The amazing beautiful ring he customed designed for me!!
Taken right after the engagement by my parents!
The happy, happy couple
Check out that rock! He did a great job! I LOVE the ring!So...I have not been very up-to-date with my blogging as of recently. No worries-There is a good reason. Joe and I are officially engaged!!! He flew down for the weekend to surprise me with a proposal, and he just left this morning. I am very sad to see him leave, but what an amazing weekend we had. God was so good in bringing people to us to give us the most unexpected magical moments during the entire weekend. We are so blessed to have a group of people around us that are so very supportive about the next phase of life we are about to embark upon. Instead of trying to post everything from the weekend, this specific blog will be the story of the engagement. Pictures and stories from the rest of the weekend will follow later on today and tonight.
The Background: Ok. I know most everyone knew about the engagement, and some of you even knew the exact details of the event. So, for the past few days, I know you have been reading my blog and laughing hysterically. You knew that I wasn't doing an American Idol promotion shoot for Entertainment and Photopass. Joe did a great job keeping it a secret, and I had no idea the entire time what he was up to. He went to great lengths to cover his bases and make sure that I had absolutely no clue what was headed my way.
The Proposal: I arrived at work on Friday morning a little more dolled up than normal because of the American Idol Promotion Photo Shoot that would be taking place later that day. I was able to work about 5 hours in the morning and brought a change of clothes to use for the session. Everyone that I worked with all day was very uptight (not normal) and was very concerned about me being at an exact location in the way back of Hollywood Studios the entire day. At about 1:30pm, I received multiple messages to return back to our office immediately and even had another co-worker chase me down to send me to the office as fast as I could. I thought "Hmm. This is odd." I changed clothes and waited with my manager for the the photographers to be ready at American Idol. We walked to the theater around 2:15pm and met more leaders and executives from Photopass and American Idol at the door. The photographer (Whitney, my coordinator) took multiple pictures of the beginning of the audition process on the outside of the theater. My area manager for Hollywood Studios (John) even had a video recorder, claiming he needed to video tape the process for educational purposes (little did I know). The whole time I am thinking-"Wow. They are going to great links to put this promotional package together. Why did they choose me to do this? Oh well. Just go along with it."
After some filming and pictures outside, we all went in to the audition building for the attraction. I went into the casting director's room (just like you would in a regular audition) and sang a short 30 second piece for. She was very pleased, and was eager to send me to the next round for an official audition with the producer. All the while, John and Whitney were filming and taking pictures. I walked down to the producer's audition room and was ready to begin. I walked in and sang the same thing I did for my previous audition in January, and he was very impressed. He informed me that I was very good, and even played a video telling me that I had made it in to the show. I was a little confused, since cast members are not officially allowed to audition and cannot perform in a show. He quickly left the room, stating he had a person who would like to hear me sing. I am thinking, "Holy cow! This is my chance! Maybe I will sing for another producer who will like me so much to give me a full time performance job. This is GREAT!!" All the while, Whitney and John were filming and taking pictures.
The producer came back only after being away for just a minute. Who I expected to follow him into the room wasn't the person that actually did follow him into the room. This is where Joe entered. I was shocked, excited, nervous, confused, and surprised all at the same time. I kept repeating "What are you doing here??" over and over, but then quickly realized his purpose for surprising me. This is when he got down on one knee, pulled out the ring, and proposed. I said yes, of course! I was in such shock that I just cried and hugged him for what seemed like days. It was the best feeling ever! He told me he had another surprise for me , which happened to be my parents. They had flown down for the weekend to celebrate this occasion with the two of us. My mom and dad were there to give us big hugs after we walked out of the producers room-and even handed us Just Engaged! celebration pins to wear for the weekend! All of the producers and executives of American Idol and Photopass were waiting outside to congratulate us and wish us well. I was even more thrilled to find out that Joe would be staying the entire weekend, and my parents could be with us for another day as well.
