Joe was pretty basic with his proposal idea--to be honest most promposals are more elaborate..(no sarcasm whatsoever) What we learned after-the-fact is that no one actually travels with the ring, HA, who would actually travel with such an expensive dowry?? US...well, Joe (to be fair I would as well). Naturally Joe’s bag was aggressively searched as if he were a terrorist and the TSA employee announced multiple times that he “HAD A RING IN HIS BAG AND IT WASN’T THE ISSUE". Luckily Joe had TSA precheck and mine was not cleared yet, so I was stuck in another line, with all of the commoners (as I remember it, Joe was teasing me for having to wait in line while he had TSA precheck-joke was on HIM later). So back to the proposal. Let's begin with our first full day in Spain.. Once upon a time..we had just landed in Spain and we were super stoked to hit the bars in Madrid with a game plan to get AS MANY free tapas as possible. (At a majority of bars in Madrid you receive free tapas with every drink you order) CHALLENGE ACCEPTED. The first night in Madrid was nothing short of amazing and also extremely filling. What no one cared to mention is that you typically need to stay for more than one drink at each bar in order to receive “decent” tapas. So, since we speak minimal Spanish (beer, wine, bathroom- you know- the essentials) we had no idea, and basically every tapas we received and scarfed down was egg based (gagging while reminiscing). Fast forward to the following morning when we planned on driving from Madrid up to the quaint town of Olite, and more importantly the day Joe planned to pop the question. DISCLAIMER- GRAPHIC CONTENT! Not more than 5 minutes into the drive the egg based tapas hit me like a legitimate wrecking ball and I reached for a bag anddd, you guessed it- YACKED. This essentially set the stage for the early afternoon, and our search for something to settle my stomach.

Just a fair warning if you ever plan to travel to Spain-everything essentially shuts down on Sundays. After stumbling upon a Running of the Bulls festival we finally came across a bodega open, and the only medicine the owner could offer was something called, “EL TIGRE GASEOSA” (google it--the front has a picture with a Tiger and it seems extremely aggressive). Joe would not let me take El Tigre, which at the time irritated me. In hindsight he was merely worried he would have to drive me to the hospital due to the Spanish warning labels on the box that we couldn’t understand instead of Olite where he had an entire magical night planned. Fast forward to Olite when we finally arrived. It is the most BEAUTIFUL CITY EVER WITH THE NICEST HUMANS! When we arrived at the Palace of the Kings of Navarre of Olite (aka the Castle) we were pointed to follow Itsiara (aka Itsy), who apparently was the only one that spoke English at the castle. She provided us with a map and told us that the castle closed in an hour. Looking back I should have been more suspicious that Joe seemed to know where every tower, tapestry, courtyard and basically brick was located in the castle (but to me it just seemed like typical Joe). After an hour we had climbed up and down what felt like one billion steps and we were both extremely hot and ridiculously dehydrated (we had only consumed beer and wine up to this point--and can’t forget those egg tapas). At one point I looked over and caught Joe doing lunges so naturally I joined him. So there we were, doing lunges through the castle...no big deal (we looked moronic)...Joe later divulged that he was merely lunging because he wasn’t sure he would be able to get down on one knee to propose and then get back up (HA!).

It was now 8PM, the castle was closing, and Itsy found us to let us know she could take one last photo of us before the castle closed. As we posed for the picture Joe got down to “practice one more lunge,” and then I blacked out. I wish I knew what Joe said, but I actually literally blacked out from shock. Actually all I remember him saying was something like, “This ring better fit or I am going to have to break your finger.” Naturally it was the most EPIC, ROMANTIC, GLORIOUS MOMENT! Itsy then brought us a bottle of wine, and was our personal photographer throughout the castle for the next hour. We have never felt more hospitality and kindness from strangers than from those in Olite. From one hilarious mishap to the next, August 26th turned into the best day ever!

OHMYGOD MY BAG IS GETTING SEARCHED. OHMYGOD KELLY IS VOMITING. OHMYGOD KELLY WANTS TO TAKE EL TIGRE. OHMYGOD I’M CRAMPING I NEED TO PRACTICE GETTING DOWN ON ONE KNEE. OHMYGOD WE'RE NOW LUNGING THROUGH THE CASTLE TOGETHER--SHE DEFINITELY KNOWS. OHMYGOD THE RING MIGHT NOT FIT. OHMYGOD I’M BREAKING HER FINGER. OHMYGOD SHE SAID YES.