On November 25th, 2018, I said HECKYES to my 8th grade crush, my best friend, and the absolute love of my life for the last 4.5 years. Andrew and I have a really interesting history together, and it’s a story I love telling (read it here). He has been woven in and out of my life for the last 15 years, and I'm so grateful for all the twists and turns, because it ultimately led us back to one another.

How He Asked

Andrew and I flew to Denver to spend Thanksgiving with my Uncle and cousins. After a few days with the fam, we headed to our friends Josh and Taylor’s place, where we spent the rest of our time. We ate lots of food, hiked in Boulder, drank matcha, and had a blast soaking up quality time with our close friends.

On our last full day in Colorado (Sunday, November 25th), we decided to make the two-hour drive to Estes Park for one final hike. It had snowed the day before, so we imagined the drive would be worth it, seeing postcard-like views of snow covered mountains. Classic Colorado. Little did I know, Josh and Taylor were all in on this proposal Andrew had planned even before we arrived in Denver. Sneaky, sneaky.

I’m not going to lie, I had my suspicions about Andrew proposing on this trip, but then I quickly let that go.

Andrew was so lax about his suitcase being open, because the ring was never there - it was never even in Austin. He had it shipped straight to Josh and Taylor’s in Colorado once it was finished being made. Probably for the best, haha! Also, side note: I’m THE WORST at being surprised. I ask a lot of questions. I’m super skeptical. I’m a good guesser. So, I already had a strong feeling he was going to propose before the end of this year based on a few things he’d said in the past. I just didn’t know exactly when or how. As it should be, haha.

This was the one moment in my life I begged my type A and overly analytical tendencies to lay low and not accidentally connect the dots. I swear, I have the best intentions, but sometimes my Sherlock brain won’t shut off.

Alright, so it’s Sunday. We made it to Estes Park in the early AM all bundled up and ready to hike. We hiked the Loch Lake Trail via the Glacier Gorge Trail with plans to also see Mills Lake. The trail was covered in snow, which made it a very challenging uphill hike but super exhilarating nonetheless! We all slipped and fell a few times, so by the time we made it up there, we were all prettttty damp. Oh, and did I mention it was 17 degrees? Haha!

Apparently Andrew planned to propose at either Loch Lake or Mills Lake, which are both beautiful viewpoints (when there’s not a blizzard). But once we made it to Loch Lake, we quite literally were blowing away in the wind and all you could see was white. The lake was frozen and there was so much snow and wind we had to turn back.

We decided to hike a couple more miles up to Mills Lake. At this point, Andrew wasn’t sure if he was going to propose. He couldn’t feel his fingers, toes, etc. (none of us could at this point).

When we arrived at Mills Lake, we caught our breath and ate some turkey jerky. This was our last stop before heading back down the mountain. I had ZERO thoughts of Andrew proposing. All I could think about was the promise of a warm matcha latte after the hike.

Despite being frozen, we all agreed to snap a photo before leaving. Figured if we hiked that far we might as well document it!

Andrew snapped a photo of Josh and Taylor first.

Then, Andrew and I got together for our shot.

We look like cute lil earthworms. Bonus points if you can spot Andrew’s frozen snotcicles in his mustache! We smiled for the photo, and then Andrew told me to turn around, so we could get a shot of us looking out at the mountains.

This is when my spidey senses started tingling.

I heard Andrew saying “alright, alright, alright,” like he was pumping himself up for something. Then the next thing I know, he’s down on one knee with the most beautiful sparkly ring. He said some really sweet things that I honestly cannot recall, because I basically blacked out with excitement. The rest is all a blur.

Since a picture is worth a thousand words, I’ll just let it do the talking:

There you have it! We got engaged in the most Andrew & Jules kind of way, and we’re so grateful to Josh and Taylor for capturing the moment. They even brought champagne in their backpack to celebrate, but we all agreed we were way too cold. We basically ran down the mountain to get back to warmth. I called my parents as soon as we got back to the car (they were obviously thrilled!), and then we ended the evening with some much-needed warm and cozy Indian food.

How He Picked the Ring

For as long as I can remember, I wanted a clean, minimal ring with a beautiful oval solitaire diamond. I love the simplicity of a thin gold band with the diamond itself remaining the focus. While Andrew and I had talked about it and even looked at rings in person two years ago, nothing quite compares to the feeling of seeing your own ACTUAL ring. Andrew put so much love and thought into this, and I cannot believe how gorgeous it is. Eeeee!

My ring was handmade by one of our closest family friends who I’ve known my entire life. Over the 4.5 years Andrew and I were dating, my family made is pretttty clear to Andrew that when he’s ready “talk to Gary”. So, that’s exactly what he did! My ring is super special, close to home, and beyond what I could even imagine.

I’m excited to eventually pick out some minimal and unique wedding bands to stack with it. I’m currently looking at Mejuri, WWAKE, and Mociun. Got any other favorites? Let me know in the comments!

Alright, now what?

We’ve been getting lots of questions about wedding planning and the whole shebang.

The honest truth: I have NO idea. Andrew and I are a bit alternative when it comes to this kind of thing. So no matter what we end up doing, it won’t be traditional. We’ve thrown around a few ideas in passing, but we’re not planning anything just yet. We’re just enjoying this moment of being engaged. So, whether we end up eloping in the Bali jungle or throwing a big party, I’ll be sure to keep you in the loop via the blog!

Until then, we are in house hunting (& saving) mode. We are SO ready to have a bigger space, a yard for Luna, and an actual home office to get shiz done. Fingers crossed we land one by May!!!

Seriously, thank you all for coming along for the ride and for cheering us on! I’m so excited to share this new chapter with you all. I love documenting all of these milestones, and having this community to grow with is such a beautiful thing!

Hugs,
Jules x

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