Here's how it happened... Part 2

The Story of our Engagement – Part 2

We board our 4:30pm plane on time and head off for Dallas, not knowing of what travel situations we would find ourselves in once we landed. Our plan was once we got to the Dallas airport we would try and catch a flight on standby to New Orleans that night. The flight was uneventful and boring so I found myself daydreaming about the moment Jason would ask me to marry him. I had it all planned out in my head. We would be walking down the Mississippi River and he would get down on one knee and pull out the ring. I also practiced in my head my reaction and what I would say. Yep I had it all planned out.

Once we landed and got to the airport we saw the last flight leaving for New Orleans at 9:45. We had 15 minutes so we ran to the gate and tried to get on standby but they already had too many people and wouldn’t take us. By now the airport is pretty much closing down and there aren’t too many employees around. We tried to talk to a few different people at the ticket counter about our situation but they could care less and didn’t offer any advice. Stress and frustration were settling in and we were getting crankier by the moment. At least they could put us up for the night! After all they had put us through. Jason is really getting cranky because he was starving and I’m just irritated that no one at the airport was trying to help us.

We finally track down a manager and he explained to us that because of all the cancellations there at the airport all the hotels in the area were also booked up. Jason and I look at each other and I say “No, way I’m not staying the night here at the airport.” The manager said “hold on”… and luckily he was able to find a place in Arlington, about 20 minutes from the airport. Phew! Plus he was able to have a shuttle come pick us up!

Feeling a little more optimistic we wait outside. We wait and wait and wait… about an hour goes by and no shuttle. During this time Jason is going on and on about how he’s hungry, how he’s upset about the traveling, how he’s NEVER going to go to New Orleans during Jazz Fest again. I’m trying my best to be supportive and thinking that we are going to be engaged soon I’m trying to be on my best behavior but I eventually snapped. I turned towards him and said sternly “I can’t stand the complaining, do not talk to me until we get to our room.”

We stood there for about 45 seconds and he turned to me and said “Well I’m bored now, can I talk to you again?” We both started laughing and I apologized for yelling, but he understood he was being a pain in the ass. (And seriously that was the only time there was ever a moment like that throughout our whole trip.)

Obviously the shuttle wasn’t coming get us so we called a cab and drove out to our hotel. By this time it’s almost midnight and we ask our cab driver about places to go eat but no such luck because all the restaurants are closed. We do see a Valero Gas Station Quickie Mart near our hotel. It doesn’t get much better than walking a mile down the street in the middle of the night for gas station food in Arlington.

Jason got a sandwich, I got some generic chips (they didn’t even have Doritos!) and some sodas. We walk back to the hotel, eat and try and sleep for a little bit. Our scheduled flight to Jackson, MI was at 10:30am but we knew there were earlier flights to New Orleans that we wanted to try and get on so we wanted to get to the airport first thing in the morning.

We took the shuttle back to the airport at 7am and faced the horror of going through security again. I wasn’t sure if we were pulled over in SFO randomly or because of our names, etc. But we were prepared to have the same problem we had the day before. Sure enough we are pulled aside for the extra security check! We then found why we kept being pulled aside. It was because we had made last minute changes to our flight and when you do that, no matter what the circumstances are (such as the airline canceling our flight!) they will pull you aside for an extra security check. The TSA employees at Dallas are much more professional and stay with us and our luggage the whole time. I of course am watching Jason closely to see how he acts going through security with his bags. He goes ahead of me through the “puffer” machine and heads over to have his bag checked. I’m next, I walk into the machine (a professional by now) and as I’m being “puffed” I can see through the glass and I can see Jason talking to the TSA girl and motioning his hands over his bag. “Hmm”… I think, I’m pretty sure he’s telling her that he has a ring in there for me and for her not to blow it like the other TSA lady.

As I leave the “puffer” I hear the TSA girl say “Where is she?” as she turns around and which then she sees me and then turns back to Jason. Well now I’m 94% sure that it is a ring and I’m so excited! We finish getting checked out and once again we are clear to fly! No explosives on us or our luggage, imagine that.

We go up to the first ticket counter we see and ask about the 9:30 flight to New Orleans. We carefully explain our situation about how we are desperately trying to get to New Orleans. The lady at the counter was very sweet and put us on “High Priority” Standby. The tricky thing though was that our scheduled flight to Jackson was on the OTHER side of the airport, so if we didn’t make the New Orleans flight we’d have to book it back to the Jackson gate.

