Family

Wedding Locaiton – Check!

Sunday, January 18th, 2009 | Family | No Comments

This weekend Jaime and I visited a few different locations on where we could hold our wedding ceremony and reception. We’ve decided on Saturday, February 28th 2009 as the date. It looks like the ceremony will be held on top of Mount Soledad: (AMAZING VIEWS)

Mount Soledad

And for our reception party we are reserving the patio at Piatti Italian Restaurant:

Piatti Patio

Tags: Paitti, wedding

New Hampshire for Christmas!

Tuesday, December 30th, 2008 | Family | No Comments

So Jaime and I traveled 24 hours round trip to be with my family in New Hampshire for Christmas. The weather was rather cold when we got there (2 feet of snow and 17 degrees) but did warm up to the high 40′s before we left. We had a great time and were very happy to meet up with some good friends!

1 degree in Chicago

2 feet of snow on a little table

The guy that knocked this off almost killed himself with a stray chunk

Snow pile > SUV

Tags: Family, New Hampshire

I’M ENGAGED

Thursday, December 4th, 2008 | Family | 1 Comment

So on November 14th 2008 I took the leap of faith and proposed to my amazing girlfriend Jaime Chamberlin. The proposal went perfectly and we are currently planning the wedding near the first week of August 2009 (mark your calendars).

Jaime explained to me a while ago that she wanted an extravagant proposal where everyone could watch and bask in her priceless joy. I thought about it for a while and I couldn’t figure out where/how I could make it the proposal she was seeking. Then one day driving around… It hit me! Every morning on our commute to work we listen to The Mikey Show on the radio. I figured I’d go out on a limb and see if they would let me propose over the radio. I sent an email out to all the cast members and received a reply from two of them within a few days. They liked the idea and were willing to give me air time for the big question. Over the next few days I wrote a nice poem and got it recorded. Then we set up a date and time, and it worked out like clock work.

About 3 months earlier I explained to my parents that I loved Jaime very much and I was seriously thinking of asking her to be my wife. They generously offered my mom’s 30th anniversary ring and mailed it out to me once I made up my mind.

Engagement ring

I got the ring polished and bought a fancy box and stored it in my car in a secret location. Then it was time to wait… I had about 4 days before the main event and boy was anxiety setting in. I was so excited and so nervous all at the same time that I felt as if I was going to pop. I had told a few of her brother’s – in – law during some of our bonding time and had them swear on a stack of bibles that they wouldn’t tell their wives.

So the night before the proposal I was bubbling with happiness. Jaime could tell I was acting extra friendly, but she had no idea what was coming. I think I slept all of 3 hours that night… Morning! Time to get up. Time to ask the biggest question I have ever asked anyone before. Nerves. So I have an agreement with the producer from the show – Eddie – that they’ll play the proposal at 7:45 a.m. on the dot. But what if they play it a few minutes early and we’re not in the car? Then everything will be ruined!! as you can tell… I was a little nervous that something was going to go wrong. To add to it, I told the brother-in-law’s to tell as much of the family as they could the night before so everyone could listen in. Thanks to the power of the interwebs my parents in NH as well as friends and family in HI also got to listen in.

7:15 a.m. I’m going crazy. My hearts pounding and I’m already ready for work. I can’t eat breakfast because I’m too nervous and I cant think of anything other then a text coming from Jaime’s faimly ruining the whole thing. I had made an agreement with Jaime that we will need to leave a little earlier then normal because I had something important to do at work. Constantly thinking about it the night before I convince myself that I didn’t leave enough time and I was cutting it to close to the 7:45 deadline. So I start putting some heavy pressure on Jaime to hurry up. I start helping her get her clothes on and find everything she needs to be ready for work. Now I normally rush Jaime in the mornings to try to avoid serious traffic but today she could tell it was way more then normal. Fighting with me tooth and nail she final caves in and gets ready in what seemed like an instant.

7:30 a.m. We’re out of the house. 5 minutes ahead of my mental schedule but better that then later. I’m starting to slightly shake from nerves and can hardly contain my smile. We calmly get into the car and I stare religiously at the clock. I make sure the radio is set to the correct station and try and take some deep breaths. Step on the gas and we’re on our way. So many thoughts are going through my head. I repositioned the ring so that the box was in my door’s pocket and had a piece of paper concealing it. Now it only takes 13 minutes to get to Jaime’s work so I start driving as slow as I have ever driven before. You want to come into my lane? Sure… No problem… Let me slow down a bit for you…

7:43 a.m. We pull up to Jaime’s work. Damnit! I’m two minutes earily. I can hear the cast members building up to the poem so I stall. I start talking about some random shit and I don’t even think it made any logical sense. Jaime was trying hard to follow me but could only stare blankly at me. Then I focus our attention on the radio…

“And sometimes you get messages like the one I’m about to play to you:”

Hi Mikey Show!

This is P1 PuppyCup and I gotta story to share.
About life, love and happiness and all the contrair.

See my life has been amazing the last four years
Thanks to my beautiful girlfriend who stands past my fears

She helps me see right, where there is only wrong
Her character and personality are so incredibly strong.

She has climbed to the top of my emotional ladder
And pushes on my stomach when I have a full bladder

Now in front of the WHOLE P1 Army and all others to see
I have just one little question, Jaime will you marry me?

7:46 a.m. As the last few lines are coming out I reach down to my door and pull out the box. Jaime looks over and covers her mouth as tears start to roll down her cheeks. As the last line is played I open the box and offer it to her. We were both laughing hysterically with tears in our eyes as she said “of course” and leaned over to give me a hug. Within the next 30 seconds the Mikey Show was calling us and they put us on the radio.

You can listen to the entire proposal here:

Proposal

What an awesome day!