The Proposal Pt. 6 - Conclusion

When Tara and I went back to the restaurant, we were met by cheers and applause. The manager and the sommelier took us to the barrel room and did a private toast with us. Before we left, we bought tons of Tara Winery glasses and wine. Then, we were off to Dallas. Tra called everyone in here phone on the ride back to Dallas, so there wasn't much conversation. When we got to the Katy Trail Ice House, all of our friends were already there and had reached a pretty significant level of "happiness," and they were eager for us to join in on the festivities. Again, we entered to cheers and applause from the entire bar, and the evening was finalized by a celebration. A giant celebration... 

The Vineyard and Mansion (we were on the top right balcony)

Our first picture after the engagement

Greg and Dave's initial reactions

Us a little more composed

The Sisters

Tara and Megan

Lauren and Tra

Juice and Skeez/Sports!!

Letting the sis-inlaw know who's boss

Greg kept screaming, "Where's my sister!?!"

Some siblings were happier than others...

And of course, there were A LOT of group hugs...

Epilogue:

Looking back, I feel dumb for ever worrying over Tara's answer to my proposal. For some odd reason, she loves me; unconditionally (she even let me get her a new set of rings!!!).

And I love her the same. 

And now, it's "Us Against The World"

The Proposal Pt. 5 - My Story

Tara's story has a lot of good details about the proposal, but it gives little insight to what it actually took to get us on a balcony in a small vineyard right outside of Athens, Texas. Any guy that has ever been down on one knee with a ring in hand, knows the effort that it takes to stop in a kneeling position. It would be more appropriate if proposals happened face down after the dude collapses. The exhaustion, the stress, the excitement, everything that it took to plan that moment comes crashing down on you in that one instant. Somewhere along the way, I thought of this metaphor to describe it all:

A proposal is creating a hurricane around someone, all the while, fighting to keep them in the eye of the storm.

I find it amusing that it took less time for me to decide to propose to Tara, than it took for me to decide how I was going to propose to Tara. During one of our dates, we experienced a middle-of-the-restaurant proposal by a couple on the other side of the dining room. I remembered her saying that she would absolutely die if that ever happened to her. She went on to say that she wanted her proposal to be somewhere remote and alone. This became one of the biggest hurdles for me in the planning stage.

I had precious little time to plan this proposal; less than 48 hours. For the umpteenth time, I called on Blake to help me out. Together, we started racking our brains for any non-public, decently-romantic setting that would actually mean something to us. During one of our many conversations, I remembered Tara talking about a winery in Texas that she wanted to go visit called Tara Winery. I called the winery and was amazed at how helpful they were. The manager said that all I had to do was show up, tell him my name, and he would take care of the rest.

As I gradually started telling everyone about my plans to propose, I recognized a pattern; everyone wanted to be there. The first person to start the pattern was my brother. When I called to tell him about everything, I asked him what he had planned for the weekend. He said that there was absolutely nothing that was going to get him off his couch. He had been traveling nonstop for the past month and just wanted to rest. After I told him my story, and towards the end of our conversation, I heard him rustling around. I asked what he was doing, and he said that he was packing; he was about to head to Dallas. After I had people coming up from Houston and others cancelling different weekend plans, I knew that we needed to find some way to include everyone. Obviously, they couldn't be at the actual proposal because that would defeat the purpose of an isolated location, so I decided that we would come back and have a celebration... or a drown-Chad's-sorrows drinking binge if she said "No."

While I was waiting for Tra to get off work on Friday, I was with Greg, Sam, Dave, and Nic. We were all at Nic and Emily's house, and they were trying to pump me up for the evening because I was doing a pretty good job of freaking myself out. Finally, I found some nerve and headed over to Tara's apartment. She lives with her two best friends, Lauren and Megan. If you go back and read the previous parts to this proposal, you won't find anything in there about me reaching out to these two girls. Not saying that I don't love them to death, but I can't think of any secret that I would ever entrust in them to keep from Tara. However, while Tara was in the shower, I pulled Megan aside and told her everything. I needed to make sure that she and Lauren were going to be at our post-proposal party. After I got Megan to stop yelling at me for stealing her friend, I made her promise that she would play it off after Tara got out of the shower, and make sure that Lauren knew to be at the Katy Trail Ice House that evening.

After an Academy Award worthy performance from Megan (and a few thoughtful suggestions on Tra's outfit by Megan), we headed out the door for our date-night. I was completely and utterly a wreck on the inside (which is a wonder how I didn't cause an actual wreck while driving), but I tried to play it off that I was just eager for the surprise location of our date. Throughout the entire evening, I would drop feeler questions to get her opinions on certain things - not directly related to or close enough to cause suspicion - around us getting married and running off to a foreign country. At one point in the drive, I was playing with her college ring, and I commented on how small it was. I asked about her ring size and found out that it was about a 5.5. That was an entire size off of the ugly little circles I was trying to conceal from her; just the icing on the cake for the ring story.

Everything happened just as Tra described as far as her finding out about the winery before we got there. We passed the mansion  and vineyard and navigated our way to the winery. When we were getting out of the car, it was time for me to make the smooth transition of getting the ring box out of its hiding spot and into my pocket. Problem number one hundred with these stupid rings: the box was gigantic. It looked ridiculous in my pocket, and I figured there was no way I was going to pull it off without her noticing the giant bulge. In a panic, I threw the box with the rings back underneath the driver seat and slammed the door. The nagging problem of getting the rings out of my pocket without them actually being in my pocket grew with every step I took in the opposite direction of the car.

After I spazzed out on Tara about needing to fulfill our reservations even though we were staring at an empty dining room, we were led to a beautifully placed table surrounded by elegant, high-backed chairs. At this point, there was nothing smooth about my candor or posture. The speed at which my knees were knocking under the table could have powered a small city, and I had the vocal skills of Gilbert Gottfried. I was doing everything in my power to speed the evening along. However, the fact that it was supposed to be a romantic date-night was working against me. Thinking that we had nothing left in the evening, Tra was taking her sweet time with everything. She grabbed the drink menu and decided that we needed to do a "wine tour." This is where they bring out samples of a bunch of different wines for you to taste and savor; about a 45 minute process. Tara would grab one, take a sip, pass it to me, and I would chug it. Apparently, she didn't pick up on my haste to get through the meal because she ordered another wine tour.

