Engagement

Woot! It's official!

Snoqualmie Falls

How it started:
When I departed for Africa in August, AB gave me ten envelopes. I was allowed to open one for each week I was in Africa until we see each other again in October.  Each envelop contained a written letter, one or two physical letters, and one or two photographs.  I soon found out the letters were each about some aspect that he liked about me (blush).

 

 

When it came to be the last week, he told me to hold off opening the letter, and bring it with me to Seattle where we were going to celebrate a friend's wedding.


Seattle:
In Seattle, we had decided to go visit a famous Seattle waterfall during the day and then have a nice dinner at night.  But unfortunately, it looked like it was going to rain, so we decided to change it to Wednesday.  On Wednesday, we had planned to go early in the morning, but we both slept in late, and then I took a long time looking for the item I was going to mail KP for her Nov bday.  To top it off, there was traffic, so we didn't get to Snoqualmie Falls until almost midday.  It was very different from what I had remembered from childhood. It used to be simply a trail down to the waterfall, but now part of it was paved with plaques about the hydroelectric power plant that was underneath the waterfall. It was fascinating, so I read every single plaque - including ones about different conifer trees.  But Alan appeared distracted and didn't seem to have any interested. I even said, "you're not paying attention at all are you?" and he simply replied, "Nope!"

Lower Snoqualmie Falls

Unbeknownst to me, AB had arranged KP to be there that morning to help take pictures. She had just arrived by plane that morning for a business trip, and was hoping to get to work by noon, but I was taking my time moseying about and looking at every single plaque.  She was supposed to have gotten there to take the after pictures, but now she was in time for the actual proposal. AB didn't get a chance to scope out the place prior, so while I was enjoying myself, he was busy trying to figure out what's a good place to propose and not take up too much of KP's time. KP did find a nice place behind a rock to hide, when AB suggested that place for me to read my last letter, I dismissed it as being too crowded.  So then the chase began with AB and I walking around, and KP surreptitiously following behind us.  At one point, we had gotten to the end of boardwalk at a scenic viewpoint of the waterfall, and KP and AB were hoping that was the final spot, but once again, I found it too crowded so we started walking back.  KP quickly texted AB that she was right in front of us, but he didn't see the text, and she quickly turned and tried to walk in a different manner so that I wouldn't recognize her.  I was busy reading the plaques, so I didn't notice anything. I also noticed Alan texting quite a bit. He gave the excuse that he was trying to figure out when to meet up with his friend Sharon.

Snoqualmie Falls River Front

We finally walked down a path to the river-side, and settled behind a big rock, hoping it was more secluded.  I read the letter, and AB proceeded to give a small speech summarizing the letters.  He then paused and looked around, so I looked around as well, but he kept on putting his hand on my head to keep me from turning my head.  He explained he had asked someone to be a photographer, but didn't want me to see him...or her.  Then AB got on a knee and pulled out a box.  At that point I was still sitting down, so I was looking up at him, and decided I needed to stand up, but took some time to fumble with the letter to keep it from blowing away.  Finally I stood up, AB pulled out a glimmering ring, and that was it!

So shiny...

Video of engagement taken by bucket list girl (with full commentary, unfortunately it's sideways).

AB then pointed out the photographer, and to my surprise, it was KP! She was so sneaky, had even talked an hour with us on the phone the other day and didn't mention anything about coming to Seattle.  Thankfully the weather was bad on Monday so she was able to be there for the proposal.  KP said, "Congratulations!" and then a stranger popped out from the trees next to her and also said congrats.  At that point, KP yelled, "Complete stranger!"  Apparently it had always been on the complete stranger's bucket list to see a proposal, so she had followed KP around.  The bucket list girl had first surprised KP when she was hiding behind a rock and thought she was taking a bathroom break. KP quickly corrected her, and she continued to follow KP around.

Thanks for the beautiful flowers KP and MZ!

We took some more pictures next to the waterfall, now without my silly backpack, and said our good byes to KP who had now had her work out for the day.  We went to Din Tai Fung for lunch, which had some yummy xiao long bao, sao mai, and spicy beef noodle soup.

For dinner, AB took us to a fancy fusion restaurant in Woodinville called the Barking Frog where we had the most fascinating combination of foods:

Palate cleanser: some combo of nuts, carrots, veggie, sour cream

Appetizer (enough for meal for 2!): penn cove mussels- coconut-curry broth/coteghino (sausage)/bok choy/grilled naan

Scallops: squid ink fettucine (so it's black)/ikura (salmon roe)/chinese broccoli/bok choy/carrots/kaffir lime-ginger broth

Seared duck breast: duck confit/chard/sweet potato pie/cherry compote/cacao-brandy cream sauce

All in all, a great day! :D