My ring came in on Tuesday, and I can’t believe how it just finally “hit” me that Programmer and I are engaged!  We’ve come a long way since I first started this blog, and I can’t believe that I’ve found my Mr. Galaxy.

The ring shopping was truly a weird experience, and picking it up was just about the same… I had my ring custom made from People’s, and while they did an excellent job, I’m still a little weirded out that they won’t insure a ring that they’ve made.  I’ll have to have it appraised and insured soon, I think, as I know others have found this “handy”.

My ring is perfect: it’s a round cut pink tourmaline, approximately the equivalent of 0.75 carats, in a white gold simple setting.  I’m very glad that we had one made to my specifications, and couldn’t be happier with it!

So, we’re “officially” engaged – we decided that we didn’t officially consider ourselves engaged until a ring was on my finger.

My engagement ring, originally uploaded by alexandra1818.

Tonight, my Programmer and I are going engagement ring shopping.

I’ll post pictures when the ring comes in, but as I’m having to get it custom made, not quite sure when that’ll be.

At the moment, we’re keeping it fairly quiet, as neither of us really consider it official until the ring is here… But I’m having a hard time not telling everyone I meet!

I’m so very happy. And, while there wasn’t an actual proposal, I’m just following family tradition – where we discuss it like adults and decided that it was time.

Technically, I guess this means it’s the end of my dating story…

So, my Programmer and I ended up going grocery shopping…

I usually enjoy doing that with better than alone, and last night wasn’t an exception.

We finished our groceries fairly late in the evening, as we both had some errands to do first, and so we picked up some Subway on our way home.

While waiting in line, I was pleasantly surprised when he told me that he was glad that I was back home.

I know it’s probably not a huge deal, but it’s rare for him to open up about his feelings about me at all, so it felt awesome.

I’m glad now that we had that fight a few weeks ago, though it sucked at the time.

A few weeks ago, I initiated sex. I wasn’t all that into it at first, but decided to go for it anyways, since he seemed agreeable.

He told me afterwards that he really hadn’t wanted to have sex at all. Wasn’t into it one little bit.

I felt surprised, and hurt that he didn’t feel that he could tell me no… And after more talking we broke down into a conversation about whether he finds me attractive at all.

Needless to say, that was a very long night, and while we worked it all out – including having the talk about how he never shares how he feels, or tells me he loves me (unless I say it first) – I’m still feeling a little gun shy.

I know most relationships go through hard times, when both people feel that something isn’t quite right… And it really sucks. I feel sad that we had to have that moment, but I’m glad we were able to make it through.

So now, I’m back to seeing little red hearts, and knowing that he’s the one I want to spend the rest of my life with – and while we did go through a rough night… We worked through our issues, and that is a great sign for the future.

But, that being said, I’ve noticed a few things in my time here, things that I would like to change (or be able to work on at home).

Mostly, it’s the food thing: neither of us is a good cook, and I wish we had more options in our book.

I’ve gone so far as making a pot roast (complete with potatoes and carrotts) in a slowcooker here, and while it didn’t really turn out that great as it was overcooked, I sort of wish that was even an option at home.

So, since I have to stay at their house in order to load the woodstove twice a day… my Programmer decided to come and visit me for the weekend. It was nice to have him come by and spend the night with me, but for some reason, I kinda felt annoyed that I was going to have to entertain him all weekend.

With everything that has been going on at work, with no time alone for just having fun, I’ve certianly been lacking in ME time.

I’ll miss him this week, but I’m excited to be alone for a bit. I wonder, how well will I cope when we’re living together, and I’m back to working fairly regular hours? Since we moved in together in October, I’ve been working these rotating shifts, so there will definetly be an adjustment period…

He’s been fairly supportive with me quitting my job, though very quiet about it. I wish I had a better idea of what I wanted to do, that’s the hardest part for him – he’s always known what he wants to do, whereas I’ve never had the foggiest idea!