Later, I discretely got our waitress's attention (I may or may not have thrown something at her) so that we could order our meal. I was hoping to share an entree, let her take a few bites, and then stuff an entire steak in my mouth at once; similar to the wine. To my dismay, Tra ordered an appetizer, her own entree, more wine, and wanted to see what we had to look forward to on the dessert menu. While we were waiting on our food, I excused myself to go to the bathroom, but I actually went to the car to grab those stupid rings. I conceded to just keeping the box in my pocket, and I'd just pass it off as a tumor if she noticed. I did make it a point to keep her on the opposite side of the ring box for the rest of the night.

After wrestling the dessert menu out of Tara's vice grip (if you know any Foley, you know how important their desserts are), I asked the manager if we could take a tour of the mansion (as instructed by the manager when I made the reservations). Ironically, Tara and Tara Winery are named after the same winery from the movie Gone With The Wind, so I used this as an excuse for our intrigue. Knowing that this is where I needed to be when I popped the question, I was not worried about it being closed. With complimentary wine in hand, we started the journey up the path towards either our relationship's future or it's demise. I'm surprised my legs were working. Well sort of working; Tara was trying to take a leisurely stroll and I was trying to sprint.

We entered the mansion, and again, Tra wanted to take her sweet time. She had to look at every single room and had no clue that I was about to lose it. I did everything short of throwing her over my shoulder and sprinting up the stairs to get her on to that balcony. Eventually, we did get out on the balcony, and then it hit me: I'm about to propose to my girlfriend.

I immediately slammed on the breaks. After rushing and pushing to get to that point in the night, I couldn't handle the stress. I began to stall by walking from one side of the balcony then back to the other. Eventually, we stopped together on the far side, and as we were looking at the truly unbelievable scenery that no human could have put together (right at that moment where the sun is still setting but you can already see the first stars, mixed with a beautiful vineyard and countryside), it came to me that this was my sign. That's when I said a little prayer and started my story.

When it came to the point of getting on a knee, I found a new respect for every married man in the universe. Graceful is a word that will never be used to describe that movement. However, I did manage to make it to one knee, and in the same movement, retrieve the ring box. To get incredibly cheesy for a second (but I have to because it's true): when Tara saw me on a knee, I saw our future in her reaction, and EVERYTHING that I had gone through - from the sleepless nights, to the stressful planning, to those horrid rings that she didn't even notice, to the unnecessary worrying, to everyone that I used to get to that point - was worth it all because of her response.

Tara's version of our proposal is the epitome of her personality; optimistically-clueless. As a matter of fact, if you made me describe Tra in two words, it would be hard to substitute either one of those words. Tara has this uncanny ability to find something genuinely positive about every single thing on this earth, and she has no clue that she does it. Her glass is never half empty, and she would find it offensive to the glass if you described it that way. I give her a lot of grief about her optimism, but she has no clue that I thank God every single day for blessing her with this gift. It's this very reason that she's capable of still loving me after all these years. It's the reason that we will be able to not only survive, but thrive in marriage. It's the reason that I will be able to survive in Singapore because not only is Tara's optimism unyielding, but it's infectious. No one has ever met that girl and come away with a negative experience. I love Tara for so many reasons, but her outlook on life leads the pack.

Now it's time for a celebration, a conclusion, and a few pictures.

The Proposal Pt. 4 - Her Story

This blog will be a first for me. I am going to take the back seat on this one and introduce a special guest-writer to my blog. I want Tara to tell her side of the story about the proposal weekend. She's kind of long-winded so without further ado...

Chad has given me the task of writing my version of the proposal. I have never blogged before, so bare with me….

It was the beginning of August and Chad had just been promoted to the NOV corporate office in Houston. I was planning on visiting him the weekend of the 12^th because I hadn’t seen his new place; however, he called me that Wednesday and informed me there was a change of plans and that he would be coming to Dallas Thursday.

Immediately, I asked why he was coming to Dallas, and he told me that he had to take care of some insurance issues from his past tonsil surgery and needed to go home to try and find some paperwork at his mom’s house. That seemed totally legit to me, since I knew that he had been having some problems with his health insurance. We then carried on with normal conversation and I asked him how his day was going. On a side note: Chad and I don’t really like talking on the phone (I know it’s kind of weird; especially since we have a long distance relationship), so our conversations are normally pretty short. Anyways, the only thing he said was “good but very interesting”. Of course, I asked why it was “interesting” but all he said was “Nothing really, I’ll just tell you about it this weekend.”

The next day at work, I got a text message from him asking me if I’d like to go on a date with him Friday night. I didn’t suspect anything because he always asks me if he can take me on dates; we like to try and make time for just the two of us every now and then since we are normally always hanging out with family and friends when he comes in town. Of course, I said “Yes!” I was expecting him later that night, however, eight o’clock rolled around and I had’t heard from him. I gave him a call and find out that he and Dave had just left Houston, and he still needed to go by his mom’s house before going to Dallas. He also said that he’d probably just stay in Gunter since it would be late by the time he got in town.

I had been short with him on the phone that night because I had a really bad day at work and was tired and frustrated. He had asked me when we were talking if everything was OK, and I assured him I was fine; which really wasn’t the case. After we got off the phone, I sent him a text message explaining why I sounded a little down and not myself, and he immediately returned the sweetest message. He said that he was sorry I had a bad week and he wanted to spoil me this weekend to make up for it. This instantly brightened my mood, and I couldn't wait to see what he had planned for us Friday night.

Friday came and we spoke briefly that morning. He asked me when I would be off work and that I needed to be ready by 6:00 because he was planning a surprise for me. Again, I didn’t suspect anything because he does things like this for me quite often. Still, I was super excited and couldn't wait for our date; especially, after my frustrating week.