We thought for sure we’ll make it, we’ve come this far we have to have a little luck coming our way. Once we got to the New Orleans gate we see that we are 10 and 11 on the standby list. Very depressing. We wait as they board all the passengers and listen for the standby calls. The first 3 people on standby are called but never come up to the counter. We are now 7 and 8 on the list. They call more standbys and board them. Then they call Jason but not me. He went up to the counter and they told him they had a seat for him but not for me, could we split up? He told them, no, never. I go up there to see what was going on and the two airline employees are working furiously at the computer trying to get us both on the plane. They said there was an extra seat but the computer was telling them differently and they couldn’t print out the right ticket. The plane was waiting to leave so they just handed me the ticket they had and sent us into the plane. (I later find out that the boarding pass they handed me was under someone else’s name, nice security eh?)

YES! We made it! We had the last two seats in the very last row of the plane but I could care less, I was ready to sit on the flight attendant’s lap to get to New Orleans. We were so thrilled and excited and landed about an hour later.

To be continued…

Here's how it happened...

The Story of Our Engagement - Part One

Jason and I moved in together in February 2007 after much thought and discussion about how this will affect and change our relationship. We were both living on our own when we first met and although we loved spending time together we also loved having time to ourselves. After many conversations, ideally, moving in would save us some money and the drives back and forth between houses but that's not why we wanted to do it. We decided to move in to further our relationship, take it to the next level, and see where it would lead us to as far as marriage and having family were concerned.

Living together turned out to be the best thing for us. We respect each other, give each other space when needed, would do anything for one another and we agree upon most everything. He is truly my best friend.

So yeah, I put it out there... I would say things like, "If you ever wanted to buy me a ring, just so you know I don't like gold." Or "I would love to just have a small wedding here in Sonoma County". Never over the top but just enough to let him know that I was thinking about it. He would usually say "Baby!" and smile.

About a month before our planned trip to New Orleans for Jazz Fest we were having dinner and I said something about marriage. He looked at me and said "Babe, let's not talk about that until after we have an assessment period." An assessment period? Okay. Here's how we planned it: 6 months after moving in (August 2007) we could talk about how things are with us, where we're at in the relationship, etc. but until then no talk about marriage. I was totally fine with that. Seriously, I started thinking that I didn't want to overwhelm him or come on too strong about the whole marriage thing even though I was being halfway playful about the whole thing.

I love to travel but I get very anxious about it. I try and act like it doesn't bother me but I must admit that I hate flying more than anything. About 2-3 weeks prior to leaving, knowing that I'm about to fly, causes my nerves to take over my body and emotions. I wish I could get rid of the brain cell that causes it because I seriously can't control it no matter what I tell myself.

I feel that things are going a million miles an hour before we leave, we have family and friends over for a BBQ, my mom and I get our nails done and have lunch, shopping etc. It's all a big blur of events leading up to our vacation. Finally the big day arrives and we leave for the airport around 6am. By now I'm so nervous and anxious that I can't talk and so the whole way down to the airport is pretty much in silence. Until of course I'm giving Jason the wrong directions to the long term parking and we end up going the opposite way on the freeway away from the airport. Things got a little tense for a moment but we got back on track, the car parked and we were shuttled over to the airport. Once we got to the airport we had about an hour before our plane was leaving and since we had already printed out our boarding passes the only thing we had to worry about was getting through security in time. Um, no.

We walk in, look up at the computer screen and out of 50 or so flights it showed that our flight, not to mention the only flight on the screen has been canceled without reason. I have to admit that at that moment I felt an extreme sense of relief (My brain was screaming YAY! No flying!).

We just stood there staring at the canceled flight like it was going to change or something until I asked one of the airline employee's walking by what we need to do and they told us that we needed to go stand in the ticket counter line. I turn around and see a line of people about a mile long, no seriously, at the end of the line that was curling in circles was another airline company, that's how far back it went. Jason is in all sorts of uproar but I ignore him and get on my cell phone with the airline while I wait in line with everyone else.

I get hold of an agent right away and I'm certain that they will be able to re-route us and things will run much smoother once we get a new itinerary. Our original route was an hour layover in Dallas and then a quick flight to New Orleans. The agent tells me that all flights were canceled due to tornadoes the night before and that morning. Ours was the last canceled flight of the day, all flights scheduled after ours got to go. So I won't pain you with the long and suffering two hours I spent on the phone with them but this is the best they could do for us:

4:30pm flight to Dallas
Stay the night in Dallas
10:30am flight to Jackson, MI
Rent a car drive 4 hours down to New Orleans

So we would be missing one paid night in New Orleans, paying for a night in Dallas, paying for the rental car, not getting in to NO until late on Thursday, etc. We were not happy.

