Have you seen my engagement ring?

No, seriously. Have you? Cause for awhile no one seemed to know where it was...
My first (and hopefully last) wedding horror story:
I went to take my engagement and wedding rings to the jewelers to get them sized down. Well, since it takes more than a week to do I had it all planned out so I could pick them up last Friday. I was seeing family and friends that weekend and wanted to show off my new bling.
So I go to pick them up on Friday and the jeweler is fumbling around with the paper work, making phone calls, searching on his computer... and saying nothing to me or even looking at me.
I knew something was wrong.
I asked the jeweler if he lost the rings and he goes "Just temporarily..." and gets a really nervous look on his face. My face falls and I feel the tears prickling my eyes.
I was so upset. The jeweler asked me if I had other shopping to do and I said I would go see my fiance, cause Eli's restaurant is just around the corner.
So I go see Eli and am trying to maintain my composure but the tears are coming fast. I go to the bathroom to calm down, but of course that doesn't work. So I went and told Eli that he had to deal with it cause I didn't want to be the crying girl in the jewelery store. Sure I may have gotten some sort of appeasement deal, but I do have some dignity.
Eli talked to the guy and found out that they put an "incomplete address" on the package to mail it to the guy who does the sizing. So my rings have been sitting at UPS for a week!!! WTF?
I was so mad. Doesn't anyone put return addresses on packages anymore?
They said they would size the rings and have them back early next week. So I call on Tuesday to see if my rings are in and the guy who answers the phone goes "No, and I really have no way of ever knowing when they will be in." What???
Now I was pissed. I call Eli and he goes and talks to the guy who sold him the ring (not the guy on the phone). This guy tells him that the guy who answered the phone doesn't know what he's talking about and that my rings were coming in that afternoon.
So I went to pick them up yesterday and got a really nice apology from the guy who actually messed it up. Which I really appreciated.
But as I was wearing my ring at work it kept slipping around and I thought "Crap, did they even size this thing?" So I was freaking out about that and that after everything the ring didn't get sized.
I went back to the jeweler and he showed me that, yes, the ring was the right size but my fingers probably shrunk cause it was so cold.
So long story short my engagement ring is now on my finger, it's the right size and I got an apology.
But, man, what a joke!

Save the date!

So we have made the big decision: We have set a date and gotten a place to have our wedding! We are getting married Oct. 18, 2008 at the St. Paul Hotel! I'm so excited :) The spot is beautiful and in a great area of St. Paul. The package is perfect for us. Should be a lot of fun!
Now that we have that part settled, we can focus on the fun part. Now it's about picking out a cake, food, buying a dress, etc.

Your place or mine?

First, I would just like to say I spent 15 minutes trying to figure out how to put a link into my post. I went through all the help sections of blogger. Only now did I realize that there was that handy tool button thingy at the top of the page.
Really I'm not a moron. Just maybe a dumbass.
Anyway, wedding planning is in full force. I spent $70 on wedding books this weekend alone (dumb, I know, but see above). But first things first, where and when are we going to have this thing??
We want to get married in the fall. The colors are naturally beautiful out and fall is my favorite time of year.
So this weekend we're going to see two sites and we're completely torn on which to pick.
On Friday we're seeing the McNamara Alumni Center, http://www.alumnicenter.umn.edu/, which is beautiful. The architecture alone is fantastic! Think of the photos!
On Saturday we're going to look at the St. Paul Hotel, http://www.saintpaulhotel.com, which is also beautiful. You also get more bang for your buck by getting the cake, an hour for open bar and other services included in the price.
I'm not really sure what we're going to do. We have dates reserved for both. I'll let you know how it goes, though!

The proposal

There's the bling! So here's how I got it:

It was our 18 month anniversary and I went and had dinner with Eli at his work (he co-owns a resturaunt in case you didn't know). I jokingly asked him where my present was and he laughed and said "I don't know." We moved on in conversation and I forgot about it.

So that night he came home and I was watching LA Ink (which is totally awesome btw). Funny enough my phone rang and it was Britt. Eli gave me a look like "Oh, crap, don't get on the phone" so I quickly wrapped up my conversation. He went and took a shower like normal.

So Eli came out of the bathroom and asked me if I wanted ice cream. I said yes and he disappeared, I wasn't really paying attention. A few minutes later he comes up and has his hands behind his back. He pulled out a bear and said it was a present for me. I got excited and then he said that it comes with something else.

He then pulled out this little box and I though "oh my gosh this is it!" And he proposed! It completely caught me by surprise!

Story of us

So I thought I should start at the beginning with Eli and I. Here we are, aren't we cute? Also note the picture of the Boss in the background!

So Eli and I started dating about 18 months ago. We met over a burrito bar; he was the cook and I was a regular. Apparently he noticed me and figured out who I was. He found me on MySpace and sent me a message. I still have it...

"Hey... My name is Eli, I work at Bravo's and I think I may have seen you there before, I also saw you in the Up Next, so I thought I would say hey whats up?"

My sister says he pursued me. But my thought when I got that first message? Hello, stalker.

Anyway, we exchanged a few e-mails and decided to go on a date. Our first date was great and lasted more than eight hours talking!

So needless to say, things worked out. We've been living in sin for a year now.

What can I say about Eli? He's the sweetest, nicest, silliest guy I know!

Ready or not, here I come.

So here's me. This is after Eli and I had had two dates. Britt (my best friend) and I were in New York City visiting our friend Andrew.

Anyway, for those of you tuning in this blog is basically going to be all about my pending wedding. I'm recently engaged to Eli and now have to plan the big day, as they say.

But I'm not exactly a traditionalist- by a long shot. I have a tough time with some of the symbolism in weddings. White dress? Who am I kidding? Dad walking me down the aisle to hand me off to Eli? Better get my dowry in order too.

So anyway, this wedding is going to be a little different. Tune in for regular updates about what's going on and how the planning is going. Please be patient, though, cause I'm still trying to figure out how to use blogger. (Note the blog's title).