I left work that day around 4:30 to ensure that I had enough time to go home and get ready before our date. About 5:30 Chad arrived, and we left right at 6:00. When we got in the car, Chad told me to look away while he put the address in his GPS. As we started off, he turned to me and said that we had about an hour and a half drive ahead of us. Where was he taking me?! I was clueless! I then began trying to figure out where we were going (something that Chad wasn't too happy about). At one point, he got tired of me guessing and just wanted to tell me, but I stopped him. About an hour into the trip, I was looking out of the window when he said, “Don’t look! Don’t look!” You know when you tell someone not to look, that’s the exact opposite of what they’re going to do. So what did I do? I turned around and saw a giant billboard with the words Tara Winery pass by. I felt bad that I had spoiled the surprise, but I was still ecstatic!!! I couldn’t believe he was taking me there! I had told him about the winery a year ago, and I couldn’t believe that he remembered! After some high pitch excitement, he calmed me down and said that we had dinner reservations. I got even more excited because I had never had dinner at a winery, and I absolutely love wineries… and wine, of course.  

Finally, we arrived to the middle of nowhere (literally, nowhere), we pulled up to a huge plantation house with a large vineyard in front of it. As we drove a bit further, we saw another building with some cars by it, so we figured that was where the winery must be. When we entered the building, we were greeted by a man that showed us to the dining area. He told us that we could take a seat where ever we pleased. There were only about 15 tables in the entire winery, 3 of which were occupied, so I asked Chad where he wanted to sit. He kind of hesitated, and said he needed to tell someone that we had reservations. At this point, I’m thinking to myself… I’m pretty sure they won’t care where we sit! Anyways, I let Chad tell the waiter that we had reservations, and they directed us to a table.

We began ordering every wine on the wine list; trying all of their reds and whites, as well as ordering appetizers and entrées (This is a note from the editor: take notice that she used the word “we” to start this sentence; I will amend that in my next blog). The wine and food was delicious, but the conversation was even better! We talked about all kinds of things, but traveling became a steady topic. I told him that we needed to plan a trip together soon because we never travel together. He assured me (even pinky-promised) that he would take me out of the country within the next year. 


After we finished our entrees, I asked Chad if he wanted to get dessert (if you don’t know me, I have a huge sweet tooth and basically order dessert every time we go out). Chad said that he actually had dessert planned somewhere else, and I got even more excited about how the night was turning out. Before we got the check, Chad asked me if I wanted to go look at the plantation house that we passed coming in. I told him that I didn’t think it was open, but we should ask. The waiter told us that it was closed, but he’d see what he could do for us. He came back a few minutes later, and told us that we could go see it. He even said that he'd had all the lights turned on and that they’d left the back door open for us. As we got up from the table and were about to head to the house, the wine maker came over and gave us two glasses of wine for our stroll to the house since it was down the road a ways. All I could think about was how great this date was going, and I told Chad that we should do this every year! He just gave me a weird look and said “sure.”

We walked hand-in-hand down the road to the house, and when we entered the house, I was absolutely amazed! It was a replica of an old southern plantation house with antique furniture and décor. I started to explore the downstairs when Chad said that we should start from the top and work our way down. That sounded good to me, so we headed up the stairs. When we got up there, Chad found some doors that lead to a balcony, so we stepped outside. The scenery was absolutely beautiful! The weather was amazing; it wasn't quite dark yet, so we could see the vineyard below, and the stars were beginning to come out as well. We were both just enjoying the view for a bit when Chad said “So you know how I told you that I had an interesting day at work Wednesday?” I told him that I remembered, and then he then began telling me what happened…

During the story, I didn’t say a word. After the conversation deepened, I don’t think I was really listening to anything that he was saying. I thought that he was either breaking up with me or wanted to try and do a long distance relationship from Singapore. I couldn’t believe that after that amazing date, he was going to drop all of this on me. I was so happy for him for getting this amazing opportunity, but at the same time I was sad that this could be the end of our relationship. Then, he started saying something that brought me back to the conversation… he said that he told them he would go, but on one condition; that he had to be able to take me with him. At this point, I liked where the conversation was going and was a lot more interested in what he was telling me. He said that he wanted me to go with him, but not as his girlfriend… The next thing I knew, he was on one knee, with ring in hand, asking me to marry him. I couldn’t believe what was happening!

I immediately responded “Of course I’ll marry you!”, and then the crying began. I think it took me about 30 minutes to finally stop bawling, but then again, I think I cried the entire weekend. Once I stopped crying (and had cleaned up the mascara that was running down my face), we headed back to the restaurant where (unknown to me) everyone was anxiously awaiting our return. We walked through the doors, and Chad yelled “She said yes!” Everyone in the restaurant began clapping and cheering for us. Once everyone settled down, we received another special treat from the wine maker; a free tour of the wine cellar. It was the perfect ending to the night, but little did I know, the night was nowhere near over. Chad then told me that we had to hurry back because all of our friends were waiting at the Katy Trail Ice House to celebrate with us! I couldn’t wait to get back to see everyone and tell them the amazing story.   

Well, that’s basically my version of the proposal. I could have added a lot more details about that night, but I figured this blog was long enough. In conclusion, I couldn’t have asked for a better proposal! It was exactly what I envisioned, and it had the man I always wanted in it. I can’t wait to marry the love of my life and start our lives together. I will never forget that day, and I know that we have many more great days ahead of us.


Composed by Tara Michelle Foley(Davis)

Look at Tra with her mad writing skills!! I didn't have to edit nearly as much of that as I thought (kidding). Thanks babe, that really was awesome. I'm glad the proposal was completely stress-free and not nerve wracking whatsoever for you. However, not all of us had that same luxury.

It's now time to explain what I had to endure during the proposal.

The Proposal Pt. 3 - Momma D

The weekend that all this was happening, Tara had planned on making a trip to Houston to visit me. Obviously, I had to change those plans because my "Dallas" proposal wouldn't work out so well if she was in Houston. She called me on Wednesday in the midst of all these shenanigans, and asked how my day was going. I gave here the understatement of the century and said that I was having an "interesting morning." I told her that I would have to come to Dallas this weekend to clear up some insurance issues. Cluelessly, she said that would be fine.

I spoke to my mom on the drive from Houston to see what she had going on that evening. She said there wasn't much to do and that it would be a quiet evening at home. I know her all to well; in Momma D terms that means "probably headed to the casinos in Oklahoma to play some penny slots." I didn't tell her that I was coming in town. I figured that if I was going to put her in shock from the big news, I might as well give her a heart attack too by showing up unannounced. Thoughtful, I know.

