first day of the rest of our lives

It was Jessica's 26th birthday, a memorable one this year...
We started out to San Diego about 10am.
A full day ahead of us, possibilities, hopes, expectations...

First stop was the UTC mall.
a little Ice skating was on the itinerary.

I guess I didn't want to ruin the surprise at all in any way.
So I said nothing really about what to bring along.
ooops!

it was freakin cold out on the ice and she was dressed for the beach.
so we had to make a stop and pick up a sweatshirt...
I found a sexy green one (she looks sooo good in green)
only 9.99 at sears, such a deal!! lol

and socks. she had on wedges?? Damn I forgot to mention to bring socks as well...
ok find some socks..

see, Im just your average guy, I wear socks everywhere I go.
so i never thought twice about telling her to bring socks along??
so only when we went to go skating she realized that she needed socks.
not that they stopped the blisters from forming in any way but yeah...
she didnt have a pair of socks
(seeing as she was wearing some kind of heel)
...and looking damn good in them.
and there ya go.

So on our way back across after buying the goods we stopped in a photo booth and took some pics.
We need to make a point from now on to take pics in any booths we see in our adventures! fun!

So we got our mug snapped and went to have a little something to eat over at the Mongolian BBQ. It was pretty cool, I had never eaten at one of these places before but you packed in all your meats and veggies into a bowl add sauces and spices to the mix w/ some noodles and then they flip it around on a huge grill and cook it up!
damn good! :)




We were running short on time now after shopping and eating. The skate session ended in less than an hour but would resume again in another couple hours so we decided to head across the mall to check out the bodies exhibit for a while to kill time between.





no pictures allowed inside but it was amazing the stuff they had. Every organ of the body cut open and explained. Real human bodies and fetus' donated to science!! it was awesome. they had men w/ skin peeled off and muscle exposed in various poses with tendons and all hanging out...
its a good thing we ate beforehand cause this would have killed our appetite for mongolian I have a feeling.

After the exhibit (which took about 2 hours) we headed over to the ice skating rink.
Surprisingly Jess didnt even fall! She did really well considering it had def been a while since she had been on ice.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTVLzj61hwo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SV1cul3jgMw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKiwqnQC5-o






It all started coming back to me as well and I was kicking ass on ice in no time.
HA!

Jess looked amazing on the ice... a little awkward on the skates but stunning in her new sweatshirt.







We only lasted about 45 minutes before skin started peeling of from the brutal and cheap boots we had on. The ice skate boots tore into our feet giving wicked blisters in record time. Just under an hour and we had the meanest blisters you had seen on our feet. Already peeled and popped.
OUTT!!!
we bailed!
it was a lot of fun while it lasted though and I would love to go again with either thicker socks or real boots!



after our serendipidy skate session was up :)
We headed back to the shop so Jess could change.
she got all sexy looking in her 50's style pink dress!


I wish I would have taken more pictures of her in that dress! she was stunning....




For Dinner I had made reservations at George's in La Jolla on prospect. I had heard good things about it and since Jess is very much into fine dining I figured this would be something she would really enjoy. We had an amazing view overlooking the water.






the food was so/so but we managed to have a little fun w/ it






and in the process rack up a good bill over food and drinks (mostly drinks)









after our maaahhvelous dinner I had another stop in store for Jess.
It just so happened that the Growlers were playing at a really cool dive called the zombie lounge tonight on her birthday. From my understanding the show was @ 8pm but we got there about 7:30 and the place was locked up tight!! damn! saw Brooks (the singer for the growlers) and he said they were in fact playing but not till later....
talked to him about doing a birthday number but her told me they didnt know one unfortunately..
damnit!!
that sucks.
we bounced out for a while to kill time till the show started.



we began cruising down el cajon blvd.
**man is this place ghetto on the west side of 54th st.**
taking your chances over here so we headed east of 54th back into college territory to a nice little coffee shop called the living room. Jess had coffee and pie. she later proclaimed that was her fav. stop of the night
(and the only unplanned one)
lol

after a coffee break we headed back over to the zombie lounge, still expecting the growlers to be opening the show we got there about 8:30 and opened up a tab. I Found out in talking to the bartender that the first band wasnt due on until 9:45 and that the growlers were actually headlining the show and wouldnt go on till about 12:00 !! SHIT! we had a loooooong night ahead of us!

This place was a dive with amazing atmosphere and drink specials!! buy one get one Guinness on tap. def. my new favorite dive bar!! It was really dark inside and they had trippy acid surf rock playing to Natural Born Killers...