I told Jason "Let's book this and then we can see if we can get on stand-by while we are waiting for our 4:30pm flight and hopefully we can make it to NO tonight." Jason agreed.

We print out our new boarding passes and optimistically head off to security. The line is not long and we hand our ID's and boarding passes to the TSA lady who looks at them and says "You two have to come over here for additional screening." Okay... so annoyed we stand there and wait for another TSA person to get us. We wait and wait and wait... finally another lady comes and gets us, takes our carry-ons and has us stand in another line which will take us through the metal detector and then over to the "puffer" machine. (I'm not sure what it's really called but you stand in it and little blasts of air come out at you, trying to detect explosives). While we are in line I'm watching our stuff go through the x-ray and down past other people's luggage and then just sitting there without anyone watching it. I ask one of the TSA employee's, "Uh, that's our stuff over there can you please get it, I don't want anyone to steal our stuff." TSA, "Someone will be there to get it." I look at Jason with big pissed off eyes like WTF? They were doing a terrible, horrible job not making us feel comfortable at all. We were trying to be as easy going as possible but they were making it harder on us by their attitudes.

We made it through the machines so obviously didn't have any explosives on us (can you believe it???) and were seated in front of the TSA person assigned to you while they went through every single item in your luggage. I'm super annoyed at this point and Jason is trying to talk to me but I'm not paying any attention as I'm watching the lady pull everything out of my bag. She calls me over at one point because she can't open something and I'm standing there talking to her when I hear the TSA lady checking Jason's bag exclaim "What's this?!" I turn my head and glance over to Jason's bag and I see a larger white box with a smaller gray box inside it, I turn and look at Jason who is looking at me with huge eyes, and then I turn away.

It's hard to explain what I exactly felt at that moment. I had a flood of emotions rush through my body. I felt from the top of my head this numbing sensation that ran down throughout my body and arms and then I felt paralyzed and shocked for about 5 seconds. Then I came to my senses... "Nah, that couldn't be an engagement ring... we are still on the assessment period!" But what the hell else could it be... I wasn't sure at exactly what I saw and so I decided to not do or say any thing, well partly because I was still reeling in from my shock of thinking that it was a ring. I barely remember hearing the TSA lady trying to cover up, telling Jason that her boyfriend too had cuff links and that those were nice cuff links blah blah... but I was so out of it I didn't have the ability to make any connections.

We both walk away from the security screening area feeling violated and stressed. Not knowing what to make of this situation I make my get away to the bathroom and call my mom. Now that I'm by myself I find that I'm slightly shaking and really wondering what if it’s a ring!?! And if not what is it? I’m going through all the logical different possibilities in my head.

I call mom and not knowing that I have this high-pitched, shaky voice, which she assumes is because I'm nervous about flying, I tell her about our flight situation. I don't say anything to her about the security because if it is a ring then she might know about it and I wouldn't want her to accidentally give anything away. See what my brain is having to work with now? Did I see a ring? Does Jason know I saw it? Does he think I know? If it’s not a ring am I going to then be disappointed?

When I come out of the bathroom Jason is on the phone with his brother (Is he telling him about the situation with the ring?? My brain is now a non-stop mess) I just keep quiet and we start walking down towards our gate.

Well the only thing left to do besides try and get on standby is to go to the bar. If we can't get on stand-by then we have 6 hours to hang out so we might as well make the best of it!

Here I am having a Cosmo at the bar:

And here's a picture of the Double (Only $2.00 more!!) I ordered for Jason:

We couldn't get on standby for 2 flights so we gave up trying. We just tried to make the best of the situation hanging out at the bar... we laughed and talked and actually had a lot of fun considering. As we waited at the bar I decided that it must be a ring because I couldn't think of any other possibilities. At one point Jason looked at me with his eyes as if to say "It's all ruined now" but I didn't let him break down. I just smiled normally and pretended that I didn't know. If this was going to happen then I wanted it to go according to plan and not have the little incident with the TSA ladies get in the way.

To be continued...

I crack under pressure

Okay here's a sneak peak at the wedding site... I just realized that probably only 4 people read this and they have already seen the pictures. :)

This is looking back towards the entry way, the walkway continues around to where the ceremony will take place. I'll be walking down that aisle in 10 months!!

All a flutter

This morning my mom, Heidi and I went out to the Vine Hill House. Coincidentally they were setting up for a 100 person wedding, same as ours. It got me so excited! I got butterflies in my stomach. I was so happy to have my mom and Heidi see it and walk through the area so now they have the image of what the wedding will be like.