Dave and I pulled up to a pitch black house in Gunter at around 9:30 pm. We weren't sure if they were asleep or gone so we tried to be as loud as possible; we didn't want to get shot by sneaking into the house. Not to our surprise (well, Dave was a little shocked that I called it), they were at the casino. Gunter, being the giant metropolis that is - just north of a 1000 population, no stop lights, middle of nowhere - now has a Sonic, so Dave and I went to grab some food while we waited for our little gamblers to return.

I was driving a vehicle they hadn't seen before, and we had all the lights turned on in the house (a rarity even when they are home). So I had to call Momma D and tell her that Dave and I were at the house; again, so we wouldn't get shot (these things happen in Texas). She was a little confused, but not too surprised because I do things like this from time to time. When they got back to the house, we hugged and greeted each other as usual, but then I told her to sit down. 

I should preface this part of the story with a brief description of Momma D. She is a sweet, God-loving woman, that practically raised her two sons on her own. She is passionate about two things in her life (besides penny slots), her faith and her family. Anyone who has ever met my mother knows this about her; she is very transparent about what she loves in life. The whole reason I started this blog is because she hates the fact that my brother and I are so far away, and she wants to know what is going on in our lives.

When I said to sit down, her face dropped; there is no telling what in the world was going through her head (she couldn't tell you either because she doesn't remember much of the night due to her state of shock). I told her the story exactly how I had been telling everyone else. When I got to the part about accepting the offer, she gave a reaction that neither Dave or I expected. Oh yeah, Dave is sitting on the couch next to me watching all this go down. His version is pretty funny. Anyways, Momma D just starts going off on me.

She wasn't angry. She was just kind of upset and shocked blended together at once. She started firing a million questions at me. She wanted to know if I even knew where Singapore was, to which I reassured her that I did ( I left out the part about thinking it was in South America). I finally had to stop her and say that Singapore wasn't really the reason I was in Dallas. I told her that in fact, Singapore wasn't really big news at all compared to... (then I pulled out the rings) ...the fact that I was about to ask Tara to marry me and come with me. 

You want to talk about hitting a brick wall. Ever since my mother met Tra in high school, she's wanted me to marry that girl. She loves Tara to death. The fact that I was finally going to propose to her was a dream come true. I think she has always wondered if either of her sons would ever get married (I know that she's completely given up on getting any grandchildren from us). Needless to say, her mood changed instantly. She started crying and wanted to look at the rings. Luckily, she was too in shock to really focus on them (see previous story for that adventure).

We stayed up and talked for a few more hours, and then, I went to lay in bed and stare at the ceiling for the rest of the night. I'm pretty sure that Dave and Ricky were the only two that got any sleep that night because I know that Momma D didn't ever close her eyes. We went to my aunt's house the next morning and went through the EXACT same scenario. There was plenty of tears and hugs going around the room when I told them about Tara (mostly from Dave who enjoys a good hug and cries over everything). Then, we talked for a while longer and showed off the rings; which got a little more scrutiny this time around.

With good luck wishes and more hugs and more tears we finally left Gunter. We went to meet up with my brother and his roommate in Dallas. The waiting game for Tara to get off work had officially begun.

It was now time to propose to my girlfriend.

The Proposal Pt. 2 - The Ring(s)

All of this happened on a Wednesday, and I had decided that after work on Thursday I was going to head to Dallas. This gave us Wednesday evening to find a ring. Around 4 pm Dave and I met up at the apartment, and after some high-fives (and some man-hugs), we left to go ring shopping. Our first place to look for Tra's ring was at the bar. My thought process here was that the "happier" I was, the more I would be willing to spend on a ring. After much ring-searching at the bar, we reached the right level of "happiness" and decided that we should go to an establishment that actually sold rings.

About a year ago, Tra and I decided to browse around some jewelry stores. I wanted to get the feel of what kind of ring she wanted for when the day came that I actually got the nerve to propose. I found out that day that Tra is not your average girly-girl. Most girls want the biggest, shiniest, most elaborate set-stone ring that money can buy. Then, their man gets judged by what he picks out for her. Well this trip is when I found out that Tra is not a fan of big bulky rings. She's not even a fan of set-stones. She likes baguette cut diamonds and bands; tiny, petite, simple, diamond bands. It's understandable because she uses her hands a lot for work so her rings get banged around, and a bulky ring would get in her way. I'm so thankful that we took the time to do this because I actually had some sort of idea about what ring she would like.

We went to the Galleria of Houston first. This is where I had a real eye-opener on the evening (which is good because all of the "happiness" was making my eyes droop). I came to the realization that this was not going to be a simple task. We stopped at about ten different stores before we decided that the Galleria was putting a damper on our hopes of a simple ring search. The Galleria was also putting a damper on our "happiness" level, so we stopped at a Mexican restaurant in the mall to see if they kept any rings at the bottoms of their margarita glasses. They did not.

At this point, we were desperate because it was getting late. We stopped at one more store that didn't pan out to anything, and we finally just asked the guy behind the counter if there was a Jared's in Houston. Luckily, the Jared's wasn't far away, however, they closed at 10:00. It was around 9:30 at that point. After sprinting through the mall and navigating our way across town, we pulled up to Jared's with about ten minutes to spare.

With a significant level of "happiness" and adrenaline pumping, we were finally standing in front of a legitimate display case full of diamond bands that would be suffice for Tra's taste. This is where it gets interesting. Since she only likes the band style, I had decided to get her two rings; a little band and a big band. Then when we get married, I'll get her a third band that is identical to the smaller of the two; little band, big band, little band. Since bands aren't nearly as expensive as a set diamond ring, the budget that I had decided on (thanks to my "happiness") was substantially more than what the bands cost.

This is where Dave and I came up with a game we like to call "Bigger." The rules are as follows: they bring out a ring, and we scream "Bigger!" This went on until they finally informed us that we were holding the biggest band of diamonds. We took it. Then, I picked out a smaller baguette cut band, and we finally had our rings! I had to call Blake again to find out Tra's ring size because I had forgotten it. Unfortunately, she didn't know it either (no help, as usual). I thought it was a 7, and she thought it was a 6. We compromised on a 6.5 and called it good. I left the rings there to be sized and would come back after work and pick them up on my way to Dallas.

