The meeting through the proposal

Where did we leave off....ahhhh yes, David graduated UCF and Crystal was going to UCF football games.  This should be pretty straightforward.  I mean, how could they not meet, it's only the second largest university in the country...everyone knows everyone...OK, to the story. We're up to somewhere during football season in 2006 at this point. (Note: Story told from David's point of view from this point on)

The meeting

The Day we Officially Met

I didn't always go to all UCF football games.  In fact, I only went to a handful of them while going to school there.  As fate would have it though, I ran into Karen, a friend that I met years ago prior to attending UCF and she introduced me to a bunch of her friends who she tailgated with for UCF football games.So, for all of us who have been scratching our heads, KK is the link between me and this awesome group of people.  Once I fooled them into thinking I was cool enough to hang out with them regularly football season hit and I went to every game with my new group of friends.  At the time, the games were played at the Florida Citrus Bowl.  Although this was a drive it was a pretty fun place to watch a pretty horrible season of UCF football (we were 4-8 that season...cringe).  We tailgated in the alumni lot which was a gated grass practice field near the stadium.  I will always remember this field and that year, because that was where I met the most beautiful person in the world.  We were playing southern Mississippi and we got there at the crack of dawn as we always did.  About halfway through the festivities of tailgating I saw a girl who I had never met before but seemed to know these new friends of mine.  I finally made the move to talk to her and although I'd love to say I was all suave and swept her off her feet I probably said something like "Hey, how you doin?'" (think Joey from friends...you know the episode).  Whatever it was that I said, it didn't quite work because I found out later that SHE FORGOT MY NAME!!  How do you forget the name DAVID JONES (hey hey we're the monkeys...Davey Jones' locker...most generic name in America...etc. etc.).  Come to think of it though I was likely so nervous that I may have forgotten to tell her my name.  Well, we all hung out that day and went to the game and went our separate ways.  

The meeting (take 2)

The Night of Our Last First Kiss

Weeks later we were playing Rice University (spoiler alert, we lost that game too).  As always, got there at the crack of dawn to begin our tailgating festivities.  Crystal and her friend Sarah (introduced in the about us section) were at this game early (because Aaron and I picked them up) and I distinctly remember having to reintroduce myself and her trying to complete a goal of filling up my cameras memory with pictures (she didn't realize that it held thousands of pictures).  We played games together, talked, and got to know each other that day.  After heading to the game and taking our usual beating a small group of four of us decided to go out (me, Crystal, Aaron (Dawson), and Sarah).  Since we didn't want to go home we decided to go to Outback (fancy, I know) all sweaty from the game and then headed over to Wall Street and as nights go with our group, we ended up at The Lodge.  Now, for those of you that haven't had the pleasure of going to the lodge I'll try to paint a picture for you.  Think of an old hunting lodge...from the 80s.  I mean really go there, deer/moose heads on the wall, pictures of random wildlife hanging around, a fireplace, deer horn chandelier...the whole 9 yards.  Now, think eclectic, whatever weird tacky stuff that you can think of, it's used as decoration.  I mean really tacky, think pink yard flamingos.  At the time it was around Halloween so there were lights strung up (both Christmas and Halloween), Christmas stockings hung at random locations, and big inflatable pumpkins (the ones you decorate your yard with) somehow attached to the wall (yes hung on a vertical surface). This bar plays one type of music, and that is 80's music.  The same set, every night, and everyone knows the words (to the chorus) of every song (da da da da da da da...DON'T STOP BELIEVING....HOLD ON TO THAT FEE-EEELING).  In this setting we had an awesome time, danced on the couches and tables that were there and sang some 80's music and this is when it happened, the last first kiss I would ever have...standing on a couch, singing 80's music, in a lodge decorated by those weird neighbors that everyone hates.  Even though it may not sound like it...it was perfect and I'll be honest, I was a bit nervous after that.  Anyway, our merry band of four left that location and headed out to get some late night food.  One thing led to another and we ended up having a little picnic in a vacant apartment in the apartment complex that Crystal lived in at the time (until this point Aaron and Sarah were the only other ones that knew about this adventure).  This is where I met Babbs, Crystal's English Bulldog, and who could not love an overweight FEMALE English bully that humps every new person she meets.  After our little picnic Aaron and I left and headed home.

