Update 11.19.16

I bought my 2016 Ford Focus ST in March after a long string of repairs on my 2003 BMX X5 that was destroying my bank account. There was a stretch of a month in a half where I spent close to 3k on repairs that just fixed the car up enough so I could get to and from work. During this time I was trying to move out and save up money for an engagement ring. After getting the car road safe again, I made the smart decision to trade it in towards my next car.

My dad’s been a Ford guy for as long as I can remember. He’s had 3 cars since I’ve been alive, and two of them have been Mustang GTs. I’ve worked on my dad’s mustang with him and he’s never had any serious problems with his car which is well over 100k miles now. Parts are cheap and the design of the cars makes decent sense when you’re underneath it turning wrenches. Naturally Ford was the first place I looked.

I had some criteria though which pointed me towards two particular models in my price range. My new car had to  have decent storage space, be relatively inexpensive to find parts to repair/mod, and be fuel efficient. This led me to look at the Escapes and Focus lines. Since my early days in college, I’ve always wanted a manual hatchback. They’re fun to drive, fuel efficient, and can haul a good amount of stuff. After test driving the ST a couple times I was sold!

On July 10, 2016, I asked my best friend and girlfriend of 2 years to be my wife. She said yes!

Any man knows that this is a moment that takes much planning. I’d spent a little over the month at a local jeweler near my office getting hip to the diamond game and speccing out the ring. She told me she wanted a thin rose gold band, an oval diamond, and a setting the sits the diamond up off of her finger. I’m really glad she gave me some guidelines and let me choose for myself because it made the process a lot of fun. After spending two visits looking at diamonds, I finally picked hers out and then chose a simple but ornate band that to me is classic, timeless, and unique.

After I had the ring, I then asked her parents for their blessing. Luckily this happened during what seemed to be a routine visit over the 4th of July, but of course I planned that as well. The week leading up to the big day I asked some of her lady friends to take her to get her nails done, and finalized the weekend plans to visit a local winery with both of our families for the proposal.

For the winery visit, I played it off as if we were getting the families all together for the first time to meet each other. That worked like a charm so she suspected nothing. As soon as I arrived at the winery with my family, I frantically walked around to find a decently picturesque spot that wasn’t right in front of the hundreds of people that were enjoying the day out at the vineyard. After everyone arrived and tried to act normal as long as possible, I asked my dad to take a picture of the families. Chelsea and I headed to the spot first and I asked for him to take a picture of just us. That’s when I turned to her and told her I had her ring, which she was completely confused by because she had no idea what I was talking about. I then explained that I wanted her to be my wife and got down on one knee and asked her to marry me.

It definitely was the best day of my life so far.

In September, my lady and I moved into a townhouse together. Leading up to move in, we had about a month and a half to find a place to be. We worked with a realtor and weighed the cost of buying vs. renting. After settling on renting, we hit the streets hard and found the home of our dreams. I really don’t say that lightly, we love our home. As you can see by the pictures, the neighborhood is beautiful and is in the perfect location. I couldn’t be happier with our choice to move in together and spend our time before marriage learning each other and also running businesses out of our house.