I left work before lunch on Thursday because I was accomplishing absolutely nothing; I think I was still in shock. I freaked out a bit in my bosses office about the whole situation, and he made it clear that I wasn't needed at work the rest of the week (especially in the state I was in) so I was free to leave. I went to Jared's to pick up the rings, and things got ugly. Literally.

(This part is strictly in my opinion. Tra will tell you that I am over-exaggerating) The rings did not match in the slightest. They looked funny next to each other because one was so big and the other one was small. On top of that, the cuts didn't go together at all. Unfortunately, I had to live with them. I called up Dave to ask him what we were thinking when we bought the rings, and he tried to insist that they couldn't be nearly as bad as I was making them out to be. Then, he saw them and admitted that maybe they weren't the greatest looking pair, but he knew for a fact that she would love them (he was just trying to boost my confidence going into the Dallas trip because I was freaking out again).

I really don't remember packing to leave the apartment (when the engagement was finally over that weekend, I did an inventory on my suitcase and noted that it contained about 17 pairs of underwear and 2 shirts). Anyways, Dave and I loaded up, and we were off to Dallas; or really Gunter. We had one more small errand to run before I could propose to Tara.

It was now time to break it to my mother that I was getting married and moving to Singapore.

The Proposal Pt. 1 - In Shock

I've given you the short version, but I also want to have the long version in writing as well. This story actually picks up right where the last blog ends. Immediately after I agreed to move to Singapore, I instantly made the decision that I was going to propose to Tara.

We have been dating for about two years now, and we also dated for four years while we were in grade school. After we had been together for about a year this time around, we had a discussion over dinner about what direction we each wanted our relationship to go. The conclusion was that neither one of us were in a rush to get married, but we knew that if the opportunity ever presented itself, we would want to take the relationship to the next level. Tara and I are both very driven people, and it is important to both of us that we have our own identities. For this to happen, we felt that it is crucial that we each have our own careers. Knowing this, we figured that for our relationship to get to the next level, we would have to live in the same town; something that each of our careers were years away from. So we decided to take things slow, and just see what happened.

At the time of this conversation, I was based out of Oklahoma but living in Arkansas. Then after a year, I got transferred back to Oklahoma City, and six months after that, I was transferred to Houston.  For all we knew, I could have been living in North Dakota by the end of the year (which actually turns out to be a possibility. Every time I do something stupid (often), they threaten me with N.D.). Then a week after moving to Houston, I was told about Singapore.

After I committed, we talked about what it would take to get Tara over there with me. I didn't necessarily have to marry her to bring her with me, but when I finally saw that we could live in the same place for once, I couldn't resist. There was also the option (which I honestly didn't even want to consider) of putting our relationship on hold for three years while I was in Singapore. Three years without Tara was absolutely not an option, so it was decided in my bosses office, a second after I committed to Singapore, that I was going to propose to Tra (Tara=Tra).

I really don't remember much of the day to tell you the truth. When I left Ragon's office, it was about 9:30 am, so I went back to my desk and stared at my computer screen. And stared at my computer screen. And stared at my computer screen some more. I was absolutely in shock. I couldn't just go home because I was meeting my friend, Dillon Hohertz, for lunch, and after that, I had a meeting with one of our salesmen and a customer. After a few hours of staring at my computer screen, I left to drive aimlessly around Houston until it was time to meet Hohertzy.

During that time, I decided that I needed to make a few phone calls to start getting some wheels set in motion. I first called my brother and Tra's younger sister, Blake, and told them everything that was going on. Blake is what we like to call the "runt" of the litter so turning to her for help was a last resort (Just kidding. Blake is actually a sweet girl and surprisingly intelligent...ish. Out of the four Foley siblings, she might have the highest IQ and the lowest amount of common-sense). Then, I put a call into Tra's CIA/ninja/black-ops father. Having to ask her father for his blessing to marry his daughter over the phone is not ideal, but I was kind of out of options because this was all moving so fast. Then, I called Tra's mother and informed her of everything going on as well.

I got to the restaurant before Dillon, so I called Dave and told him to drop whatever he was doing and meet me at the apartment; I had some news to share with him. He obviously wouldn't let it go, and he even ended up guessing what had happened. He immediately started pouting, then screaming, then more pouting. I vaguely remember eating lunch with Hohertzy. I know that there was a lot of yelling and a lot of high-fives thrown in the restaurant. I absolutely don't remember meeting with the customer after lunch. I know that he had a corner office in one of the top floors of a Houston high rise, and I'm pretty sure that I just stared out of his window the entire meeting. I'm not even sure I introduced myself.

I didn't return to work after the meeting. Instead, I went straight to our apartment and met up with Dave.

It was now time to go buy a ring.

The Proposal Prologue - Their Proposal

I'm currently sitting in a rental car in the Houston Hobby airport parking lot waiting on a tow truck. My company car was broken into last week, and I just found out that they jammed something into the door lock rendering it useless. AND the battery is now dead, so my key remote won't open the doors; thus, I have no way of getting into the car. Now, I'm bored and have decided to tell the world (all 4 people that follow this site and the NOV-IT department) on the meaning of my last blog.

Most everyone already knows this story, but I figured that it would be nice to have it in writing. About 3 weeks ago, I was sitting at my desk in my new cubicle in our corporate office looking up Houston softball league information. Ragon, the VP of NOV Mission (I'm pretty sure there's an interesting story on here somewhere of a run-in I had with his daughter), comes up behind me and wants to see me in his office.

I walk into his office and Brian, my old boss from OKC, is already sitting in the office as well. Now, I figure that I'm getting fired and Brian has been asked to witness. Ragon asks me if I'm liking my new job. I respond that I'm super pleased with it. Then, he asks if I like Houston, and I tell him that I do actually love Houston (which is the truth; I really do enjoy it here).

Tow truck is here... Finish later this week.

Ok I have a lot of time on my hands now. I'm sitting in the waiting area of a medical center because I have to get immunization shots for what I'm about to tell you.

So Ragon says,"Great! Good to hear you like Houston. That's wonderful. Davis, what do you think about Singapore?" Having no clue where Singapore is, I reply,"Singapore is a cool place. I love South America!" After giving me a brief geography lesson (Singapore is in Asia. Hey, I colored maps in high school geography, give me a break), he proceeds to tell me about a position opening up and that they would really like me to accept the job.

