Hello there friends! I hope that all of  y’all had a wonderful long weekend. We spent the weekend with my best friend and her husband, showing them all that there is to see in Asheville. We hiked with puppies, we drank in the Blue Ridge doing her thing, we ate delicious food, and we wandered, wandered, wandered. Oh, and…

The Kiwi proposed!

I’ve been dying to get on the Appalachian Trail, so Zane suggested that we take a day off and head up there for a day hike. When Zane lived in the States before, he bought an oil painting of Roan Mountain by local artist, John McKinney. As he was planning where and how he’d pop the question, he thought about how special it would be to have a painting of where we got engaged, so he took us to that part of the AT. I had no clue where we were going or the significance of the location once we arrived.

After a little bit of hiking, a snake scare, and a sweet picnic with juicy peaches, we stopped to take some pictures of the Blue Ridge doing her thing and he popped that question! Obviously I said yes, a million times, yes. {Actually, I said yes before he was even finished with the question.}

To be perfectly frank, and I think it’s important that I be so because there are a whole lot of assumptions in this whole getting married hooplah, I knew it was coming. It was not a surprise. Zane and I talk about little decisions ad nauseam, so we really couldn’t imagine NOT talking about this huge one. While being surprised is nice, I’m so glad that Z knows me well enough to include me in the planning and takes my opinions into consideration. He’s progressive like that and I think it’s pretty romantic. He still managed to blow me away with his thoughtfulness with the ring, the location, and his sweet words that will stay with me forever.

A few months ago, we went to a local goldsmith about designing the ring. Zane had a wonderfully, romantic concept for the ring and with a little alteration and lots of moving tiny diamonds around, we settled on a layout that captured his concept and that placated my longing for a marquis solitaire setting. The four stones represent the Southern Cross which is like the Southern Hemisphere’s North Star. It’s used for guidance and finding your way on a journey and I couldn’t be more thrilled with it! We make a good team, that Kiwi and I.

We are so excited to be on this journey together, and we’re looking forward to making it official and celebrating with our loved ones from around the world in these mountains we call home.