Simply the best...

...better than all the rest! You know you sang it as soon as you saw the title.

I bet you're asking yourself, "What is the best? What is she talking about?" Well, I'm talking about my weekend. This past weekend starting with last Thursday.

As of Thursday, November 20, 2009, I am officially off the market. That's right, I'M GETTING MARRIED!!!!

I'm that girl that started dreaming about being married and having a family as soon as I figured out what they were. I've tried very hard to have patience for this time in my life to come, and now it's here!

I guess you want to know how this happened since I'm in Spain and Joel is still in DC, right?

Thursday started like any other day. I got out of bed about 20 minutes later than I should have. I basically jogged to class so I wouldn't be too late. (Incidentally, I was the first person to arrive that day. First time all semester!) We had a lovely Spanish class, and we left the building discussing an emergency room bill and how insurance works in a foreign country. As we turned the corner beside our school, I turned around to tell one of my classmates something. Well, I never finished my sentence because Joel was walking along behind us waiting for me to turn around! He had flown in to surprise me! I, of course, didn't know what to think. I had no reason to think that he would fly to Spain to visit me.

We went back to my apartment to eat and just hung out for a while. At around 1 Joel decided to go back to his hotel to take a nap and I went for a run. We decided to meet up again at 5 to go to Palau Nacional at Montjuic. As far as I knew, we were just going there because I had talked about it so much. The view is A-MAZING, and it has been my favorite spot in Barcelona since I moved here. So, once arrived and walked up the many many steps to get to the top we sat down to talk and just see the city lights come on as the sun set. After a few minutes Joel wanted to go to the corner "to see a different view of the city." It was there that he talked about the last year and a half and got down on one knee. If I remember correctly, the last couple of sentences went something like this, "I'm tired of saying 'I like you' (taking a knee) Amzie Caroline Schell, will you marry me?"

Actually, I don't know if that was really what was said because I can't remember it all. Who actually remembers details in a moment like that?! I do know he said something about being tired of saying "I like you," though. (We decided at the beginning of our relationship to not kiss or say "I love you" until we were engaged. I don't say that to toot our own horn, but rather to explain that we've been stupid in relationships before.)

So, of course I said "YES!!!!"

Then, because of the time difference, and because everyone we wanted to call was at work/school, we got to hang out for a few hours and revel in our engaged-ness. And then we bought peanut butter. I kid you not. That's just how we roll.

That's our story! The rest of the best weekend yet was spent sightseeing and hanging out with my friends from ICB. It was really fun to show Joel what my life has been like here!

And now, what you've been waiting for. Pictures! Actually, these aren't from the night of the proposal. It completely slipped our minds to take pictures! But we went back the next night for a re-enactment. That's what you're seeing. :)


Yep, I got engaged on the terrace of this beauty...

...with this view!


On bended knee

Hanging out at La Sagrada Familia.


Parc Guell is cool.

The bling! Joel's grandmother's diamond and made by my Uncle Robby. Perfect!

Right now everything is roses and rainbows for us. It's yet to get difficult. I don't expect married life to be roses and rainbows. I expect it to be the most difficult thing I've ever done. But I know it's going to be more than worth it, and I consider it a joy to have the opportunity to work on such a relationship. That's infinitely better than roses and rainbows :)

I'm grateful to so many people for helping all of this work.

Thank you,Heather, for lying. :) Heather created a false trip to the Dali museum so that I wouldn't skip town for the weekend. And I really believed her. And I was really excited to see this museum that everyone keeps talking about. I like what happened more, though.

Thank you creator of Google maps for being so user-friendly and for adding street view for Barcelona. You're contribution to the proposal helped Joel find my school. Joel and I had looked at Barcelona on Google maps several times. I didn't think anything about it because it's not uncommon for him to make me look at a random map for hours at a time.

Thank you Tempest for flying in to see Porschia this weekend. If you had not been on the same flight, Porschia would have never recognized Joel in the currency exchange line. Therefore, Joel might not have ever made it through Estacio Sants.

Thank you Balmes Hotel for having reliable internet. There's no way we could have relied on the internet in my apartment to call and spread the news. (I added a link because it's a nice hotel in Barcelona. It's clean.)

Thank you Uncle Robby in being so generous in making my ring! I LOVE IT!!!!

Thank you Lucinda for reminding Joel that I would like a ring from my uncle. :) And more seriously, thank you for encouraging when I was impatient. You're the best best friend ever! (She got on the phone after having her wisdom teeth cut out just to talk to us. That's a good friend!)

Thank you everyone and their mother than knew about this and kept their mouth shut. :)

Many many thanks to our parents and grandparents for showing us such a wonderful example of marriage. We have conversations about you guys, and we have been blessed by your relationships. You have many years of practice... please pass along some wisdom.

Ditto for all of you recently married friends :) You can pass along some insight that the old pros have forgotten about!

Thank you Joel for choosing me :) You really are the most wonderful man I've ever met. Life is just beginning for us, and it's going to be exciting! I can't wait to be your wife!




Stay tuned!