When Engaged: Brian proposed to Kate on June 29, 2007 at approximately 8:10 pm. He later proposed at 8:15 pm after Kate realized she didn't fully "take it all in" the first time.
How it Happened: Kate was planning on taking Brian out for a "fancy dinner" ("to a restaurant without TVs", as she put it) as a thank you for Brian's help in her recent move to a new house. Brian, ever the clever one, realized this would provide the perfect opportunity for the engagement since Kate happened to also pay for their first date together (also, both would be in nice clothes, making for better pictures when shown to family and friends).
Keeping with the "circle of life" theme, Brian determined that the Delta House was the perfect place for the engagement, since it was the site of their first kiss. The only problem was, as many of you know, the Delta House is far from romantic (or clean). Brian spent the afternoon cleaning the place, rolling out a white runner, lighting hundreds of candles, and sprinkling the floor with rose petals. On the DVD player in the living room, the Old 97's song "Question" was playing on repeat (somewhat ripping off Scrubs). In his bedroom, the Ben Folds song "The Luckiest" (their song) was also playing on repeat, setting the tone. To top it off, he wrote a poem about the journey of their relationship together and placed each verse in a frame along the path leading from the front door to his bedroom.
Upon opening the bedroom door, Kate found Brian at the end of the path. He got down on one knee and proposed to which Kate responded "No way" and began jumping up and down. A confused Brian asked "Is that a yes?" to which she replied "Of course!" before adding "What took you so long?" (Let the record show that the first word Kate said when Brian proposed was actually NO.)
After Kate finally realized what was happening, she mentioned that she hadn't listened to the music, read the poem, or noticed the cleanliness of the Delta House on her first trip through, so she promptly returned the ring to Brian, went back into the living room, and walked through the setup a second time. Fortunately for Brian, with the second proposal she immediately accepted.
(Footnote: Knowing that he would get hundreds of questions from family, friends, and strangers about the nature of the engagement, Brian decided to play a trick on everyone by pretending to propose to Kate via his Blog. That way, when people asked him how he did it, he could simply say "just read the Blog", preventing him from having to reveal his sensitive side and increasing readership of the site. It also brought the two numerous and strange well-wishes from the Internet community, many of whom actually believe Brian proposed via the Blog. He is still working on how to find a way to get his readers to give wedding presents without any of them finding out his real identity.)
Later that evening, upon their return from dinner, the Delta House would reveal its true colors, as Kate and Brian returned to find a cockroach running across the flower petals strewn across the ground. How romantic!
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