Becoming an 'Item'

I Should Bathe More Often

After the awesome time I had with Crystal and the time I spent getting to know her I couldn't wait to see her again.  At the time I was slammed with work and didn't have time for anything during the week but Crystal and I talked and got to know each other a little better.  The next time I would see her was the next weekend for Halloween.  Our friend Shaun was having a party at his house and I talked Crystal and Sarah into coming (they were likely coming anyway but I do like to act like I'm persuasive).  I got my costume on Friday, the day of the party and went over to catch up with some friends and get dressed for this shindig.  My primary costume for that year was a photographer.  A pretty easy getup but I bought an awesome camera to go with it.  After getting all dressed up we headed over to the party and I didn't know if Crystal was there or not.  Again, I was slightly nervous because at this point I really liked her.  It was such a sigh of relief when I got there and she ran up and hugged me.  I'm not sure how big the smile on my face was but I'm sure it was noticeable.  She was dressed as Alice (you know, from Wonderland).  We had a great time at the party.  In fact, late in the evening I was tackled into the pool that was outside (now you see why I said primary costume above) and ruined 2 cameras and my cell phone but I wasn't slightly upset about it.  I was having too great of a time w/ Crystal.  Not long after taking a swim we all decided to leave, went to get some food and headed home.  After dropping Sarah and Crystal off, Crystal and I stayed up and talked, and although I don't remember what about, I do remember thinking that this was the most amazing girl I've ever met.

The next day I got dressed up (as a bum this time because the other costume was ruined) and picked up the most amazing girl ever (who was dressed up as Alice because she's cool enough to only wear one costume).  We went downtown and hung out with all of our friends and what seems like half of Orlando prior to ending up at...you guessed it, the Lodge.  Another one of the best days of my life.  

Our First Date

Although we've been hanging out a lot we hadn't had the pleasure of formally going on a date.  So, where do I decide to surprise her with a trip to see in concert?  You may have guessed it, Charlie Daniels...at a fair.  Just to digress a bit, I don't generally like country music (I know gasp and cutting of the eyes from my family reading this) but I have always liked Charlie Daniels.  I'm pretty sure it has something to do with him reminding me of my grandfather.  So, I set this awesome surprise date up and when we get there I have no idea why I'm shocked that we stand out like a sore thumb.  I think we primarily stood out because we were the only people that you could easily see since EVERYONE ELSE WAS CAMOUFLAGED.  Picture me with a jacket and dress shoes on and Crystal dressed in a bright shirt standing in a mob of hundreds of camouflaged people watching Charlie Daniels make a fiddle smoke (literally).  That's right, it was the most awesome first date EVER.  We rode the ferris wheel together, I beat Crystal at a slide race, and Crystal got to see a 'chicken with pants' for the first time.  She loved that and every time she smiled or laughed about it I couldn't help but smile too.  It was that night that I knew that I loved her and she was 'the one' for me.   

The 'Proposal'

We're going to skip ahead a bit to the part that you've all likely been reading to find.  From the start I knew Crystal was the perfect girl for me.  Because of that I wanted to find a special way to ask her to...be my girlfriend.  It was a cold November night and I told Crystal that I had a surprise for her.  We drove to the Altamonte Mall.  I'm thinking that she was pretty excited (I mean, there is a Coach there you know) because she kept asking me what the surprise was.  I didn't tell until we were standing in the middle of Build-A-Bear.  She was going to get the opportunity that we didn't have when we were kids (yes I just used a 'back when we were kids you didn't choose what your bear looked like' line), to build her own bear.  We chose a golden medium sized bear and began the process of bringing him 'to life'.  We waited in lines with all of the 5 to 10 year olds in order to stuff him and find some clothes for him to rock.  He was 16 inches tall, 15 ounces and named Cameron. When we were all done and ready to go I slipped in a message that asked her to be my girlfriend into the tag that was used to hold cards.  I can't exactly remember the words I used but maybe I asked if she wanted to 'go steady' or used the circle yes or no approach because I remember her laughing when she read it.  This is a formality that I've never done in my life...ever, and when I did, I was laughed at...sigh.  Regardless, I thought it was important to do for someone that I knew was the most special person I've ever met.  I wanted to do something special for that reason instead of the normal unspoken transition that most people go through today.   It may not have meant much to her but it did to me when she said yes.  In her defense, I know I'm not easy to talk to because of my high level of sarcasm mixed with my lack of ability to stay serious.  I'm sure she had no idea that I was serious when I asked her...until I cried when she laughed of course (obviously fiction, I've never cried in my life).  

