Tony & me, celebrating our engagement

On December 29, 2013 at sunset in Lake Tahoe, my boyfriend/best friend/love of my life proposed to me and became my fiancé.  And because I’m a writer, and you’re supposed to write what you know, I decided to start a blog about our engagement (but mostly just so I can call my feverish wedding obsession “work,” because I’m writing about it! And then maybe Hollywood will buy my life, make it a movie, and I can dedicate the rest of my days to rescuing dogs and eating frosting!)

IMPORTANT FACTS BEFORE WE GET TO THE GOOD SHIT

• I met Tony writing and performing together in the Sunday Company at the Groundlings in Los Angeles. He looks like he could be Dolph Lundgren’s kid. Total 80’s movie bad guy. He can also do the splits. (I cannot.)
• His niece and nephew are his favorite people in the world, his most beloved pastime is watching internet videos of baby animals, and he calls my mom just to chat.
• He used to be a Division 1 lacrosse player at the Virginia Military Institute. Then he became a janitor. Now he’s an insanely hilarious actor-writer.
• We’ve been together for nearly three years, and have two rescue mutts we consider to be our children.        
                                 Tippi lounges on the Lucy couch, brought to you by Ikea.
• He brings me a latte in bed every morning.

THE GOOD SHIT

We spent Christmas with my family in northern California, where Tony and I spent the entirety of our vacation in the matching pajamas my mom gave us, painting our dogs’ toenails with the doggie nail polish he gave me.  Because the holiday came and went without a proposal, I thought it was cool to stop showering, and just relax and enjoy myself.

Do you see the pure joy on our faces? We are terrible people.

On December 28th, we all decided to drive up to my parents’ cabin in Lake Tahoe to celebrate my mom’s birthday.  Tony offered to leave early to pick up a cake from her fave Tahoe bakery before they closed for the day. I offered to get ready super fast (ie go another day without bathing) so I could go with him. He declined and took my car, and I drove up with my brother and his foster dog, who craps herself if you make eye contact. I was not happy.

Two hours after he left, Tony called. In an attempt to “drop the trash off” (what trash?! you JUST got to Tahoe!) at our neighbor’s dumpster (again, what?), he slid on black ice and crashed my car into a tree. I was pissed.

The next day, our neighbors (owner of said dumpster, and also my parents’ best friends) called to give us the heads up that there was a bald eagle flying around the lake. They thought it’d be fun to go look for its nest. Tony thought that sounded lame and didn’t want to go, but I decided he owed me for banging up my car and would go if I wanted to go. So we went.

We walked along the beach for 30 minutes without Tony saying a word.  Like the cliché of a female I am, I asked, “What are you thinking about?”  He replied “My mom. How sad she must be that we didn’t spend the holidays with her.”  That was ALL HE SAID FOR 30 MINUTES. (Something he COULD have said, just to make conversation: “Hey babe, when was the last time you showered? Three days?” Because the answer would be yes.)

So I focused on looking for the damn bird in hopes of snagging some #endangered Instagram bragging rights, when Tony suddenly stopped.  And he had the wildest look on his face… It was all red, and he was kind of smiling and crying at the same time, and my female brain started misfiring with the excitement of IT’S HAPPENING. RIGHT NOW. THE MOMENT YOU’VE BEEN DREAMING OF YOUR WHOLE LIFE, AND ESPECIALLY SINCE YOU MET TONY. WHY DIDN’T YOU TAKE A F***ING SHOWER?

And then I looked down, and he was standing by a heart made out of rose petals. And I started crying and laughing, and he started crying and laughing, and gave the sweetest speech, and dropped down on one knee and asked me to marry him and I said yes, and it all happened so fast I made him get on his knee and say it again just so I could hear it one more time.  It was perfect.

And then I made him reenact it AGAIN so I could have photographic evidence.

And then it got even more perfect, when he led me back to my parents’ best friends’ house, the most beautiful cabin on the lake, where I spent summers as a kid… While we were around the corner, my dad’s friend had lit a fire in their outdoor fireplace, and there were rose petals everywhere, and a bottle of champagne, and a red velvet cake (that I ate all by myself over the next two days. We don’t need to talk about that.)  Tony wasn’t dropping the trash off when he crashed my car! He was orchestrating the best proposal of all time! He knew I’d want to try to scout that eagle!

We celebrated, and then everyone else joined us and we celebrated some more. I’m a Type-A perfectionist (Tracy Flick from Election is my spirit animal), but I was so happy I didn’t even care (that much) that I had no make-up on and my hair smelled. I drank a bottle of champagne by myself, and then finally took a shower. It was the best day of my life.

I feel like I won the life lottery. My favorite person proposed to me in my favorite place in the world, at the house where all my favorite childhood memories took place, and now we’re planning our wedding there. This blog is going to be about everything that happens between now and then. I am so excited.