She Said:What started out as a normal day, soon became the best day of my life so far. It was the Friday before Christmas, and I had taken it off work. As I was cleaning my room, Joe called to see if I wanted to get lunch. He said he was taking the day off early. I was excited because this means we were able to hang out during a week day, which doesn’t happen too often (except for holidays like this). Of course I wanted to go to lunch! So, Joe picked me up at my house and we headed out. “I was thinking we eat at somewhere that starts with a W.”
Hmm, let’s see, well we’ve never had it but, “Wahoo’s Fish Tacos?” I answered.
“No, Woodstocks!” Said Joe. Oh! I didn’t even think of that because that’s in San Diego. Yes, that sounded good, but he wasn’t serious.
“Okay, but you are still in your suit from work. Don’t you want to change first? You are not serious!”
“Yes, I am! I don’t need to change, we are just going down there for lunch and then coming back.”
Hmm, I thought, true he really doesn’t need to change clothes if we just go for
lunch. But for those who know Joe as well as I do know that he is not the most spontaneous guy, so I still wasn’t sure he was serious. He has lately surprised me by being more adventurous, but still… So I did what any girl in my situation would do, I called his bluff! “Alright, let’s go!” Not thinking he’d really go.
Well Joe proved me wrong and drove to the 57 freeway. So we were on our way to San Diego to our favorite pizza place, Woodstocks. The drive down was beautiful and filled with good conversation. At Woodstocks we ordered our favorite pizza, jalapeno and mushroom, and a giant beer. YUM! We sat in OUR booth that we always sit in. Feeling nostalgic and romantic I was thinking it was about time to finally carve our initials into the wooden seat (everyone does) at our booth. So I ask Joe to borrow his knife, and to answer your question: yes, Joe does carry a knife even when wearing a full suit! I began to carve “Ally + Joe.” Then Joe says, “Put the date too.” I didn’t think anything of it at the time, so I did. Little did I know he mentioned having the date carved as a marker for the day he proposed to me… so romantic and yet so sneaky!
After a fabulous lunch, Joe asked what I wanted to do, because “we are going to hit traffic if we leave right now.” I didn’t know what to do. Usually I’d suggest hanging-out at the beach, however Joe was in his work suit so that idea was out. I was up for anything. Joe slyly suggested we take a walk around our alma mater, San Diego State. This is not such an off-the-wall suggestion either, because we have done that numerous times. So I thought it was a great idea.
We pull up to the Zura parking lot, a familiar parking structure for both of us. We park, cross the street, and start heading toward the campus. Joe says to me, “Let’s go by the dorms first.” I was totally for it. So we arrive in the front of Zura Hall Dormitory. Joe suggested we go inside and try to go to the fourth floor (where we lived), but the dorms were closed for Christmas break so we weren’t able to. He says to me, “Ahh, Mija, this is where we first met.”
I was thinking to myself, gosh, he’s being awfully romantic! But I was loving it and going with the flow. I said, “Ahh, I know.”
Joe says, “Give me a hug.” So we hugged and kissed. Yes, very romantic indeed. Let’s just say, Joe knew how to set the mood alright. As we hugged again, he says, “There’s something I want to ask you.”
Okay here’s the internal conversation I had with myself at that that moment: “Ask me? What is he talking about? Oh my gosh. No. No, I think he might propose to me right now. No. No, Allyson it’s probably not what is happening and you are going to get real mad if it turns out to be nothing and you built up your hopes.” Meanwhile, my heart had instantly dropped to my stomach, regardless if I was sure or not that this was a proposal. So I cautiously answered, “Yes?”
Immediately Joe drops on one knee. WOOOSH! My mind is pretty much a blank sort-of fuzz after that. I can’t even tell you what words he said to me because a wall of emotion hit me like a ton of bricks. It was unlike anything I have ever felt before in my life. Pure, raw emotion filled me up. I started crying, I know that much. Joe said I answered, “Of course! Of course!” We just stood there hugging for awhile, meantime I was trying to catch my breath. I started to feel dizzy, and asked to sit down on a familiar bench near us. We sat down and I was still crying. Tears of joy – of course! I was giddy too, I was giggling randomly. I just couldn’t believe it. I think it was just so many different emotions at once: joy, shocked, amazed, love, etc. It is really hard to describe it in words, but I am happy that I got to feel this way at least once in my life. I think everyone should be able to feel it. Like one of Joe’s famous sayings, “If I could bottle that feeling and sell it, I’d be a millionaire.” Yup, this is one of those feelings!