The ring 'process'

OK, now we're really going to skip ahead a few years to the somewhat present day.  We'll fill in details of our adventures between the stories above and this one on the main page of our blog as we find the time to.  We're now in 2010.  I started the process of searching for rings for Crystal.  We talked from time to time about what she would want in a ring and I knew the shape of the stone that she liked, that she wanted a split-shanked ring, and I had a general understanding of what she wanted (the magazine clippings of rings that were hung on the refrigerator like artwork from our kids by the names of Tacori and Tiffany helped).  With all of this information it would be a piece of cake to find a ring, right?  WRONG.  As I got my crash course in the "4 c's" it didn't take me long to add a fifth, 'commonality'.  I felt like after giving a description of what I wanted to jewelers they all showed me the exact same four or five rings and they were not nearly as special as I think Crystal is so I started on the interesting journey of designing a ring. 

The integrated engagement and wedding rings

The first step in this process was getting the design on paper.  After about a week of sketching ideas up I was happy with it.  This wasn't too hard because I had previously seen a design somewhat like what I had in mind.  The next step was finding a jeweler that I was comfortable with.  After talking to a number of jewelers I finally settled on Mark Turnowski.  He is by far a step above anyone else that I talked to and the only person that truly made me feel comfortable in this process.  I sent him my designs and he created a computer rendering of the ring and we started the back and forth process of modifying it to exactly what I wanted.  Once we were both happy with it, he started production and 2 weeks later it was completed and arrived at my house a full 3 days prior to the day I wanted to propose.  Whew, that was a close one.

The proposal

During the ring design process I was getting my ducks in a row for the proposal.  First things first, ask her dad.  This was something that I was planning to do anyway but I knew it was especially important to Crystal so here goes.  I approach Mr. Ruston and he's in his theater cleaning his guns and knives like he's always doing when I'm around and he screams 'what do you want boy...you better not have your shoes on or be barefoot in this house'.   No, that's not how it went at all.  I sat down with Mr. Ruston on my last trip up to LA prior to Crystal's trip to FL that was coming up in a couple of weeks (for those of you that don't know we've been in different states due to work for the past couple of months).  I told him that I wanted to propose to Crystal but wanted his permission and blessing prior to doing so.  He said 'eh, I guess that'll be ok'.  So, I showed him the ring design which was pretty exciting since up to this point only me, Mark, and one other person had ever seen it.  He then persuaded me to let Mrs. Ruston in on our little secret and that was it...now 7 people knew, me, Mark, her parents, my parents, and one other person.

Now all I have to do is plan out how I'm going to do this.  I thought and thought about this and came up with a number of plans, one of which involved an ostrich, bottle of ketchup, a kite, 2 groundhogs, and a cb radio.  The idea I settled on didn't really have to be a grand gesture but something that was important to us.  So, here's the plan.  I designed a scavenger hunt for Crystal to complete.  The final stop of the hunt was designed for her to meet me at the Citrus Bowl, where we met, where I would propose.  Now reality sets in.  First, Crystal informed me that she only has a couple of extra hours on her trip here and those were after spending the day at EPCOT.  OK, so I could reduce the time required of the hunt but it would still end at night.  No big deal until you take into account that the neighborhood that the Citrus Bowl is in (Paramore) was just rated as one of the top 25 most dangerous neighborhoods in America.  When we put all this together, this plan was starting to sound less and less romantic (and safe).  So, time for a backup plan.

Directly After Our Engagement

Ultimately, the most important thing to us are our friends.  So, I wanted this to be something that involved them because without that link we would never have met.  Fortunately, during the weekend Crystal was here all of our friends were planning to be at the same place at the same time, for the UCF football game.  This was a perfect situation because this was exactly how we met.  So, the the plan was changed the day that Crystal got into town.  When I picked her up from the airport we went to the theme park that I was planning for the scavenger hunt where we rode the ferris wheel, I crushed her at gokart racing (again), and we spent 20 dollars to win enough tickets for a 5 dollar stuffed animal.  It was an awesome time.  Two days later we all gathered to tailgate for the UCF football game vs ECU.  After all of our friends were there, I made an announcement to thank everyone for bringing us together which put the "what the hell are you doing" look on Crystal's face.  I then asked Crystal the most important question I've ever asked anyone.  The response was not one of the options that I gave her (yes or no), but instead she cried and said "Did you ask my dad?".  WHEW..glad I did that so I didn't have to lie in front of everyone.  After getting the confirmation she finally said yes and I steadied her hand and placed the ring on her finger (and it FIT!!!).  So, from that point we are officially planning a wedding.

I am very happy that so many of our friends were there to share in that moment with us.  You all mean the world to both of us because without you we would have never found each other.  Thank you again.  I am forever in your debt for introducing me to such an amazing person.