Last week Dan told me were going out for dinner this past Thursday night. He refused to tell me where we were going or anything about it other than dinner is at 8 and I need to be ready by 7:15. I don't really do well with surprises, unless I don't know about them....if that makes any sense. So I kept trying to get more information out of him. I found out we could either take the el or drive there so I figured it must be in the city because 45 minutes wouldn't give us enough time to get to Evanston or Oak Park for dinner on the train. I also found out there was a dress code-only nice jeans and no gym shoes, that sort of thing.
Just to be prepared, I had to get my nails done on Wednesday night so I got my first ever no-chip manicure. I was pretty sure the big day was going to be sometime over the weekend and I needed to be prepared, obviously (my mom taught me well!)
By Thursday afternoon I had a pretty good guess of where we were going. Dan said he hadn't been there before and it wasn't a recommendation from someone else. I deduced it must be a pretty well known, dressy, place. I had picked out my outfit the night before, had just enough time (now that I'm working 7:30-4:30....) to go to muscle max and get ready by my 7:15 deadline. I was, astonishingly, only 2 minutes late. And I told Dan I would have been on time if he hadn't made me change the laundry. So I'm putting my coat on by the door, and see Dan tying his shoe. I kinda looked at him funny because every time he jokes about proposing to me he says he's going to be pretending to tie his shoe and just pull out a ring box. And that's pretty much what happened. "While I'm down here I may as well kill 2 birds with one stone, right?" After a little more chitchat and him convincing me I actually needed to walk down the hall so I wasn't just staring at him from the doorway, he said those magic words that I've been waiting to hear for, well, about 2,371 days "Sarah Breckinridge Wallace, will you marry me?". And he opened up the box of the EXACT ring I've been sending him links of for about the past year. Better yet, he caught it all on camera :)
I had this master plan of how/when I was going to tell everyone about our engagement, which of course didn't get followed. Somebody was too excited and got texts all through dinner asking him how it went. I didn't let him reply, so officially our waitress at the Signature Room (exactly where I thought we were going-Dan was kind of disappointed I guessed but I said its just proof of how well I know him) was the first person I told we were engaged....but I called my mom after dinner and my dad after that who was in the car with Danny and Erica and my grand plan generally went downhill from there.
So, now that everyone I need to tell by phone call, text, or in person (minus work...working from home on Friday got me out of that situation until Tuesday!) is complete-you, my wonderful and dedicated blog readers are next on the list! Facebook status will be changed shortly-the last step!
Sunday, May 26, 2013
Friday, May 17, 2013
Surviving a Long Weekend Alone
A few days ago my friend Kelsey texted me asking for long-distance relationship advice. I think its probably hard to give advice that works for everyone, but I let her know what worked for Dan and me.
"Keep busy, stay in contact daily even if its just texts but don't make a set time commitment like you have to facetime at 9am every night for an hour or you'll feel trapped, at the same time have something you can count on like Dan and I always sent each other the same text every night before we went to sleep". (Can you tell I was rushing to get to a meeting as I wrote that? Total run on sentence)
Kelsey said it was the best advise she's heard so far, which is good because after 5 years I should be something of an expert :) It also helped that Dan and I reused some of those long-distance skills more recently when he took a trip to North Dakota for 5 days to visit friends still up in the tundra.
For me, keeping busy was key in college and still is. Thursday evening I did my mother's day shopping and went out to a UofR dinner. Just like at college, had to invite a friend since my "guest" was 600+ miles away. Thanks to Dan L for joining me for that event for the second year in a row! Friday I spent time with my friend Elizabeth who predates Dan by about 12 years. We participated in a club crawl which was a lot of fun, minus someone picking up her coat my mistake but that's all fixed now. That's definitely an event Dan wouldn't have wanted to go to had he been around, so it worked out okay. Plus with Friday night soccer starting again, I'm always left to fend for myself on Fridays. I spent Saturday at a church retreat which I regretted signing up for by the end of a busy week but I'm so glad I went! It was nice to have some time for reflection and I met some new people who I look forward to spending more time with at young adult Catholic events. Then came Mother's Day-my favorite day of the year (not) ! After spending last mother's day in North Dakota for Dan's graduation, the one before at my graduation, and the previous two working, it was nice to have some Wallace family bonding time. Let me tell you, I make an awesome asparagus goat cheese frittata even if it takes a couple hours....