We sat for a little while, finally Joe says, “Don’t you want to see the ring?” UMMMMMM, let me think – YES, of course!!!! It was nothing short of breathtaking. It is the most beautiful ring ever! He did such a great job picking it out!!!! Just amazing. I put it on IMMEDIATELY! Haha!
We decided to go to a local bar to have a couple of celebratory drinks. Meanwhile we text messaged our friends and called our parents to tell them the good news! I also got a chance to place all the pieces of the puzzle together; why Joe couldn’t sleep the past couple of nights, why he was doing so much work after hours, and why my mom went out to dinner without my sister, niece and nephew (I just thought she was majorly stressed out of her gourd!). His story of his adventure of buying the ring with his mom and Kelly making him take a picture with the salesman was my favorite! Haha!
We were emotionally drained. We arrived to Joe’s house and were pleasantly surprised to find the floor covered in rose petals, champagne on ice, two glasses near, wedding magazines, wood in the fire place, and a congratulations card. His roommates, Jodie and Brandon, had set this up for us! We were stunned! It’s funny, because before we knew it was Jodie and Brandon’s doing, I said, “Did you do this?” and Joe replied, “I wish I thought of this!” HAHA, so funny indeed. Anyways, it was so nice of them and deeply appreciated. A wonderful ending to the most perfect day of my life, thus far!
He Said:For those of you who have heard this, sorry but it must be told again in print form so it may be saved for generations to come. First of all I think I should get a medal for being able to keep this a secret from just about everyone. Even Allyson. If you know me, keeping secrets is not one of my stronger points.
This story actually begins a few days before the proposal. I went to my parent's house for dinner on December 17th. This was nothing out of the ordinary as I am fortunate enough to live close to my parents so we have dinner together often. This evening however quickly changed from a casual dinner into much more. I am not sure who started the conversation of Ally and me and our plans for the future, I have a feeling it was my mother since she just loves to pry information out of me, but we ended up talking about marriage. When I told my parents that I was going to marry Allyson, my mom said "that means you love her… and I love your father" and then she started to cry. Once my mom pulled it together, rings were the new topic of conversation. Truth be told, I had planned to go ring shopping with a buddy of mine, but for one reason or another I had flaked on him 3 weeks in a row (cold feet maybe). I told my mom that I needed some help ring shopping because I had no clue what I was doing. Well the next day I found myself over at the jewelers that my mom has been going to for 15 years. After spending about 10 minutes in the shop I saw the perfect ring. I knew it was perfect because Allyson had showed me 3 dozen pictures of what types of rings she likes. She is a master of subtle hints. After I purchased the ring, things were becoming official! I was going to get engaged!!! It's funny, I think my mother was more excited than I was. My hands were only shaking a little.
The jeweler had to set the diamond so I had to go back and pick up the ring later in the day. This was something I was planning on doing on my own… or so I thought. When I was half way there my mom called me. When she found out that I was picking up the ring she said to wait for her to meet me there. Little did I know that she and Kelly would come racing into the parking lot with a camera and a video camera to take pictures of me picking up the ring? Crazy ladies. I got shoved back into the store so they could get picture of me picking up the ring. Well now that I had THE ring, the next question was how, where, and when, was I going to propose.
It would be an understatement to say I didn't sleep much between getting the ring and the actual proposal. I think I was getting like 3 hours a night.
The how,
Being a traditionalist, at least in my own mind, I wanted to ask Allyson's parents before I proposed. That was problem number 1, number 2, I had no idea of how I was going to do it.
The where,
After wrestling with many, many ideas I decided that San Diego was the perfect location, more specifically in front of Zura Hall at San Diego State University where Allyson and I first met. San Diego is a city that will always be close to my heart. Ally and I spent some of the best years of our lives there. Although we weren't in a relationship together we were great friends and roommates. We have so many fond memories there; it really was the perfect location.
Now I knew where I wanted to propose but I had a much bigger problem… asking the parents! Talk about freaking out! Asking Allyson would be easy… asking her dad… not so much.
