my head feels like it's going to explode, and my nose seems to have gotten a mind of its own. but, cold/allergies aside, life is great! i'm just starting to realize that daniel and i have to plan a wedding in four months - that can be a bit overwhelming, from what i've heard, but we really just want a big party with God and our friends, so i'm not too worried. and when it comes down to it, we really need to be preparing for the marriage more than that one day. but it is interesting to already be feeling the girly/anti-girly aspects of me go at it. so, people are asking for details....i found out inadveratntly last week that daniel had a ring, and when we were in florida, i couldn't keep from telling him that i knew it. (secrets are hard to keep between the two of us.) he had been planning to propose on our trip, but i think my freak-out a couple of weeks ago scared him. silly me! anyway, florida was beatuiful and romantic and very good for our communication and an overall solidification of our stability. so tuesday night we had our friends phil and sarah over to daniel's house for dinner. after dinner we planned to go on a walk at the park, but first i went into his room for a minute. he asked if i wanted to see something, and i said something like, "sure! can i have it?" then he was on his knee, asking me to marry him. i said yes. after that, we told phil, sarah and sharon, and went out to have our walk and play pool. it was all very natural and simple and perfect. the biggest surprise was the ring itself. easter weekend, daniel and i went to cincinnati and made a trip to the art museum. in the gift shop, we saw a beautiful, simple, classy ring that had been made by a local custom jeweler in clifton - a neighborhood that i've spent a lot of time in during the past six years. when we saw it, we both knew right away that it was perfect. the museum didn't have my size, so we went to clifton to the actual jeweler's studio. he also didn't have my size, but sat down to discuss it. at that point, i left to go to a bookstore. daniel later told me that after i left, he got a bad vibe about the jeweler, and didn't get anything. i believed him, until i got the perfect ring! now i must get back to work. have a happy day, dear ones!