On October 3rd......

.....he asked me to marry him.

You have no clue how excited I got when I thought of that play on words. It's a Mean Girls quote for those of you that have no idea what I'm talking about.

Now let's back up.

After nearly three years of dating, I was anxiously awaiting the proposal. I knew it was coming, I just didn't know when.

Cole mentioned to me that his parents would be coming into town and wanted to go to dinner with us on Friday night. Strange, considering there was an OSU game Saturday morning and we would all be heading to his parent's house in Stillwater after dinner. I was suspicious and hopeful, to say the least.

When he text me Friday morning to say his parents wanted to eat at The Coach House, I knew it was P-Day. You see, The Coach House isn't exactly our typical date-night local. We're more Groupon discount type of people. The Coach House is nice....I mean really, really nice. We'd be dressed up, eating a fancy dinner and his parents would be making a special trip to OKC. My chances were looking pretty dang good, ya'll.

I was lucky enough to have Friday afternoon off after being at a conference all week, so I got my nails done, tried on every outfit in my closet and made sure my hair and makeup were flawless. I was ready. I headed over to Cole's house to meet him before heading to dinner. This is what went down....

Cole: "So, I have good news and bad news. The bad news is that my parents aren't coming. The good news is that my mom knew how excited we were to eat at The Coach House, so she said we can still go and they'll pay for it."

Amanda: (complete disappointment showing on my face) "Oh.....OK..."

Seriously? They aren't coming? I got my nails done for nothing. So much for that idea. I tried to not be too bummed....I mean, at least the food would be good.

We got to The Coach House, enjoyed some cocktails and ordered our food. I made a [not very funny] joke about the lack of diamonds in my life. I tried not to pout, really, I did.

The waiter came out to check on us. He had a plate on his hand covered in a silver dome (I assumed it was someone else's food). He put it down on the table and yanked the dome off and there it was. A [very, very sparkly] diamond ring.

"Oh my gosh."

It all happened so fast. I was frozen, I couldn't move. It was really, finally, happening!

Cole came over to my side of the table and got down on one knee. Sweet and simply, he asked, "Will ya marry me?!"

I said something along the lines of, "Yes, you loser, of course!" before jumping up to hug and kiss him.

I'm not sure why I called him a loser. Its a term of endearment, right?

Cole enjoyed the rest of our gourmet dinner while I stared giddily at my ring. I was too excited to eat. I couldn't stop shaking. I was the happiest I'd ever been in my whole life, ever. Turns out his parents were never coming, it was just a trick! 

The days since have been a whirlwind of celebration. Watching the OSU game was difficult; I was blinded by the sparkle but doing the waving wheat after every touchdown was pretty enjoyable. Being engaged is just as wonderful as I always imagined it would be. I'm the luckiest and I am insanely excited to spend the rest of my life with Cole. He makes me laugh on the daily, fills my life with joy, cuddles with me when I'm moody, cooks the best breakfasts (and lunches and dinners), loves Chloe and all other puppies as much as I do and makes me the happiest girl in the world. Amanda Martin has a nice 'ring' to it, don't you think??

Thank you for all the well wishes. You guys are the sweetest.

And to answer the question everyone asked us immediately following the proposal, we're tentatively thinking a late spring wedding in home sweet 'homa.

Now let the planning commence!

P.S. Cole picked out the ring at BC Clark all by himself with the help of my Pinterest board. Smart man. It's exactly what I always wanted. How many ring Instagrams is too many ring Instagrams? I'm sorry. I can't help myself.