Patrick & Elizabeth

As Told By Liz…

Patrick and I went out to a late lunch at Harry’s Tap Room in Pentagon City, one Saturday.  I must interject here how much I love that restaurant.  It is a bit pricey, but frankly it has always been worth it.  From the food to the service to the atmosphere… I’m in love.  It’s now one of our absolute favorite restaurants.  And to think, it’s where the Ruby Tuesdays used to be in the mall.  Not something I ever expected.

Anyway, we had a lovely romantic lunch.  I had Ahi Tuna Tempura and a side of their “Farm to Table” wild mushrooms, accompanied by some great white wine.  Patrick had a bison burger and we closed the meal with some yummy after dinner drinks.  He had chocolate Port (which is amazing) and I had some sort of white dessert wine.  It was very good, but a little bit too sweet for me.

We shopped around the mall for a bit.  Patrick said he wanted to check out some video games.  I… decided I did not want to do that.  45 minutes later, we met back up and decided we apparently weren’t done with wine.  No, no!  We decided to trek over to Old Town to another of our favorite places, Grape and Bean.

We tried some different wines and had a cheese sampler platter.  Even Patrick has really been into trying different wines and such recently.  We talked about life, where we wanted to go and do.  Things we wanted to accomplish.  Who we wanted to go to the Super Bowl.  How Horatio (our pooch) is devious,  but we love him.  We capped off the evening with two flutes of Champagne.

Afterward, it was about 9 o’clock.  I suggested we head home, but Patrick wanted to go down to the Waterfront.  This surprised me.  Patrick is not a fan of the cold.  Ever.  He loves winter and fall (favorite seasons of his), but the whole being cold when he could NOT be cold and indoors is not something he particularly enjoys.  In addition, this was during a frigid cold snap that was gripping the region.  Standing outside for more than 2 minutes was enough to render the strongest person a weepy shivering mess.

It took a couple of minutes, but he convinced me and off we went.  I was excited. The Old Town Waterfront at night is just stunning.

We arrived, and the waterfront was, for the most part empty.  It was quiet and romantic.  We stood there for a little bit.  He hugged me from behind.  After a bit he pulled away and then he told me to turn around.

Patrick was down on one knee with this…

He asked me to marry him.

I couldn’t help but cry.  I’m a big weepy sap.

Patrick was never happy with how our original engagement went down.  He always felt like he did me a disservice, because it was something completely unplanned.  He didn’t have a ring, etc.  (For me, he could have proposed with a tumbleweed, and I wouldn’t have even cared.)  We did end up getting a ring for me, but he never felt it suited me.  It’s a guilt that had been eating at him for quite some time.

Oddly enough, I always kind of knew he was never terribly happy with how things worked out when he proposed back in April.  I didn’t know he was going to do something like this, though.  It didn’t feel less special because he had already asked.  Not at all.  So we cried. We kissed.  We hugged.  It was so picture perfect.

And the ring?  Holy moly, it’s wonderful.  I know, not traditional, but I just adore it.  And I’ve always loved rubies.  It’s just wonderful.  Here’s another shot of it.  It’s unique. It’s perfect. It’s me.

Oh, and when he went to go to “Game Stop” earlier that day to go check out “video games”?  He was picking up the ring from the jeweler, as it had been resized and was ready for pick up.

Sneaky!

It was an amazing day with an even more stunningly surprising ending.  I feel so lucky and blessed.

To celebrate, we got a drink at the Fish Market, which is our ceremony and reception venue for th wedding.  It was the perfect way to cap off such a special moment.