The short version
Tim and I met in the singles ward in Raleigh, and started dating in the fall of 2008. Our first date was to a sushi place in downtown Raleigh.
We dated casually until he left for Japan in 2009 for work, and then we just emailed and chatted. At Christmas time, Tim mentioned he might be coming home early, and I decided it would be nice to date him again. We decided to date long distance. Our skype-ationship was successful, because we realized we loved each other and started talking about the future. Since Tim's work wasn't going to bring him home until the fall, we thought about maybe having an adventure in Japan, so we decided to get married in the summer.
Tim proposed at a shrine in Kyoto Japan on March 16. He took me to the shrine to the god of good matches, and through a beautiful garden, and found a quiet spot to propose. He had picked out the ring, and it is beautiful.
So now we are engaged, planning on getting married on 6/4/10, and then we will live in Japan for the summer, and then come back to Raleigh to live.
The really long version without entertaining pictures to distract you (read: this is just so I don't forget the details....)
I started attending the singles ward the summer of 2008. I would go with my sister who had just turned 18, and sit with her and her friends. Tim said he assumed I was also 18, because I look young, so when a girl I visit taught told him that there was a girl in the ward his age who worked in computers, he was like, who? When I was pointed out to him, he was like, she's my age! no way! What I remember is the girl I visit taught telling me there was a guy who worked in computers that I should be friends with. So then we became facebook friends. He mentioned seeing architecture in Raleigh, but then he started dating someone else. I went to St Louis for 6 weeks on a customer trip and didn't really hear from Tim. After I got back, he asked me on a date to eat sushi. It was a really chic restaurant in downtown raleigh, I was very impressed, and he got me out of my california roll rut. The highlights of our dating was a Carolina basketball game in the Dean Dome, finding our Mexican restaurant, and having Tim make dinner. But I wasn't ready to be serious. Then in the Spring of 2009 Tim's job sent him to Japan, so we emailed and chatted and I dated other people. The winter of 2009 Tim said he might come home in the Spring of 2010. I thought about that, and realized that we talked about everything, and that I wanted to date him when he got back and see how it worked out. When he came for a visit in January, we decided to start dating anyway, and then we learned his job would probably send him home early, but it really meant the fall of 2010. We started skyping and I realized that I loved Tim, and he would tell you he loved me for a long time, so we started talking about the future. One possibility was to get married when he got back, but I decided I wanted the adventure of living in Japan. So we chatted with our families and decided that it would work out to get married in June. Once this decision was made, we started arranging wedding details because they take a while to get organized and get things reserved and ordered. When I went to visit Tim in Japan in March, he took me to Kyoto, which is a place of many shrines. One shrine has a point where people take a leap of faith to determine if a decision is good, and if they survive the leap, then it is good. Tim said marriage was a leap of faith and that we both knew we would be ok without getting married, but that we also knew it was worth the leap. Then we went to the shrine to the god of good matches, and Tim said that we were a good match, which is what made it possible to leap. Then we went to a beautiful garden and found a quiet shrine, and Tim said it was were people got married, and he knelt down and held out a ring and asked me to marry him. This was on Tuesday March 16. I said yes. Then a few minutes later, he asked if I had said yes. I asked, didn't you hear me? and he said, I was so nervous, I didn't hear you. Are you sure you said yes. So I had to say yes a couple of times :) Tim picked out the ring, and it is beautiful. I have gotten many compliments, including one from a complete stranger as I handed her my license!
We are planning on getting married in Raleigh on 6/4/2010, and then we will live in Tokyo for the summer.
