The birthday dinner...

Venue: LeMont 

Finally the birthday dinner day arrived. It was scheduled for 2 days after my actual birth date... K arrived at my apartment to pick me up; he came upstairs while I finished getting dressed.  When we got to the car, he even opened the car door for me to get in(I could get used to this, but alas, not the case, he still opens the car door for me, but not often enough ). 

We drove for a while and finally got to the restaurant, it sits at the top of a hill in a part of Pittsburgh called Mount Washington. We walked into the restaurant and I was blown away - the decor was beautiful and the view was gorgeous. The restaurant had glass walls and we had a table right next to one of them; so we had the great view as pictured above. 

We ordered our dinner, got some wine and we started talking... 

He told me about how he'd been interested in me for a while about 5 - 6 months

He had told his siblings about me, even sent them my Facebook profile picture (OK that was kind of stalkerish but anyway... ) 

He said he'd been praying for a partner and felt God was leading him my way

He said he felt the feeling was mutual and would like to pursue a relationship with me... 

Me with my fronting self responded, "Who told you I like you that way?" and he said, "o I'm sorry, I didn't mean to assume." 

OK that's my limit to posing o!, 

I said, "it's OK, I do like you too, and I believe God is also leading me your way" 

At this time our waiter brought over our dessert and as we ate, I then asked, "so are we like dating now?", K responded, "Yup, you're my girlfriend"

I don't have the picture we took that night, it's on my refrigerator back at home in Pittsburgh

And so the journey began...

The birthday pictures...

So sorry I've been away so long.... Just really busy enjoying my time in London... I had a whole month, and now I have only 2 weeks left, I am going to try to make that 3 weeks or maybe a whole month !

So before the dinner, there were the birthday pictures... 

My actual birthday was on the 5th of March, and I decided to have some pictures taken. I asked K where in Pittsburgh, I could get that done and he said I should go to The Picture People. 

I asked him to drive me there, I don't really know why I asked him or do I?.. I guess I liked the idea of hanging out with him... So early on my birthday, he arrived to pick me up for my photo shoot... It was pretty uneventful until the photographer decided that K and I should take a photo together...

My reaction was ummm, err, awkward... and the photographer says, "you guys are dating right ?" and as I was responding that we were not, K interjected and says, "the relationship is only just starting.." I gave him a weird look, and ignored his comment... 

Anyway so the photographer says we should pose for a picture together and we awkwardly stand side by side. He shakes his head and says no, I mean something like this:  and that's how we took this picture... my head was on his chest and he had his arms around me...

The next day, we went to pick up the pictures and my sweetheart bought the above picture in the 10" x 16" size, with a frame and promptly hung it up in his apartment. I  managed to restrain myself for one more day until my birthday dinner to ask all the questions that I had...

Wedding Website feature !

I just noticed that my blog made it to the list of the Wedding Blogs Feature post on Nigerian Blog  Awards ! 

So excited ! :)

Before there was Rome...

There was Pittsburgh...

I had just moved to Pittsburgh (August 2006)... Well I had been there for about 3/4 weeks.
K was in his second (and final) year of his MBA and I had heard his name so many times in church but was yet to meet him. A few weeks later, a couple in the church was getting married and I finally got to meet him, honestly with all the talk that I heard previously, I expected to be completely blown away - rather my initial reaction was "that's all ?"


I saw him often in church but we never exchanged more than the cursory hi.

Unknown to me Mr K had his eyes on me, but hadn't found the right occasion to talk to me and I wasn't really looking to be in a relationship either... 

Fast forward several months to February 2007, I had been invited by a mutual friend to a Black History month event. I went with two of my girl friends, who soon abandoned me at our table to dance... 

Enter Mr K. 
He comes over to my table, we make small talk and I ask if he would like to dance (apparently, that is what he came over to ask me!)

We dance and later as I left, we exchanged numbers... 

He calls later that week but I was about to take a nap, so I told him to call later, which he did. We talked for 77 minutes (yes, I remember, I'm pretty good with numbers, dates and the like).

Unknown to me, the K's entire family had heard about this girl that he was going to marry...
Yes, and I was still oblivious... 

I had my first ah ha moment when he was talking to one of his brothers on the phone, who then asked to say hi to me - the conversation went like this:

brother: I've heard so much about you 
me (thinking): hmmm is he being polite or has K really been talking about me (#random insert: K talks about me a lot. I never realized this until he moved to London, and I would come visit and people would be like , "o you're The K, he talks about you ALL the time", not from one or two people but everyone...) 
me: (cheerfully) good things I hope
brother: hope K is taking good care of you
me (completely confused as to why K would be taking care of me)
me: o he's a good friend
bro: nice talking to you, i'm looking forward to meeting you...

I later ask K what that was all about, and he promises to explain everything later when he takes me out for my birthday in about two weeks... 

stay tuned for the one about the birthday dinner...

In the beginning...

Malta is the location we've chosen for our destination wedding for the summer of 2011. 

The journey to Malta un-officially began earlier this year in Rome when we took a trip there for my birthday. Here's how it began: 

Pretty much all my friends were convinced he would propose. I have to admit it, the thought did cross my mind but I refused to entertain it as I didn't want to get all excited and expectant only to be disappointed.

Anyway one of my friends E said to make sure that I should eat my birthday dinner dessert carefully in the event he had the restaurant put the ring in there - to which I responded that's too cliché.

Well to humor all my friends, I didn't say anything to him and I decided to wait through my birthday trip and dinner to let him know. 

So after I carefully ate my dessert I was like oh well I guess there's not a ring in here - I then told him of the various people who were convinced he would propose.
We both started laughing and he said, " I did think about it but couldn't find the perfect size ring :) "

So I guess my friends were half right. The rest of the conversation went like this:
K - but you do know we're getting married next July right ?
Me - oh really? nope I didn't
K - so feel free to start planning :)
Me - ok .....

Over the past several months, we had begun to actively work towards planning our future together, we purchased our first home together (details will follow later) and discussed our intentions with our parents. 

A few weeks ago, his mom called my dad to officially initiate the discussions and we can now officially begin to plan for Malta. My father has declared himself the CEO of all wedding planning activities!
However, I am yet to officially receive my ring ;) I'm going to London to visit for a while at the end of this week, so stay tuned...