I am soo blessed. As I am sitting here writing this, I can't get over how wonderful everything has been this weekend. It truly was the best weekend of my life. Not only did I get a chance to see Joe and spend time with my parents, but I now get to begin planning the rest of my life with this amazing guy. He is the best thing that has ever happened to me, and I could not feel more excitement than I do right now. He truly is the man of my dreams, and I CAN'T WAIT to marry him. I know God has been so faithful to me in bringing me the perfect guy to share the rest of my life with.
The Background: Ok. I know most everyone knew about the engagement, and some of you even knew the exact details of the event. So, for the past few days, I know you have been reading my blog and laughing hysterically. You knew that I wasn't doing an American Idol promotion shoot for Entertainment and Photopass. Joe did a great job keeping it a secret, and I had no idea the entire time what he was up to. He went to great lengths to cover his bases and make sure that I had absolutely no clue what was headed my way.
The Proposal: I arrived at work on Friday morning a little more dolled up than normal because of the American Idol Promotion Photo Shoot that would be taking place later that day. I was able to work about 5 hours in the morning and brought a change of clothes to use for the session. Everyone that I worked with all day was very uptight (not normal) and was very concerned about me being at an exact location in the way back of Hollywood Studios the entire day. At about 1:30pm, I received multiple messages to return back to our office immediately and even had another co-worker chase me down to send me to the office as fast as I could. I thought "Hmm. This is odd." I changed clothes and waited with my manager for the the photographers to be ready at American Idol. We walked to the theater around 2:15pm and met more leaders and executives from Photopass and American Idol at the door. The photographer (Whitney, my coordinator) took multiple pictures of the beginning of the audition process on the outside of the theater. My area manager for Hollywood Studios (John) even had a video recorder, claiming he needed to video tape the process for educational purposes (little did I know). The whole time I am thinking-"Wow. They are going to great links to put this promotional package together. Why did they choose me to do this? Oh well. Just go along with it."
After some filming and pictures outside, we all went in to the audition building for the attraction. I went into the casting director's room (just like you would in a regular audition) and sang a short 30 second piece for. She was very pleased, and was eager to send me to the next round for an official audition with the producer. All the while, John and Whitney were filming and taking pictures. I walked down to the producer's audition room and was ready to begin. I walked in and sang the same thing I did for my previous audition in January, and he was very impressed. He informed me that I was very good, and even played a video telling me that I had made it in to the show. I was a little confused, since cast members are not officially allowed to audition and cannot perform in a show. He quickly left the room, stating he had a person who would like to hear me sing. I am thinking, "Holy cow! This is my chance! Maybe I will sing for another producer who will like me so much to give me a full time performance job. This is GREAT!!" All the while, Whitney and John were filming and taking pictures.
The producer came back only after being away for just a minute. Who I expected to follow him into the room wasn't the person that actually did follow him into the room. This is where Joe entered. I was shocked, excited, nervous, confused, and surprised all at the same time. I kept repeating "What are you doing here??" over and over, but then quickly realized his purpose for surprising me. This is when he got down on one knee, pulled out the ring, and proposed. I said yes, of course! I was in such shock that I just cried and hugged him for what seemed like days. It was the best feeling ever! He told me he had another surprise for me , which happened to be my parents. They had flown down for the weekend to celebrate this occasion with the two of us. My mom and dad were there to give us big hugs after we walked out of the producers room-and even handed us Just Engaged! celebration pins to wear for the weekend! All of the producers and executives of American Idol and Photopass were waiting outside to congratulate us and wish us well. I was even more thrilled to find out that Joe would be staying the entire weekend, and my parents could be with us for another day as well.
I am soo blessed. As I am sitting here writing this, I can't get over how wonderful everything has been this weekend. It truly was the best weekend of my life. Not only did I get a chance to see Joe and spend time with my parents, but I now get to begin planning the rest of my life with this amazing guy. He is the best thing that has ever happened to me, and I could not feel more excitement than I do right now. He truly is the man of my dreams, and I CAN'T WAIT to marry him. I know God has been so faithful to me in bringing me the perfect guy to share the rest of my life with.
I love your ring. It looks great on your finger!
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