Prune

When I told a friend that I was taking a prune to Paris I received, and rightly so, a very quizzical look. Why in the world would you take dried fruit to Paris? Surely you can buy a prune there if needed.

Well in explanation prune is really a lovely made-up name for "pre-honeymoon"... proper spelling is proon, but it is pronounced the same way as the word for a dried plum.

Roger and I have a lot of traveling to do this year: London in April to attend a wedding, Maine in July to attend a wedding, and Mexico in November... you guessed it... to attend a wedding. So it seems highly unlikely that we will have enough time and resources to take a real honeymoon of our own in 2008. Fortunately for us we were able to take three days in Paris for a mini-break in the middle of the first wedding celebration of the year! Thus our prune to Paris (OK, and London, but we would have been there anyways for Dani's wedding.)

OUR PRUNE

Big Ben and Parliament, London

This post is either used for tying-up horses or grooms who are going to bolt before the big day! That is Dan, Dani's now husband, posing with Roger. (click on picture to enlarge for detail)

Notre Dame, Paris

La Tour Eiffel, Paris

Bouquets in Woodstock, England! Gerrie and two friends from Anchorage. Dani the Bride, Gerrie, wedding date July 2008, Liz wedding date September 2008.

Ring Bling

Everybody loves to see an engaged gal's ring, right? That is practically the first item to be discussed after news of the engagement gets out. I have noticed that people don't actually ask you about the man you are going to marry, they ask about the wedding date and the ring, sometimes the proposal story, but that means bringing the man into the picture and who cares about him! Sheesh... poor Roger. Well he did ask and there is an engagement story so I am going to tell it before you get to see the ring, so there!

On December 22nd, the Winter Solstice of 2007, one of my best friends Maia decided to have a calm before the holiday storm brunch at her house.  Roger and I arrived fashionably late and proceeded to eat still warm, Brooklyn bagels, slathered with a fair amount of cream cheese. (Scallion for me please!) Belinis being the drink of choice, the occasion was festive and fun. People started leaving to go on their merry way, perhaps for some last minute holiday shopping. Since we were the last to arrive it was fitting that we were the last to leave. As we sat on the couch, Maia's sister and I got into a conversation about how much fun Maia's wedding will be this summer. (She is getting married 3 weeks before me- wedding madness!) I said something about Maine being a lovely place to get married, so she asks, "Are you and Roger getting married?" With apparently a rather pouty face, I said "no" and looked at Roger in a playfully smirky kind of way. His response was to say, "Ok, let's get married." The rest of the conversation went somewhat like this:

Me: What?

Roger: Why don't we get married?

Me: What? Are you serious?

Roger: Yes, I'm serious, let's get married?

Me: Right now? You are asking me now? (as I let the scallion covered bagel fall from my hand)

Roger: Yes, will you marry me? (Roger getting more emphatic as he sees I am not taking the hint)

Me: What? Really? Ask again!

Roger: Will you marry me!

Me: Yes! Of course!

So at this point I think the other three people left at brunch were just as confused and elated as I was. Roger and I left and I made him ask about 10 more times over the course of the day. Apparently he'd planned to propose later in the evening on the rooftop, but the moment just presented itself instead on Maia's couch.

We decided to use a beautiful family diamond that I had been given by my Grandmother about a year earlier as an engagement ring, but to make it more mine, we looked at various settings and had a unique ring designed to our specifications.

 

So here it is... the ring bling!