Today’s themes: sparkly & memorable.

It’s not every day that a girl gets engaged so I thought I’d capture a few of the highlights of today – 20^th August 2011.

David organized a beautiful dinner at the Hilton Park Lane in Mayfair, London.  We went to the 28^th floor to a gorgeous restaurant – Galvin at Windows –, which offers beautiful French cuisine with an amazing view of Hyde Park, Marble Arch, Bayswater, Mayfair, Marylebone and Wembly Stadium in the far distance.

We sat down at a table with this amazing view.  It had rained earlier but the weather became what I refer to as “California weather” with warmth and the shining sun.

Everything was sparkling – the water, the champagne, the amuse bouche – and I could tell David was up to something when he asked me if I needed to go to the ladies room. I took that as a hint and took a little extra primping time before I returned to the table to find David with a cheeky grin and our first delicious course of salmon waiting for me.  I knew something was up when David kept repeating, “isn’t everything so sparkly?”

At mid-bite, a very, very sparkly ring delicately dangling from the white orchid at the centre of the table caught my eye.  I didn’t know what to do and asked David if I could remove it from the flower.

David looked me in the eyes and said, “Thank you for being so patient with me.  I couldn’t imagine my life without you…will you marry me?” And, I said, “YES!” and immediately embraced him.

While enjoying our following courses of juicy steak and delicious dessert, I couldn’t get over how perfect my engagement ring was.  It’s subtle, classy and extremely sparkly – vintage from the 1950s. I just love it!

We called our family to share the great news and contacted our friends and family all over the world too.  We also changed our Facebook relationship status, and as a result, we’ve received so many sweet notes of congratulations.

David and I plan to have a small civil ceremony in November 2011 in Central London with our immediate family.  We hope to see other friends and family in California next year!

Here are a few pictures from our lovely engagement afternoon. Enjoy!