Boring January makes for the Best February EVER

Happy Engagement to Me!!! Brian proposed in the most surprising and romantic way. He continues to amaze me and I'm still trying to figure out how I snagged him. Cannot WAIT to marry this guy.
The Story:
For 2 years now I've been trying to plan a trip to New York to visit my BFF Ashley Burnett. Her 25th birthday was coming up and it's always a big event and I hate not spending it with her so I booked my flight and took a couple days off work to go celebrate. Brian was invited but with the recent switch from taxes to valuations, he didn't think it was a good idea to take time off. New York was AMAZING. Ashley had us on a schedule - literally she sent out a 4 page itinerary detailing every aspect of the weekend. There were 3 friends flying in for the party, one that had never been to NYC before so we wanted to make sure we got everything in. I went to Madison Ave and visited Ash at Polo Ralph Lauren where she works, we ate at delicious restaurants, played pool, went dancing, went shopping on 5th Ave & in China Town, got manicures, played the huge piano at FAO Schwartz, ran around the city in the rain & went to a poetry slam. So much fun.

Saturday morning we woke up early and got dressed up to go to the Phantom of the Opera. We put in our names at a cute brunch place called SaraBeth's and then during the hour wait, we walked over to Central Park for Ash to show us her favorite spots. We had our camera's out taking pictures as we walked up the stairs to Belvedere's Castle - this beautiful spot that overlooks the park & the city. I came up the stairs and turned to see Brian in a black pea coat (not a necessary detail but he just looked so cute) with a bouquet of gorgeous red roses. I just stood there and stared. It took so long for it to compute what was going on. Here's the inner dialog... "He looks like Brian... he IS Brian... why is Brian in New York?? Why does he have those roses??? Is he doing what I think he's doing?!?!?!" I looked at Ash for some answers and she motioned for me to go over to him - finally he'd had enough of my standing there and he goes "Get Over Here!" so I ran to him. Yes, ran. Pictures and video will prove it might not have been the best option since it doesn't make for the most flattering shots, but I didn't even think about it and bolted to him. After a hug, I went to kiss him and he gave me a quick one and pushed me away so he could drop to a knee. (Literally pushed. Pretty funny.) After a number of very sweet words, he made me an offer I couldn't refuse. We called our parents and squealed the good news and then joined the group for brunch, went to Phantom as planned, hit up Times Square, more good food, shopped at Century 21, saw the Statue of Liberty and went to Wall Street before crashing at Ashley's. A perfect weekend.
The thing that still surprises me is how in the world did this all work out so perfectly? How did they arrange it so I'd be showered and dressed nice, nails freshly manicured??? Anyone who knows me knows the likelihood of any of those things happening on a weekend that I'm on vacation without my boyfriend are slim to none. And how did he get there looking so nice?? His amazing friend, Christine, drove down from Connecticut, picked him up from the airport, took him to a friend of Ashley's to shower up, and drove him to the park in time to meet me. It was brilliant. The perfect surprise.

Ali Babcock... not bad right?