the tale of two engagements

it was the best of times. it was the worst of times. it was really just stressful times involving some art show preparation, some substitute planning, a road trip, a lecture, a demonstration, a van ride, some really gorgeous picassos and one really great boyfriend who drove, carted my stuff around for me and generally kept yours truly cool and collected, if not completely calm. (how's that for a sentence that never ends?)

okay okay, i'll get to the good part. monday morning after most of said activity had gone swimmingly, thank you very much, i was frantically trying to finish up some last-minute framing for a show opening later that night. things were not going well. i texted ben and voila, he turned up at my studio with a rose. thinking he had decided to be late for work in order to cheer me up, i gave him a big hug and blathered on about my woes. i have a question for you, he said rather seriously. what, i said, not very kindly, steeling myself for the worst. next thing i knew, he was on one knee with a ring - this ring - in his hand.

he cut right to the chase, "will you marry me?" a much better question than anticipated. i said yes immediately. we hugged. we kissed. we kissed some more. when he finally got it through my thick skull that he wasn't going to work, we finished framing my works and delivered them to the gallery. *perfect* proposal.

(after seeing this picture, i decided to give up my lifelong dream of hand modeling)

over our celebratory lunch at mcdonald's (he wanted to get sushi at our spot near my studio, but there wasn't time) he mentioned that he hoped i wouldn't be let down when i discovered his original plan. there was a powerpoint. and tshirts. the strike force might be disappointed, he said.

(he's too sexy for that shirt)

wait. wait wait wait. tshirts? powerpoint? STRIKE FORCE?! i had to know. he wouldn't tell me everything, but we agreed to go through with the original plan the following evening. we managed to keep it a secret from the entire force except for two, who gamely haven't told us exactly what dorks we really are.

so after work, we took a walk down to "our spot" on the tidal basin, near the roosevelt memorial. it was a beautiful day, a bit blustery, but the cherry blossoms were still out and i got to wear my raincoat and hat. he borrowed back the ring. as we approached one of the benches, there was some red velvet draped over it. hmmm, what is that? ben wondered aloud. why don't you see what's underneath it? i picked up the fabric to reveal a rose (the same one from the day before, which i'd left at his house).

then he was on his knee again and this time there was a speech. a good one. and i said yes again. more hugging and kissing. and staring at the tidal basin. then we walked out as the strike force converged. sadly, we hadn't been able to find any water guns with which to attack them, so we settled for giving them the truth (that we'd been engaged for more than 24 hours) instead of a surprise soaking. i mean, they did do a rather good job keeping the park ranger and other people away from our spot. except for that one jogger. they took it like professionals.

(he can by my chicken tikka masala any day. mmm-m!)

ben then took me to the restaurant of my choosing for a celebratory dinner. so with the sky as my limit, of course i chose the hole-in-the-wall indian buffet and loved me some chicken tikka masala. mmm-m.

*special thanks to strike force alpha

five seconds

this is where truth or dare in the shadow of mr. lincoln on july 4 will get ya:

(video via washingtonpost.com)

and if you stick out the heat (and the dares) you get this:

happy birthday, america!

summer soiree

yes. the event was actually called the summer soiree. and there was a code - a dress code: khaki, white or cream. or seersucker. hats encouraged. i was more than happy to oblige.

x10 rocked the linen suit

me and miss sassparilla

allow me to introduce

the super cute, like for serious boyfriend-boy.

he...

owns a vcr

loves his couch

likes to sit on your left

hasn't seen avatar in 3D...he hasn't seen anything in 3D

knows what an erg is and the correct usage of such

is the only redhead in his family

is approximately 5 minutes older than his younger brother, 2 years younger than his oldest brother, and 2years older than his youngest sister

loves "the proj"

is a fabulous uncle

lives 15.3 miles from me

makes a good sentient program

real good. trinity-called-a-truce good.

tells stories with details

speaks fluent german

knows how to pack a duffel

is the most sincere boy i've ever met

calls me "girl" and gets hell from his family

thinks its funny when i (sometimes) swear

throws a mean slush ball

likes to take care of me

likes adventures

once owned a party wagon, which apparently ran on blessings (thanks to rd)

for serious.

when you get kicked out of the kitchen

make a picnic on the floor.

and put your back to the clutter and hope your mom doesn't aggravate her tmj as she looks at the picture. or you can block it out. literally.

red eyes are for valentine's day, right? and romance?

ohhhh red is for hungry vampires. i see. in that case, if you don't stop taking pictures, i'm going to eat the boy, with a lovely rose garnish.

look at that face. he doesn't have a clue, does he.

the best holiday (pageant) ever

the fourth of july is my favorite holiday. in case you were wondering. and what better way to spend it than hangin in our nation's capitol? it started with a huge pancake breakfast at a friend's house, complete with fun run and patriotic costume contest. bonus points for wearing costume the whole 6 blocks.

quinn and adri

of course, no holiday would be complete without a trip to the container store where melanie, melinda and i found some fabulous luggage tags. my personal favorite: "i'm pretty sure this isn't your bag." and then i took a nap. but not at the container store. i went home.

now. how to watch fireworks in our nation's capitol? becuase you must watch fireworks on the fourth. it's the law. i decided. well, you could leave at 2pm and fight for a spot on the mall OR you could make a split second decision in june to go on a cruise and watch them from the potomac with the washington and lincoln memorials as a backdrop. you can also pretend like you're jack and rose on the titanic while your friends play art director and other friends and random people you don't know take pictures. yes. this is a good idea.

joe, if we're ever stranded

in the middle of a frigid ocean

(or the potomac)

i'll share my door with you.

