Jessica and Jason met nine years ago in art class at Saugus High School. Jessica was a timid freshman cheerleader and Jason was a macho varsity football player. Jason sat in front of Jessica (thank goodness for alphabetical order) and one day got the guts to turn around and ask her a now famous question about a class assignment:

"Do we fold our paper hamburger or hot dog style?"

The rest is history.

It's funny really that perhaps the two most important questions that Jason ever asked Jessica are so different. The "hamburger or hot dog" question is really where the story began, but where it began to get more serious was of course with THE QUESTION. So, here's how it went down...

There is a lot of pressure on guys to make the perfect proposal. How do you top proposing at the top of the Eiffel Tower, or on a beach with rose petals scattered about and a small orchestra playing love songs? For me, the answer was easy. Don't try to top it. Go from the heart, make it meaningful, and for Jess' sake, make it cheesy. So, after much thought, (and picking up the ring) I took Jess out for a day to ourselves. That was a rare thing for the two of us at the time, because I was starting out in my career and living in Santa Clarita with my parents, and Jessica was preparing to wrap up her undergraduate studies at UCLA. So I picked her up at her apartment in Westwood, and we left for Malibu.

Rather than take Jessica to a fancy restaurant on the beach, I took her to one of our favorite stops on PCH, Neptune's Net. If you know Neptune's Net, you know that on an average weekend, Jess and I wouldn't really fit in. We rolled up in my little Honda Civic, and parked amidst literally hundreds of motorcycles. We ordered food, and walked to one of the picnic tables on a bluff next to the restaurant, waiting for our number to be called. This was the place I intended to propose. It really is beautiful, overlooking the beach, and the weather couldn't have been better. As we waited for our food to be ready, a large crowd of bikers began to sit at all of the picnic tables around us, and they were playing music and being pretty loud. We soon noticed a group of guys lighting the biggest joint i've ever seen. Any other weekend, this wouldn't have bothered us. It's kind of par for the course at Neptune's Net, but it definitely ruined my plans for that day. Our number was called, and I went to get our lunch.

When I picked up our food at the counter, I noticed a little rack with postcards. One in particular caught my eye, and I instantly revised my proposal plan (if you can call it a plan.) It was a picture of a sandy beach, that someone had carved out "I (heart) you" in the sand. I quickly bought it, turned it over, and scrawled "Will You Marry Me?" on the back. I stuffed it in my pocket, next to the ring, and walked back to the table, where we ate an awesome lunch! After finishing, I asked Jess if she wanted to cross the street and check out the beach. I could always propose there, I supposed. When we got to the beach, I asked a couple of strangers to take our picture with Neptune's Net in the back. That was risky, as I don't like taking pictures. Jess had to suspect something was up, but after walking from the beach back to my car, I'm sure any suspicions disappeared.

We sat down in my car, and I asked Jessie what she wanted to do next. It was early afternoon, and we didn't really have a plan besides just being together. We decided to head down the coast for a few miles. Before starting the car, I told Jess that I had bought her a gift at the restaurant. I pulled out the postcard and gave it to her. She loved it. As I told her to turn it over and read the back, I stealthily pulled the ring out of my pocket. She turned over the card, and read my proposal. She turned to look at me, with a totally shocked look on her face, and that's when I presented the ring to her. She was speechless, so I asked, "Well? Will you?" Thankfully she said yes, and began welling up with tears. We drove back to Jessica's parents house, (the only part of the day that was preplanned) where we celebrated our engagement with our families.