Engaged.

There is a time to be happy, and it's now.

Eric and I have been planning to get married since early January. We didn't want to announce it to everyone before it was officially official - after we met with a priest. So we met with Fr Mitch, the same priest who did my dad's memorial mass. We've registered at our community parish and booked a reception hall - so we needed a church and a priest.

So Mitch met with us on March 2. We went to dinner at a nice Italian restaurant; I ate filet of sole and Eric ate pork with - eep! - alfredo on the side. Our meeting went really well. Mitch is very laid back and kind, and he's willing to work with us however we need.

After swinging by the dealership to pay for the car (finally!), we got a bottle of wine, went home and breathed a big sigh of relief. I was itching to call my family (namely my sisters) to tell them we were officially engaged, and though Eric told me to wait, I called Sylvia anyway. I came back inside from letting Mac out and we cuddled on the couch. I was commenting on how we were 'official' and was so happy when I felt Eric shift. He said, "Let's make it official-official," and he handed me a ring box. I must have had the stupidest look on my face, and all I could say was "What is that?!" about 12 times. He said, "Open it." I opened it and saw a diamond ring inside. "Will you marry me Tita?"

And I said yes.

Of course, I spent the next little while crying and freaking out. The ring is beautiful: white gold with a 1/2 carat brilliant cut diamond center stone and two princess cut diamonds flanking the center.

More details later.