9 1/2 years ago

9 1/2 years ago today, Peter proposed to me in Chicago. It's a fun story so I thought I would put it on the blog so the girls will always know how romantic their daddy is. On Valentine's Day 2002 (our 2 two year anniversary of dating), I come home to hundreds of pictures all over my apartment. Peter had copied all of the pictures he had of us and they were everywhere and at the end of the pictures, I found a note saying we were going to Chicago for spring break that year. I was thrilled-I had never been to Chicago! Before we left for our trip, all of my friends were saying he was going to propose but I didn't think so. So the 1st night we were in Chicago, we went out to a nice Italian restaurant and went back to the hotel for some drinks. I kept saying to Peter "everyone thinks your going to propose." He would say "nope, sorry, not going to happen." We woke up on March 9th and went sight seeing around the city and eventually ended up at the John Hancock building. After we got off the elevators on our way down to the ground, there was security guards, police men, fire trucks everywhere-they were telling people not to leave the building (as they were locking/barricading all of the doors). Peter and I took off running and found a random door to escape. (the reason why we were so scared is because it was only 6 months after 9-11). So as were are running out of the building, people were telling us to move. We looked up and a scaffolding had fallen from the building and had landed on a few cars, killing a few people. I was so upset by this that I just wanted to go back to our hotel room. Peter finally convinced me to go to dinner. I barely even got ready b/c I was so distraught about what had happened earlier in the day. I still remember what I wore (a teal sweater and black pants and yes, I still have that sweater because I am too sentimental to give it away).

Last weekend, we were on our way to Indianapolis for a friends wedding and Peter (the super romantic guy, he is) thought it would be fun to go back and visit our proposal sight and take a few pictures.

This is the place where we ate dinner. I will never forget how "strange" Peter was acting. He ordered a steak (and he loves steak but he barely ate it) and I ordered lobster. After dinner, he said, "let's go outside on the pier." (oh, should have mentioned the restaurant was right along the navy pier). I didn't want to because it was freezing and windy but he finally convinced me to go out there. He started talking saying the most amazing things and I was thinking "what is he doing, it's so stinkin' cold out here!" He proposed and of course, I said "YES!"and of course, I started crying and then started feeling guilty that I almost ruined the moment!

This is a re-creation of the picture we took of ourselves after we got engaged. We put this picture in our wedding video but we never got it back so we thought it would be fun to take another one.

Here is another picture, like we took on the night we got engaged.

Soon after the proposal, we went back inside to find a bar, had a beer and watched a TU basketball game on TV. Later on that night, we rented Serendipity in our room and that movie will always hold a special place in my heart.

Thank you for asking me to marry you Peter McAdams, I would still say "YES" 100 million times over.