Post-Proposal Bliss

After Mr. Coach got down on one knee and I said "Yes!", we chose to slow things down a bit and enjoy our first day as an engaged couple. Mr. Coach's parents knew he was going to ask me to marry him, and I’m sure they were expecting a "confirmation" phone call sooner than we gave them (sorry y’all :) ) but our immediate thoughts weren’t to call everyone and share the news just yet. Of course, we had plans to call our families and close friends later that evening, but in those first few hours after the proposal we made the time all about our relationship and us. We were able to soak it all in, and really enjoy the fact that we were engaged!

Mr. Coach and I spent around an hour and a half enjoying the relaxing atmosphere of the spa, as well as the fruit and champagne they provided for us.

When we finally decided we were getting hungry, we left the spa and headed to lunch. But not before a few more pictures! (Mr. Coach is seriously SO patient with me, y'all)

We ate some tasty Italian food at a place on the riverwalk called Michelino's. Usually we get Mexican food on the river so this was a nice change for lunch. The lasagna we had was really good! That's saying a lot, because we're pretty picky about our Italian food :)

After lunch, we got ice cream at the Haagen Dazs on the river and enjoyed the view from the little balcony outside. 

Mr. Coach ate his a little too quickly before I could snap a picture ;)

After all of our snacking was done, we decided to take one of the river boat tours. We've done one before, but it was such a nice day outside and something about taking the tour with my fiance just sounded like so much fun :) I'm really glad we did it - it ended up being one of my favorite parts of the afternoon.

After the river tour, we decided to head back to the hotel and call our families. Getting to talk to them and share our excitement was certainly another highlight of the day. Everyone was thrilled for us, and nobody really seemed to be too surprised :)

That night, Mr. Coach took me to dinner at Chart House in the Tower of the Americas and we got to enjoy the spectacular view while we ate. It was a really wonderful ending to our long and exciting day, and the view of the city was spectacular.

The Tower of the Americas 

Looking back, I am so glad we made the decision to make the day about us as a couple. From what I’ve gathered from others and already experienced, the months between engagement and the wedding are very exciting, but also extremely busy.

Don’t get me wrong, I was SO excited to share the news with family, friends, and eventually Facebook, but almost immediately after we spilled the beans numerous people starting asking me questions like when and where the wedding will take place. I believe if Mr. Coach and I had not taken that time to ourselves and had just jumped right in to calling and texting everyone we knew, we probably would’ve regretted it. Having that time to celebrate with just each other (and of course gawk at my new ring!) was so special to me and it turned out to be a lot of what I remember about the day.

Did any of you wait a while to share the news of your engagement with friends any family? 

A Sweet Surprise at the Spa

Ohh, the proposal.

My sweet boy did some wonderful planning, I know that for sure. He's always been great and surprising me, and this was no exception. Mr. Coach and I had planned a little trip to San Antonio over my fall break from school to celebrate my 21st birthday as well as three years of dating. Because we were celebrating multiple other events, a wedding proposal (honestly!) never crossed my mind. We took a very similar trip the year before, and on that trip we each had a wonderful massage at a very nice spa right on the riverwalk. So, when planning this particular trip, we decided the massage was definitely something we’d want to do again, and Mr. Coach set up an appointment. This was the extent of my knowledge of the plans for our weekend. 

On Friday, October 14^th, we had a yummy breakfast at our hotel, and then headed to our massage appointment a little early. We both really like to relax and take advantage of the steam room and hot tub when we’re at the spa (I know this makes us sound super pampered and indulgent, but we really just like to make the most of it!) 

Image via Mokara Spas

We got to the spa and went our separate ways into the locker rooms where I got into my comfy robe and spent some time reading a magazine. After the massage, this particular spa has this wonderful relaxation room where you can go and sit in very large & comfy chaise lounges, read a magazine and eat grapes, or just close your eyes and reminisce on the wonderful massage you just had. Ryan and I had spent time a good bit of time here last year after our massage. Because we had talked about how we were really looking forward to it just days before this appointment, of course I assumed we would be going straight into the room to relax after our massages. 


