We're getting married!

We met online. Simple as that, haha. It started on a little site called Plenty of Fish (POF), which surprisingly still exists! We spent plenty of time getting to know each other, but as the months passed, I started to get annoyed and was losing my patience with Jonathan. We still hadn't met in person and he seemed to be dragging things along (ugh!). For those that know me well, you know patience is not a virtue of mine. He must have sensed this, because literally as I sat in my hairstylist's chair venting my dating frustrations to her, he texted me and finally decided to ask me out. And of course, I accepted.

It was on a Sunday the week before Halloween and he was 15 MINUTES LATE. Is that a surprise to anyone??? (Some things never change!) We went to dinner at Benihana's in La Puente, and although I was nervous, we quickly became comfortable with each other. After dinner, Jonathan took me on a "tour" of La Puente (who "tours" La Puente anyway?). This was of course, was just a ploy so that the date would not end too quickly. We clicked and talked endlessly about everything as we drove around town. I knew this guy was pretty special when "Love me like a love song" by Selena Gomez started playing on his playlist. For some reason, that got me.

I'll tell you now it wasn't a surprise. Jonathan is too much of a worrier for that. Besides, we had been living together for years now and its difficult to keep things a surprise. We had talked about it and already selected the engagement ring. We decided to take a trip to Napa Valley wine country because I've never been and because...wine. We planned a visit and it was an unspoken understanding that he would take the opportunity to propose then. He showed me the grand Castello di Amorosa ("Castle of Love") and I knew then this was the place he wanted to do it. The day of our tour of the Castle, we both awoke feeling both nervous and excited. We were running late (as always!) but when we arrived, we met with our tour guide. She told us that the others in our group were running late, but if we wanted to start we could. My naive-self thought that it was weird (shouldn't we wait?) but I went along with it. She led us up one the towers and he trailed behind me as I walked up the stairs. At the landing, that's when I saw it. There were rose petals that led toward a tall table with a bottle of sparkling wine, chocolates and more flowers. I was immediately met with a photographer ready to capture the moment. I was so nervous and couldn't stop smiling. He stood looking at me and took a breath. He laid down a small towel (lol, what?) and bended the knee to propose. I must admit I don't remember a word. I was too nervous. All I recall was Jonathan urging me to say yes, rather than just nod "yes." Needless to say, I said, "YES!"