I met Juan (the love of my life) at work in 2004.  I thought he was good looking but didn't bother to give him a second thought. (I was bitter due to bad relationships in my past)  As time went on we became buddies.  We had lunch together almost everyday and enjoyed each other's company.  He had become my best friend.  We had so much in common and loved to have a good time.  Juan and I had similar past experiences.  We both had children, my boy at the time was 15 yrs old and his son was 7.  Juan tried so hard to get me to go out with him but I was stubborn until six months later when we planned an afterwork get together with other co-workers.  We head to Remy lounge and he asked me if I wanted to go upstairs and have some dinner with him.  I agreed so we left our friends downstairs while we dined in the restaurant upstairs.  Juan at work is known for being...aaahhhmmmm...Frugal....lol.  So I expected to pay for my meal until he took my by surprise and said he would pay.  I laughed it off but then offered to pay for drinks at the bar.  I was sooooo nervous because I knew that he and I were attracted to eachother and so I was scared as to how the night would end.  Well, low and behold after dinner we got our drinks and also go to talking.  We both confessed how we felt for eachother and started dating from right then and there....lmao!!

Every year for our anniversary (May 6) Juan and I go to Miami to celebrate.  Last year on our 3 yr anniversay, I called my best friend and told him "I am going to propose to Juan while we are here".  He was completely in shock and talked me out of it.  All he said was "Judie, I know he loves you and I know he loves you enough to marry you so don't take that moment away from him".  I have to admit, I was a bit bummed because I was so ready to make that move and felt like I was going to burst if I didn't ask but I decided to just chill...lol. 

My birthday is in July so we usually have a BBQ in a park.  We invited all our friends and family headed to the park.  After laying out for a while and having water balloon fights, we both decided to change into dry clothes and get ready to just relax and enjoy the rest of the afternoon chatting up with friends.  As I was sitting next to some friends a friend of ours came over and asked if I can help him with something by the grill.  As I walked over with him, Juan came over and said that he needed to ask me something, when I turned around to let my friend know that I would return, he was gone so I turned around to Juan and he was holding these 3 stones that I gave him when we started dating.  He asked me "Babe, do you remember when you gave these to me and you told me that these stones represented our love for each other?", I said "uh-huh" (with my mouth full of potato salad :-)) then he said "well now I have this to give to you as my declaration of love and want to know if you want to spend the rest of your life with me?" (as he whipped out the box and ring).  That's when I realized what he had just done, so I threw my potato salad on the table and started crying.  I looked at him and said "Yes, yes, yes!". We both cried and let me tell you, I never saw it coming.  He did a great job at hiding it.  He also didn't tell anyone when he was going to do it so it was a surprise for everyone there also. Talk about a great birthday...unforgettable!!!

Update (2/8/10):

It's official!!!  We will be getting married on April 23, 2011!!  We booked our venue yesterday and now it has become that much more real.  I have once again started to do my research to figure out what I might want.  I don't have a clue of what color theme I want but I do know that we both want our wedding to represent our love for each other.  We want it to be romantic and fun!! 

I will keep you all posted on my progress.  There is also alot of DIY stuff that I want to do so I will be reaching out to my dear brides for some suggestions!!  Stayed tuned!

Here are some pics of my ring!  I just got a new camera so I am trying it out!  (please excuse my dusty figurine...lol)

I am learning how to create these so I will post them as they come:

We had the lovely pleasure of working with Tina Sbrigato for our E-Pics!!  She is a web designer and photographer who is building her wedding portfolio.  Although it was a cloudy and hazy day, they turned out great.  We love our pics!!! Thank you Tina!

You can see her work here: http://www.fahrenheitnyc.com/

We have officially booked Russo's on the Bay as our location!!  We are super excited and cannot wait for the bridal shows and tastings :-) 

Russo's on The Bay