We're Engaged!!!! Life Lately...

What a whirlwind of a few weeks it has been!! I haven't blogged since after the Fourth of July but to be honest... nothing much had happened. We had been saving money for our getaway trip to Mexico, staying home a lot, working hard... life has been good.

MEXICO

In all our years dating, we had not been on a single vacation as a couple where we take off on a jet plane, alone, exploring around and spending quality time together. I know, INSANE. I am so glad that we finally took the plunge, bit the bullet, and booked a stay. Let me rewind here though... I'm usually quite the planner of the household and coordinate things for us to do and organize it, etc. I did not book this trip!! Scottie did! It was quite the surprise when I was groupon searching, tweeting questions out, and got an IM saying, Viva La Mexico baby we're going Oct 5 - 10th!! It was so fun knowing that it was already taken care of, who is this guy!? So we saved, I booked our flights using our Southwest Rapid Rewards/Airtran points, and we were good to go!

We took off to Cancun early on October 5th, and I have to say I LOVED flying with Scott, so so fun. He has only flown within the Texas borders like from Lubbock to Dallas, Dallas to Lubbock.... so this flying experience was one for the books! We landed in Mexico and off we were to the Secrets, The Vine Cancun. What a beautiful resort right on the Ocean. We had an amazing experience and they even had a sports bar for us Fantasy Football addicts! If you know Scott, you know we instantly made SEVERAL friends the very first night, and continued to throughout the trip. I felt like by the end of our trip we knew pretty much most every couple there around our age, it was amazing!

OCTOBER 7th, 2014
WE'RE ENGAGED!!

This was our second morning waking up in the beautiful Cancun, Our balcony overlooks the ocean and in the mornings, we liked to open up the curtains, open the doors so we can hear the loud waves, and go back to bed a little longer just to enjoy it. I woke up to a very happy boyfriend kissing my shoulders and face waking me up and I was so giddy. I loved vacation!! Unfortunately, it was pretty cloudy and the weather radar projected thunderstorms all day long. We ordered room service breakfast with a bottle of champagne - my fault. I am a sucker for morning mimosas!

After breakfast, we didn't want to waste the day away (even if there were going to be storms) so we put on our suits and headed out to the pool. It was drizzling and a little cold, and we noticed our friends from the first night in the hot tub so we joined. BTW, Scott had come up with the best plan to remember all of our friends, by the place they live in. We thought it was pretty hilarious that everyone's names were states but ours was "Austin!" Yeah baby! When "Georgia" couple left the hot tub, there were other couples and friends coming in and we instantly started an epic hot tub party. More friends joined and we'd immediately ask where they were from (Okay mostly Scott did) and made so so many friends. Our waiter's name was Oliver and he was a riot! I blame him for my massive next day hangover. I had everything from a Miami Vice to Tequila shots to Corona Light's to Rainbow shots. Whew. Every five minutes I felt like someone was yelling "25 more shots!!" It was SO fun. Eventually we all decided to go play some sand volleyball and we had a blast! Once the long afternoon of drinking ourselves silly was over, we decided to go upstairs and shower and get ready for dinner. We REALLY loved the Blue Water Steakhouse restaurant so much the first night, that we went back the second night! This time was different though.

We had a private table on the rooftop terrace of this restaurant, overlooking the ocean. Now, the sun didn't come out today, so there wasn't really a sunset to be had - we came out when it was pretty much already dark. It was so beautiful. Full moon, stars all out. Ocean waves from the "storms" earlier the day were crashing hard and were so loud, I loved it! We ordered the Tuna Ceviche for the second night in a row too. Y'all. OMG. This appetizer was my favorite thing to eat the whole week there. It was like ahi tuna sushi marinated in cilantro and lime juice for days. So tender, juicy, amazing. We were sober by the time we got to dinner from our big day of drinking so now we were sitting there telling each other how famished we were, how big our appetites were. I was dying for some bread and butter!! Scott ordered us a bottle of Dom Perignon and it. was. SO good. I literally had no idea what this night would bring, I was just having so much fun with my best friend and enjoying the luxury of all inclusive (except for that champagne, goodness!) We actually ordered this champagne because we've always heard it in rap songs so it must be good right?! So here we are, laughing and me cursing like a sailor about how hungry I am and taking silly selfies of each other with my phone before dinner... and next thing I know he's on one knee next to me, telling me how much he loves me and wants to spend the rest of his life with me... and I was so surprised, excited, happy, I started crying and barely remembered what he said almost immediately I just said yes! yes! It was the single most amazing moment in my life. He was crying and smiling ear to ear, I was crying saying "Really!? Is it finally our time!?" We both lost our appetites, I barely ate any of my dinner (but I blame it on the abundance of bread I ate, the tuna ceviche, and the new big rock on my finger!) That's another thing! I remember glancing at my ring every other second and crying more saying "I can't even look at it! It makes me cry I'm so happy"... I did that for a good thirty minutes or so. We ended up taking the empty bottle of champagne (yes we downed it) and another unopened bottle of red wine back to our room for safe keeping. We freshened up and decided to go celebrate at the downstairs Piano Bar knowing all of our new friends would probably be there. We were right! What was crazy was that half of them already knew what was happening to me that night and just flew right over to me. It was the most amazing time! It was karaoke night at the bar, so we got a shout-out in front of everyone too about our new engagement. I took shots with people I didn't know, I danced with my new friends, I took blurry terrible drunken pictures with my new fiance. I was and am so so happy.

We woke up the next morning feeling like death but so happy we could barely stand it. I could finally look at my ring in detail and in awe and I would look back over at my future hubby sleeping and thank God I am so blessed to spend the rest of my life with this amazing man.

The rest of the week was so fun!! We did only one excursion which was a speedboat that took us to a snorkeling area in the ocean and I had a great time!

sitting on our balcony the morning after <3 perfection

Future Mrs. Owens!!

We left on the 10th sadly, as did some of our friends, and took a plane up to Chicago for our connecting flight. Way out of the way right? I didn't care - it was a long day of flying but I have been just living in bliss. I was ready for a Chicago Stuffed Pizza or a Chicago Dog. Sadly, they didn't have the pizza but you betcha I ordered the Jumbo Char Dog and Scott got a Chicago Style Italian Beef sandwich and it was DELICIOUS. We then went over to Harry Carey's for a few beers and a baseball game before our flight took off 3.5 hours later. We got home around 11pm to my best friend Suzy and my sweet Huxley greeting us at the airport. I also ran into Brittany and Micah which was awesome! We both were in the "just left paradise" depression and tiredness from flying all day, but so so good to see them!

Working this week has been soooo difficult. I feel like I have jet lag a week old, is that possible? I am so happy to be back, but I am so tired!

We haven't picked a date yet for our wedding, but I am truly hoping for 2015 to be our wedding year. We shall see!! Any wedding advice, short engagement planning advice, anything is absolutely welcome! I cannot wait to marry my favorite person in the world!!

2015 is going to be an amazing year.