I have always enjoyed traveling. My dream job (except driving a purple slugbug taxi in Mexico) has been to be an international salesman. Did I ever expect to get this opportunity so early in life? No. So you can only imagine the overwhelming feelings and thoughts going through me during this meeting.

They told me to take a week to think about it and get back to them. I laughed and said that wouldn't be necessary.

So a week after signing a year lease, a week after working in the corporate office, a week after moving to Houston, I decided to accept a position that will move me to the Far East and will be based out of Singapore. I am leaving this week to go over there for 2-3 weeks, I'll come back for about 5 days, and then I will officially move to Singapore.

Tara graciously accepted my proposal  and agreed to marry me and move to Singapore as well. She will join me after our wedding, but until then she will continue to work and is practically planning a wedding by herself. We will get married on December 31, 2011, and then start a life together of our own, on our own. Everyone is welcome to visit anytime they want, as much as they want! Our Singaporian home will always be open and welcome to our family and friends. And friends of friends. And anyone else who wants to come.







- Posted using BlogPress from ChadMD's iPhone

The Proposal Epigraph - Announcement

I can't release the full details of the story yet, but I am proud to announce that as of Friday, August 12, I am engaged to the amazing Tara Foley. We have set a wedding date for December 31, 2011, and we cannot wait to start our lives together as a married couple. AND she's not pregnant, so get that outcha head!! 

The first picture of  her and myself after the proposal

 The ring(s)

Uhhh, Is This Thing On???

HIIIIIIIIIII! Don't get excited/worried; I'm not back, just checking in. I am working in the office this morning so I thought that I would catch up on this summer's festivities. I have been going non-stop every single weekend this summer. Don't believe me? Let's start with the month of May...

On May 5-9, Momma D, Aunt Di, Jenna, Greg, and I took a little family trip to the wonderful New York, New York. This was Greg and Jenna's first trip to the Big Apple so of course we had to see EVERYTHING! No exaggeration there, we seriously visited all that New York has to offer. My favorite experience from this trip was a tie between getting to see the Broadway show "Wicked" and our visit to Ellis Island {insert "snort" of sarcasm}.

On May 12-15, Greg and I went to New Orleans to celebrate our friend J.C. Moon's bachelor party. This was my first trip to the Big Easy so we tried to make it not completely about the "celebrating" part (I don't really know how successful we were). We spent a lot of time on the infamous Bourbon St., but we also took time to do a little touring. My favorite part of the weekend was when Greg and I rented miniature cars to drive around and see the sights of the historical New Orleans.

The weekend of May 21st, Tara and I traveled to Austin for a double celebration weekend. Her sister, Blake, graduated from the University of Texas, and her cousin got married. Sadly to report, Blake did not trip while walking across the stage (she did screw up and leave her diploma slip on stage so it wasn't a complete let down). The wedding was actually in a town outside of Austin and was absolutely beautiful. My favorite part of the weekend was the wedding reception (you may see a trend here) and getting to see some of Tara's family that I haven't seen since we dated in high school.

Over Memorial Day weekend (May 27-30), Greg and I traveled to the huge city of Memphis... Texas. Memphis, Texas holds an annual Memorial Day golf tournament. This may be my favorite weekend out of the entire year. The tournament is three days long (54 holes) and on a 9-hole golf course that is crammed on about a square mile of land; no one takes the tournament seriously. The town is about the same population of my hometown (somewhere just north of 1000). Besides playing 2 on 2 basketball at 3:00 am in the Maddox household's driveway, the best part of this weekend is getting to see all of our old friends and making new friends. Even though we only know people through the golf tournament; it's like going to a family reunion (but actually looking forward to the next year).

That brings us to June. One morning, I was sitting on our back porch with my mother, and she looked at me and seriously asks, "Chad, what's wrong with you? Are you depressed?!" HAHA! If you have ever met me, you know that my personality is as far away from depression as possible. I explained to her that I was just exhausted. I don't normally get to go back "home"(not real sure where my home is anymore) during the weekdays like most people. I am always traveling for work, so I'm normally put up in a hotel somewhere. I literally live out of a suitcase.

The first weekend of June, I traveled to Gunter, Texas for my buddy Chadly Harris's first annual Beer Olympics. This is where you divide up into different countries, dress like the people of that country, and play various games. Each game contributes points and the country with the most points at the end of the games is the champion. My team consisted of Chad Harris, Amanda Gromaski, Tara, and me; obviously we were the African country Chad. It was a close tournament, but in the end, we brought home the trophy. Besides the tournament itself, my favorite part of this weekend was getting to be home and lounge around the house with my family.

The weekend of July 11, I traveled to Dallas to celebrate the wedding of my two friends, Clint and Kelsie. These are easily two of the nicest people I've ever met, and it was awesome getting to experience them take the plunge into a lifetime of marriage. Besides their wedding reception, my favorite part of the weekend was being talked into staying an extra day in Dallas by my brother and friends. We watched the Mavs beat the Heat to win their first ever NBA Championship. Then we celebrated... a lot.

This last weekend (July 18), I traveled to Lubbock, Texas to celebrate my buddy Moon's wedding. Moon married the lovely Kimbra (who is way out of his league so good for him!), and they are currently laying on a beach in Hawaii. The thought of Moon (one of the last Cowboys of a dying breed) on a beach makes me laugh so it will be interesting to see how that turned out. Every time I go back to visit Lubbock, I think that my brother is a genius for not leaving after college. I love Lubbock; I always enjoy going back. My favorite part of the weekend (next to the reception!!) was singing/screaming karaoke every night at my brother's house until the wee hours of the morning.

Fortunately but unfortunately, this long list of my weekend activities isn't over. This coming weekend brings a golf tournament in Arkansas. After that, we have my favorite holiday of the year, 4th of July! That weekend will surely get an entire blog in itself because there is always some story about how we almost blew up my brother's fire work stand or how we ruined my aunt's good patio furniture.

THEN, I get three glorious weekends of having absolutely nothing planned. Maybe after sitting in Oklahoma City for three weekends in a row, my mother will stop worrying about my depression. But if I were you, I wouldn't come knocking on my door expecting to find me sitting around my apartment.

Swept Through the Plains... Again

As of January, I am now considered an Oklahoma resident, again. However, don't be fooled; I'm rarely ever in OKC because I still travel a lot for work. The change was due to a job relocation that increased my territory. I still cover all of Arkansas, but now my travels include Eastern Oklahoma and Kansas.