of course, there's always an after party, where many people pile onto a couch and watch a random movie and eat ice cream. i think we watched maverick because it's clearly patriotic. i'm not sure, though. i had to go to bed because the fine holiday fun continued on the fifth, too! i know, right? it's totally blowing your mind.

from the left: sam, kim, annie, cool girl, jim, kyle, chareese, tim

so. i'm a pretty lucky girl. or as manda used to say, i'm a yucky girl. speaking of manda, i had to catch my bus early early in the morning to meet said sister and friends in nyc. this was a delightful extension of her and her friend abby's trip to see me in dc. first stop was mcdonalds. i needed some o' that sweet sweet nectar of the gods, which is really the only acceptable reason to go to micky-d's. that and to use the restroom. diet coke in hand and properly relieved, we went to see grease. one of manda's friend's sisters played cha-cha (the best dancer at st. bernadette...with the worst reputation) so that made the production even more enjoyable. i parted with manda and co for a few short hours to meet up with my friend mary, who'd come up from dc the night before with her mom, niece and cousin. we went to a touristy pizza place just off times square and my lovely roommate from undergrad met us there. i hadn't seen jessamine in FIVE YEARS. that's a lot.

while in new york, one must visit the hard rock cafe. i think it might be a law. actually, the law is to go to serendipity, but i'd already missed that momentous event, so manda, et. al., jess and i rocked hard and annoyed the waitress. actually she annoyed us. she wasn't very good and messed up everyone's orders. and she was slow. but we gave her a good tip anyway.

from the left: jess, lauren, hannah, tatem, abby, amanda, annie

jess' ride back to brooklyn overlapped with ours back to the girls' hotel, so we got to hang out a little longer. i chilled with the girls for a few minutes and then manda hailed me a cab to penn station. my cabbie wasn't too pleased to find that he only had 20 minutes to get me across town and that i still had to buy a ticket. mary called wanting to know if i was going to make it. i had about 7 minutes. the cabbie's update: we're about 2 minutes out. mary offered to buy my ticket and hold it for me on the train so i'd just have to find her. unfortunately, the cabbie dropped me at the WRONG STATION. officially late and certain the train had already left, i sprinted the couple of blocks to penn station anyway. i jumped onto the train, praying it was the right one, just as the doors shut behind me and it started chugging away from the platform. but i couldn't find mary. she wasn't in the car i'd jumped on. but the conductor was. and he was punching tickets. crap. while he was on the upper floor, i walked through the lower floor, hoping to spot mary. my cell didn't get service. curse T-mobile! so i waited in the hallway, hands shaking and heart fluttering, hoping the conductor wouldn't a) throw me off the train, b) give me a citation for not having a ticket or c) all of the above. i didn't have to wait long; the next stop was only a few minutes away. and i had service! (oh blessed bars!) i called mary and we both ran out on the platform. she was in the next car over. i sat down, exhausted and shaking with adrenaline. we stayed that night at a friend's house in jersey and drove home to dc the next morning. i was supposed to prep my sunday school lesson in the car...but i slept instead.

the end.

ps. why the fourth of july post in the middle of october? it came from this list and was renamed by sherry carpet. now vote!

adventures in winking

a couple of girlfriends and i meet periodically to check out the dc art scene and eat delicious food. we talk about all kinds of things, catch up on each others’ lives, laugh, joke, tell stories, vent. we make up rules: it’s girls only; its refreshing to be around such vibrant, intelligent, happy women. you have to hold a fork to talk. recently, we came up with the winking challenge. we have to wink at random strangers we find attractive. or maybe not strangers. it’s an exercise in flirtation. back in the day, i was such a good flirt that i earned the official “best flirt*” title in my byu** ward. i’m not sure what’s happened since then, but we can delve into my dating neuroses another day, another post. don’t hold your breath.


anyway...

melanie and i went to the nats game last night after i victoriously replied to her email first and won her extra ticket (but not her heart; this isn't that kind of story). we were slightly disappointed that we were sitting between two old men on my left and a senior partner in her firm and his wife, on melanie's right. it meant that our flirtatious plan of asking whatever cute boys were around us how to scorekeep wasn't going to work. so instead, i attempted to remember my little league scorekeeping skills from days of yore (and failed pretty miserably) until the gentleman to my left loaned me his scorecard so i could catch up (we'd missed the top of the first). he struck up a conversation and offered me a beer. later, after melanie and i returned from a 3-inning winking-slash-food run with dogs, diet coke and gelato, but no successful winks (seriously, doesn't ANYone make eye contact anymore???), my new friend struck up more conversation. he asked for my business card and gave me his phone number, inviting melanie and i to the carlisle for dinner sometime in the future. i'm supposed to call him and leave a message if he's not there. he made sure to tell me it was ok to call. about three times. keep in mind this guy could be my grandfather. maybe he forgot he'd already told me. he was also worried that i'd lose the score card that he'd written his number on. as soon as our new boyfriends left after the 7th inning stretch, melanie proceeded to tell the partner and his wife about our exploits. i'm not sure if they thought it was humorous, strange or disgusting, but after rumors on the appalachain trail that my dad and i were dating when we hiked together, i guess nothing really surprises me. again i digress. when melanie and i left, her co-worker's wife made sure to tell us to have fun on our geriatric date. now that was nice. but – ew. and that's not the end. melanie and i metro'd home because i don't have a car, she hadn't driven to her firm that day and we'd gone straight to the game from work. i'm pretty sure the boys checking us out on the metro didn't have cars either, cause i'm pretty sure they weren't old enough to drive. i mean, i guess appealing to all ages has its advantages, but um, seriously. i mean really. seriously.

*not biggest flirt, best flirt. note the distinction.
**to clarify: i did not attend byu. ok i did, as a visiting student and then as a non-degree student when i lived in utah for the two years between undergrad and grad school. and i also attended a byu ward while i was there.