Soon to be...

The NEW Mrs. Darrin Braun! Yup you guessed it, we are engaged. And we couldn't be happier. Darrin proposed to me on Valentine's Day 2010 out at Lapham Peak near Delafield, WI. This was a big surprise to me because we had agreed to just go and get married one day and not go through the "normal" process of starting our life as Mr. and Mrs. Braun.

So, how did he surprise me you ask. For starters around New Years this year while Jamie (Darrin's sister) and I were shopping in the Bloomington Mall, Darrin ventured out to the jewelry stores to start his search. My shopping trip was a little more successful than Darrin's, but he had started.

After coming up empty handed at the mall in Indiana, he took his sister to the Mayfair mall just down the road from our house. I was at school and thought it was nice that Darrin was taking his sister to see our mall. I never thought in a million years that he was going to be purchasing a ring. After having a bad experience with a sales lady from Zales, Darrin and Jamie ventured to Roger's and Hollands where he found what I think is the perfect ring. Not to mention, he actually had his sister pay for it because I take care of the checking account and would have asked him about his purchase back at the end of January.

Once he had the ring he had planned to take me hiking, but I was really consumed with the NARI Interior Design Contest project. After signing up to be involved with the project, I inadvertently become the leader and was spending many late nights and early mornings organizing, delegating, and preparing for this project. Not to mention, Darrin began training a lot more and we were traveling across the country to watch basketball games. So there was little time left to get out and hike.

But, I had a day off on February 14th, 2010 and Darrin was determined to make it the best day in our lives. I was up a little earlier than he was and started the coffee. About a half hour later Darrin woke up and immediately took Ginger outside. To my surprise he returned with a bouquet of roses and a card that told me how much he loved me. This alone blew my socks off simply because we don't celebrate holidays like the norm. He explained that to me that he wanted me to know that he was proud of me for working so hard on my project!

We then went out to breakfast, which was the only thing that day that I was expecting. We had decided to go out and celebrate the NARI project coming to a close and to just enjoy our time together. I remember thinking that he was extremely smiley and happy while we ate, but decided it was because we were actually spending good quality time together. This was something that took a back seat while we were both working towards other goals.

After breakfast he convinced me to venture out to Lapham Peak for a short hike up to the top of the lookout tower. Ginger was so cold right away and the breeze took my breath away, but we smiled as we looked out over the land to see Milwaukee off in the distance. We enjoyed the sun on our faces and smiled at the skiers making their way through the trails. Then, I started to get as cold as Ginger and asked Darrin if we could go.

It was at that moment that he grabbed my hand and started talking about how we moved to Milwaukee and how great the last 3 years have been....and then he got on one knee! My jaw dropped and I remember saying, "No way, there is no way! OMG! OMG!" And then as he smiled wide he asked me, "Lynn Meyer, will you marry me?"

"YES!!! YES!!! OMG YES!!!," is what I managed to squeal out while he put the ring on my finger. We hugged and kissed for a while and I expressed my complete sense of shock to him. Needless to say as I am writing this I am still in shock!!! But, I couldn't have been happier with how the day was starting. We then enjoyed the day and only told a couple of people...Jamie (Darrin's sister) and my parents. We just wanted to enjoy the day and the excitement of the new stage in our relationship.

The next day we posted on Facebook the pictures from the day to let the majority of people know we were now engaged. Now what? Well, we are just enjoying each other the same way we did before...yup not much has changed except for that piece of jewelry on my left hand! But we couldn't be happier!