Here's the video and a copy of the story from our wedding website. The day was quite an adventure!
Happy first Friday in December, everyone <3
Me ke Aloha
M.
He Proposed!
Friday, December 03, 2010The story...
For the entire four years in the Hudson Valley, we talked about going to New York City -- to visit! to site see! to party! To do anything! ... But we rarely, if ever, had the time, not to mention, the city is quite an expensive excursion!
Nick's firstie (senior) year at West Point, he frequented the city, since he was constantly down there for the Statue of Liberty project, among other things. I ventured to the city as well, though with my mom and grandmother for the broadway show experience. And as of September 2010, we'd never been down there together. Moreover, in September, I was living back in Cortland, and Nick and I were running out of time.
One thing I've always wanted to do is see New York all lit up for Christmas: the lights at bloomingdales, the tree at Rockefeller center and of course, central park.
The weekend before Thanksgiving, Nick and I were out to lunch and he suggested that we go to New York the first weekend of December to see the Christmas setup. I was absolutely on board!! I had wanted to do this for so long!
It was the week leading up to my final papers and final grades, so while I was swamped, Nick offered to organize the hotel for the weekend, and he casually brought up things to do while we were down there.
When we got to the city, Nick and I tried to make reservations at Bobby Flay's restaurant. The earliest reservation was for 9:45pm! So instead, we decided to eat dinner at the Bryant Park Grill. The lights were beautiful and twinkling above us as we ate and watched the locals skate at around the rink and meander through the christmas festival. Nick and I embedded ourselves in the festivities then walked through Time Square and to Rockfeller Center for the tree.
It didn't seem suspicious at the time, but Nick absolutely knew where he was going! I was impressed that he knew which directions we should go and where the Christmas landmarks were. We visited the tree and warmed up in the Lego store. And suddenly, Nick became very quiet and slipped into a 'mission' mindset. He was in directional mode, and I was freezing my butt off :X
My hands were numb and my feet burned in my 4-inch heels (he never told me how far we were walking!) and I didn't realize until 6 blocks away that Nick and I were no longer talking but rather just walking - quickly - toward... ?? I was not quite sure where.
Meanwhile, Nick perpetually checked his phone and was texting our friend Wags (Zack Wagner), and I may or may not have been very annoyed with Wags for texting Nick on our only night alone together. Regardless, I was too cold to care about the text messages.
We arrived at Central Park's south entrance, and Nick suggested that we take a short carriage ride. It was very romantic :) The driver gave us a history of the park while we snuggled beneath a cozy blanket sipping cocoa. Prior to getting into the carriage, Nick spotted the Time Warner building and raved about its architectural magnificence. Puzzled, but compliant, I agreed to 'check out the architecture' after our carriage ride. Nick asked the driver if he could drop us off at 8th Avenue, at Columbus Circle, so we could examine the beauty of the Time Warner Building.
To be honest, at this point, I was freezing so badly that I could have cared less about the building. We crossed the street into Columbus Circle and Nick gazed up in admiration. He attempted to articulate his fascination for the structure, but my brain had a thick, frozen layer over it, and I couldn't share his excitement. Nick started to read the dedication on the statue of Christopher Columbus while casually mentioning that we were standing in the middle of a beautiful fountain. And it was beautiful.
Christmas lights dangled from the Time Warner Building--- large snowflakes and white lights dances from the trees and above. It was Christmas magic :)
Nick checked his phone one last time (unbeknownst to me at the time of course) and then positioned me in front of the statue.
He confessed that he had navigated this entire route three days earlier in an effort to make this night particularly special for me. He told me I was his best friend and that he wanted to make tonight perfect because I make every day perfect for him. He knelt down and asked me to marry him <3
I threw my arms around his neck and kissed him between tears. He slipped the ring onto my finger and again, told me that he had another confession: there was a 'camera crew'. Zack Wagner and Tom Kenny-- our two wonderful friends-- popped out from behind a statue and charged at us. They had us pose (hence the tearful picture above!) and then off they went, leaving us to celebrate on our own. <3
SUCH a great story, and video. love you guys!
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