were sore from bowling until I saw this picture
I was a little competitive...
