As many of you know I turned 30 years old this year. It wasn't an easy transition for me throughout the year. I made it very clear to my friends and family how depressing it was for me to enter into the big 3-0.

The week before my birthday I told Rob I was going to put together a small party for close friends and family to help me ring in the next decade of my life. I scheduled dinner and a happy hour for October 17th.

That night we went to dinner at Beckets in Oshkosh for dinner. We had a table of 12 friends and family. At the beginning of dinner Rob had two boxes wrapped as gifts that he gave to me. One was truly in the shape of a ring box. I asked him which one I should open first. He said he small one. As I was opening up the small box a part of me truly thought I was opening up a ring. Once I got the box open I revealed an 8 gig memory stick. Hmmmm, I then opened the second gift which was a small digital camera that I could put in my purse. Hence, the 8 gig memory stick. I was very excited about the camera as it was something I really wanted and needed.

My nerves calmed down over dinner from the initial anticipation that the 8 gig memory card was a ring and started to think that he truly was not going to propose that night. When dinner was done, the girls and I ran to the bathroom. As we returned Rob and his dad (who by the way was in town visiting from Costa Rica at the time - what a great gift to have him a part of my birthday and the proposal) returned to the table. Rob's dad pulled the two chairs that were sitting next to me away from the table. Rob placed a wooden ring box in front of me. I opened the ring box to find...NO RING. So I have to say, my first thought is that Rob is still not proposing and he was going to say "Okay so I bought the ring and you will get it in the near future". Totally something Rob would do!

As I was showing everyone the empty box, Rob dropped to one knee and popped the question. I cried and said "I got a ring and a camera". It was such a special moment with all my family and friends there to witness it!

What a great way to enter your 30's! From there the night progressed into a fun filled engagement party.