We got engaged on July 25th, 2009 at the Orange County Fair. I absolutely love the fair. I'm such a nerd and love to walk around the "carnival of products" tent and watch the demonstrations for this and that. I never really buy anything, but love watching everything. Some of those blenders, knives, sponges, and kitchen gadgets are just spectacular! I also like the tent with all the submitted art: photographs, paintings, sculptures. I make games like "which photo on this wall is your favorite?" and "how much would you pay for that?". It's always fun to see the difference in taste and value. I'm a girl who enjoys a ride or two at the fair, but they are too expensive and very rickety. I've been spoiled by the safer, smoother, and faster rides at socal's numerous amusement parks. But, what socal amusement parks can't compare to at a fair, is the variety of fried foods. I always need to get me some fried fair food (which I love until later when I'm home and wishing I'd been a little more conservative in my consumption. burp. heart burn. gross.). The freakishly large animals are a sight. I love the photo booths. I love the lights of the rides and food stands and the energy of the games and crowd. The people watching at a fair is unmatchable. And people watching is my favorite activity in the whole wide world.
Cody knew I loved the fair, knew that I had to go, and knew that I wanted photo booth pictures. I've always wanted a man to take cute fair booth pictures with - but sadly - timing in my life is never spot on. So this was my summer and I was going to get pictures with Cody if it killed me.
I made sure I looked good for this date because of the photo booth. But I made sure I looked good for every date in June and July, because I knew Cody was fixin' to propose. It was exhausting having to look good. I wasn't fancy mind you, but my outfits didn't include work-out wear and my make-up and hair were always done.
I knew Cody was going to propose because my friend Ali asked me in June what type of ring I liked. She wanted exact details. I educated her on diamonds and told her what I wanted. I felt like I had given her good direction, but was very nervous about the amount of wiggle room when instruction is passed on and on and then on again. Ever played telephone people? I was also nervous about the long lapse of time from when Ali asked about ring details and now. What could be the hold up? Now toward the end of July, I was getting clues that a proposal might not happen until mid August! I really wasn't anxious, except that I knew I wanted to get married in the fall and the sooner he proposed the sooner I'd be less crazy for already making plans. Also, as I stated, I was getting exhausted with the make-up and hair routine. I wanted to just look tired every once in a while.
So, all these words mean that I didn't expect an engagement that night at the fair because I'd been in "ready mode" too many times to have any expectations. Plus, clues were pointing toward an even longer wait period for a ring.
With this in mind, we headed to the fair. We watched 80 cinnamon rolls get made all at once. We saw knives cut steel. We went to the live stock section and Cody was in heaven. We got me a corn dog and some curly fries. It was at this point that I saw a photo booth and I reminded Cody that I "needed" to take some photos. Here's how the evening played out at this point.
Cody: I don't know about these booths. I saw some good ones when we first entered.
Me: (Really? Are you being cheap? Because I think these booths are as cheap as they come.) Are you sure?
Cody: Yeah, lets walk over to the other ones and then we can go on a ride.
Me: OK. (My feet kill.)
We walk over to the booths Cody had in mind. They were the same price as the ones before.
Me: Hold on. I need to put on some lipstick. We should plan out what faces we are going to do in each picture.
Cody: No. Let's just wing it.
Me: Really babe? I don't think that's a good idea. I'm not very photogenic and we don't want all of the pictures looking the same.
Cody: OK. We can plan 1 or 2, but then let's just wing it on the last ones.
Me: (He is getting so particular and opinionated these days.) OK. Let's just smile nice for the first one, then do fishy faces for the second, then maybe kiss in one of them or something.
Cody: Sure.
We entered the booth. After trying to fit both of us on the stool (baby's got back), we started. Smile. Flash. I make my fishy face, but see Cody looking at me without the fishy face! I look at him. He's talking, but I don't hear him because I'm thinking, "he is messing this up!". Flash. I should say something. I open my mouth and ears to reprimand him and hear Cody say, "Robin!, LOOK DOWN." SPARKLES! A Ring. Smile. Oh, my gosh! Is this happening? What do I do? Cody then says, "Will you marry me?". This is my cue. I grab the ring. Flash. I put the ring half way down my ring finger and turn it to face the camera. I smile the biggest smile of my life. Flash. The picture sequence is finished. We can leave the booth now, but we just sit. I'm stunned. I'm probably saying something like, "Oh - my - gosh. It's soooo pretty." I know Cody says, "Robin, you never said yes." I'm thinking, HELLO THE RING IS ON MY FINGER! "Of course, yes." Kiss. Kissing. I love him.
We exit the photo booth and I have a flood of questions like, where has this ring been? (In his pockets) Why these photo booths? (They were less noisy than the other booths which had a band and large crowd around it) How long have you had the ring? When did you ask my dad? When did you first go to get the ring made? Have you always known you'd propose tonight at the fair? OH MY GOODNESS, WE'RE ENGAGED!!!!!
We couldn't stop smiling. We smiled on our ride. We smiled when we met up with some friends who happened to be at the fair (Ali in particular was there knowing it was going to happen). I couldn't stop looking at my finger. This ring was mine. All mine. This ring was going to adorn my finger for a very, very, very long time. Thank goodness for that!
We left the fair, called our parents, and went to get our favorite hot chocolate at 7-eleven (no joke). We sent out some texts and just went back to my apartment to rehash the night and talk about the future.
My favorite text reply from the night was from my brother Redge who was out of town. It read:
"Yo bambino, congrats!
I want the full scoop when I get back, ya know...
only the juicy stuff.
I know you making out right now."
Classic!
Here are some photos of the night and ring (which now has a band).
It's one of the only secrets I have ever been able to keep. And, I had to lie A LOT... because you sure DID ask a lot of questions... which is one of the things I LOVE about you!
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