I still go to Arkansas every other week, and each trip lasts the whole week. I love this because it means that I really didn't have to say "bye" to any of my AR friends, and I still get to see them all the time. I was pretty upset that I had to move out of my apartment on the golf course with the amazing view.

Now that I'm back in OKC, I get to hang out with some of my old friends. A lot of them have already moved away, but my golfing buddy, Mikey, is still around (which is all that really matters). Also, I get to see my old fraternity brother, Fred, from time to time. Between these two guys, it's pretty easy to find something to do in OKC. I moved into the Park Harvey Apartment building in downtown OKC. I'll admit that the view of the Leadership Square Building from a 13th floor apartment is way more claustrophobic than living on a golf course in Arkansas. However, the Park Harvey might be my favorite place that I've lived in yet. I could not be more pleased with my new home.

Home? Can you call a place that you see less than a hotel room "home"? I feel like my hotel rooms in Arkansas and Kansas are more of a home than my apartment in Oklahoma. I haven't stayed 3 consecutive nights in my bed since I moved back (I will admit that a girlfriend in Dallas is a pretty big factor of this as well).

Anyways however this may read, I am NOT complaining. I'm not just saying that because the IT department at NOV is forced to read this (Hey guys, love the new help desk system). I love my job. I love to travel, I love staying in hotels, and I love my company. I love the fact that my job never gets boring (except the occasional office day; which is necessary to catch up on assignments and emails).

I could do this for the rest of my life and be happy.... I think.

BlogPress

I just got a new iPhone app called BlogPress. I'm thinking that this is going to allow me to blog more when I am away from a desk (which is 95% of the time). So this is kind of a trial run to see if I like the app.

Here is a short checklist of things to write about in the future (in no particular order):

•Move to OKC
•New job territory
•Canyoning
•Park Harvey
•CrossFit

So the app is pretty cool. I'm thinking I'll give it a chance.



Happy President's Day!


- Posted using BlogPress from ChadMD's iPhone

Europa Series: Interlaken

Our last city was Interlaken, Switzerland. We didn't plan on it being last because we had planned on going to Paris. This was a rookie mistake; if you ever plan to go to Interlaken, make sure it is your last stop. I'll use the receptionist of our hostel's words, "Once you get to Interlaken, you won't leave until you have to... and you never really have to leave."

It's almost pointless to describe Interlaken; you have to experience it for yourself to understand. Think of the most beautiful scenery you can imagine, multiply its awesomeness by two and you might be able to capture the ambiance of Interlaken. If God created a heaven on earth, he hid it somewhere in Switzerland.

In Interlaken, you can do whatever you want and be happier doing it there than if you did it anywhere else. If you want to sit around and do nothing, it's awesome in Interlaken. If you want to do some extreme sport, it’s awesome in Interlaken. If you want to eat some cheese, it's awesome in Interlaken. If you need to take a... you get the point.

Chadly and I did a little bit of everything. At this point in the trip we were exhausted and all we wanted to do was rest. This was the one city where we had absolutely no agenda. The chocolate and cheese were both ridiculously amazing and is a must if you are ever in Interlaken. One day we were riding bikes through the town, and we pulled over to sit on a bench for about 30 minutes just to relax and enjoy the scenery of this little town that sits in the middle of the Swiss Alps Mountains. We did do one extreme sport while we were there, and it just so happened to be the most extreme thing to do; canyoning (I’ll devote an entire blog to this later).

The whole time we were there we were hanging out with a group of seven from the University of Dayton in Ohio. They were also the ones that told us about canyoning and went with us. I could write an entire blog about how cool these people were and how much fun we had hanging out, but this is already getting super long so just know that they were awesome. We still keep in touch with a few of them on facebook as well.

We did stay longer than we planned; we skipped Paris and limited our time in Amsterdam. We extended our stay at the hostel; which the receptionist had already done for us when we checked in without our asking because apparently everyone ends up extending their stay. We stayed as long as we could without missing our flight. I feel like I would be beating a dead horse if I tried to convince you to go to Interlaken. Just go while you are still able to enjoy it.

My final thoughts and conclusion to the “Europa Series”

Whoever created the concept of retirement had it all wrong. After you get done working your way through school, you have to jump right into working your way through a job. There needs to be a way that you can have 5-10 years after school to do whatever you want (expenses paid), and it not hurt any career possibilities. If you try to do that now, employers look down on the fact that you've been "goofing-off" for the past few years. The way it's set up, you could work your whole life just to save up enough for the final few years you have left. I know this doesn't hold true to everyone, and there are a lot of people who get to retire early (before 60). But the average person can't afford to stop working before they turn 70; especially after the most recent eco-crash. On average retirement is around 15 years, but one might argue that work doesn't stop there. That's whenever you start working for your family; your kids and grand kids start consuming all of your time. Then, your final years are usually spent working to fight off diseases and bad health. There is a pretty well known superstition in the oilfield that once you stop working, you only have about 3 years left until your time on earth is up.

I make you think about all of this because I want you to realize that "work" consumes our lives. Regardless of your employment status, there is always work to be done (just ask my step-father). Make sure that you take time to see and experience all of God's wonderful creations while you are still young enough to enjoy them.

What a waste life would be if we just worked until we died.

Europa Series: Roma

Only two more cities to go! I'll run through Rome pretty quick because I have a lot to do today, and then, I've saved the best city for last (mostly because we went there last).

Rome (Roma) was amazing! You could stay a week in Rome and still not be able to see everything. However, we did hit the highlights in two days.

But before I jump into all of that, I don't think you quite appreciate how much walking we've done up to this point. My feet were literally bleeding because of how much we had traveled. It was getting hard to notice anything on our tours because every step led to excruciating pain. So my first order of business was to find new shoes with better padding. I bought a sweet pair of Zebra print shoes from a street vendor for about $6 American money. Then, I went and bought a $23 set of Dr. Scholl's inserts for my sweet, new shoes. Then, I went to a pharmacy and bought bandages and cushions for my bleeding calluses (I won't post these pictures, I promise). After all of this, it feels like I'm walking on clouds; pretty sure I almost started crying from the relief.

