This font is Michael telling the story     This font is Andie telling the story

The weekend of August 10 2002, I stole Andie away from work and we drove to Long Beach.  After a gourmet dinner, I surprised her by walking her to a Luxury Yacht in Rainbow Harbor on which she was going to be spending the weekend.  Here's a picture...

It's called The Whimsy and we had a blast.

Here I am: Captain Michael ready to go down with the ship...

And here's "First Mate" Andie... apparently afraid to get on the boat... "Are you sure this thing is safe?"...

First of all, I've never been afraid to get on a boat in my life!  Secondly, how'd Michael get the title of "Captain?"

Firstly, photos don't lie... and in answer to Andie's second query...

I paid for it...

The next morning a thick fog had settled over the harbor.  it looked so cool I had to take a picture off the stern and put together this panorama.

And check out the lighthouse - right across from our boat!

We had our breakfast and lunch served to us on the Yacht along with a couple bottles of Champagne... we mixed it with Orange Juice and drank Mimosas all day long.

That night we brought a great dinner back to the Yacht (including gourmet pretzels of all things). 

Unfortunately, Michael didn't have a bottle opener to open the Kistler.  So he sent me back into the galley to find one.  Instead I found this...

Yes, that's right. It's a Waterford pen inscribed with a marriage proposal.  There's a bit of a story behind this...

See, Andie and I have been talking about getting married for some time... But she's made it VERY CLEAR that I was NOT to pick out an engagement ring without her input.

Believe me - if you saw the CLOTHES he picks out when left to his own devices you'd do the same...  I mean this is an ENGAGEMENT RING we're talking about here!!!

Uh, yeah... Anyway, I wanted us to have SOME kind of memento for our Engagement, so I thought the inscribed pen fit the bill. It also served a dual purpose...

See?  A temporary ring!

I drew it on her finger with the pen, took her hand, got down on my knees and proposed...

I said yes.  It was such a special weekend... Even though I knew Michael was going to propose, my emotions still caught me off guard.  I cried my eyes out.  Probably because I Love him so much...

...Or for the first time she was seriously realizing the ramifications of being stuck with me for the rest of her life...

Isn't that romantic?