Sassy Sarah's Space: Celebrating Dan and Stacey!

Saturday I went to a baby shower for one of my college friends. I met Dan my Freshman year, which was almost (yikes) 12 years ago! Dan lived across the hall from a guy that I've known since birth and we ended up making friends with Dan. Little did we realize, but we were actually in the same English class together.

Throughout college, Dan remained one of my best friends. We had little spats, as my roommates called them, but were steadfast friends. He was always there to lend a hand, ear, or have a fun time just hanging out with everyone. Our Senior year, he met Stacey. She's absolutely one of the funniest and most kind people I've ever met. They were so perfect together and were an awesome couple.

They went away to law school both choosing schools in DC. Their love continued to grow and the story of their engagement is horrifying, hilarious, and so *them*.

In October 2007, Dan was in his first year of his legal career and Stacey in her final year of law school. It was mid-October and they were out shopping and happened into a jewelry store. Stacey made a beeline for the engagement rings and not so quietly pointed out the exact ring. Dan obliged her and even indulged the salesman about the fact that this ring was "only on sale until the end of the month." Dan said thanks but no thanks and continued on. He told Stacey he didn't have the money and that an engagement would be months and months away.

Of course, Dan being the sweet (and frugal) man that he is, headed back to the jewelry store and bought Stacey's dream engagement ring. He took the ring home and hid it in the bottom of his electric razor bag. Dan figured that since Stacey "didn't shave her face, she'd have no reason to go in there." Fair enough.

Stacey, being the persistent and unstoppable force, called one of her friends and through a casual conversation, figured out that Dan had indeed bought *the* ring and that it was stashed in the house somewhere. So every day after Dan went to class, she would scour the house looking for the ring. And finally found it. At the bottom of his shaving bag. Oy.

I would like to point out that I heard about this madness after the fact because there is NO way I would have ever gone along with this!!!

Now that she knew about the ring and had found it, the madness went to a whole new level. Stacey started to wear the ring around the house when Dan was out! She knew that he left for school at whatever time and didn't come back until x hours later. Yes, she wore her engagement ring around the house BEFORE she was actually proposed to.

Dan, being the smart lawyer that he is, periodically checked on the ring to make sure that it was still there. He later told me that he thought the ring started to look a little different but he figured his mind was playing tricks on him and put it back. Well of course the ring would look different! It was starting to show the signs of Stacey's daily wear!! He was a little suspicious that maybe she had found it and moved it to a new location, at the bottom of his video game drawer. Stacey obviously realized that he had moved it and thought the moment was close.

Now that the ring was moved, every time Dan and Stacey went anywhere, Stacey would get really really excited thinking that it was the proposal moment, but it was clearly just Dan doing something nice or planning a fun date night.

After what seemed like months of waiting, on a random night in January, Dan proposed to Stacey after a walk around the block. He said it was a warm night for January and they took a walk around the block, where he got down on one knee and proposed. She of course said yes, and admired the ring on her hand permanently!

I've never been clear on this, but it was revealed about an hour after the proposal the lengths Stacey went to in order to wear the ring each day and put it back. But because Dan is so, well Dan, he laughed and was like I knew the ring was changing!

We went to their wedding this past September...yes they were engaged for 4.5 years!! It was a blast and we loved every second of it.

Last December, I got a call from Stacey out of the blue. They had just run into my parents at the mall and she was insistent on getting a hold of me because she was expecting!! I shrieked at work (much to the dismay of my male co-workers) and demanded to know how she was feeling, when she was due, etc. And because they are Dan and Stacey, they found out they were expecting quite by accident.

They signed up for a relationship and alcohol interaction class at the University of Buffalo. They would get paid $100 to have some drinks and let the Psychology and Sociology students observe them. They figured, hey, $100, why not. When they arrived, one prerequisite was that all women had to take a pregnancy test to ensure they weren't pregnant. Since Stacey was quite confident that she was not preggo, she took the test. And when the nurse told her that she was indeed carrying a baby, Stacey insisted it was wrong and took 2 more tests! It was quite a shock for the newlyweds of 1 week!!

But now they are expecting Emily Grace in just 9 weeks! So Saturday I headed to Dan's parents house for the shower. I had such a great time. We played a ton of really funny games, ate some delicious food, and got to shower Stacey and Emily with some adorable presents!