As we’re walking down the hall toward the relaxation room, Mr. Coach stops me and tells me he would rather go back to his locker room and take a shower before going to the relaxation room. He said the massage oil was irritating his skin and he just wanted to be able to rinse off, and enjoy our relaxation time after. (Yes, a lightbulb probably should've gone off. No, it didn't.)  Of course I just think this is the silliest thing ever because we’ve already spent time apart, and now I just want to relax together. I want to go straight to that comfy chair, have someone bring me fruit and champagne and let the time waste away. 


But no, the boyfriend wants to go take a shower first.


I reluctantly agreed, because I knew I wouldn’t be able to relax if he wasn’t relaxed too. We each go back to our locker rooms where I try not to rush too quickly and lose my “chill” while still getting back to the relaxation room as quick as possible. 


Once I make it back out of the locker room, Mr. Coach is still taking his shower. One of the nice staff members escorts me to the relaxation room where I can (attempt to) rest and wait for him. Five minutes later or so, Mr. Coach shows up, and immediately apologizes for wanting to shower and asks me to stand up and give him a hug so he can show me he’s sorry for making me wait. Yes, my boyfriend is very sweet, and I love his hugs, but at this point I’m thinking, Really? After all this you’re going to make me stand up and lose my chill again? Don't I look mightyyy comfy just sitting here? But again, I agreed - mostly because he wasn’t sitting down so I had to give in. I stood up, gave him a hug like he asked, and as I’m wrapping my arms around him I feel him reach behind his back. It all started happening very fast at this point, but I noticed Mr. Coach was shaking and that’s when it started to click. 

He started speaking at this point, some of the most romantic words I’ve ever heard, and I did my best to listen and take it all in – which was actually more difficult that I thought it would be! 

Ignore the wet hair and lack of makeup - I was straight out of  the shower :)

It was so overwhelming! My sweet boy ended his speech by asking me to be his bride and marry him. (Um, Yes! YES YES YES.) I helped him find the right correct hand and finger – he was nervous, can you blame him? – and then I noticed another man off to the side that had been taking pictures the whole time. Like I said, my boy did some planning. It turns out that everyone, and I mean everyone, at the spa was in on the whole thing. All of the ladies had been around the corner listening and came to congratulate us with tears in their eyes. Mr. Coach had not gone to take a shower, but actually RAN back to our hotel to get the camera so one of the staff members could photograph the entire proposal. It was absolutely perfect, and absolutely “us” which is what I love about it so much. At that point, relaxing was pretty much out of the question because I was so excited, but I'm not complaining!

I know all of you lovely ladies have some great proposal stories, so let's hear them! Anyone else spend the majority of the time thinking your fiance was losing their mind, when really they were just planning out the perfect moment? ;)

The Blogging Begins!

The idea of starting a blog has pretty much consumed my thoughts over the last few months. I already have numerous blogs that I enjoy following, which take up the majority of the time I spend on my computer, and of course the boyfriend fiancé (!!!) likes to tease me about all of them. But despite how much time I devote to reading others’ blogs or websites, I’ve been procrastinating actually starting my own for a while now. I kept telling myself I didn’t have anything interesting enough to document that anyone would actually enjoy reading, or I didn’t have a certain subject, like DIY or cooking, that I could stick with and elaborate on. (Looking back, I spent so much time thinking about what I could blog about, I probably should’ve just started one and devoted all of that time to writing!) Well, that has certainly changed because this past weekend, Ryan, my sweet & wonderful boyfriend-turned-fiancé got down on one knee to pop the question, and I said yes! 

I’m sure that is of no surprise to anyone who is reading this post :)

So, I finally convinced myself that now was the perfect opportunity to start documenting what I’m expecting to be very exciting events in my life. I’m thrilled for you all (okay, probably more like one or two of you – hey mom!) to read about my experiences as I enjoy this new phase in my life, and begin to plan a wedding, but I’m also really glad I’m starting this blog at the beginning of this journey so that I will have all the experiences to look back on at the end of the months to come. Feedback is always appreciated, especially from those of you who have insight and past experience with the exciting world of weddings! Thanks for reading!