I want that coat!

So far, the year of no new clothes or shoes had been smooth sailing. I was almost cocky about how non-challenging it had been. That is, until I was in Scheels last Saturday and saw a knee length brown winter coat with a super cute zip out liner http://www.liveoutthere.com/store/lauren-trench.html I want that coat!!! Of course my mind went into justification overload. Could it be my engagement coat? Does outerwear really count in the challenge anyway? Isn't it more like underwear and socks than new jeans and tops?

My current winter coat situation is pretty pathetic. I own 3 coats suitable for North Dakota winters. The first is a pretty purple J.Crew lady day coat that isn't really warm enough for the -20 weather we've been having. Not to mention that the lining is falling apart and the buttons only go half way down the coat. The second is a black hooded trench (similar in styling to the Lauren actually) from a Gap clearance sale years ago. The zipper is broken (but the snaps still work!) and the lining is also falling apart. The 3rd and final is perhaps the true gem of the group~my sister's Double Whammy Columbia that I inherited when she decided it was no longer fashionable. "But it is still really warm!" I protested. Despite the fact that some of the snaps don't work anymore, it is still the warmest coat in my closet, so I've been wearing it a lot this winter.

So yes, it's been a tough few days since I first spotted that coat, but I figure July 1 isn't really that far away, and there are bound to be a few of them left this summer, so I'm going to stick to the challenge and not stray, even though I would be much more fashionable in that coat, and my fiance would approve much more of it than he does of my second hand Columbia!

My favorite accessory

It's official~I'm engaged!!!

And to properly show the world that I'm off the market, I have a shiny new sparkler on my left ring finger!!! It's an asscher (square emerald) stone set in a simple rose gold band, and I absolutely love it. I find myself checking it out at all sorts of random times, and I'm sure people are beginning to notice, but I don't care!

He proposed on Friday, January 28, at one of our favorite restaurants, Stella's in downtown Fargo. We arrived 15 minutes before it closed due to attending his work Christmas party and staying a little longer there than we intended. The first server who greeted us was hesitant to let us in, saying "well, it is pretty late..." but then another came up behind her and said, "of course we can still serve you, come on in!!!" We sat in the same booth as our first time together at the restaurant when we were celebrating our 6 month anniversary. We had a nice dinner, and then, when we were just about done with dessert, he got a funny look on his face and kept putting his hand up on the table. Finally he said, "before we go, there's something I want to ask you." Of course in my head I'm going "OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD!!!" Then he said something along the lines of "I love you very much and I would really like you to be my wife," before he got down on one knee, openned the ring box, and asked, "will you marry me?" I said, "of course I will!!!!!" and snatched the ring right out of the box and jammed it on my finger, where it fit perfectly. The next moments were a blur of me saying "oh my gosh" and other variations, and shaking, and calling my family to let them know.

The servers came up and said congratulations, and the manager came over to ask whether he could take our picture. We didn't have a camera so he went to his car and grabbed one. I was worried that I was going to look pretty dorky between my shaking uncontrollably and my perma-grin, but we got the pictures back the other day and they aren't too bad.

It was a perfect night. I'm a lucky girl. :)