I am engaged!

Yep, I am no longer a single woman. Ooha ooha! Wanna know the WHOLE story? Sparing no details? Okay, I'll tell you.

I warned you... This is the whole story... aka, it's going to be long.

THURSDAY, JANUARY 10TH: If you want the whole story, it started a few days before. Saturday is typically Dan & me's date night, you see. But this Saturday I planned to go to Lexington to spend the day with my best friend Hayley and spend the night with my other best friend, Maggie. I told Dan this on Thursday and since I ruined our date night, asked him to come with me. He said he didn't think he would because he didn't think any of his friends would be down there. I told him I didn't plan on going down there til mid-afternoon so he asked if I wanted to hang out on Saturday morning. Dan & I are morning people so I said "okay, cool beans. See ya then."

About three hours later, I was at bible study and I got a text from Maggie saying that her grandparents would be in Northern Kentucky this weekend so I couldn't come down to Lexington because she wouldn't be there. I KNEW. I'm telling ya, I knew Dan was going to propose. I don't know how I knew, I just did. On the way home from bible study, I told my friend Kelley (we drove together) of my suspicions. She had no idea about Dan's plan but convinced me to not get my heart set on it because if it didn't happen then I'd be upset. I was still convinced.

FRIDAY, JANUARY 11TH: The next day, I told my roomie and bestie, Ali about what I thought Dan might be up to. She was in on the whole thing and did SUCH a good job convincing me I was crazy. She told me Dan didn't have a ring yet, that he talked to her about it earlier that day. She also told me a million other reasons, all too long to type, that he wouldn't be doing it the next day and I totally believed her. I was convinced it wasn't happening.

So later that night, I told Dan I was no longer going to Lexington that day so we could hang out if he wanted. He said he already planned something for the morning and asked if I still just wanted to do that. I agreed and he said he'd pick me up at 7am the next day.

I had a movie night with some friends that night and they very subtly convinced me to redo my nails. Thank goodness. I didn't catch on at all. However, they let me go to bed without taking a shower. I'm still a little bitter that they knew what was coming and didn't advise me to freshen up a bit.

SATURDAY, JANUARY 12TH: Dan arrived at 7am the next morning with flowers.

(Sidenote: Dan takes me on surprise dates at least once or twice a month. So it never seemed weird to me that he had a secret date planned for that morning. Also, Dan gets me flowers at least once a month so it also didn't strike me as odd that he arrived with flowers. I have the best ~~boyfriend~~ fiance ever, right?)

So anyway, I think everything is normal and I hop into his car. We arrive at Ault Park. Ault Park is rated the #1 place in Cincinnati to watch the sunrise because it faces the east and is on a big hill. We find a spot under a nice little terrace and he busted out a picnic basket and more flowers. We had a romantic breakfast picnic as we watched the sunrise. He acted normal the whole time. In fact, at one point marriage got brought up and we hadn't talked about it in a long time so I asked something along the lines of, "you don't need to give me any deets, but are we still on track to get married in the fall?" He responded something like, "Well... eh... Probably. Financially, things aren't looking too good right now". Okay, cool. So I was completely convinced we weren't getting engaged that day... or anytime in the next couple weeks. Meanwhile, the ring was less than 10 feet away from me in his pocket. That little liar...

The sunrise was beautiful. It was very pink and full of vibrant colors. Dan went all out for this picnic. He packed glass bowls full of fruit and wine glasses for sparkling grape juice and fine china to sip coffee out of. We talked about Jesus and our ministries and the upcoming semester and a bunch of other things. It was wonderful. After about an hour, we packed up and headed to the next "spot" on our date. At this point, I was super convinced he wouldn't propose because if he was going to do it today, it would've been at sunrise.

Here's some prior knowledge you need to know: Dan works at the 5/3 skyscraper in downtown Cincinnati. Sometimes, he'll go work on the rooftop. For the past two and a half years I have been begging him to take me to the roof. But he won't because he's "not authorized to and it has security cameras and he could get in big trouble and blah, blah blahhh".

Anyway, so as we got in the car, he said something like "Before we go to our next stop, I need to stop by work. I accidentally left yesterday with the master key and I'm not allowed to have it out all weekend. And we have to drive through downtown to get to the next place anyway. And it'll only take a second." So I said okay and had absolutely no idea anything was up.

Dan drives a stick-shift. So when we switches gears, his car kinda jerks. Of course, I decided to take a swig of orange juice right when he needed to change gears and spilled it ALL OVER myself. All over my shirt, my white cardigan and the right side of my hair. I was super sticky but thought to myself "good thing I didn't shower". In thinking that, I didn't know that I was about to get engaged and had sticky orange residue all over me. Only me...

So we got to his building, he parked and started getting out of the car. When he saw I wasn't moving, he said "Uh, do you want to come in with me? So you're not sitting downtown, in a car, all by yourself?" I saw his point. So I went with him. He's very clever. I wonder what he would've said if I said I just wanted to wait in the car. Haha.

