March 8, 2008

March 7, 2008, we began Spring Break of our 2L year. By we, I mean Jesse and I. We flew out of Bloomington, Illinois around 10 or 11 am on that Friday, the 7th. But in order to do that we had to leave Morton by 8:30. If you know me and Jesse, waking up when we could be sleeping in is not something we do.
So we finally get on the plane and Jesse sat by the window. But when he sat down he quickly got up. He had sat on something wet in his seat...(by the location of the liquid I'm pretty sure it was a little kid's "accident". So Jesse rang the bell for the flight attendant and because of how full the plane was could only offer Jesse a blanket to sit on. Poor guy, at least he got a free drink out of it!!! We finally get in the air and of course I start getting a headache and hot and just want to be on the ground.
I could tell this wasn't going to be a good day. I thought I was going to get sick, but luckily I saved myself and Jesse from that embarrassment. We landed in Atlanta and had a long lay over...we went to lunch at Sweetwater Brewing Company in Concourse B. It was crowded and loud and I wanted nothing more to get a cocktail, but my stomach couldn't bear it. Instead I ordered a water and hamburger. It was delicious and I finally started feeling a little better. We ran to some stores like Bath and Body and Jesse got his shoes shined. But we still had like two hours to waste before our flight to Pensacola. We ended up going to another place for drinks, and my tummy decided to behave...Some how the time finally passed and we got on the plane...I thought we'd never take off. We waited on the air strip behind a whole line of planes probably for over 30 minutes. When we finally got in the air, it was a little bumpy but the flight was short. I was sooooo happy to land in Pensacola and be done with air travel for the day. Jesse's parents picked us up at the airport and we went back to his house. Jesse and I hottubbed to relieve some tension from the day of travel and then we went to dinner at Dharma Blue. MMMM such good sushi!

Saturday we layed out by the pool and got some sun. There's nothing better than being by the pool and laying out when you know its snowing back home! That night Jesse decided he wanted to go out to eat at Jackson's. I had heard so much about this place and was excited to finally go...I was especially excited to have the key lime phyllo purse. (dessert is like the best part of any meal) Mrs. Pace was so cute and helped me find a shawl to wear over my dress in case I got cold. I got ready to go and so did Jesse...we sure do clean up well! That night Jesse parked a few blocks away but I didn't think about it really. We started to walk towards the restaurant and then he wanted to take a round about way to get there through the park. He said he wanted to show me Plaza Ferdinand so we walked through and stopped in front of a water fountain. We hugged...and thats when it happened. He told me he loved me and asked if I loved him (well this is how I remember it but let me tell you I was so shocked that my memory probably escapes me a little), he got down on his knee and proposed. I, of course, said yes. I made him put the ring on my finger and I could not take my eyes off it! We somehow made it to Jackson's, but frankly I don't remember walking there at all. I do remember grinning ear to ear and looking down at my hand to make sure it was real. One of the servers had ESP or something and asked "so how did he do it?" They brought us champaign and I honestly was so excited that I couldn't read the menu or process anything other than how sparkly my ring was and how happy I was to be engaged to the man of my dreams and the love of my life! I ordered the special which was three types of meat over risotto and Jesse had a filet with bearnaise sauce. The meal was amazing and we finished it off splitting a dessert of the key lime phyllo purse. On the way home Jesse decided it would be funny to walk in and pretend we didn't get engaged (because they were in on it the entire time). So he took the ring and put it back in his pocket, but he nor I could keep a straight face so we nixed that idea. (I made him put the ring back on my hand!) When we got back to his house, it was so cute, you could see his mom in the kitchen from their breezeway. She saw that we were home and ran to get Mr. Pace...then they came into the kitchen when we were walking in. She asked about dinner but then couldn't wait any longer and came and gave us big hugs. They broke out some champaign and let us use their gold goblets from their wedding night. I used "Lucy" and Jesse used "Jim". It was the perfect night. We ended the night by hottubing...and I'm sure I went to bed before Jesse like always.

The rest of the week went entirely too fast. We ate at McGuires once, went there for drinks a few times, went to his grandmother's house for dinner, went to Jaime's (amazing!), and also made a meal at home. I must say that I was well fed over Spring Break and I probably left Pensacola 5 pounds heavier than I arrived. We visited with his parents, grandparents and Jesse's friends Jimmy, Jeremy and Winston. I even went to curves with Mrs. Pace and got to show off my rock :) It was an amazing break and release from school. I was sad to leave but so excited to show my mom my ring!

Since then We've decided on a date and location...January 3, 2009 in Pensacola, Florida. And on March 29 I found my wedding dress. Just like my sister Jenni said--it was the first dress I tried on. I went and looked at other places but it was the one, and I went back and ordered it. My mom and Christine were by my side helping me the entire day! It is so exciting but let me tell you, there are endless decisions that come along with a wedding...and there is plenty of things for me to blog about!