Today was a typical beautiful summer morning... foggy when I woke up but cleared away to blue sky by the time we showed up around 10am. The landscaping around the whole area is beautiful green grass, huge oak trees and planted flowers everywhere. The view from the reception overlooks acres of vineyards and at this time of year the vineyards are all green. So it's so fresh and lush looking.

We couldn't hang around that long because the wedding party was just showing up to get things ready and they were looking at us like "Who the hell are these people?"

But I got a few good pictures in I can reference to when I start planning the set-up and table settings, etc.

Jason is ditching me tonight to go have fun with his friends at a camp site party. His friend Andy throws this weekend party every year out in the Clos du Bois vineyards up in Geyserville. Sleeping in the car, no bathrooms... not really my scene so Jason is off on his own. He had to work today so that's why he's going up tonight instead of last night. They camp out there, BBQ, Jason plays guitar, etc. I think about 30 people go... I went with Jason and Marc for a few hours last year and it was alright. Jason wants me to go but I told him he'd have much more fun without me. He won't have to hear me complain! ;) I'll have fun tonight by myself catching up on my programs! I'll just be sad that he won't be sleeping at home with me.

One step closer

One of the things I have been working on for the wedding is helping out Jason's parents find a house to rent while they are here for the wedding. Instead of staying at a hotel we all thought it would be more fun for them to have a house that we could all hang out at, BBQ and relax with family and friends. Well after a few months of research I think we've finally found our place. (YAY!) This makes me feel that one step closer to getting married and it feels great.

I'm attending three weddings in the next few months and I find myself not at all anxious to be getting to mine sooner than later. Of course I want to be married to Jason like right now... but I love the anticipation, the planning and the daydreaming so much I'm glad we have still 10 months to go. The first wedding we are attending is Joel and Audra's wedding on September 15th. They became engaged a week after us and more power to them they have planned their wedding within 3 months.

Then a week later we are attending my brother Ryan and Kela's wedding on September 23rd. They've been engaged for about a year now. This wedding I'm so looking forward to because I'll get to be with my whole family which doesn't happen to often.

Then about a month later I (and hopefully Jason, I'm not sure if he can get the time off) will be attending my aunt Roseanne and Chris' wedding in Tahoe. So wedding weddings weddings. We just found out too that a couple we know just got engaged the night before last and they are planning their wedding for next April.

From what a million, no make that billion people I have talked to about getting married they all have the same thing to say: "Enjoy being engaged, it will go by so quick you won't even realize and then it'll all be over, so enjoy everyday even the stressful times." OKAY! Thanks I've got it! If one more person tells me this I'm going to go all bridezilla on their asses.

Next step for Jason and I: Catering. As soon as Jason is all done with the painting we have to get down to business with deciding on the food for the wedding. We've already got the wine and beer taken care of, so the next most important thing is what we are going to serve. I'm going to be vague with our ideas because I don't want everyone to know. More excitement for our guests!!

Another step closer I feel towards the wedding is that I'm going to the Vine Hill House tomorrow, and I cross my fingers that my mom and Heidi will also be able to go too (they are both sick and I hope that they start feeling better). It seemed like ages ago that the Vine Hill manager suggested I come by on a morning before another wedding to see the set up and take pictures so I can start planning my decorations, etc. Now that time has come. And with that more decision making!

Jason painted the spare bedroom/office last week and it came out so beautiful. Tonight he is going to start on our bedroom and then the final painting of the trimming and he is done! I'm so proud of him, he has worked so hard and has done such a great job.

I try and take care of him while he works so hard, so I've been making him special dinners the nights he paints. Tonight I'm making Seared Albacore Tuna with a home-made pesto sauce and one of my "salads". Jason and Marc have said that it's the best salad they have ever had in their lives... I can't explain the ultra yummy salad you have to experience it for yourself and by saying that I'd be happy to make it for anyone.

Date night

Jason has been so busy working on the painting and we haven't had much time together so tonight we are going to go out to dinner! We go out a lot but we've had so many plans and social events lately we haven't done anything just the two of us in a while. I think we are going to go to Underwood in Graton... not only is it super close to our house but the food and ambiance is the best around. This restaurant is great too because it can be a totally casual experience or a romantic fancy dinner. I think we are going with the casual experience tonight... much cheaper! :)

After that I'm hopping that Jason will want to play guitar. He's so talented and I just love watching and listening to him play. I can literally print out song tabs and lyrics and he'll play it like he's been practicing for months.

