Leave the gun; take the cannoli: Godfather love

Alan and I always eat pizza or spaghetti when we watch The Godfather.

This is one of the greatest movies ever. I first watched when I was around 13 with my dad, and I was scarred for life by the horse scene, but still considered it a favorite movie.

While I enjoy MOST of Part II and some parts of III, the first one is my favorite. If you haven't seen them, pick a rainy Saturday and lock yourself in with Italian food and the Godfather movies.

I think my family is a less intense, less armed version of the Corleone family...I'm not the only one who's noticed, either. Don't disrespect the family.

I love Marlon Brando as Vito Corleone, and I think he was the best godfather. I also liked De Niro as young Vito in Part II.

But I do love Al Pacino. Even though he's downright ruthless. And he broke my HEART in Part III!

"Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in!"

"MAUNday, TUESday, THURSday, WEDNESday!"

Sicilian messages. Wanted to send one of those myself before. A dead fish wrapped in a vest: it's gross, it's a riddle, and it's intimidating.

I love hot-headed Sonny. He always meant well.

Most annoying character goes to....it's a tie between Kay and Mary (from Part III). Kay: just shut up and be happy you're married to the DON! And NEVER ask him about his business. Mary: Take an acting class and learn how to properly die. Also, stop making out with your FIRST cousin.

Poor, poor Fredo. "I can handle things. I'm smart!" Fredo's fate is why I don't like the second one as much. And I don't think Vito would have been happy with Michael's decision there.

The poisoned cannoli! Holy cow, could you feel any worse for that old guy? Connie, how could you? At the opera?? And she watched through the binoculars!

"I'm gonna make him an offer he can't refuse."

VI: Puppies and Proposals

Has it really taken me six weeks to get to this part?

P.S. I fought the urge to call this post "Down on Bended Knee" but figured that since some of you don't know me well, you wouldn't sense the jest in my Boyz II Men reference and would think I was being serious. And cheesy. Seriously cheesy.

I forgot to mention last week that for my birthday, Alan gave me the best present ever. He gave me a bag of puppy toys and a tiny little collar. He was getting me a puppy and told me to start looking for one! This guy was all about the surprise factor. My obsession with finding the perfect dog kept me pretty busy and conveniently unaware of the other stuff Alan was up to - or was that in is clandestine plan all along?!

I dreamed about puppies at work all day and then came home and looked at pictures on the internet. I decided I wanted a chihuahua puppy because my mom got one right after she got married, and I never forgot how loyal that dog was to her. I thought for sure Alan would veto the tiny dog idea, but he actually warmed up to it quickly. I made several appointments to pick out my puppy, and Alan made plans to come in town and go with me.

When he got to Ruston, we went straight to West Monroe to meet the little rats. The lady we visited had several tiny, adorable 6-week old puppies, but it was another one who stole my heart. A four-month old little red-headed chihuahua peeked at me from behind the lady, and I melted. "Is she for sale??" The lady hesitated and said she was rather attached that one, but that she was for sale. I was smitten. We named her Sophie.

We drove back to Ruston, and after introducing her to her auntie Sommer, Alan suggested we take her for a walk on our college campus. We went walking on campus nearly everytime he came to visit - it was always (still is) one of our favorite places to go and talk. It was hard to walk Sophie; she was so sweet and little that I couldn't stand to let go of her, so I held her the whole time (which, I'm sure is one reason she is so rotten now). It was cold outside, so I had her zipped up inside my sweatshirt until Alan wanted to hold her for awhile. We walked for an hour maybe, taking turns holding Sophie and talking about our work weeks.

Alan asked me to hold Sophie while he tied his shoe. I grabbed her and started putting her back down in my jacket. Zipper was stuck. Alan said, "hey, do you realize this is the first place we met? This exact spot." Wretched zipper wouldn't work. I glanced around and smiled. We were in the quad by the fountain. "Yep." Back to the zipper.

"Well this is the place I want to ask you to spend the rest of your life with me."

Let go of zipper. Slowly turned around to where Alan was not tying his shoe, but on one knee, holding out a ring. Ummmm...."Huh?" He's grinning now.

"Misti, will you marry me?"

Frozen...stunned...confused...speechless. At this point another "huh?" would have been an improvement. He was near laughter, I think, and I believe the next thing I did was push his hand away and look closely at him. I was still trying to figure out what was going on. People always ask if I cried. Crying would have meant that I realized what had just happened. I cannot explain how shocked I was -- he wanted it to be a complete surprise, and you could have no doubt knocked me over with a feather. It took me a good minute (which probably felt like 15 minutes to him) to scream "YES!" and then commence to freaking out.

We stood there in the quad for a long time reliving everything and laughing, then eventually made it back to his truck. There was a dozen roses inside. He's stealthy, I'm telling you! He'd had a friend run and drop them off during operation "Shock the Pee Outta Misti." We went back to my house, where there were even more roses in my room.

We shared the joy with my roomies and called my mom and dad. I promise you, I did not get tired of telling that story. We rode out to some good friends' apartment to "show off the dog." They fussed over Sophie in my arms, and then Judith noticed the shiny object on my finger, grabbed my hand and started squealing like only a good girlfriend can!

