Pinch Me.

A few days back in the real world, and it still hasn't sunk in that I'm engaged. Every so often (alright let's be honest, every few minutes) I'll catch a glimpse of my left hand and find myself feeling completely giddy with happiness. And don't get me wrong, as amazing as it feels to have a ring on my finger, it's not the ring that makes me feel that way - it's so much more than that.

It's realising that after almost seven years, he and I are on the same page. It's imagining Jason walking into a jewellery store on his own, and choosing a ring that we would both adore. It's having our future life together seeming somewhat more solid, more real. And it's the overall feeling of comfort, that makes me think everything was supposed to happen this way, and at this time.

Because I want to remember how I'm feeling in a week, a month, a year, I thought it only best that I write up how the proposal went down.

So, we arrived in Prague late Friday night, and headed straight for the hotel. It was lovely, and our room had a river view and the biggest, most amazing bed ever. After working that day, and the normal tiredness that comes from waiting around in airports and on planes, we had an early night, and spent the whole of Saturday sightseeing.

First stop was Old Town Square, home of some absolutely stunning architecture.

The company we used to shuttle us from the Prague airport to our hotel, also gave us a complimentary walking tour - a four hour free sightseeing tour of the town, complete with a guide to explain things. Being good little tourists, we jumped at the chance and ended up seeing more of the city than we would've done on our own.

It was a great day, just a beautiful summer day exploring a nice city. We walked, I complained a little (well, there were a lot more hills than I was expecting!) and we took lots of pictures. There weren't any hints that I picked up on, it just felt like a regular old weekend getaway. Jason had mentioned doing a boat cruise that evening, so we went ahead and booked tickets for a three hours evening cruise of the river.

The cruise started at sunset and went up-river towards the outskirts of the city, with some more beautiful buildings lit up by night. The food wasn't crash hot, but there was a band on board and was just nice to relax and take in the sights. Everything was normal! As we headed back to the dock, Jason suggested we take a bit of a walk, which I was fine with - unfortunately all my night shots were blurry, so I wanted somewhere to stand still and try and practice.

We ended up walking towards the bridges, and stopping under some trees. I was leaning on a pillar to take a picture, and having no luck - so complaining quite a bit. After a while, Jason commented that he had another surprise waiting for me. This is the last image I had on my camera, before turning around to find him down on one knee!

I think I was more surprised than anything else - looking back, I have a bit of a blank when it comes to what I said when he asked me to marry him. I'm fairly sure there were a few 'Oh my Gods' thrown in amidst the slack-jawed gasping like a fish out of water, but Jason assures me that the final answer was a 'Yes, of course'. He was trying to show me the ring, but I was freaking out that we were near the water - so he put it on my finger as far as it would go, and we decided to head back to the hotel to check it out in better lighting. I think that I asked Jason 'if he was sure' about a dozen times during that walk. I blame it on the shock factor!

So by now, you've seen the ring: but I'm in love with it so much that I'm going to post it again. It turns out that Jase had purchased the ring over a month in advance, and it was just sitting innocently in our wardrobe the whole time. He picked it all by himself, and he did an amazing job. The ring is amazing, just perfect.

Unfortunately the ring size was too small, and it wasn't the correct fit - not because Jason chose wrong, but because Tiffany's only stocks a standard size 6 in its London stores. We went straight from Heathrow to the store, had my finger sized, and the ring has been sent off to NYC to be completely re-fit. That's all fine, but the only downside? It takes between 10-12 weeks!

We decided that we'd buy a token ring in the meantime; something to wear on my ring finger, to display to people when they ask about the details, and to keep me smiling - and it worked perfectly! We chose a lovely sterling silver piece that cost us a whopping 10 pounds.

.. yet this is the ring that I keep staring at in wonder. If I'm this giddy over this little number, I can't even begin to imagine what I'll be like in a few months time when I get the real thing back! And that, my friends, is how we got engaged. In a stunning city, with a well planned surprise, and an amazing partner who went to such efforts and blew me away. That boy - I think I love him.