Last night I went to that little market across the street from my mom's house... I so love that market! It's so clean, they bring in all local produce and I was happy to see that my total was so inexpensive! Much cheaper than Whole Foods.

Tomorrow morning I'm going to stop at the Farmer's Market here in Healdsburg. One of my customers shared the best goat cheese in the world with me that they got there. My new favorite desert of the moment is Figs with goat cheese and drizzled honey. Yum!

I don't think I've mentioned how much I love Target. I tried to stop at Walmart last night because it was right there on my way to my mom's. I saw the scariest looking people EVER. I really don't get it... I don't know where these people are from. I didn't feel safe. I couldn't shop there so I left. I figure I'll just go to Target next week.

Oh and bycicles do not = cars... it took me an extra 10 minutes to get to work because I had to "Share the Road" with a million Lance wantabes... um, that's all I'm going to say.

So here's the newly painted bathroom!! The picture doesn't do it justice but it's so beautiful, fresh and clean looking! Jason is the best!

Bad nitrogen tank

I'm back at work but I wish I could be at home finishing the painting and cleaning. I hate having the house in such disarray. Jason re-primed the upstairs bathroom last night, poor thing. It was so hot upstairs (even with our weird humid/raining weather) and because it took a while it was all he could do last night. I did have to go out and get some paint brushes for him and while I was at the store I got his favorite ice cream as a surprise, which when he found out he was so excited, I think he even jumped up and down. ;) Tonight we will paint the bathrooms and maybe do the trimming. Then on to the bedrooms... whew!

There's another reason I'd like to be at home and not here. The Nitrogen Tank. This tank is the scariest thing ever and it's back in the building I work in. (It was next door all last month after my request to have it moved it over there)

One day last summer I was alone here in my office (which is pretty typical, I may see the owner once or twice a month) when all of a sudden I heard this increasingly loud blast of air and screeching, piercing noise. I honestly though that a plane was crashing into the building. (Planes fly over our tasting room all the time) I jumped up, grabbed my purse, flew down the stairs and ran out of the building and straight to my car. I was shaking and so scared. While I was running out of the building I saw that it was one of the tanks here releasing air so I knew it wasn't something from outside. I called the owner right away to let him know that the building was going to blow up but he wouldn't answer, nor would the cellar master answer his cell phone. So I just waited out in the parking lot. Finally the owner showed up and he explained to me that it was the Nitrogen tank that went off. When it gets too warm it releases air from one of the valves so it won't explode. Well that's just friggin' great.

So because of my scare I will now always be frightened of this tank. It's scarred me for life. So this year the one tank hasn't been to bad, not too loud. But the new tank they just brought in will go off for an hour at a time (but not the screeching, piercing loud, just the air bursting). I came in today and saw that they had brought both tanks over from next door because we were moving wine out of barrels to be bottled. And to make matters worse they were placed right near my office.

Around 10:30 I started noticing that familiar sound and sure enough one of them was starting to get testy. I tried to ignore it for a while but I couldn't handle it so I had to leave. I just drove around Healdsburg for about 20 minutes and then went to the store to get lunch. When I got back it was still going but with less pressure. Finally it stopped. I know it's going to go off again maybe two more times today so I'll have to figure out something to do. Maybe I'll check out a winery I've never been to before (knowing other wineries and their wines are actually part of my job). I know I shouldn't be scared of it because it won't harm me, but because of my initial scare with it my mind thinks otherwise.

Oh, and I'm kind of a freak. While I was driving around today I was thinking about all the things going on this week. My mom and Dawson are going to be in D.C. this weekend so I have to go by and check on their cats. While thinking about all of this I became suddenly giddy because I realized while I was going to be on their side of town I'll be able to go to this little family owned market right across the street from their house. I'm kind of obsessed with going to the grocery store. I love it, especially small organic grocery stores. Every day I go to Whole Foods in Sebastopol even though it takes me a half an hour out of my way of going home. I make fresh salads every night so I want to buy all my produce daily. Plus I love cheese and I like to go and look at all the cheeses they have. Yeah, see I'm a freak!

I took this pic with my cell phone so that's why the image sucks. So that's the temperamental tank there in the middle of the picture and right behind it is the other one... that door leads into the kitchen/lab room and that large barrel in the back is near where the tasting bar is. So I can't even go near there, I walk way around on the other side of the building to get to the front.

Look at this tank... doesn't it look evil?




Okay so I just dared myself to get a little closer so here are the tanks if you are standing down with them... I probably just pissed them off by taking their picture.