Oh yeah they had a crazy ass bathroom at this place




So in waiting for the Growlers to go on we drank quite a bit... the two for ones were killing me. i had a good 6 or so and was double fisting all night.. Jess was drinking vodka sodas all night... she had 5 or so over the course of the night at by the end of the show was asking for more.>?? lol

I told her to chill cause i had one more stop in mind and she might wanna be coherent for it. :)









after the growlers wrapped up a solid set of only 8 or so songs we bailed.
total bill???
$32.00 with an 8.00 tip included in that !!!!
awesome!

Jess was smashed but in great spirits.
It can be hit and miss but tonight she was so amusing and adorable :)
she gets soooo passionate when she drinks.
about everything..
when she talks she is so animated and random its hilarious.

made our way over to the Pier in Ocean Beach I had another trick up my sleeve





Got out to the pier.
To the spot we had our first kiss when we started dating again.
actually,.... we had our first date here as well.
so it was a perfect place. (our place) to pop the question.

wasted drunk we sat under the stars and talked.
about the night,
about life...

this being the spot where it all started.
it was too perfect,
and we had a moment.. I couldnt tell you exactly what was said at this point but I do remember something along the lines of " you complete me, say you will be with me forever" kind of a thing as i hit one knee into the trash of the OB pier.

and I distinctly remember the tears that came after that as well as the "are you for real??" "is this real?" "are you serious?"
"look at you...you are kneeling in trash right now"
lol

and tears for a good 15-20 minutes
I mean Jessica cries at EVERY movie and even commercials...
its both pathetic and cute that she is so in touch..
and so easily moved.

so yeah imagine that x100
I thought she might pass out cause she began forgetting to breathe and tears were rolling out and her nose stuffed solid and dripping from crying, in between the crying.. she was gasping for breaths.

happy tears


anyway...
she said "yes"... or "of course"... or something along those lines i cant exactly remember.
the best part is neither can she. *exact details*
but it was perfect :)

I mean she remembers it.
but muuuuch more magically than I do I believe as she was much more intoxicated and it took it to a whole new level.
Plus while I'm stressing/worrying about getting everything right and perfect for her...
she is on a drunk magical adventure.
both of us were coming from two different places on the same pier.

thank god for the excessive drinking cause I was not nervous anymore at all.

thank god she didnt black out for this... that would be sooo sad.
she remembers, but the things that stand out to her are a bit different than for me and our stories both differ slightly yet end the same....


so she took the ring and could not stop looking and staring.
and of course... it didnt fit.
cause I got it .....
well thats a whole other story all together and will have to have a follow up story,
but yeah...

best way to describe it is something she adored and kind of wished for knowing she most likely couldnt have it for a number of reasons...

I mean she had seen it online and singled it out...
but it was WAY TOO EXPENSIVE!
and she knew this, but still wanted this.. and if not his one than one exactly like it.

It was a ring at which she set the standard for all potential rings to be...
and there it was in front of her.
completely unexpected.

when she saw it at that very moment she melted.
like a kid on their 16th birthday finding their dream car in the driveway.

totally unexpected.
she got the ring of her dreams.

and how did I manage that??

beg borrow and steal basically...
lol



anyway I had nightmares for a month leading up to this about scenarios on the pier.
the one that was most haunting happened when I gave her the ring and she dropped it in excitement through the wood slats on the pier///

luckily tonight I discovered in reality... that we were on a concrete pier.
no chance of that happening.

BUT

there was a point when she got up and walked over to the edge of the pier and with her hand over the side held it up to the light to gaze at it.... I just about tackled her and brought her back to safety, as if there was no rail and she was gonna jump off....
no joke, I wasnt taking any chances.
I told her "go near the edge again and I am taking the ring back until we step off this pier!! I have had too many nightmares about this moment and the ring being lost!"

she agreed to sit on the bench and we sat and talked again and she calmed down.
but she kept asking "are you sure you really wanna marry me?'
and saying stuff like "wow, this is real... this is like forever, :) I will never get proposed to again"
"we are gonna get old and wrinkly together and you are gonna look like your grandpa with big ears and a big nose and I ......"
**tears again**

she is so wonderful and it really was such a wonderful way to end the night.
couldn't have gone any smoother.

and as we left the pier finally...
she decided/stated that her drunk ass was gonna show off her ring to all the Mexicans fishing here at 3am as well as the angry looking mob of black dudes walking up the pier and any other riff raff in the local vicinity.

"i wanna show them my new ring!!!"

it was at this point i firmly took my bride to be from behind one arm across her chest and neck and put my hand over her mouth as if I were kidnapping her and advised her that showing off this ring to these people was a bad idea and I was in no condition to defend us from mobs of shady people on the pier...

she obliged.

we made our way to the car where she continued to be mesmerized by her new piece for a couple of minutes before passing off into dreamy dream land for the ride home...

and i was alone again with my thoughts.

what a beautiful woman.
what a wonderful night.