Gettin' Engaged in Galena
Sunday, January 30, 2011 at 12:02PM OK, after a MONTH of waiting for the engagement ring to be sized, reset, yadda, yadda - Bossyboots and I finally picked up the engagement bling for keeps this weekend! It was a good moment. :) So NOW I can write about our New Years Galena trip, along with the accompanying exciting events!
So, Bossyboots and I are old souls, and we've discovered that we love to take weekend trips to resort towns, like old fogies. Last year, we spent New Year's in Galena at a great bed and breakfast - we loved it so much that we decided to come back for NE 2011. We spent two days unplugged from our phones and computers (the wifi's slow, and our phones didn't work out there in the boonies anyhow!)
On Thursday, December 30th, we set off on the three hour drive in the midst of Superwinter...
It was SO snowy and white outside.
After plenty of toasty beverage stops, we FINALLY arrived in Galena!
Bossyboots and I like to wait until New Years to exchange gifts, partially because it's fun to draw out Christmas, and partially because... we still spend Christmas with our individual families, so exchanging gifts between Chicago and Dallas is kinda difficult.
Because I am greedy (!), I WANTED TO OPEN PRESENTS AS SOON AS WE CHECKED INTO OUR HOTEL! At this point, Bossyboots got super weird and nervous. He brought out his gift for me and said...
"I have to tell you something. I've been telling you that I've been taking my car to the mechanic, but that was a lie. I've actually been running around because I had a Christmas gift disaster and had to scramble.* I bought you your real present several weeks ago, but then this week, I found out it never shipped and wouldn't get here on time. SO I had to get you a backup gift."
OK, Weirdo, just give me my pretty present! ;)
So then I open my present, and it's the BEST possible present anyone could give me... every single National Geographic magazine, article, and photo from 1886 to 2009 on CD-ROM. I LOVE National Geographic, and I'd been really wanting this CD-Rom set!! The "backup gift" is pretty great!
Then Bossyboots opened his gifts from me: a 50mm lens, with accompanying filters...
*I later found out that the "running around" was ring shopping!
FUN!
After that, we spent two days just hanging out and relaxing and eating and drinking. We started out by going to this GREAT ice cream and popcorn shop. They even had a Chicago mix, which is caramel corn mixed with cheddar corn. It was pretty good, but of course you can't beat the original: Garretts.
Galena is chock full of little places to shop. Bossyboots and I aren't big shoppers, but it was fun to look at all the wares and walk around taking photos.
We love, love, love spicy food and have a passion for hot sauce, so we definitely made a special stop at the Hot Sauce Emporium on New Year's Eve. We saw that they carry a Ghost sauce and made BIG claims about the hotness level... so of course we had to burn our faces off by tasting it.
Galena is also home to President Grant's home as a historic spot, so we stopped out there to look around and take snowy shots.
We had planned to get all dressed up for New Year's Eve dinner, but we were having fun just knocking around, so we switched gears and just stayed out until dinner time! We spent a few hours just drinking coffee and reading newspapers (NOT on a computer, the actual printed dinosaur). It was lovely.
By the time New Year's dinner time rolled around, we were pretty relaxed!! We ate steaks at 111 Main, and they were delicioso.
Then, we headed back to our hotel to play board games and drink champagne. Apparently, this is when I started foiling all Bossyboots' proposal plans. The entire evening back at the hotel, he was hiding the ring box in the couch cushions, in random pots, in suit pockets. He was paranoid about losing the box, so that meant he felt the need to move it every ten minutes. :)
He wanted to watch the Dick Clark NYE show and drink champagne. I thought that was boring (because it IS!) and didn't want to comply. However, I saw he was disappointed so (BIG SIGH!) I just did what he wanted. For a few hours we played Clue and watched TV. I could tell he was a sad panda about the fact that I didn't want any champagne, so I gave in on that point, too, so that he wouldn't be sad. (WHATEVER!) Finally, the ball dropped in NYC, so I thought we were done doing boring stuff, but Bossyboots...
WANTED TO WATCH THE RERUN OF THE BALL DROPPING since it was only 11p in Galena. Dang you, Dick Clark.
At this point, Bossyboots was really killing me with the TV watching, but I decided that it wouldn't kill me to be nice for once. We watched that ball-dropping show AGAIN.
At midnight, we smooched like you're supposed to, and we had our romantic moment "I love you. You're the best thing that's happened to me...." Smoochy smoochy. Then, Bossyboots stands up and acts all nervous again. (I was still clueless) He pulls out - wait, is that a RING box?? - a tiny box. Then he says "You know how I said that your Christmas present didn't come in? Well, I actually have it right now." Then that guy gets on one knee, and I finally clue in to what's going on!
Kissyface and crying ensues! I think I said "yes" somewhere in the melee. Mass texting and phone calls followed! It was pretty exciting. :)
And now that I have my ring back from the jeweler, you can see it, too!
Bossyboots, Life, Love and Relationships
Reader Comments (19)
What a beautiful story :) Congrats congrats! It's a stunner!
Gorgeous! Congratulations!
Yippee!!! What a beautiful and funny proposal. And I heart that ring. It's mucho gorgeousness.
I've been following you since you were a Bee. Your story hit so close to home, since my wedding was canceled as well. Seeing you go through that, and come out on the other side a stronger person gave me hope that I would too. So many congratulations to you and Bossyboots. I wish you two nothing but the best. Thank you for sharing your story. And your ring, is STUNNING!!!
So pretty! Congrats!
What a beautiful ring and a cute story! Congratulations again!
Ahhh!! What a great story, I love it (and love the ring too :) Congrats again!
Congrats again to you both!! Your ring is absolutely gorgeous!
I'm filled with warm fuzzies for you. You both give off such a healthy, happy glow. Congratulations!
Congratulations, what a beautiful ring! I'm from central IL & my husband and I went to Galena a few years ago for a weekend trip... I LOVE it up there, so beautiful! Another thing I love--Garret's. Definately adding you to my google reader:)
Congrats again on the engagement! So happy for you!
Love your ring. Congrats again!! Whoot Whoot.
What a great story! And it looked like a fun trip (before the proposal... cause after, that's gotta be fun) and great pictures! :] CONGRATS!
Congratulations!!! You look so beautiful and happy!
What a great proposal story and what a sweet guy he is! I love little towns like that and hope my husband and I can make more time to visit the ones we have here in Colorado.
Gorgeous ring, oh so pretty! Is that a radiant cut center stone? Beautiful regardless!
Yayyyyy! What a lovely proposal story, and the ring is gorgeous! Good job Bossyboots!
YAY YAY YAY!
That is all!
:)
Congratulations.
how romantic *swoon*
and the ring is pretty awesome.
Gawd... sooo excited for you! Congratulations. And seriously, your ring is STUNNING!