Jim's Big Day!

So, here is how it happened:
Many weeks ago I started wondering if it was time to talk to 'That Cheryl Girl' about 'The M-Word'. It wasn't a matter if I thought it was right, It was only a matter if She would agree with me. Seriously how bad would that suck if I tried to surprise her and the answer was 'uh... I don't know'!

Then a week or two after that (and only a few weeks back from now) we were hanging out at her place; I think it was July 4th now that I think about it. But there were many things leading up to this of course, but while watching TV together in the last two weeks in particular there were many references to Marriage, Rings, Engagements, Honeymoons and things of that nature. I didn't mind hearing those words at that time so I didn't think anything about it, BUT right after I heard those words on the television I swear that I could hear the gears turning in her head (and the room got even more silent and tense). So that made me think, "well if she hears those words and then the gears turn in her head, maybe my gears should be turning in my head when I hear those words too". So I started to think about it more, until eventually I started telling myself that I needed to work up the courage to talk about those sorts of 'things' with her. And eventually by... July 4th I believe, I finally was giddy enough to bring it up. But only after she kept prying with questions as to why I was giggling so much. I think I started with something like this: "So Cheryl, how's it going". "Oh, thats good". "So in general, what do you think about...Marriage?". "Do you like weddings, n' stuff like that?". Each question was separated by at least 1 full minute of giggling at least. But the hard part for me was how she refused to answer me directly! No, I'm not kidding at all. Its like she was trying to get me to speak in complete sentences or something! And because I was flustered, I would giggle more, cause it was kind of funny. So I finally came out and asked if she liked me enough to think about marring me. So she's like; "Sure, sounds good". So then I in a super nervous way am like, "uh, thats a Yes, right?" And she responded in the affirmative, then shook hands on it.

Of course we decided not to tell all of you until I made it official with a ring. (Sorry, I'm just secretive like that). So on Saturday July 12th we arranged to go to Downtown LA to the Jewelry District and go Ring shopping. It was pretty overwhelming. So many stores, and so many options, and every vendor is convinced that I'd only be able to find the best designs, and best deals in their shop. After shop-hopping all day we had only found three possible options. So we sat in the shade, discussed the options, then I think I slowly convinced her that there was only One option available (I only fell in love with one of them [but was still open to her ideas]). So we decided and went with ring that we both had liked.

[On July 15th Cheryl reminded me that I still needed to talk to her Dad. I apparently completly forgot about that sort of thing, so I told her that I would prepare my speach for the next night, Wednesday the 16th. So on Wednesday night Cheryl called and got her dad on the phone, then told him that 'there's someone here that wants to talk to you'. And that someone was ME. So I formally asked his permission, and he agreed to it. ]

Ten days later, Wednesday July 23rd, the ring was ready to be picked up. But not really. First off we chose which cut of Diamond we wanted (because we couldn't decided at the store, they offered to show us two different cuts, then we could choose) then after realizing that it was very difficult to take the ring off her finger, we had them resize the ring to fit her finger without choking it. But that just meant we had to wait another day to actually get the ring. Luckily I called the Jeweler and asked of its status, so I was warned of this delay so I stopped by the store and purchased a few Ring-Pop's to take the real one's place.

But in anticipating the ring being finished on that Wednesday, I had made arrangements at the restaurant at the top of the Bonaventure hotel, at their New York Steakhouse called 'L.A. Prime'. Its super fancy, and it's on the 35th floor. Its a circular building with the elevators on the outside of the building! (Which means I almost fainted when I glanced out the windows. Going up wasn't that bad with a bunch of people, but oh the way down, when the doors opened, and you looked out and saw that we were 35 floors up, It was hard to get on the elevator and I wanted to ask where the stairs were. But I decided that I needed to brave my fears, so I got on, and just stuck my nose into the doors, and held as tight to the handrail as I could.) But anyway, it was a really cool place to go. They put us in a booth that had a great view up toward the north and the hills and Dodger Stadium. I was impressed with the amount of people they had working there too. There was at least 2-3 servers for every guest! My water was never more than half empty, and the managers kept stopping by to make sure we liked it there too. Mark, the waiter, was very nice. He brought us weird 'fancy' snacks of Eggplant topped with raw tuna flown in from Mexico that morning, again topped with succulent chunks of non-salmonella tomatoes, and crisp green Watercress sprinkled over the top, all baked together lightly with a radiant Parmesan cheese. Cheryl made me try part of one, and it wasn't that bad (cause I couldn't taste the fish).

After we ordered I found the time to talk with her, and eventually 'Popped the Question'. And YES, it was very 'romantic'.

When the food came we were even more in awe. The Menu was clipped into a metal binder to tell you the seriousness of the food there. They rolled it out on a wheeled-waiter, and as it pulled up to our table it was like the Harry Potter train pulling into Hogwarts. I got the Endangered Australian Lobster which was flown in that morning. It was amazing. I don't have lobster that often, but this was very enjoyable to eat. They also gave me a gravy-boat full of butter sauce to douse it in. We also got side dishes of Potato au graten, and Sweet Creamed corn. They were also very delectable. So much so that I had four helpings. Cheryl got the Fillet Mignon. I had never actually seen it before, only mis-pronounced the name of it, but it was tremendously good too. I sampled a small very pink slice if it, with her permission of course, and it was almost like a meat flavored bread. If all steak was like that I might like steak. The only sad part of the evening was the fact that we didn't have room for dessert.

Then we went home and started calling people. I think I called my whole family and three other people in the same amount of time that she called two. I'm not saying I'm better, I'm just saying that if you want more 'details' you'll want to talk to her, cause I'm not always into that I guess.

In calling family and friends, it was funny cause most people I told didn't believe me. Its just how I act when I ate a 14 pound lobster, and have barley survived an ultra hot day in a Tie no less. Jessica did scream the loudest. Jeff was the most skeptical, and Kami was the most nonchalant (not in a bad way). Tiffany's response was the most formal, and Joe showed the most 'concern'. But I must say that I thought Kristen's response was the most enjoyable to me, cause as soon as I told her she dropped the box and backpack in her hands, donned her new cowboy hat, and started dancing around in the street, then said 'its about damn time'.

So there you have it, in a nutshell, the True story.