Oh life -- getting in my way of blogging about life.

To my few faithful readers: It has been a while since my last post, but here I am again. Mom, thanks for dutifully watching for my next entry. And shout out to my friend, Emily, who follows Babbling Bride in her Google Reader.

Friends of ours got engaged a few weeks ago, and in such an awesome way. As I became a bit emotional during an impromptu viewing of their engagement video at an Ugly Christmas Sweater Party the couple hosted, I got to thinking about our engagement story.

For them, the location was Times Square. To set up his proposal BK's friend used a digital billboard. Personalized messages on three unique screens made this experience seem intimate, even though they stood among more than half a million people at that famous commercial intersection.

I watched her facial expressions on the shaky home video and could relate to exactly what she was feeling at that moment. Even if there had been talk of a diamond and it was understood a wedding was on the horizon, when you're asked that question it somehow still feels like an exciting surprise.

For us, it began as just another Friday in the city. We had lunch at Reading Terminal Market and headed over to the art museum to check out the Renoir exhibit. This was a pretty typical Friday for us. Early in our relationship we began spending carefree days off from work in the city. We'd just walk around or reconnect with museums we'd visited as children.

I wasn't curious that we had dinner reservations at the impressive Water Works that night, because BK treats me to nice dinners pretty regularly. We had been wanting to check this one out for a while and just hadn't gotten around to it.

It was a hot July day. As we left the museum we sought shade across the street under a pavilion overlooking Water Works and Boathouse Row. Of course at the time I did not know BK had visited that spot weeks before and he'd chosen that very pavilion.

At one point he abandoned said pavilion, because in his perfect world it would be empty for our moment. But instead a foreign family had moved in and began snapping pictures. BK made an effort to kill time in hopes the space would clear out, suggesting we walk around some more before returning to the pavilion for one more look at that great view.

He says he had a whole speech prepared in his head but decided to ditch it when he realized the setup was too long, and I'd know what he was going to ask before he could get to the words. So he kept things simple and said to his girlfriend that he thought it would be better if I went to dinner with him that night as his fiancée.

Before I knew it he was kneeling and the surrounding tourists (not half a million but a few) suddenly seemed invisible.

As I watched our friends' special video it was great to be reminded of our engagement story. For those of you who are recently engaged and others who've been married for years, it's a story worth revisiting.