Karla and Josh

In Karla's words...

Where did I come from?

I was born in South Carolina to the two most amazing parents ever, Robert and Lucina. Without the infamous genes from my mom or engineering influence from my dad, I wouldn't be who I am. I grew up in Farmington, a suburb of Detroit, and from an early age showed the curiosity and inquisitive nature of an engineer - as a baby, I was fascinated with fire alarms.

My dad definitely helped cement my interest in automotive-related engineering - I remember he once brought home an entire steering column, which he set on our living room floor, and I thought it was so cool! The image has stayed with me ever since, and upon graduating from high school I was all set to pursue an engineering degree from Purdue University.

Endless Schooling

Four years later, I graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering, but decided I hadn't had enough. Spurred by those genes and an interest for academia, I stayed at Purdue for, at first, a non-thesis master's degree, also in ME. The project I started working on was so interesting, however, that soon I made the life-altering decision to transfer into the PhD program - which meant a few extra years and one gigantic paper!

It also meant most-expenses-paid trips around the country (Seattle, Houston, Arlington, Chicago, Milwaukee, Ann Arbor), as well as to Florence, Italy, for various conferences or workshops. And, because I stuck around West Lafayette for an additional 4-5 years, I made new friends and new connections - connections that eventually led me to Josh.

"Hmm, he's kinda cute..."

Josh and I met on May 15, 2010 at a mutual friend's bonfire and bonded over a conversation about sushi (which we both love). The way I usually like to tell the story is that after Josh asked me out the following week, I moved 2 hours away to Columbus, Indiana. But the move was to start an internship with Cummins, Inc. and, as I was coming back to Purdue every weekend, I did agree to dinner with Josh.

Our first date started out on the right foot - at a sushi restaurant! After dinner we went for a lengthy walk around campus, the conversation free-flowing. We made plans to have dinner again, and proceeded to see each other about once a week throughout the summer when I came home on weekends. Thanks to Gchat, though, we were talking almost every day.

The Courtship

Our romance blossomed relatively slowly over the summer, but things picked up once I got back to campus in the fall. Soon we were running together, cooking together (well, by "we" I mostly mean "I"), taking more after-dinner strolls, and shooting guns together. Two of the things I have come to love most about Josh are his easy-going nature (he doesn't mind that I sometimes show him up at the gun range) and his laugh, which is highly infectious and never fails to make me smile. Throw in his willingness to try anything I cook and promptly declare it delicious, and I eventually realized that I never wanted to let him go.

A little over a year after we met, sooner than I would have expected, the topic of marriage came up - albeit in a half-joking conversation about shiny things like diamonds. We were eating lunch at Panera and somehow found ourselves browsing pictures of rings and I would indicate which ones appealed to me (the more subtle traditional styles) while Josh would suggest things that were the extreme opposite.

Some time later we found ourselves at the mall doing the same thing, and I would point out rings I liked - which, at the beginning, actually varied quite a bit in style, causing some mild confusion for Josh. I never really got up the nerve to try anything on until after (unknown to me) Josh had already purchased a ring.

Fast-forward to August 2011. By this time we had seriously been considering marriage, even though I assumed that it would be some time before any "hardware" would actually show up. I had laid down the ground rule that Josh had to ask my parents' blessing before asking me - I had no doubt they'd give it!

As luck would have it, we were all travelling to Louisiana for my cousin's wedding, which I thought would be a perfect opportunity for them all to talk. Timing the talk, however, turned out to be a little complicated - before the wedding would have been a little tacky, after the wedding was full of family stuff, and there wasn't a moment we weren't surrounded by aunts and uncles and cousins.

It wasn't until the drive back to the airport that the opportunity presented itself for Josh to be alone with my parents, and then everyone seriously conspired to make this happen. Thankfully by this time I knew that my parents really liked Josh, so I didn't feel too bad about abandoning him with them in their car while I spent some quality time with my sister in her car.

