I had always wanted to see a fox in person, and never did until this day.

It is pretty ridiculous that I have decided to finally tell this story almost a year after it happened…I guess I got caught up in everything pretty quick and the idea of posting the story just got away from me. Plus, I think for awhile I wanted this blog to be strictly recipes + travel + dining out, but I find myself more and more wanting to document life in general…Since this time has already gone by so quickly I need to stop and document a few things because it’s all happening too fast.

Last June my friend Annica and I decided to visit Jordan on San Juan Island. It was a very exciting weekend, because Annica had recently moved back home from Buenos Aires and I was so happy to have her back in this hemisphere. I couldn’t wait to bring her to the island for a fun weekend.

Annica and I, about 15 minutes before it happened.

It started out as your run-of-the-mill Friday Harbor getaway. We went to the bars on Friday night, woke up the next morning and went to the farmers market for a casual breakfast, bought some stuff to BBQ on the beach, and were just going to explore. You can’t really go wrong with this on San Juan Island. The weather was beautiful, and it didn’t hurt we had this tiny new pup named Otto tearing around with us.

He was so small back then!

We BBQ’ed on the beach and things didn’t seem too weird. I was pretty much just loving life. We drove to the lighthouse to show Annica the views and take a few pictures, then on the way back Jordan pulls over out of nowhere without saying anything. I’m thinking, “Ok, I guess we are just pulling over to take some pictures…?” So I get out and immediately start taking some photos of flowers, you know, to Instagram. Annica says, “Hey Lauren, look at that guy down there on the beach…” I look down, and not only is there some random dude on the beach, but written in driftwood is “Marry Me Lauren.”

The famous flower photo I was busy taking before realizing I was getting proposed to.

There it is. We only had our phones with us, of course, so this was the best we could get. It looked 239482348230 more astounding in real life.

Good thing nobody was taking video, because I just started screaming like a total weirdo, “OHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGOD.” I turn around and there he is on one knee, giving some sweet speech about our relationship and wanting to spend the rest of his life with me. I really wish I could remember what he said better, but I think I may have blacked out for a few seconds out of shock…Instead of saying yes I blurted “Absofuckinglutely” (you know, keeping it classy) and we were engaged.

After we were able to compose ourselves enough for a halfway decent photo

The funniest thing is even months later I can explain to you detail-by-detail the rest of that weekend…As the story unfolded there were some funny details, like how Annica nonchalantly suggested I paint my nails on the ferry, how she distracted me with pictures on her iPhone as we DROVE BY the driftwood…they wouldn’t want me noticing it before the proposal, which is hilarious since I was so oblivious even after getting out of the car. I was so happy she was there, since she was the person who introduced me to Jordan. I was able to ask her on the spot if she would be my Maid of Honor.

another fox! Good luck in my book.

Leading up to the proposal, Jordan had asked a bunch of the guys from the jobsite to help him assemble the driftwood. He paid them in beer, naturally. What I couldn’t believe was HOW BIG the pieces of driftwood were up close! We went to look at them the next day, and the message stayed in tact for several weeks. Then a month or two later we took my mom out and brought some pieces of the driftwood home to keep forever.

I could go on and on with more details, I can’t believe it was last June. It truly warms my heart to actually be writing about this and just saying screw it and putting it in the public blogosphere domain. I’m getting a little teared up here, and it only confirms the fact that I want to document more of my engagement, wedding, and rest of my life with the best friend I’ve ever had.