I'm the Future Mrs. Coelho!!!

Back in August Josh had the idea to go to NYC. I have never been and I've always wanted to go so we figured while we were on the east coast still would be the perfect time. Little did I know that when we planned this trip back in August, this would be a weekend that would change both our lives.

Josh and I have been looking at rings for awhile (we've been a couple times since May) and we've talked about marriage a lot so I figured it would happen sometime sooner rather than later. Before I left for NYC, I had a feeling that this weekend would be the weekend he popped the question. (Side note: I also had this feeling a couple months before the trip about a different time and boy was I wrong so I guess my "feelings" are definitely not always right). But I wasn't positive and I didn't want to get my hopes up. I mean I was going to New York City... I can't complain about that! So I thought "Even if I don't get a ring I'm going to NYC!" So pretty much by the time I got there and met Josh at JFK airport I had convinced myself it wasn't going to happen.

However, Josh was acting kind of strange the whole day. He seemed kind of antsy and like he had a lot on his mind which is unlike him because he is usually so calm and relaxed about everything. I figured that maybe it was because we were in New York and we were trying to figure out where we were going. Josh's cousin Tina picked us up from the airport and dropped us off in the city at our hotel. It was a beautiful day in New York!! Beautiful sunny blue skies with 70 degree weather! We spent the day walking around the city, having lunch in Bryant Park and shopping. During the day Josh had his jacket on the entire day and kept saying how warm he was (and it was definitely not jacket weather). I kept telling him to take it off and that he didn't need it but he refused. Little did I know that he had the ring in his jacket pocket and didn't want to take it off and have it get stolen or something. So here is Josh walking around in his warm jacket keeping the ring close to him while everyone else around us is in t-shirts. That should have been a clue to me but I honestly didn't even think anything of it at the time.

Wearing his jacket all day (his hand was in his pocket like that the whole day making sure the ring was still there) :)

Beautiful day in Bryant Park

After our day of exploring the city we got dressed up and went to a nice dinner at an Italian restaurant. The ambiance was perfect! Romantic lighting, a piano player, good food and wine.... absolutely the best! Then we went to Central Park to walk around. However, when we got there Josh said he had something different in mind and told me he had planned a horse drawn carriage ride. So here we were in Central Park in the middle of New York City just the two of us in a horse-drawn carriage. It was literally something out a movie. I felt like a princess for a day. We then walked around Central Park for a little.

Like a princess in her carriage with her prince

At one point we were sitting on a rock just admiring the city when he got down on one knee and popped the question. Of course I started crying immediately. And what's funny is the first thing I said was "Are you serious??" I said this because Josh on multiple occasions has pretended to propose. And because it was so dark I didn't really see him holding a ring so I thought maybe this was another one of his tricks. But after all the sweet things he was saying I knew it was for real. I was quivering and my heart was pounding out of my chest...I was so happy!!! And I couldn't stop crying and smiling. We had to go find a lamppost so I could see my ring, and when I saw it it took my breath away. It was gorgeous and everything I wanted and more... the boy did good! No actually, the boy did GREAT!! And thanks to his Mom who helped design it with the jeweler in AZ

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Right after he proposed...I don't think my smile could get any bigger

Josh and I were literally up for 24 hours that day. We had gotten up at 3 am for an early flight to NY and we pretty much stayed up till 3 am calling everyone we knew. Josh's parents were texting him the whole night saying "Have you done it?" and my parents knew too that he was going to do it too. Josh was so nervous I was going to see the texts before. I think the best phone call I made was to my grandmother. Everytime she calls me she says "Sasha do you have something to tell me?" hinting that maybe I was engaged and had news for her. Literally everytime I talked to her she asked if I was engaged or when I was going to get married. So when I called her I said "Babushka, I have something to tell you" and her response is "Uh oh... what happened now?" like she was expecting something awful. It was so funny! And when I told her she was ecstatic!! My parents and Josh's parents and everyone was so excited. On the way back to the hotel Josh and I got some celebratory Champagne. And when we got back to the hotel there was a gift basket with more Champagne and congratulations gifts from both our parents.

Pretty sure this was at 3am after all our phone calls. Tired, but still happy as can be!

It was the most PERFECT engagement!! Way better than I could have ever imagined it to be.
I can honestly say I would LOVE to live this day over and over again. It was so perfect and so "Josh and I". I am so blessed to have such an amazing man in my life! He is going to be the perfect husband!

The rest of the weekend was amazing. Quite honestly we could have done nothing and I would have been perfectly happy. Josh and I were in engagement heaven. We kept saying randomly throughout the weekend "We're engaged!" "We're gonna get married!". But we had a lot on our "To Do While in New York" list. One of those was to see a broadway show. The next evening we went to see Mary Poppins on Broadway. It was such a great show!!!

Another thing on my to do list was to go to The Today Show to try to get on TV. So Josh and I woke up bright and early at 5 am on Monday. Josh was such a good sport about it all! I made a sign that said "We're Engaged!!" and "She Said Yes!" (for when Josh held the sign). We went over to the Today Show first, but they were having a concert so it was uber crowded and we didn't think we could get on TV. So we went over to Times Square to check out Good Morning America. There was a short line of probably 5 people and the next thing we knew we were inside the studio and Darius Rucker was there as the musical guest. I was in heaven... and star struck. I'm definitely not the type of person to get star struck. But there are two people I will get star struck over: 1)Giada de Laurentiis 2) Any Good Morning America or Today show host, but in particular George Stephanopolous. So when he came over, I had to take a picture with him. It was so fun to be in the studio and Josh and I did get to be on TV with our sign. Success!!

Making our sign at 4 am... bright and early


George Stephanopolous!!

So now that it's official, it's time for wedding planning!! I am so excited! Now I can pull out all those pics I've secretly saved from wedding magazines from when I was younger (you know that every little girl dreams about her wedding). Stephanie knows exactly what I'm talking about. Wink wink! :) I'm going to be really distracted from school now, but I feel so so blessed to have this distraction. I love it!

I'll keep you updated on wedding plans. Right now we're shooting for a Sept or Oct wedding, but we're waiting to find out Josh's training schedule to figure out what works best.

Also... Josh and I have a wedding website. It's:
http://www.mywedding.com/joshsasha/
There isn't much on there now, but it'll be updated as we get more details.