The 'Before' Shots

Oh do I have a treat for you. Most people have yet to hear the story of how my fiance and I met. People meet in all sorts of places, under all sorts of circumstances. And you never know when or where you'll find that special someone.

I started playing Second life at the end of 2007. I had heard about it through, of all things, an interesting (and I soon found out, very misleading) episode of CSI:NY. They were tracking down a killer through the virtual world of SL as if it was a big ol' game of hide and seek. The thing that made me so curious though was the ability to chat with other people through avatars the user made. You could literally look like anything or anyone you wanted. So I checked it out, and lo and behold, it existed. And into the virtual world I was sucked up, like Alice through the rabbit hole.

Eventually, through a lot of trials and errors in designing my avatar, I settled on a pretty little blue girl with white hair. Her name was (and still is, as I sometimes will return there to chat with old friends) Adelle.

I never left home without my green lipstick.

It was in this guise that Nathan met me. I met him about less than a year into playing. He started talking to me because I had such a different skin - the interesting thing about SL is that even though you can look like anything or anyone, people tend to stick to blond bombshells or amazonian brunettes. And here I was, fairly short and with the skin tone of a smurfette. His avatar looked a little more normal - a fairly tall, very well-built tattooed hottie. Yes, this is normal in SL.

It is also quite normal to go shirtless lol

What started off as a friendship quickly became more, as we took the leap from the virtual and started chatting on Skype, MSN, even on the phone. When even this was not enough, I took the leap and flew over to visit him in Vancouver. And the rest is history.

Neither of us was looking for that special someone, and I think that's what really made it work. Nothing was forced, or (too) rushed in that respect (i add the too, as I did end up going from having seen him just 2 weeks to literally living with him), and we became really great friends before becoming a couple.

I am really interested in learning your story! If you have a sweetheart in your life, how did you both meet?

Melody <3
p.s. still totally weird to wear a ring! Is this a dream??

ENGAGE!

Okay, so here's the thing. I was literally unable to blog on this thing for so long because all I wanted to do was gush. See, the thing is, Nathan revealed to me about a month ago that he wanted to marry me. Now, this was not the official proposal - more like a 'it's gonna happen... eventually' sort of deal. Which, guys, I have to say, really plays on a girl's mind. Because we are the type to start fantasizing about the big day and here we are without a ring on our fingers yet. We like to count our chickens before they hatched. It's a thing.

So, every time I wanted to type on this, the real topic that was floating around in my brain was 'it's going to happen, and I am going to plan a great wedding.' But I couldn't TELL you all this, because it wasn't official yet and who knew when he would seriously pop the question.

But last night, we went out for our dating anniversary dinner. Well, it was more the anniversary of me moving out here. We had started as a 'couple' before then but lemme tell ya, long-distance dating? Not easy. Tons of issues with distance. Tons.

Anyways, it's been a thing that we would do- celebrate me having moved out here and starting the relationship for real. The year before he took me to the restaurant at the top of the observation tower in Vancouver - it gave us a stunning view, as the whole dinning area rotates around the tower so you get a 360 view of the city. And at night, when the lights go on and the sun goes down, it's spectacular. I really love this city.

This year, he took me to Seasons in the Park, which is located within Queen Elizabeth park. Nothing but royalty for me, so says my mother, anyways. And by this time, the edginess I had been feeling with every date I had with Nate after his lil matrimonial confession had popped up again. When he had first mentioned this fact, every time I saw him afterwards I was freaking out in my head - is today the day? Will he propose today? But that date would end ring-less so I started thinking it wouldn't happen anytime too soon. But several days ago I got an email from Nate's mom talking about dress shopping. You know, for THE DRESS. This made me think. Then, Sunday (the day before the big dinner), his mom invited me over for dinner as some family members were over from out of town. And his mother knows, I am good at reading vibes and silent signals. In fact, she is the one who pointed that little gift out to me. And here she was, sending out GIANT signals. Needless to say, the freaking out was back.

So I got all dressed up (I wore a skirt, that's a big deal for me, I never wear skirts) and met him for dinner. He drove us there early, so we could walk around the park before dinner. I thought nothing of it, because typically, you see the guy doing this sort of thing in the restaurant, in front of people (hello, free celebratory drinks!) so I was totally casual. We went into the Bloedel Floral Conservatory and enjoyed their 'scavenger hunt' to spot out various plants and birds (I had seen the gift shop from the outside and claimed we HAD to go in) and then afterwards wandered the park a bit. It had stopped raining, which was nice, so we enjoyed the views afforded to us (though even still, my shoes were soaked).

And then.. he started getting weird. Not creepy or anything, just... different. He was always looking around, not so much to enjoy the scenery so much as to scope out a spot. And he had us move along once other people started walking up to where we were. It was odd, so I got all jittery. Then he started talking about our relationship and I was thinking to myself, ohhh man, he never does that! And why is he constantly fiddling with his jacket pocket? We were in an area with some benches, but I was ready to move on and he shook his head, no, we aren't going yet. He mentioned how it sucked that the benches were still all damp from the rain (haha... benches..) but I waved that comment aside and sat myself down on one that was hardly damp at all, thankyouverymuch. Then he went ahead and pulled out the item he was playing with in his jacket - a ring box. He got down on one knee and asked me to be his bride. I said yes, of course!!! And then I proceeded to cry tears of joy. He laughed as he had to guide me back to the car so I could change my shoes (I brought pretty ones along but they were not meant for strolls, but perfect for fancy dinners) and then I finally looked at the ring. It was perfectly 'me', a thin white gold band with three small diamonds running across it. I never wear jewelry, so this one wouldn't feel too awkward on my finger.

Oh, right, then we had to eat!
Starting my own tradition, I had duck again this year (I had duck the year before as well). It was delicious! Nate chose the halibut, which had a wonderful, light flavor. My duck was done two ways - I had a piece that was rotisserie-style and a strip that was done in hoisin sauce, medium rare and so yummy. I called my mom while we waited for the food arrived and she shouted out in joy and I gave her permission to brag as much as she wanted, FINALLY. Oh and did I mention that apparently Nate had called my dad up the day before and asked for his blessing? How sweet is that???

As this was a fancy restaurant, the portions weren't large (though I still thought I had quite a bit on my plate) and we just ate slowly, enjoying every bite and casually chatting about our future wedding. We have decided on early October 2012. A fall theme. It will be very DIY and I will post about the planning process right here on this blog! How fantastic is that??

We drove home first to his parents so they could gush and his mother could finally let out all her joy and excitement, and then I was finally brought back to my place so I could gush to my roomie Jennifer about my evening, change my relationship status on FaceBook and crash in bed.

Okay, that's it for now. I have work tonight, so it'll be fun to brag to my coworkers about the new ring. I will have to remember to actually work though..

Melody <3