As you know, Friday the 15th marked one more year (!!) until our wedding day.
Leading up to the date, Ryan and I were both super excited to finally get over that “one-year” mark because let’s be honest, an 18-month long engagement is a long time to look forward to something – and now that it’s less than a year away it all feels so REAL!. We’d been talking over ideas of what we wanted to do to celebrate, and landed on the oh-so-creative idea of going out to dinner to one of our favorite Italian restaurants – Vivace.
Little did I know that Ryan had a tad bit more planned for the day.
Ryan’s been traveling quite a bit for work in the past month, and as a result he’s racked up a few comp days. Friday the 15th just happened to be one of the days he chose to cash in on as a comp day. So of course, I didn’t think anything of Ryan taking the day off. Those days are well deserved!
When I got home that evening from work, I did the typical bee-line to our bedroom to “change into comfy-wear” (and yes, our office has casual Fridays but I STILL always feel the need to switch out of jeans and into shorts [or whatever] right when I get home, don’t ask) and once I entered the room, I stumbled across this…
What the?
Apparently, the *official* countdown is on!
A bit perplexed, I turned around and found Ryan standing there behind me, just looking at me with a big smile. That’s when I realized he had done something even more. Forgetting the purpose of entering our bedroom in the first place, I started looking around the apartment, Ryan (and Happy, of course) bounding at the heels of my feet, still in jeans. That’s when I noticed the rocking chair from our bedroom was missing (remember these guys?). Hm.
I walked into into the living room and saw the blinds leading out to the back porch had been shut. (Seriously, I must have a one-track-mind of “MUST GET INTO COMFY CLOTHES” when I get home from work to not notice these things…). And that’s when I saw this on the door:
And upon opening the doors leading to the porch, I found this:
Dear Ryan’s Work Place: I officially approve any and all days you wish to give my fiance off from work.
Ryan had decked out the table with fresh flowers, sparklers, and brought out our two rocking chairs (we typically keep them inside until we want to use them due humidity and rainstorms). He even bought a composition book for us to write things to each other and things we want to remember for our wedding day.
I am seriously such a sentimental sap. And Ryan sure knows how to leverage that little known fact.
Key to my heart.
Sparklers!!!
1,000 fiance-points goes to this guy.
Good grief. I’m such a sap.
Anywho, we spent the evening relaxing on the porch, me catching him up on my day, and him keeping Happy from dive-bombing into the grass below. Okay… not really, I just think it’s funny that Happy always sticks her head through the rungs super far.
Girl is fearless when it comes to the height of the porch. And Ryan is overly protective of her. I, on the other hand, tend to urge her on. It’s pretty obvious who the responsible one is in this household. I’m gonna make a stellar mom one day, let me tell you.
Around 8:30, we headed out to Vivace for a delicious dinner with an amazing skyline view of the city.
Seriously love these summer nights and how light it stays well into the evening.
We dined for over two hours – it was so, so enjoyable. I cherish laid-back nights like this. The awesomeness didn’t stop at dinner, though. Afterwards, we hit up a local dessert joint and enjoyed some Red Velvet Cake (looooove).
Our entire weekend was, in a word, amazing. It’s hard to believe that this weekend next year will top it. I seriously cannot wait. (Well, actually… I can. There is a lot to accomplish before then!).
