How We Got Engaged! + My 36th Birthday

I had planned to share some new recipes this week but something wonderful happened over the weekend and I’m going to share that story instead. In fact, the whole of last week was just the happiest time! 

It’s still sinking in for us that we are actually ENGAGED!   

(Excuse the blurriness of some of the photos, we were obviously too excited to care!)

So, here’s a little background “story of us” for you just to set the scene and what not. 

We met for the first time in person on Friday 13th April 2018 after meeting online and chatting briefly. I think we were both a little sceptical, BUT we decided to get drinks in the early evening and surprisingly had so much to talk about that we ended up staying for dinner and another drink before saying goodnight. I liked Mike’s sense of humour and his confidence, but most of all he was very kind to me and that made an impression.

For us, it wasn’t love at first sight, lol. But we really enjoyed each others company and knew we wanted to get to know one another. Over the next few weeks and months it became clear to me that Mikey was one of the best people I have ever known. And he has proved this again and again in so many different ways over the last few years.

I met Mike’s family quite early on, and I felt instantly welcomed in and accepted, something that I am extremely grateful for to this day! I feel so fortunate to have in-laws to be who are such lovely people. 

Mike met my family a little later when they were here on holiday and I could tell they took to him straight away. He has a really good sense of humour and fits right in.

We moved in together after 6 months of being a couple. In hindsight that seems really fast, but at the time it felt right. And it was. Because we’ve had two solid years of living under the same roof and I feel like I know this man, and he knows me. Which is really, really important to us when making a commitment as huge as marriage.

I could go on gushing about how wonderful my fiancé is, but let’s get to the story of how he proposed!

Last Thursday was my 36th birthday, and running up to the day Mike had said to me that he would like to take me for dinner on Friday night. 

So we had a small dinner at home with his sister and her hubby on Thursday night which was lovely – it really was the best birthday I’ve had in years, I was just in such a good place mentally. Often I’ve found my birthday drudges up a lot of past emotions and a bit of sadness. 

But this birthday was different. I felt happy, content and at ease with life. Even though I would have loved to go for coffee with my mom and have my family round for dinner, I was able to appreciate the fact that my mom will be visiting soon (early next year we’re hoping!).

Fast forward to Friday evening. 

The weather was warm and just a little windy, I knew we were going to Salt Rock Hotel for dinner which is one of our absolute favourite places. It’s right on the beach and you sit under a canopy of palm trees – it doesn’t get more tropical and always gives me allllll the feels!

It was fairly busy, there were lots of people having dinner on the verandah and almost all the tables on the lawn were taken, except for one on the far right situated all on its own on a little wooden deck. It was perfect, we could enjoy my birthday dinner in peace. We were totally sheltered from the wind and the ocean looked so beautiful through the palm trees. 

We had a delicious dinner, I had a pizza which I had been looking forward to for weeks haha! Mike had the chicken and prawn curry which is always amazing. 

After dinner we were chatting about this and that and then I noticed Mikey get extremely quiet. At the same time, I noticed everyone around us starting to leave, it was amazing! The kids playing on the lawn were called inside, and the folks sitting at tables around us made their way in. We were all alone.

I was blabbing on about taking a walk down to the beach after dinner because it was still light, and he barely answered me before he started smiling and said “Salsie, I just have one more present for you…” he pulled a small black box out of his pocket, opened it up and asked me to marry him!

I said yes before I even looked at the ring. After several hugs and kisses, lots of smiling and a few laughs Mikey put the ring on my finger. 

He certainly knows me because I could not have chosen a more perfect ring for myself. I just love it – the central stone is a blue topaz, my birthstone. I love gem stones and I find it so interesting that each gem has it’s own meaning. I especially love the significance of this one! 

Topaz is The Jewel Of Love and Loyalty:

This gem represents eternal romance and friendship. Blue topaz symbolises honesty, clarity of feelings, and deep emotional attachment. It signals a wish for a committed romantic relationship and a strong appreciation of loyal friendship.

It turns out that Mikey decided to propose on Friday night because it was Friday 13th…And we met on Friday 13th – he is so thoughtful and it was so perfect.

What a magical moment this was! It is well and truly etched in my memory and I feel like a very, very lucky human to be engaged to my most favourite person. 

We wanted to let our family and closest friends know straight away, so after ordering champagne and taking a few moments to ourselves, we video called our moms and my brother and then let family and a few friends know with a group message.

A couple of our special friends asked if they could come and celebrate with us and of course we said yes! So we spent the rest of the evening with friends and actually went back to the place where Mike and I first met. 

I get tearful thinking about it, but even more so, thinking about all the wonderful moments that are still to come. 

I guess we had better start thinking about planning a WEDDING. 

If you’ve read this far, you’re a champ! 

Thank you for being here, I really appreciate every single one of you, and if you’re interested in this kind of thing, stay tuned because I’ll be sharing our wedding planning journey here on the blog, as well as the big day when it happens, of course.

Check back soon for some NEW healthy recipes coming your way!

In the meantime you can check out my Sugar-Free Cookbook that I’ve just launched which also includes many Gluten-Free and Dairy-Free recipes. All easy to make and ridiculously delicious!!