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yesterday, on November 17, 2006, i proposed to katie and she said yes! you should see a slideshow above showing some pictures of yesterday’s events. (if you can’t see it, then you need to get Flash)

here’s how it all went down. in the past couple of months we had discussed getting engaged given everything that was going on in our lives. katie and i went ring shopping starting several weeks ago once we agreed that she would have input on what the ring would look like but i would get to give it to her how and when i wanted to. we went to at least a dozen shops and none of them had anything she really liked but it helped rule out what she didn’t like. eventually, she was clear on what she wanted: no diamonds (she was concerned about conflict diamonds, blood diamonds, etc), blue sapphires, oval shape, white gold. i took care of the rest, getting her approval along the way with the color of the stones i chose and roughly the type of setting she would like. i used some connections i had to source the sapphires and setting through a lapidary and a custom jeweler, respectively. the type of ring i put together just can’t be purchased given the type of setting and style we were looking for.
our jeweler indicated that there were two routes for getting the setting done:

• make a wax model of the ring, approve it and then have it cast
• choose a pre-made setting that will accommodate the size of the stones

we leaned toward the first option, given how difficult it had been through other jewelers to find a pre-made setting that would accommodate the sapphires i had selected. i got a call later from the jeweler indicating he had been able to source a pre-made setting, which was excellent news because it also meant i could get the ring sooner. i picked up the finished ring on thursday and everything looked great. i had thought about waiting until thanksgiving to do something, but once i had it in my hands i realized i just couldn’t wait; i wanted to give it to her as soon as i could. this set my devious scheming in motion.

i convinced katie to meet me in san francisco yesterday to take a look at a wax model. i indicated that given how late it was in the month, it was possible the ring would not be completed before i had to leave for india. we met at the san francisco center, the huge new shopping mall off of market. given how busy her schedule was, getting her to meet me in SF to quickly check out this ring was the only ruse that wouldn’t have made her too suspicious. on the 4th floor, there is a restaurant called the straits restaurant. katie and i had our very first date at straits, over four and a half years ago. i thought it would be nice to go back to the beginning.

i picked out a bench just outside the restaurant and underneath this beautiful dome and waited for her to arrive. when she finally showed up, i told her that i had to come clean since i wasn’t honest with her about having to get the ring approved. first i just told her that since she had been so busy with school, i just wanted an excuse to get her out of berkeley to spend some quality time together. she was a little shocked and frustrated but could understand where i was coming from. then i got down on my knees and proposed. she said yes and i slipped the ring on her finger. we went over to straits to have some lunch and we talked about what it all felt like. i’m very happy to say i completely surprised her in spite of her knowing that it was coming soon.

after lunch, we sat down at a bench outside the restaurant and i gave her a scrapbook i had spent all week putting together for her. it has a bunch of photos, movie and concert ticket stubs, flight ticket stubs and letters we shared through our years of dating. i have a newfound respect for people that are arts and crafts-y that do these sorts of things. it was so incredibly time consuming to sort everything out, lay it out and then get it glued into the scrapbook. after i was done though, i felt it was all worth the time and katie really liked it.

whoohoo, that’s all for now! =)