Yesterday was the best day of my life (to date, anyway)

It was my 24th birthday yesterday and my incredible boyfriend took me on the most AMAZING picnic EVER. He took me to the park where we had one of our very first dates so many years ago when we were much younger (teens) and also the park we have visited many times before. It's a beautiful park in the the historic district of downtown Pensacola overlooking the water. One of my favorite places in our city. The weather was PHENOMINAL. It could not have been more perfect in anyway. The sun was shining and the light breeze and 70 degree temperatures were impeccable.

Ben spread out a blanket and got the most delicious food from a quaint deli in Pensacola.

We sat and ate, talked about how gorgeous and perfect the day was and just enjoyed each other's company. It was just such a sweet, special moment and I was thoroughly enjoying every single second.

Lo and behold, he begins talking about memories we've had in that park (some, awkward but most, amazing- we were laughing about it mostly) and he then goes to pull something out of his jacket pocket and continues talking about how he's always known that he wanted to spend his life with me and then he ASKED ME TO MARRY HIM!

I was speechless to say the least- tears immediately surfaced and through my clouded vision I looked down at the most perfect, flawless, gorgeous , breathtakingly beautiful ring I have EVER seen in my entire life (and I AM NOT joking)...

He then went to his car and got "THE JOURNAL". Rewind to when I was 17 years old- Ben gave me a red leather journal when he first started showing interest in me. He knew I loved to write and he knew I loved red. He wrote a sweet little note inside of it and it was the first gift he ever gave me. I actually never wrote in it. I just kept all of our things within it- pictures, letters etc. When Ben and I got back together in 2009, I made that journal into "Our Story"- I started from the very beginning of the day that we met, through the heartbreak of our seperation, in between when we were apart all the way up to our reuniting in October of 2009, including pictures, letters, memories and conversations we had that I printed and kept. I also included scraps from dates we had been on and so on and so forth. I worked on it while he was gone on tour last summer and gave it to him when he returned home. The journal still had many empty pages and so he took the time to write in it almost every day from when I gave it to him! He documented our holidays together, times we were apart, special times and dates and just the sweetest, most romantic things you could ever imagine. He wrote in it the night before he proposed and it was the most beautiful thing I have ever read.



I read the second half of the journal in it's entirety and continued to bawl my eyes out. I was absolutely overwhelmed in every sense of the word and could not stop feeling like I was in the most amazing dream I had ever had.



A couple had watched us from a bench the entire time and came over to congratulate us. It was so sweet.



I did manage to snap a picture (believe it or not). Kinda nice you can't see my red eyes and runny makeup through my sunglasses. I assure you, it's there.

And the ring again...

It's perfect.



He's perfect.



We're perfect together.



WE'RE GETTING MARRIED IN OCTOBER! I am elated. I couldn't be more happy or sure about anything! The plans are already rolling! I can't wait to marry the love of my life.