Roughly two weeks later, and with my parents' blessing in hand, Josh was all set to propose - and I had no idea it was coming.

The Proposal!

One Saturday morning, on September 10 (it was a good date - 9/10/11), we ran a 10k race together, after which I suggested heading to Panera for lunch. It was a beautiful day out, so after we ate, we went for a walk across the pedestrian bridge. About halfway across we stopped by the sundial sculpture, and Josh noticed that someone had thrown a bicycle into the river, which was all silted over. We chatted about that, as well as other things, and then after a little while I made a move to continue on down the bridge, but Josh tugged me back.

I thought maybe there was some other random piece of trash in the river, but when I turned back Josh was just looking at me with this goofy look on his face that was a sort of mash-up between happy, mischievous, and a little scared - it was an interesting look.

He didn't say anything, though, so I gave him a one-armed hug, since I had my cup of coffee in one hand, and we stood there for a while. I again made a move to continue walking, but Josh took my hand (my right hand) to keep me there. He looked me in the eye, said "Karla C S, pre-PhD..." and dropped to one knee. At this instant, several things ran through my head - Oh my gosh! This is happening! Should I put my coffee down?! He has the wrong hand!

These competing thoughts effectively kept me frozen long enough for him to ask "Will you marry me?" to which I replied "Of course I will!" Very smoothly, as he stood back up, he produced the ring from his pocket and asked "Would you like to try this on?" Um, YES! It was the perfect ring from the perfect man. We had fun the rest of the day telling family members the good news - or, in some cases, waiting to see how long it would take before they caught on to the fact that I was sporting a sparkling new accessory.

Since the engagement, we (well, I suppose I again mean mostly "I") have had a lot of fun planning and preparing. But both of us have had tons of fun putting this site together! I can't wait for the big day (our wedding, not when I start a real grown-up job, though that's pretty exciting too!), and I know we'll continue having fun together for a long, long, long, long (long long) time.

In Josh's words...

Beginnings

I was born in West Lafayette to Richard and Ellen. My father taught me to be an independent and strategic thinker. We spent many nights playing chess when I was younger. My mother drilled math and school into my head. She also taught me the value of a dollar.

Motivations

As I was growing up, I was fascinated with electronic games. We got our first game system (the original Nintendo) around age nine. I was hooked. I had made up my mind early: I wanted to make video games.

Through much of grade school, I worked with my friends on game ideas, though I really had no idea where to go from there. I assumed that programming was important, so I slowly began picking up DOS batch file scripting. In high school I took a couple years of programming classes, and by the time I graduated, I was ready to go into Computer Science at Purdue.

Several years into my degree, I was doing some research on the game industry, and it led me to the conclusion that it would be a bad place to work. Forunately, I still liked Computer Science. So I continued, graduated, and after a relatively aimless job search, started writing software for a local family friend.

I hopped around a couple times since then, but I managed to stay in the Lafayette area.

The Meeting

One fateful night, I was invited out to a graduation bonfire at a friend's house. Having been confined to my home due to illness for the large part of the preceeding months, I thought it would be a good idea to get out. Indeed it was. The party was large, and the beer free-flowing.

As the night progressed, I noticed that a cute girl had been quietly standing beside the fire for a large part of the evening. "There's someone I can relate to," I thought. I spent the next 15 minutes working up the courage to speak to her. What should we talk about? Sushi works. The topics soon moved on to school, work, and wherever our minds wandered.

Too shortly thereafter, I had to leave. Oops! I forgot to get her phone number (did I mention I'm not good at this?). Fortunately I got her name. Thank God for Facebook. A few days later I sent her a message, and we've been regularly communicating ever since.

The Good Stuff

I knew pretty early on that Karla was the one for me. We like too many of the same things, hold too many of the same values, and get along too well for me to let her slip away. From her eagerness to cook and shop for me to the cute way she sneezes (if you haven't seen it, you should), there are just too many reasons to want to hold on. When she gave me two white button-down shirts for our first Christmas, I was sold. Show me where to sign.

