Goodbye 2012, Hello The Rest of Our Lives

I last left a blog post on the morning of December 21st.  I was taking the morning off and wrote a blog post. What I didn't write was that I was not at work because Amanda's engagement ring was being delivered.

If you read this blog you probably know already, but on January 1st at about 12:30 in the morning Amanda and I got engaged.

Because I was about to head to Saudi Arabia and wouldnt be able to enjoy any physical gift, Amanda got me a trip to Charleston for the two of us for Christmas and tickets to the Snyder Ball at the aquarium on New Year's eve.

On the way back from the ball I asked her if she was too intoxicated to make good decisions.  We walked through the park and stopped underneath this tree...

 I told her, "I liked kissing you at midnight, I want to do it again next year... and the year after that... and the year after that... and the year after that"  and then got down on one knee and gave this to her...

We made our way back up to the hotel and texted some family and friends.  With all of the excitement we didn't get to bed until about 3 am.  Neither of us are very good at sleeping during the day so at 7 am we were up for breakfast, checked out of the hotel, and headed to Columbia for a New Year's Day meal with my parents.

As we walked in the door my Mom made some squeals of joy.  After the mandatory ring gazing and hugs my Mom asked, "So... what's next?" And I literally told my Mom all the plans we had for the future... "We're going to drive back to Greenville tonight." We both had work in the morning, Amanda hadn't seen her parents yet, and we had only slept 4 hours, we truly did not have any further plans than getting home, getting some sleep, keeping our jobs and figuring it out in another day... plus I hadn't seen the Clemson LSU game yet.

So over the next couple weeks we began rough outlining, then looked at some specific options, and now we've pretty much got a working plan. It doesn't mean things won't change a bit but our plan right now is the following...

I am on my way to Saudi Arabia on February 6.  I'll work 8 weeks on 2 weeks off for the next year to year and a half.  Next April on my scheduled R&R Amanda and I will have a small wedding and reception at Falls Cottage of Greenville...

Afterwards I'll head back to Saudi Arabia for 8 weeks. Then we will meet up in St. Lucia for the honeymoon 8 weeks later.  We are currently thinking of splurging on the below villa.

And about that time my job in Saudi Arabia will be coming to an end and I plan to do a stint in Greenville with us living at my condo.  Plans of course are always changing and developing but we are both very excited about what we've penciled in.