My mom and sisters surprised me and drove up the next day to see Sophie and the ring. When she drove into Ruston, my mom got pulled over by a cop for going the wrong way down a one-way (Ohhhh, Toni). She tried to beg her way out of ticket. "I'm soooo sorry, I'm just trying to get to my daughter's house; she got engaged last night!!" The cop looked at her funny and asked if Misti was her daughter. The cop was Stephen! As in Kim and Stephen, the two who originally tried to set up Alan and me. Gotta love small towns.

Anyway, now for the condensed version of the engagement/wedding (hoping to find some pictures to put up later):

- It lasted 6 months
- I bought an ivory strapless wedding gown with a sweetheart neckline
- We picked out furniture (and an apartment)
- We planned a beach honeymoon
- I picked out a cake with pink polka dots on it
- We had a sweet wedding at a church in my hometown with a fun reception at an old theater
- It went by too fast

Questions of the week

1. Why are Christmas decorations out? A friend told me this yesterday, and I got a little sad. Surely the stores aren't going to skip right past fall! However I am, as of this week, over summer.

2. Why do people pay extra money for HDTV? This is an ongoing argument I have with my husband. He is determined to get it before football season. Why? "To see the game more clearly." As if it's not clear now? He and my grandpa ganged up on me about this recently. I honestly could not tell the difference between the two channels. And really, who gives a crap. Alan says I'm from the old days because my tv screen is convex, not flat. Uncalled for. He is feeling superior because he has a jumbotron in his room. I like my tv nice and small so it can fit inside my armoir. I'm only considering the HD because it comes with free HBO, and I want to watch Entourage.

3. Who knows how to get blood stains off of clothes? No worries- I haven't been involved in anything violent. But I will be if I have to drop another $50 on some Iguana scrubs since my top is stained. I don't want to bleach them though, so any other remedies??

4. Why is this the funniest website ever? Although it seems like all it does is piss people off. I laugh NONSTOP at this guy. Favorites: #24, 28, 29, 38, 42, 48, 49, 118, 119

Part V: The RING!

So where was I? Alan was being Sneaky McSneakerson (by the way - that's just an annoying thing I do to personify personality traits. I.e., when my friend Aaron tells a heinous joke, he is Pervy McPerverson...anyways.). Alan was looking at rings in Houston while I was in Ruston wondering if I would ever get out (funny -- I'm still here, but that's another blog!). I was convinced that Alan was content to keep living his downtown Houston bachelor life of eating canned green beans and popcorn for dinner (not kidding - see how much he needed me?) and playing basketball with his new buddies.

Not that I didn't try to bait him into talking about "The Future." I never once uttered the word marriage or engagement. But I did frequently mention that I wanted out of Ruston and wanted to move on to bigger things (bigger? As in bigger cities? As in Houston, the 4th largest city in the US, where he happened to live?). My tactics made sense in my mind, but the boy wouldn't bite. Not a word.

That might sound mean, but he also didn't make me think I WASN'T a part of his future, either. A couple times he mentioned that I should move to Houston when I graduated. I didn't tell him at the time, but there was no way in hades I was moving out there without what...A RING! One of my friends in my internship got engaged, and I tried to describe how pretty her ring was to Alan. His response: "Uh...What's a princess cut?"

Throw me a frickin' bone here!

I figured that if he hadn't bothered to learn what KIND of rings were out there, then I for sure wasn't getting one anytime soon! It wasn't so much that I wanted a ring -- I wanted what it meant. This boy really could have given me a crackerjack ring, and I'd have followed him anywhere.

But behind the scenes of my semi-meltdown, was the ever-purposeful Alan. Quietly shopping at fancy jewelry stores in Houston. Scruitinizing every diamond by himself. Poring over research about rings and what imperfections to look for (engineer-ish much?). Trying to get details from Kim about what kind I would love, without me ever finding out.

On my birthday weekend we met in my hometown, which was sort of a halfway point between Houston and Ruston. We spent a good weekend with my family, and then both said goodbye and drove off in opposite directions. Only, I kept on driving. He turned around and drove back to my parents' house, and went in to talk to my dad.

And you know what it was about. He walked in and my dad was in his chair. Alan said there was something he needed to talk to him about, and my dad just started smiling. My dad knew - I think he had it figured out long before I did. Alan told them he had a ring. My mom cried. Of course they gave their blessing. They told him they'd been praying for someone like him since I was born. My mom wanted all the details, but Alan wouldn't budge. He wouldn't tell anyone. Not my friends, his friends, anyone -- he wanted me to have absolutely no idea what was happening.

And clearly, I did not.

It wasn't too long after this that he had pretended to be clueless when I described my friend's engagement ring. I called my mom that night and joked to her that there was no hope; Alan didn't even know what a princess cut diamond was. She told me to hang in there, and when we got off the phone she laughed. Because she knew that Alan already had a ring -- a princess-cut diamond with a platinum band, to be exact.

Nothing crackerjack about that!