I had assumed I would at some point be asking her the big question, but I had given little thought to timing. In addition, I had no idea how to keep it a surprise while still asking about ring preferences.

One day during lunch, we landed on the topic of rings, and I took the opportunity to take her through some jewelry web sites in an effort to get an idea of what she liked. Not long afterward we found ourselves at the mall browsing the jewelry shops, and I was furtively taking notes: wavy band, multi-stone, low-profile, round cut, white gold. At this point I assumed she knew what was going on, but I decided to continue as if the secret was still alive.

Armed with a feature list and a few spare mid-summer vacation days, I set out on my quest. I began with a jewelry shop that she and I hadn't already visited. I knew nothing about diamonds or diamond shopping except what I had read online only half an hour before -- so where to start? Price is a good place. Picking various points on their 4C (color, clarity, cut, carat) chart, I asked "How much?" The responses varied from "not too bad" to "OUCH." After another hour or so of looking at bands and rings, I thought I had a good idea of what to get.

With a little more confidence, I visited a second shop to compare inventory and prices. Shortly afterward I had made my decision. All I had to do was commit to it...

A few days later, Karla decided to relay a few more thoughts about rings. Unfortunately, they conflicted with some of the things she had told me earlier -- the foundation of my shopping trips. As I thanked God for my earlier unwillingness to part with my paycheck, I went back to the drawing board. I decided that I had better throw caution to the wind and just decide on something I would like that she hopefully would too: simple band, low profile, three stones, white gold. A couple weeks before a trip to Louisiana to visit Karla's family, I took the plunge. Build it.

I didn't quite realize how much time it would require. The trip to Louisiana came and went, and I took the face-to-face opportunity to ask Karla's parents for their blessing. A week later, still no ring. I was getting a little impatient. I called more than a few times asking about its status. I didn't know how long her parents could hold their tongue, so I wanted to get the ball rolling quickly.

Finally, on Sept. 9, I get the call. I run out to pick it up (with a smooth excuse) to find that the ring box was actually a ring vault... it was large. It certianly wouldn't fit in a pocket without raising suspicion. I was either going to have to ask at home or go without a box (no, I don't keep spare ring boxes around). Friday was a gloomy rainy day, so I decided to wait.

How to ask? I considered my options. Supposing my imagination completely failed me or conditions were otherwise bad, I could always ask at home. It may not be as much fun, but it would get the job done.

We were going to be running a 10K race the following day. I could ask her at the finish line. However, I would probably have to carry the ring with me throughout the race. If I lost it, I'm certain that I would either suffer immediate heart attack or a brutal beating at Karla's hand when she found out. It's better to play it safe when my life is at risk -- no asking at the race.

Moment of opportunity: after the race Karla and I agreed to get lunch at Panera Bread on the levee which was conveniently located within walking distance of a pedestrian bridge spanning the Wabash. Perfect. Thanks to my ninja skills, I successfully stashed the ring in my pocket (sans the vault). Thanks to her persisting delirium from the morning race, she didn't notice as I gripped it for dear life throughout lunch.

After a terrific meal (full disclosure: I do not own Panera), I cleverly coaxed Karla into a stroll across the bridge. We then began the longest walk of my life. We meandered to the bridge mid-point to examine a large sun dial (see photos). There I made my move. Making every gaffe in the wedding proposal book, I asked Karla if she would marry me. A combination of delirium, surprise, distractingly shiny rocks, and slightly bad judgement (no alcohol was required) induced her to answer in the affirmative. Success!

After several months of planning, shopping, keeping secrets, anxiously waiting, keeping secrets, etc., the ring was delivered, a fiance gained, family notified, and a new phase of life started. Now I can rest. Heh, so I thought...

We now look forward to the next longest walk day of our lives: Karla's graduation my birthday... Bazinga!

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