"I told Joey that he couldn't propose to me till after I graduated from college. By the time I finished - we'd been dating for 7 years! Needless to say I was kinda expecting it. However we had some other things on our mind last May that required some attention. We'd just bought a house in March so we were still getting adjusted to our new diggs and new house kitties, Pasta & Arthur. About a week after we closed on the house Joey called me to tell me he had just gotten laid off. I remember getting so upset at work but he told me it would be fine (and he was right). About an hour after he called me, the company he had previously worked for called. His current boss had called them to let them know they had let him go and he was immediatly scooped up by his old employer! They offered him the job and he said yes (he still asked for some time off...always the planner). So after about a month - Joey went back to work in April.

Well, of course, we had to celebrate! So Joey and I planned a fancy dinner for one weekend in May. We got to the place a little early so we stopped and had some Starbucks then ran over to a favorite buckhead park where we used to visit on nice evenings when we were first dating. I had a suspition at that point but we just got back in the car and went to the restaurant. The restaurant he took me to the Blue Ridge Grill (where we had had our first nice dinner date). I got excited during the meal but he still didn't propose! At that point we were going to go home and then continue onto a party with some friends.

When we got home he surprised me with a scarf he told me to tie over my eyes. I sat at our dining table and waited as he placed a series of gifts in front of me: white chocolate covered strawberries he made with our talented chef friend Nick, red roses, Pocky (my favorite Japanese candy) each time asking me to put the scarf back on. On the last gift - he said he had one more surprise. When I took the scarf off again - he was nealing beside my chair with a beautiful ring in hand. I of course burst into tears and was so flustered I couldn't understand him when he proposed to me in Spanish so I had to ask him to repeat it in English... of course I said "si!"." ~ Ashley