Our first order of business was to see the Vatican after we checked into our hostel. Since it was a Sunday, we figured there would be somewhat of a larger crowd than normal. We got to Vatican City pretty early for this reason, but had no clue what we were about to experience. Neither Chadly nor myself are practicing or familiar with the Catholic religion, so you can only imagine our shock when we arrived at the Vatican to find out that coincidentally we chose to tour the Vatican during the Pentecost Festival. I'm not talking about, "Oh, it's Easter Sunday so we should go to church." kind of crowd; I'm talking, "Holy Crap, U2 is playing a free concert!" kind of crowd. I could go on and on about the festival but regardless, we got blessed by the Pope (who is pretty much a rockstar), toured the Vatican, and saw the grave of Pope John Paul II.

On the second day, we went to see all of the buildings and monuments of Rome. This included the Colosseum, Pantheon, Trevi Fountain and Sistine Chapel. One of the smartest things we did this entire trip was make a reservation to see the Colosseum; this saved us at least 5 hours of waiting in line. We also didn't have to wait in line to see the Sistine Chapel because we arrived right before they were about to close (remember that if you visit Rome, and remember you can't tour the Sistine Chapel on a Sunday). We pretty much ran through the entire Vatican Museum just to get to the chapel before they closed. This was another "No Photo!!" monument, so naturally...

The last night we went out with some people that were in the room next to ours; I think they were from Michigan. One of the things that we wanted to do on this trip was go to a European rave. Between the both of us, we only had one glow stick to share, so we weren't very prepared. However, we ended up at a 5 story club full of fellow ravers; loads of glow sticks and techno music. I don't really know what we expected, but we can now say we've been to a European rave. It’s like they say, "When in Rome, do as the Romans do!"

I would love to go back to Rome some day when I had more time to see everything. There is so much history, monuments, and art that you really need longer than two days to appreciate everything.

Europa Series: Firenze

Ahhh I'm ready for this series to be over. I have so much other stuff to talk about BUT its almost done. Sooooo....

As soon as we got to Florence (Firenze) we found our hostel and dropped our packs off. Then we went and had a pretty interesting dinner. The restaurant was in a square that had various shops, clubs and other places to eat. We were sat at a table in between two couples. The couple on our left was in their own world; obviously used to this sort of arrangement. On our right was a young Holland couple on their honeymoon. They were not so familiar with this set up. In fact, at the beginning of the meal, the guy asked our waitress if there were any individual tables available, but luckily, there were none open. Their names were Bart and Coralie and spoke very good English. I'm not sure what the turning point of the evening was (probably when they had to order for us because the waitress didn't speak any English), but by the end of the meal we were all laughing and having a blast. Bart grabbed our waitress at the end of the meal and told her that this was a great idea for seating and that they had made life-long friends. We finished the night by having a few bottles of wine with our new "life-long" friends at a couple different places. We have actually stayed in touch with Coralie via facebook.

The next day we hit up all of the typical tourist activities which included climbing the Piazza Del Duamo; which is ranked as the number 1 thing to do in Europe by a lot of travel guides because of the view. We also saw all of the Florence art works like the Da Vinci Museum, the Birth of Venus, the Medusa shield, and we went to the museum Galleria dell'Accademia where we saw the David. You're not supposed to take pictures of the David, so naturally EVERYONE tries to take a picture and then act like they were just cleaning their camera. This gave Chadly and me an arsenal of new jokes because of the security screaming, "NO PHOTO!!" at tourists.

After we were done touring for the day, we went and found a hill that overlooked all of Florence where we enjoyed a bottle of wine and another breath-taking sunset.

Florence was kind of a blur. It seems like a lot of Italy gets blended together when I look back. All of the architecture and art was very similar through the entire country so that was probably a major contributing factor.

Bart and Coralie

Europa Series: Venezia

(MONDAY, JANUARY 24, 2011 - Been a while, hasn't it?!) Yeah, someone's behind a desk again. I know there is a lot that has happened since July, but first, I really need to finish this Europe series. Chadly has been guilting me into finishing it forever because he wants his future children to be able to read about the adventures of his younger days. I have no such longing for children, nor would I ever want them to know about my "younger" days.

About this point in the trip Chadly and I were starting to get a little temperamental with each other. This was put to test when I booked our train to Florence instead of Venice (I kept getting those two mixed up for some reason). Because of this little error, we had to jump off of the train in some random city outside of Venice and take a night bus into the city. This put us in a DESERTED Venice at 4:00 in the morning.

I don't know if you are very familiar with Venice (Venezia), but it's most commonly known for being the city with all the water canals and the maze like alleys. This was probably the most stressful part of the trip, and by far one of the most memorable. We had no map, no hostel, no clue about where we were supposed to go. We were in a foreign country, no one was on the streets (I mean NO ONE), we didn't speak or understand any of the language, and we were exhausted from having zero sleep. We had these 50 lb back packs strapped to our back, our feet were killing us, and we had just shared a train car with some very interesting nuns followed by a pretty sketchy bus ride. We were tired.

Luckily, after about an hour of doing the ole heel-toe through the mazes, we stumbled up on a bakery that was just opening. Actually, we followed the scent of his crescents from about half a mile away. BEST CRESCENTS I'VE EVER EATEN IN MY ENTIRE LIFE.

This was the turning point for our Venice trip.

We stayed in the bakery until the sun gave us enough light to do a little self-touring. After we got a map, we made our way to the center of the city where we got to experience a sunrise at St Marks square without any tourists around; a very RARE occasion. Venice was really fun to tour because of the boat rides through the canals. While in Venice, we did all of the typical touristy things: toured the entire city, climbed the famous Campanile tower of the St Mark's Basilica, got a bottle of wine and pizza to watch a sunset over the ocean on the side of the canal, saved two girls from getting sold into sex trafficking (true story but too long to tell), then take 1 million pictures with the saved girls in St Marks square at about 3 in the morning. Yeah, it was a long day; we probably had the best sleep of the entire trip that night in the worst beds of the entire trip. I always slept on the top bunk in our hostels, and I'm pretty sure that this night the bottom of my mattress was only hovering about 5 inches over Chadly's face.

I loved Venice. The way of life there is just so different from the way we are used to living. A visit to the city-on-top-of-the-water should be on everyone’s bucket list.