My Life, As Told Between (Baby Cakes') Naps

T proposed this past weekend! It was totally unexpected and sweet. We went to pick up keys to our new condo together and when I opened the door, it was evident that T had been by earlier in the day. There were rose petals scattered on the floor and tea light candles leading up to the dining room. More flowers and candles filled the dining room, framing the lovely dinner T had set up. I, still unsuspecting, assumed it was in celebration of our new place.

After dinner, T brought out an ice-cream cake he’d purchased. I started cutting into it when T said, “Can you hold on a sec, I have something more important.” I replied, “What could be more important than ice-cream cake?,” not realizing what was going on until he reached into his pocket and got on one knee. Apparently, the little hampster wasn’t running too quickly that day. =)

It is the perfect ring – a simple blue sapphire set with two small Canadian diamonds. We’d done some ring shopping a couple of months earlier (you know, in case he ever decided to propose in the distant future) but I couldn’t find anything I wanted. I didn’t want a diamond engagement ring, not only because of the problem with blood diamonds, but because of the artificial value placed on diamonds as a result of the manipulative practices of the diamond industry. I wanted something understated, preferably with a sapphire, but didn’t like the sapphire solitaires. In the end, I gave up and told T I was going to leave it entirely up to him to find me the perfect ring. He completely succeeded and I love it. I just can’t stop staring at it! =) It looks kind of like the one pictured below, but with a darker sapphire and a thinner band.

In any case, I’m very excited, but wedding plans are for the far distant future. Right now I’m plenty overwhelmed. The move took much longer than expected and was draining. We still have to unpack and get window treatments. I feel like I’m living in a fish bowl at the moment. I had to get my rental towed because it wouldn’t start yesterday. My car is STILL in the shop after a month and despite having been referred there by a friend of a friend, the body shop I took it to is unresponsive and rude.

Oh well, guess life isn’t always roses and candle-lit dinners. It sure is nice when it is though!

We’re closing escrow next Friday and moving in Saturday! We’re only now starting to realize how much more we have to do though. Unfortunately, we only have one weekend left in which to do it and T’s working Sunday…so really, we have one day to do it.

Instead of getting ready for the move, we’ve been dilly-dallying in looking at furniture. We started at polar opposite ends, but our tastes are starting to converge (which scares me because it’s universally acknowledged that T has pretty bad taste – except when it comes to picking girlfriends of course) so it looks like we may finally be ready to actually buy something. We almost decided on the bed we want and are leaning towards a tempur-pedic mattress. We’ve decided on a color scheme for the master bedroom but have to look for linens. We have to decide on and make arrangements for window treatments for the entire place or we’ll wind up living in a fish bowl indefinitely. We haven’t found the couch we want yet, but we’ve decided what it will look like. We have to pack and clean up our apartment. We have to donate stuff to Goodwill. Etc. . .

Minor fender-bender Tuesday on the way home from work. I was on a relatively busy street in Venice. Traffic was stop and go. I was stopped. The driver who ran into me was apparently looking for his friend’s shop and didn’t notice that I’d stopped so he plowed right into me. Fortunately he wasn’t going very fast – just fast enough to damage poor Toby Too’s back bumper. It’s barely hanging on so he’s off to the shop as soon as I hear from my claims adjuster.

In the meanwhile, I’m stuck driving a rental PT Cruiser. Everyone I’ve talked to has a story about how they were forced to rent a Cruiser because it was the only car left on the lot (as was the case with me this morning). Does anyone actually buy this car?

I was pretty irritated yesterday and this morning (when Enterprise was half an hour late picking me up to get my car) but now I’m focusing on the fact that I was very, very lucky not to be hurt and not to have hurt anyone.