I struggled with this one for days. Finally after about 10 calls to my mom, I got up the nerve to call Becky and ask to meet her and Mike for dinner. Thursday night December 20th was going to be D-Day. I meet up with Becky and Mike (mom and dad) at 9:00 pm at Acapulco off the 60 freeway. I got there about an hour before I needed to, a bit excessive I know but tend to get lost and I didn't want to screw up such an important meeting. I went in at the appropriate time and met Becky who was already there. Thankfully Mike was right behind me. We all exchanged pleasantries and then the waiter seated us. I was so nervous! I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the two of them pick up menus and start looking at them as if the 3 of us go out to dinner every Thursday at 9:00pm without Allyson. The waiter took the drink order and I just couldn't take it any more. I had to address the elephant in the room. I asked them right then and there. I don't remember the exact wording but I am confident it was good. Becky said yes right away but Mike had a few more questions for me. Once he made sure that we were all on the same page, his blessing was quick to follow. Becky and Mike asked me when I was going to ask Allyson, I was planning on asking her on Saturday.
That night when I got home I slept the sleep of a 100 men. It was the first time since I had gotten the ring that I didn't toss and turn all night!
After a full nights sleep I woke up feeling on top of the world. I had gotten a ring, I had decided on where to propose, I had asked her parents for their blessing… there was just one little thing… I had to figure out how to get Allyson down to San Diego, easier said than done. I could just see us getting in a fight on Saturday because she had made plans to go to Sarah's house and I would be adamant about going to San Diego. I was quickly realizing that Saturday was out. Friday was going to be the magic day. I knew I was going to have to come up with a reason to go to San Diego, this way she wouldn't think it was weird that I was insisting on going. I wanted this to be a total surprise. With much forethought, I figured a little misinformation would help my cause immensely. Earlier in the week I had mentioned to Allyson that I was craving a pizza from our favorite pizza place by SDSU. This had to be a well calculated move. I had planted the proverbial seed. The next step was to water it. Over the next few days I mentioned wanting pizza again and again but always careful never to make it a big deal. On Friday I got off work at 1:00 and told Ally I would pick her up for lunch. When I picked her up, we headed straight for San Diego. She wasn't totally sure that we were actually going to San Diego until I got on the 5 freeway. But because of my strategic planning she suspected nothing other than great food from Woodstocks pizza. He he he he.
After hitting a bit of traffic on the way down we finally got to Woodstocks! Ally and I ordered our favorite pizza jalapeño and mushroom and 2 monster sized Bud lights. The pizza was amazing, the beer was cold and the conversation was a delight. It was perfect. And to top it off I wasn't nervous. Allyson even carved our name and date in the wood of the booth we were sitting in. I am not a fan of vandalism and would under normal circumstances be 100% against it, but the booths in this restaurant are covered with hundreds and hundreds of people's names that have been carved in over the years. After we got done eating I suggested we go to SDSU to walk around as we often do when we are in San Diego.
This time I made sure to park in the parking lot that was closest to the dormitory Zura Hall. Now came the hard part, I had to get this giant ring box out of my car and into my pants pocket with out Allyson seeing. I faked like I forgot something in the car and quickly shoved the box in my pocket. As we were walking toward campus I said "Let's stop at Zura Hall". So we walked over to the front of the building and stopped. I began to tell her how glad I was that we went to school together and how lucky I was that we ended up in the same dormitory. Then I said "Allyson I love you and I want to ask you something". I got out the ring and dropped to one knee. I looked up at her and asked "Will you marry me"? She practically ripped my arms off picking me up squeezed the air out of me with a giant hug. She said she felt a bit dizzy so we sat on a bench outside of Zura Hall and just hugged. After about 2 minutes I asked her if she would like to see the ring. Up until this point she hadn't even glanced at it. Of course she loved it!!! She practically picked it out. We were getting cold so we decided to go to one of our old hang outs, Effin's pub. We had a beer and started calling people and telling them the good news. After being at the pub a while and hanging out with an old friend that met up with us we decided to go home.
We got home physically and emotionally tired from the days events. We walked in and saw that my roommates had left the kitchen light on for us and much more. Jodie and Brandon had gone to Las Vegas for the weekend. I looked toward the living room and noticed rose petals all over the floor leading to the fireplace. The fireplace had been stacked with wood and a note that said "ready to light". Next to the fireplace was a card congratulating us on our engagement, 2 bridal magazines, a bucket of ice with a bottle of champagne in it and 2 champagne flutes. The living room was covered in candles that were ready to light. It was perfect. We lit the candles and the fire, turned out the lights and opened the champagne. The rest of the night was spent fireside sipping champagne, talking and laughing.
My mom showing off my new nephew to family members.
A table with family members.
"Toliet Paper Bride"
Thanks to Cara and Amber for your help!! 
