The Proposal

A Surprise Birthday Present

December 2, 2005. I woke up that day feeling special... It was my 25th birthday. Dek and I decided to take the day off work to spend the day together. Since we'd be meeting my family for a birthday dinner, Dek decided he'd arrange for our lunch. By around 10am, he arrived at my house holding a beautiful bouquet of flowers. I remember I kept on asking Dek why it seems that he lacked sleep (I thought it was because we went out the night before) and his only reply was that he had a hard time falling asleep. We left the house for lunch by 11am... our destination, The Powerplant Mall. Things were beginning to turn bad when we got stuck in traffic and I was starting to get annoyed at Dek since we couldn’t find the restaurant (hahaha, I can be a little cranky when I’m hungry). We then decided to just park and find another restaurant at the mall. When we got to the parking area, I noticed that he wasn’t turning the engine off so I looked at him and said “tara na?” He looked so serious that time. He then turned to me and asked if I’m not wondering why he didn’t give me any birthday gift. I said no since I wasn’t expecting anything and I was very happy with the flowers. But then he said he did have something for me and slowly reached over the backseat and got a box. I smiled with what I saw. It was a pink box. The same box I used the day we became a couple. I’ll never forget the things he said that day… He said that the place was so memorable for him and he wanted to make it memorable for me too. He opened the box and I instantly saw that it was filled with crinkles. I was so touched that time since I knew he stayed up late to bake the cookies (and yeah, at that moment I thought that was his gift). He asked if I wanted to take a bite and urged me to take the one in the middle. As I took the cookie, I saw a smaller box underneath it. I took it out and saw that it was a jewelry box. It only occurred to me that it was going to be the moment when Dek took the box from me and opened it. I'll never forget the things he said to me that time... He told me that he wanted to spend his whole life with me and asked, “Will you marry me?” Emotions were high that time even more when I saw Dek crying. I knew that I found the man I’d want to spend my life with. My answer? Of course I said yes with the biggest grin on my face! We were so happy that we even forgot that we haven’t eaten lunch yet… I even told Dek jokingly, “kahit sa jollibee na lang tayo kumain, ok lang sakin.” It was truly the best birthday present I’ve ever gotten… the gift of spending my life with Dek forever.

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Our Story

Dek Says...

Rewind to 1998: I was a sophomore, she was a freshmeat, este freshman. We were both active in student activities and usually hung out in the same building and same floor. I always saw her passing by our staffroom since our offices were next to each other (I think she was trying to get my attention). It didn't take long before I noticed her and eventually had a crush on her. However, the torpe that I was, I never had the guts to talk to her. I knew her name since we had common friends, but I never thought she knew me that time.

Forward to 2003: We got to meet again through a common friend. They were both working in the same company, and whenever our common friend would drop by school (where I work) she would usually tag Ella along. However, it was not since 2004 that I had the courage to ask our common friend if Ella had a boyfriend or was dating someone. Fortunately, she wasn't.

I guess it took me two months of bugging her on YM, texting her quotes, and late night chats on the phone that I had the courage to tell her what I felt about her. Since she was into baking, I suggested that if she would say yes, she'd bake me her famous chocolate crinkles. If she'd say no, she'd bake me any other stuff (it's a win-win situation for me, since I still get to eat baked goodies ü).

On May 21, 2004 at the basement parking of Powerplant Mall... I received the crinkles ü

Ella Says...

Yes, it took him 6 years to finally ask me out.

I have always wondered why he didn't try to talk to me in college, least to say even utter a simple "hi" given the fact that we did have some common friends and have neighboring offices.

When I started work, me and our common friend (who happens to be my officemate then) would aways go to school to hang-out. I would often see Dek since his office would always be one of our usual stops. Even then, he didn't even talk to me (could anyone be more "torpe" than him?!) Then one night, our common friend told me that Dek asked for my number and that he wanted to ask me something. At that time, I didn't think there was anything odd with the situation since I thought he'd be asking something about my org, being the former president and him being the coordinator (am i naive or what? haha). And true to his word, he did send me a text that night but it was different from what I expected. He asked if I wanted to attend his friend's surprise birthday party! Unfortunately for him, I declined. After several days, he asked me if I'd like to have coffee with him and some of his friends. I also declined. I finally agreed to meet up with him for coffee (which turned out to be dinner and coffee) after turning him down a couple of times. Who would have imagined that after years of being "torpe", Dek could be so persistent in courting me! He'd always send me daily quotes, text messages, IM messages, and phone calls.

During one of our dates, he brought me flowers and told me how he felt. I wasn't ready to take it to the next step so I asked if he's willing to wait. He said he was. His creative side showed when he told me that if the day comes and I'd say yes, then I have to bake him some crinkles but if it would be the other way around, then I'd bake him something else (quite clever if you ask me 'coz either way I'd still be baking something for him).

It was Thursday night. He was out with his friends. I was at home... baking.

It was at the Powerplant Mall parking lot on May 21, 2004 was where I gave Dek a pink box. I told him my decision was inside the box. Slowly he peaked inside... he then looked up and i saw him smile. Yes, after 6 years we finally found the right time to be together ü

New Countdown

Dek and I are looking forward to 2009! Yes, I know it's still a couple of years away but we sure can't wait. Last 07.07.07, we finally paid the reservation fee for what will be our new home in 2 years.

Dek and I talked about it a lot of times already after the wedding not knowing when we'll be able to find the right one for us. Who knew that it would be this soon... just 2 months after our big day and the search is finally over I really wanted to post some pictures but our building is still being constructed (we didn't have time to take pics of the model unit).

Crazy Shots

I don't quite get it and Dek knows it... they call it lomography. Oh well, he does enjoy taking pictures using his weird cameras and does win some awards to prove it (Awards won:2 Home of the Day 2005-09-07 Oktokino 2007-07-06 ) here are some links to his crazy pictures:

http://www.lomography.com/oktokino/

www.lomohomes.com/whimpee