I Am Returned.

Wow. So Peru was...interesting. I'm glad I went, but I've discovered that I may not be the "roughing it" kind of traveler that I hoped that I could be. Oh well. In bigger news, my better half presented me with a lovely piece of jewelry during a long layover in a Florida airport as we were making our journey to Peru.

Good stuff, huh? Yeah, I was quite pleased. :)  It is the first/only piece of jewelry that he has ever given me, but I guess I don't have any reason to complain after getting this guy. ;)

Some might ask, why the airport?  Why not Machu Picchu or somewhere else pretty in Peru?  Well, a while back I had informed my better half that my favorite TV/movie/fictional proposal was Jim's from The Office. (Jim and his girlfriend meet up at a gas station in the pouring rain, and Jim drops to one knee and proposes to Pam, right outside this random gas station.  It wasn't expected and was just totally out of the blue.)  So, as we are sitting in this airport gate during an 8 hour layover (which came to be common during the trip), Matt asks me where I want to go on our next trip.  I named off a few places and then ended with, "You know, I really don't care. Anywhere is fine with me. I just want to see something new.  Is there anywhere in particular you'd like to go?"  Knowing that I'd ask his thoughts on the subject, he responds with, "It doesn't matter as long as I am with you," and pops open the ring box.  My response: "Are you sh*tting me?" Classy - That's me! He pressed on, "Will you?" until I gave him a more...lady-like response of "Ya!"

So!  Here we are, finished with our Peru trip and back in the US (YAY!!).  With all the excitement in trying to plan a wedding for next year, I haven't had too much time to look through/edit the 1500 pictures we took in Peru.  In fact, I've spent every free second investigating all things "wedding" and annoying the crap out of my now-fiancé.

"Hey! What do you think of this invitation.  I like the vintage detail.  Do you prefer this font or that font?  Do you think this looks stupid? Oh my god - what if my dress was this poofy [points to magazine]? Holy crap, letterpress is so freaking expensive! And yet pretty. Should we get letterpress Save the Dates? Are you going to wear a tux or a suit.  You should probably just wear a suit as this isn't going to be a super formal affair.  Please buy new shoes.  Oooh!! I want to get a Lord of the Rings wedding band!! Can we do that?"

My conversations at him (because they really are one sided conversation at this point, me just yaking away at him) go something like the above, every single day.  I kind of feel bad about it now that I am reflecting on it. Oh well...

As I am sure that no one wants to see ALL of the entire mountain of photos we took in Peru, I will resort to only showing a hill's worth spread out over the coming weeks in once-a-week posts.

Machu Picchu, Peru, August 23, 2011