I’ve been thinking a lot about marriage lately, and babies. I’d love it if we were to get engaged soon, and have a summer (very small) wedding. I’ve definitly got “settling down” things on the brain!

So, being the forward girl that I am, I took matters into my own hands, and actually asked my BFF to go with me.  And, he turned me down.  It took me a few days to realize it, but while I had intended to go with him, with my BFF, he wanted to actually go on a date with a girl. (To be fair, he’d never dated either, so it never occurred to me that he wanted it)

Anyways, once I figured that out, I asked two more guy friends (1 who said no, because he had a girlfriend), and eventually got a yes from one.

Well, FirstCrush has made appearances on here before, but I’ll tell you how things with him started.

I asked him to our Prom, and actually ended up starting to get a crush on him by the time Prom started coming around… and I was really looking forward to it.

My mother actually ended up making my Prom dress (and while it wasn’t quite the dress I had wanted, even now I really liked the shape), and just three days before the Big Day, FirstCrush calls, and tells me that he won’t be around for Prom, that he’s going to AirForce camp in Quebec instead.  That’s right, he actually cancelled our first date, and I ended up going alone – as did my BFF, funnily enough.

So, we ended up snail-mailing back and forth while he was away, and when he got back, we actually went on a date. (to be continued later!)

I get to his place and buzz up. He buzzes me in, I knock on his door. He opens it up and says “oh, hey” and let’s me in. It’s completely comfortable and not weird at all that I am dropping by unannounced. I try to fiddle with his computer to make it recognize my drive, but it won’t work. I muddle around with all his settings, but I am not used to Windows Vista (I’m a mac girl), and I can’t get it going. ”Your computer is F-ed”, I tell him, and I suggest that he take it to a warranty shop. While I am on his computer, I see he has a folder… Named after me. Yep, a folder with my name on it. Actually, it’s a nickname that he has for me, so there’s no pretending it’s a folder about someone else. I pretend I don’t see it, because to me computers are personal, and I don’t like to embarrass people. But I *really* wonder what’s in it… I mean, I’m dieing to know…

We hung out about an hour, he made me a few more discs of music (that didn’t work when I got home), then I left. He told me to come over tomorrow, he’s giving me a futon (for my basement, for when people stay over). He also hinted that Thursday and Friday maybe he’d see me too. Wow, he’s not very busy for someone that’s moving away in only a few days.

Then, I floated home.

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Leaving-guy has an extensive music collection, and my hard drive died a few weeks ago (taking much of my music with it). I asked if he could burn me a DVD of music files, and he said yes. Previously he burned me a disc and it did not work, and since he moves away on Saturday, my time is running out.

I made him a going away present, chocolate cupcakes, my secret recipe. I pretended that I was making them for my girl’s night out last night, which I did use 1/2 of them for, but really I made them as a going away present. I made an excuse to go see him, to give him an external hard drive to copy his music onto, so that I could give him the cupcakes. I was thinking since it’s his last week, I wasn’t sure when I’d get to see him. I called him on the way home from work and said I’d be over in 30 minutes with the hard drive (and surprise cupcakes).

When I got home, one of my girlfriends had already come over for the girl’s night. I didn’t want to be a jerk and not talk to her, so after 20 minutes of catching up I invited her to walk over with me.

When we arrived I announced that I had a friend with me. I introduced them, and told him that I couldn’t stay, I had to run. He said he’d be in all night, packing, and tomorrow night too, and perhaps I could come by tomorrow? To pick up my drive, of course. I said yes. I gave him a hug and we left.

My friend said that we were ridiculous. She said there was so much chemistry in the air she thought he would kiss me in front of her. She said she tried to walk out the door before me, so I could kiss him good bye. I tried to explain that we were not dating, he broke up with me, he wants to be “just friends”. She was surprised and said obviously he still liked me.

So, I am not the only one who is confused.

Read on for part two.