I just followed him around the building. I had no idea how to get to his office. He had to keep sliding his badge to get into doors. Meanwhile, I still have no suspicions and Dan is still acting perfectly normal. We eventually got to an elevator and he hit the button for the top floor. Then, a wonderful idea hit me. I was all like "Oh my gosh, let's go to the roof!!! Can we!? Can we!? Can we!?" He explained for the kabillionth time that he couldn't take me up there and whatnot. I got sassy for a second but quickly forgot about it. Once we got off the elevator, I kept following him down hallways and through locked doors until we started climbing up some stairs. I figured out his plan.

"We're going to the roof, aren't we!?!??" I shrieked. Dan responded with something like "Yeah, but we're just going to peek out. They know I'm on my way with the key so if we take too long they'll be suspicious. And we can't let any of the cameras see us".

I was overjoyed, but still had no idea what was going on. I was out of breath by the time we reached the top. He slid his badge, opened the door and viola, the rooftop.

Another side note: There is this shed thing on the roof of the 5/3 building. They keep lights and maintenance things and whatnot in there. But it's set up right in the middle of it and if you're on one side of the roof, you can't really see the other side.

We walked up on the side that faced downtown. So we went to one corner of the roof and overlooked all of Downtown Cincinnati. It was a beautiful morning. We talked for a few minutes but I don't remember what it was about anymore. I remember not being suspicious though. Then I requested that we go over to the other side and see the river before we leave.

So we crossed over to the other side of the roof. Once we got passed the shed thing I described earlier, I saw the other half and saw these two giant fans. Now I know that they're the air conditioning for the building but at the time, I had no idea what they were so I asked Dan. This is the first time I recall him being a total spaz. He was like "I don't know" but his voice was super high pitch and clammy. I called him a weirdo and then noticed that behind the fans were rose petals, flowers, and candles set up in the opposite corner.

At this point, I knew something was up. But I still seriously had no idea he was about to propose. Once we got to the decorated corner, we just stood there. DAN WOULDN'T SAY ANYTHING. Awkward... I cleared my throat or made some "uhh...?" kinda noise that indicated that he should say something. He got the hint and started talking. Honestly, I can't remember what he said at all except that it didn't make any sense. I remember smiling, nodding my head and thinking "what the heck?" But I do remember that at this point, my heart started to beat pretty fast. He finally cut himself off and told me that he loved me (he has never told me that before. We made a rule at the very beginning of the relationship that we would save that for when we were ready to actually show with our actions that we loved each other, aka ready to get married). AND THEN HE GOT DOWN ON ONE KNEE AND SAID "CORTNEY MARIE KANE, WILL YOU MARRY ME?"

And I said yes! I couldn't believe that had actually happened. He stood up and tried to put the ring on my finger but was shaking too bad. Aw. I had to help him. I didn't cry at all. I just kept shouting "I'm engaged!" and "we're getting married!" Something about being on top of a skyscraper makes you want to shout, ya know?

So as we were hugging, I noticed a flash out of the corner of my eye. I turned around and there were my best friends, Ali & Sean taking pictures of us the whole time! Ali is a graphic design major and has a bunch of awesome cameras so I always told Dan that when we got engaged I would want Ali there, being a secret photographer to capture the moment.

Listen to how awesome my friends are: They woke up super early and met Dan downtown at 5:45am. Ali made sure I wouldn't suspect she was gone by leaving her keys, her car and putting a fake body made of pillows under the covers in her bed. Dan took them up there and dropped them off (there was only one key) and they hung out in the shed thing for three hours! Ali, being the smart cookie that she is, brought her laptop and they watched The Notebook, but still, that's a long time. When we were on our way, Dan text them and they set up the petals, flowers, and candles. AND they both had to work at noon. Wow, I have the best friends. I am blessed.

So anyway, we hung out on the rooftop for a while. I called my mom and dad. Over Christmas, Dan & I visited my parents in South Carolina and he asked their permission then. He called them the day before and told them his plan, so they knew this was all happening. After about 20 minutes, I realized that I had a freaking ring on my finger and got a good look at it for the first time. Obviously, it's beautiful and I love it.

Then we went home! It was like 10am by the time everything was finished. Dan took a nap (he had gone to bed at 2 and woke up at 4:30... yikes) and I showered since I had sticky orange juice all over me. I'm glad he proposed so early in the morning because it gave me time for it to all sink in before I had to see people. We went over to his house for a fancy dinner with his whole extended family. Later that night, about 9pm, all our friends came over and we had a little engagement party. I told the story at least 47 times and showed off my new bling. Our friends prayed for us and our upcoming marriage. That was so special. I am so incredibly blessed.

And that is it! I don't think I forgot any details. I commend you if you made it through this whole thing. That was a seriously long post. But it was perfect. Just the right amount of over-the-topness, but not too much that I saw it coming. And now we're getting married on November 23, 2013. Ooha ooha! I can't wait :)

Here are some of favorite pictures. Enjoy!