your eyes whispered how we met

Wednesday night: Bobby very casually asks if I want to go see his new office in the old courthouse tomorrow since it will be kind of quiet down there with not many people working. I say sure.

Thursday afternoon: We go to said courthouse, check out his new digs, and he asks if I want to see a really neat view of the city. I say sure. We then proceed to go through a door held open by a fire extinguisher...which kinda freaked me out since that meant the door obviously would lock if it got closed. Bobby says that it's fine, it's always there. Ok. We begin to climb stairs in what looks like attic space, complete with all kinds of furry and scaly friends and insulation everywhere. As we're climbing over pipes, I ask him if he is taking me somewhere to murder me since no one would find me in this space. We go up more stairs and across a little bridge like thing and then another set of stairs to this scene:

I stopped walking and said something along the lines of "oh my gosh" while also being acutely aware that my heart was beating harder than it ever had before. Bobby came back and walked me up the few remaining stairs and then got down on his sweet knee, said the sweetest words to me and asked me to marry him! I'm pretty sure I said "really???" about 7 times after I said yes and then about 70 more times throughout our time up on the observation deck. The little observation room/deck was so romantic and so neat! The view of Fort Worth was really amazing once I actually looked at it.

He did a great job!! I was totally clueless although I should have picked up on his ever-so-fast pace once we left his office and headed to "see the view." :) He'd set everything up earlier in the day and a maintenance fellow and a bailiff were the only folks who knew what was going on.

I kept thinking of that line from Legally Blond when Reese Witherspoon says "....and she's wearing the ring on her bony unpolished finger!" I had literally just taken my nail polish off the day before and hadn't redone them, so I did a hasty at-home job before dinner.

We went to dinner at Silver Fox to celebrate and then met up with friends afterwards. Even Margaret's sweet parents showed up to celebrate!

It's sinking in more today but yesterday was the most surreal thing I've ever experienced. I know I am beyond blessed and that this sweet man was hand-picked for me.

He told me "now we get to be a family." :)

I get to keep him!!

i could be british for this

I mean, really, could anything look more like comfort food?? This is the pic from the magazine...mine wasn't as pretty but it sure was tasty. Perfect comforting meal for the cold weather and stressful holiday times.

English Cottage Pie
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon butter, softened
Cooking spray
1 1/2 cups chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped carrot
1 (8-ounce) package cremini or button mushrooms, thinly sliced
1 pound extra-lean ground beef
2 tablespoons no-salt-added tomato paste
1 cup fat-free, lower-sodium beef broth
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 cups leftover mashed potatoes
3/4 cup (3 ounces) shredded sharp white cheddar cheese, divided
Paprika (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350°.

2. Combine flour and butter; stir well. Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add onion and carrot; sauté 5 minutes. Add mushrooms; sauté for 5 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove vegetables from skillet. Add beef to pan; cook 5 minutes or until browned, stirring to crumble. Stir in tomato paste, and cook 3 minutes. Stir in broth and pepper. Return vegetables to pan, and bring to a simmer. Stir in parsley, thyme, and salt. Add flour mixture, and cook for 1 minute or until thick, stirring constantly.

3. Spoon meat mixture into an 8-inch square glass or ceramic baking dish coated with cooking spray, spreading evenly. Combine the potatoes and half of cheese; spread the potato mixture evenly over meat mixture. Top with remaining cheese. Sprinkle with paprika, if desired. Bake at 350° for 20 minutes or until bubbly.

I didn't tweak this at all except to use dried thyme instead of fresh. I made some quick mashed potatoes with a few Yukon golds, milk, butter, S&P. Oh, and I bought pre-sliced mushrooms...why wouldn't you? :)

Recipe from Cooking Light

these are a few of my favorite things

I hope Santa has Internet capabilities way up there in the North Pole. If you see the jolly gent, please pass along my list...I've been very good this year! :)

How can you not want to bake with this cute yellow hand mixer?!

A Lululemon yoga mat!! It is specially designed to keep my hands from slipping when I get sweaty (which would come in extra handy if I ever get to do hot yoga again....fingers crossed).

Oh...my liking of all things owls (cute owls, not creepy ones or ones with eyes too big) might be blowing into a full on obsession. Yeah. I think it is. How cute are these note cards?? I would opt for my own name, of course, to be on the front. I think I'd also choose bejeweled and rosybrown as my two color choices from this cute website: http://www.ohlouisedesigns.com/pages/Item%20Pages/OwlsFolded.html .

How did the owl thing come to be, you ask? Do you see any similarities between the pillow and the furry:

(When she gets really crazy, her ears go back and her yellow eyes get HUGE and I am certain that one time she is going to sprout wings and start saying "whooo.")

And just because sometimes Santa's in a really awesome giving mood, here's my most favorite thing with four wheels:

Merry Christmas!!