[Almost] A Designer: Engagement Story

Warning: This post is very long and filled with pictures.

I flew to DC on Friday, August 12th, and checked in to the hotel in Alexandria. Then I went to the Crate and Barrel outlet, and got several fun things. After that I read in my room, admired my Crate and Barrel purchases and went to bed. Shawn arrived at midnight.

I had convinced myself that Shawn would propose if he brought flowers. When

he walked in I noticed right away that he didn't have flowers, so I was

doubting a little if he would propose or not.

The next morning we had breakfast and then walked around to some of the

shops on King St, including Restoration Hardware (love that store!).

Photo Credit

We left around 11:30 and drove to Paris, VA.

We stayed at The Ashby Inn and our room was amazing! It felt like we were staying with really wealthy

relatives. It felt very welcoming and homey. The back wall of the room had

huge windows and door with a beautiful view of the Blue Ridge Mountains. The door led out onto a deck outside the room, where there were two Adirondack chairs.

Main building

Our room was located in the school house building, pictured above

The view from our room

After we admired the room, Shawn suggested we go hiking, which made me wonder if he was going to propose there.

We hiked in Sky Meadows Park for about 5-10 minutes, and then it started pouring rain! The rain was even coming down sideways. It was kinda painful actually, it felt like needles were hitting my legs. We got soaked and ran back to the car. When we got back to our room, we put our clothes in the bathtub and lounged around in bathrobes that were in the room.

There was a bottle of sparkling wine and chocolates waiting in the room when we got there, which were included in our package. We sat in the wing back chairs in front of the fireplace, drinking wine, and talked for hours. I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to propose, but it didn't happen then.

Later, we changed clothes and got ready for dinner at the Inn. The food was amazing! I got fish and Shawn got pork shoulder, and we had peaches and shortcake for dessert.

The next morning we went to the first winery, which was set up on a hill. We had a great view of the mountains and vineyards from the tasting room. We tried about 4 wines there and some cheese. While we were sitting there, Shawn suggested we go hiking again, which made me think that he must really

want to propose while hiking.

View from the winery

Interior of Delaplane Cellars

Sidenote: I have this cream colored Loft dress that I really wanted to be wearing while he proposed. I call it my Engagement dress. I was pretty convinced that he was going to propose that day, so that's the dress I was wearing.

Shawn went back to the room and changed, but I didn't because I wanted to be wearing my Engagement dress when he proposed. So I ended up going hiking in a dress. Unfortunately my shoes were still wet from the day before, and hiking with wet shoes is very uncomfortable. I was really having a hard time. There were tons of spider webs, and I had blisters from my wet shoes. We seemed to be hiking for an extremely long time, and I was convinced that we were on one of the 4 miles hiking trails. I made Shawn look up the trail on his phone, and thankfully we were on the 1 mile trail.

The entrance to the hiking trails

Shawn kept off-roading and darting into the woods (I was assuming he was trying to find a proposal spot), and eventually he motioned for me to join him in the woods. I thought, "This is it! I can survive the hiking for a little while longer if it means getting engaged." Shawn put his arm around me and said that we were at the end of the trail. I didn't believe him, and we just stood there in the woods for a few minutes. The longer we stood there, the more irritated I got because he wasn't proposing! Then he said something about seeing if we were actually at the end of the trail, and it turns out we weren't. By this time, I was getting a little mad because he hadn't proposed and I was hot and sweaty and having difficulty walking because of the blisters on my feet.

Eventually we made it to the end of the trail. Shawn changed his clothes, and I changd my shoes, and on we continued to the next wineries.

The next winery was really small and crowded. We tried about 8 wines there and received complimentary wine glasses. The last winery was a little bigger and was dog and baby friendly. I thought it was odd that children in strollers were at a wine tasting.

Three Fox Vineyards

Barrel Oak Vineyards

View from the parking lot of Barrel Oak

I told Shawn that I couldn't drink anymore wine without eating anything. I couldn't keep my eyes open! Shawn said he didn't want to order any food at the winery and suggested we go to Middleburg, which is a cute little town with a bustling main street.

We walked around main street, got some ice cream, and went to expensive shops. I thought that would have been a nice time to propose, but it didn't happen then either!

Later, we went back to our room to shower and get ready for dinner. Shawn asked me what I was going to wear to dinner, and I thought to myself, "My white Engagement dress I've been wearing all day, while waiting for you to propose!" But I said out loud that I was going to wear the dress I'd been wearing earlier. Shawn replied, "I thought you might want to wear something nicer for dinner." So I went and changed my clothes into a purple dress (I brought a back-up Engagement dress, just in case) and then I walked outside onto the deck where Shawn was standing looking at the mountains. Shawn told me, "You look beautiful, but you would look even prettier with this ring." He pulled out a ring box and said a bunch of nice things about how much he loved me and loved being around me, then he got down on one knee and proposed." I said yes, and started giggling uncontrollably, maybe from the excitement of being engaged or possibly from all the wine I had consumed...