Kristin Eats » The Life and Food of Kristin Murdock

Last Monday, April first to be exact, marked seven years since THE Glenn Murdock asked me to marry him. Here is the wine we drank. Same wine we drank seven years ago, which, by the way, was my first time getting to order a bottle of wine.

I have a rather detailed written version of the story saved so we never forget exactly what it felt like RIGHT THEN, but for you lovely bloggie friends I thought I would share an abbreviated timeline version : containing only the *most* important details.

Saturday, April 1st 2006 {yes, April Fool’s Day}

6:30am Wake up and drive to SDSU to take the GRE.

10:30am See immediate GRE scores and laugh. This is what we call *bombing* a test. It was an absolutely disaster.  And I mean, ABSOLUTE disaster. Call Glenn to tell him I finished and it was awful, he tells me we should meet for lunch to debrief {even though we already had plans to go to dinner later that night, which he had arranged for earlier in the week so that I would have something to look forward to after the GRE}, call college roomie, BFF, and academic genius Julie and leave her a message about how ridiculously bad the GRE was and how I am pretty sure I won’t be able to make it to grad school after all.

11:00am Meet up with Glenn and head downtown for lunch and a designer-sunglass pickup of the super fancy Prada’s I had ordered a few weeks prior.  Got to pick the sunnies up from my sister {#3), who was working at Nordstrom at the time. Excitedly wear Prada sunglasses everywhere from this point on… up to and including today.

1:00pm Head home and take a serious nap. Exhaustion has hit.

2:30pm Wake up to a call from Glenn wondering how my nap was, and asking if I could be ready to leave for dinner at 3:30pm. {Are we eighty? Why in the world are we eating dinner at 4pm?!}

2:45-3:15pm Shower, “do” my hair, and dress myself up in a new black dress I had been waiting to wear.

3:30pm Glenn picks me up, and we’re off! Favorite jazz CD {I think it was Wynton Marsalis but I’m not sure} was playing in the car. I am SUPER excited to not have to think about the GRE anymore, and SUPER excited to spend a fun evening with Glenn.

5:00pm  I have figured out that we are going somewhere outside of San Diego for dinner. We’ve been on the 5 for over an hour, so my best guess is LA. Glenn asks if I want to know where we are going. I say “YES!” He tell me it’s The Napa Rose. I die a million deaths from sheer excitement. I had been reading article after article about the chef, sommalier, and ambiance at the newest Disney restaurant, and was so excited to try it.

5:30pm Walk through the lobby at The Grand Californian {to this day one of my favorite hotel lobbies}, and check-in with a woman named, no joke, Mickey. *interesting side note: our waiter last Monday night was a lovely Japanese man named Mickey. F’real.*

5:35pm We sit in the fireside/bar area of the restaurant and I order a lemon drop. I feel super cool.

6:00pm After waiting quite a while, Mickey and some other hostesses came over, with sincerest apologies for our wait, and lead us to what I deem the best table in the restaurant.  It was in a corner, so we didn’t have anyone right next to us, and it was quite close to the center of the open kitchen, where you can see all the cooking action. So much fun. Our waiter introduced himself to us and was ABSOLUTE PERFECTION: Kind, funny, full of genuine compliments, and very knowledgeable about everything on the menu.

6:00pm-9:00pm I was wined and dined, and it was Heaven.

9:00pm We rush out of the restaurant and run to the car to get our change of clothes, hoping to make it into Disneyland in time for the fireworks. We realize we are cutting it extremely close and have no time to find a bathroom, change, and come back to the car. Glenn changes IN the car. I decide to be brave and pop open the trunk, hiding behind it so Glenn can’t see me as I strip down in the Buzz Lightyear parking lot and throw on my jeans and sweatshirt. Keeping it classy, Kristin, keeping it classy.

9:25pm We get into the park right as the first firework bursts in the sky. I grab Glenn’s hand and we sprint down Main Street, stopping here and there to watch the Firework Spectacular. We zip over to my favorite ride, Space Mountain, and rush through the starry galaxies.

11pm We have ridden a couple of rides and are completely exhausted. We walk through Sleeping Beauty’s castle and as we come out the other side I remark on just how many people were still walking around the park. It seemed like there were swarms of people all over! Glenn suggests we stop and “take it all in” for a minute. We sit in a stoop along the castle wall and talk about how much we love Disneyland and how beautiful the castle is. This transitions into Glenn telling me how beautiful I am and how much he loves ME. I feel quite awkward and question ordering that bottle of wine.

11:15pm Glenn continues in his spoken love sonnets, all extremely kind, but to me {having no idea that this is supposed to end in an engagement}, all quite shocking and inappropriate. *more side note: I had recently read an incredible article by Elisabeth Elliott that had helped guide my decision to stop saying “I Love You” until someone officially asked me to marry them. I could go on and on about this one decision and why it was helpful to my soul and how it eliminated the unhealthy expectations I had previously set on Glenn, but for the sake of the timeline, let’s just keep the facts the facts: we weren’t saying I Love You and we certainly weren’t talking about a future together like it was a done deal.*

Glenn says something to the extent of “Kristin, someday I want my kids to look like you.” – to which I respond with “This is inappropriate!” and a good shove.

All of a sudden he grabs my hand and says “Which hand is it? I can’t remember which hand it goes on.” and I reply “Don’t ask me this! You don’t have a ring!”

Keeping it classy, Kristin, keeping it classy.

“Yes I do!” he replies. I go into INSTANT shock. I am shaking. I am sweating. I am slurring my words. I am rambling. I am making no sense. I pause in the middle of this madness and look him directly in the eyes and say “Yes.” before going back into koo-koo land.

11:45pm My bowels completely empty.

My “first response” to stress, anxiety, and excitement is {always} diarrhea. My favorite person in life asks me to be his bride and what do I do? Explode.

And again I say: keeping it classy, Kristin, keeping it classy.

Happiest of Wednesdays! May your day be filled with fun and laughter.

~Kristin