{"id":481,"date":"2008-09-18T08:10:00","date_gmt":"2008-09-18T08:10:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rbicmsblog.reedbusiness.com\/elogic_660000266\/2008\/09\/18\/just-as-i-imagined-it-would-be\/"},"modified":"2008-09-18T08:10:00","modified_gmt":"2008-09-18T08:10:00","slug":"just-as-i-imagined-it-would-be","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/?p=481","title":{"rendered":"Just As I Imagined It Would Be"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>So the big news in my life this week is this: GARETH AND I ARE ENGAGED! He popped the question last Friday when we were at the top of Cadillac Mountain in Maine’s Acadia National Park, taking me completely by surprise.<\/p>\n

There is presently is no fancy ring on my finger but rather a twist-tie in the shape of a ring, which was delivered to me in an actual ring box. Gareth gave me the twist-tie as a temporary substitute, figuring I should have the pleasure of choosing my own ring, but there’s a sentimental reason for it too: A year or so ago we were listening to a friend relay the story of a penniless pal of hers who was engaged to a woman demanding a very expensive engagement ring. I was appalled by my friend’s description of this woman’s demands and remarked that I thought her attitude was ridiculous. "If you truly love someone," I said, "they could give you a freakin’ twist-tie for a ring and that would be enough!!"<\/p>\n

Let it never be said that my (now) fiancé doesn’t listen to the things I say…! <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

While it’s true, the twist-tie would have been "enough," Gareth also included a little bonus in my ring box that will strike the strongest chord with of you who’ve read Shaun Tan’s book The Red Tree<\/a><\/em> (one of the books I shared with Gareth on our first date when we were discussing our favorites). Inside the lid of my ring box Gareth taped a tiny print of the illustration that appears on The Red Tree<\/em>‘s last page, along with the words that bring its text to a conclusion:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

I can’t imagine a more fitting or beautiful sentiment for this occasion.<\/p>\n

And there you have it — the end of my dating adventures and the start of something even better. Gareth and I have only just begun to discuss wedding plans (any advice and\/or money-saving suggestions are welcome!) and we don’t anticipate tying the knot until at least a year from now. First we’ve got to find me a ring so people can stop asking if I’m wearing a twist-tie to remind myself of something! (Yes — that I’m engaged!)
\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So the big news in my life this week is this: GARETH AND I ARE ENGAGED! He popped the question last Friday when we were at the top of Cadillac Mountain in Maine’s Acadia National Park, taking me completely by surprise. There is presently is no fancy ring on my finger but rather a twist-tie […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-481","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/481","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=481"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/481\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=481"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=481"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=481"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}