Engaged on 08.08.08 at the Botanical Gardens in Birmingham, AL

Walking up to the Gardens we see this giant man-eating spider guarding the front gates. If Julie gets any closer he might gnaw her finger off and ruin the surprise.

Some of the plants and flowers I snapped pics of along the way. It was a beautiful day, blue skies with temperatures in the 80s and a nice breeze. It felt like an early fall day and I couldn't have asked for better.

Walking around the Gardens I'm thinking in my head when and where my moment will arrive. Around 6:15pm I see this nice rock formation up a little hill in the wildflower section and it has a nice raised cul-de-sac up some steps. In my stomach I felt this was going to be our spot so I mention to Julie that we should walk up there and check it out.

There were some nice plants and trees along w/ a stone bench. Julie sees a plant and turns around to check it out. It's now or never for me. So I reach in the front change pocket of my jeans to get the ring and I get down on one knee. Of course Julie decides this is the most interesting plant in the world and literally reads the description and looks at it for 1-2 minutes. I'm sitting there on one knee with Julie's cute booty at eye level, trying to stop from laughing and wondering if people are watching this or if she's ever going to turn around. Or has she seen me and doesn't want to!

Julie finally turns around and has a look of shock and surprise on her face. Once she has composed herself and her giggling has somewhat subsided (I set the over/under for the number of times she spontaneously giggled and covered her mouth with her hands over the course of the night at 27) I took her hand and told her all of the reasons that I love her and why I want to marry her. She immediately said yes and made me the happiest I have ever felt. It was an emotional and wonderful experience for us and it was everything I had wanted it to be.

Here are some pictures of Julie showing off her ring afterwards...



Here's a closeup of the ring...

So we went back to my apartment to change clothes and make a few phone calls before our reservations at Highlands Bar & Grill that night. Our waiter, Andrew, was really great and he was the first person we were able to tell face to face. After we sat down he asked how we were doing and Julie exclaimed, "We just got engaged!" It was a really great moment and he promptly brought us out a couple of complimentary glasses of champagne. Dinner at Highlands was terrific as always. Julie had their hanger steak and I had the venison (Julie always orders better than me and tonight was no exception). Mine was good but Julie's was great. Andrew brought us out some dessert wine w/ our ice cream and cake and it was delicious.

After dinner we went back to my apartment and made phone calls to friends. Here are some pics of Julie talking to her friends:

Before dinner talking to her sister, Rebecca...

After dinner talking to her friend, Emily...

Talking to my Mom...

We (90% me of course) finished off the bottle of champagne that my jeweler, Jared Nadler at Levy's (shameless plug), gave us and called it a night. Until next time...