Honestly by the time that whirlwind of a weekend was over, I didn't have a lot of time to miss Dan with few exceptions. I had to clean Piper's litter box for the first time so that was a new adventure-even used the vacuum to clean up her mess, not sure I've actually used our vacuum before. But, I am happy to say that both Piper and our two plants survived 5 days with just me. Piper may have gone about 16 hours between feedings once, and I accidentally flooded the plant which led to water spilling all over the bookcase, but those are minor details. It was also a shock to realize that throwing my tupperware in the sink after work didn't result in them magically moving to the dishwasher, and if I wanted laundry done I had to do it myself. Since our heat turned off May 1st, it was a little chilly at night without someone to cuddle with....but there was also no one to shut the blinds or windows when I wanted them open during the day. Dan, you'll be happy to know that I did not revert to leaving the lid on the toilet up, you've trained me well.
I did find us falling into old habits during our time apart. Dan's teddy bear was his co-pilot on the drive, and mine snuggled with me at night. We resumed our before-bed text but didn't stay committed to any other communication. Although I didn't want to interrupt his time with friends, I was a little disappointed to not get a phone call the whole weekend. I don't really remember calling him on my trip to Richmond though, so maybe I just got what was coming :)
Anyways, I was proud of myself for remembering how to live alone, haha, even if it wasn't super fun the whole time. To make up for it, we've got a busy weekend doing our spring cleaning this weekend and lots of social activities together next weekend! So excited that Dan's done working Saturday's for a few months!
"Keep busy, stay in contact daily even if its just texts but don't make a set time commitment like you have to facetime at 9am every night for an hour or you'll feel trapped, at the same time have something you can count on like Dan and I always sent each other the same text every night before we went to sleep". (Can you tell I was rushing to get to a meeting as I wrote that? Total run on sentence)
Kelsey said it was the best advise she's heard so far, which is good because after 5 years I should be something of an expert :) It also helped that Dan and I reused some of those long-distance skills more recently when he took a trip to North Dakota for 5 days to visit friends still up in the tundra.
For me, keeping busy was key in college and still is. Thursday evening I did my mother's day shopping and went out to a UofR dinner. Just like at college, had to invite a friend since my "guest" was 600+ miles away. Thanks to Dan L for joining me for that event for the second year in a row! Friday I spent time with my friend Elizabeth who predates Dan by about 12 years. We participated in a club crawl which was a lot of fun, minus someone picking up her coat my mistake but that's all fixed now. That's definitely an event Dan wouldn't have wanted to go to had he been around, so it worked out okay. Plus with Friday night soccer starting again, I'm always left to fend for myself on Fridays. I spent Saturday at a church retreat which I regretted signing up for by the end of a busy week but I'm so glad I went! It was nice to have some time for reflection and I met some new people who I look forward to spending more time with at young adult Catholic events. Then came Mother's Day-my favorite day of the year (not) ! After spending last mother's day in North Dakota for Dan's graduation, the one before at my graduation, and the previous two working, it was nice to have some Wallace family bonding time. Let me tell you, I make an awesome asparagus goat cheese frittata even if it takes a couple hours....
Honestly by the time that whirlwind of a weekend was over, I didn't have a lot of time to miss Dan with few exceptions. I had to clean Piper's litter box for the first time so that was a new adventure-even used the vacuum to clean up her mess, not sure I've actually used our vacuum before. But, I am happy to say that both Piper and our two plants survived 5 days with just me. Piper may have gone about 16 hours between feedings once, and I accidentally flooded the plant which led to water spilling all over the bookcase, but those are minor details. It was also a shock to realize that throwing my tupperware in the sink after work didn't result in them magically moving to the dishwasher, and if I wanted laundry done I had to do it myself. Since our heat turned off May 1st, it was a little chilly at night without someone to cuddle with....but there was also no one to shut the blinds or windows when I wanted them open during the day. Dan, you'll be happy to know that I did not revert to leaving the lid on the toilet up, you've trained me well.
I did find us falling into old habits during our time apart. Dan's teddy bear was his co-pilot on the drive, and mine snuggled with me at night. We resumed our before-bed text but didn't stay committed to any other communication. Although I didn't want to interrupt his time with friends, I was a little disappointed to not get a phone call the whole weekend. I don't really remember calling him on my trip to Richmond though, so maybe I just got what was coming :)
Anyways, I was proud of myself for remembering how to live alone, haha, even if it wasn't super fun the whole time. To make up for it, we've got a busy weekend doing our spring cleaning this weekend and lots of social activities together next weekend! So excited that Dan's done working Saturday's for a few months!
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