Congrats to Joe and Kristen!

Seriously, is there something in the water? Everyone is getting engaged! First Tara & Craig, then Kevin & Emily, Steve & Christina, and Natalie & Tyson. And two weekends ago we found out that two of our favorite people--Joe & Kristen--got engaged on a recent vacation to Maui! I think the lesson to be learned here is that if you're ready to get married, you need to become friends with me because evidently everyone I know and love is sporting sparkly new baubles these days.

So Joe is another of Jack's fraternity brothers (and he was also the emcee at our wedding!), and ever since he first introduced all of us to Kristen several years ago when she was a college student working at the same restaurant as Joe's little brother, I think our friends unanimously agreed that they were perfect for each other. I don't think I have ever known a couple who is still so crazy for one another after this much time has passed, and there isn't a doubt in my mind that they'll still be this crazy about each other when they celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary.

These two managed to keep their big news secret for several weeks while they waited to tell all their closest family and friends in person. The first time we saw them post-Hawaiian vacation was in Breckenridge two weekends ago. Because it's just what I do when I suspect one of my girlfriends is getting engaged soon, the minute we met up with them in their hotel room I did a quick inventory of the jewelry on Kristen's fingers and, not noticing anything glittery, determined they were not yet engaged.

However, in true Joe and Kristen style, they had pulled out all the stops to make sure they announced the news in a big way. Kristen had the ring hidden in her purse, where it stayed until the very end of the night. She had blocked all of her Facebook friends who didn't yet know so we wouldn't accidentally find out when someone else congratulated her. Joe had made a concerted effort pre-trip to assure everyone that he most certainly would not be popping the question in Maui, and had gone so far as to actually start a rumor that he was thinking about proposing in Colorado. Once they got back he even denied it when a couple people point-blank asked (I'm not sure if Ryan has forgiven him for that yet or not) because they were waiting to tell everyone at the right time and in person.

As we were in Colorado for Dan and Abby's wedding (to be blogged about soon, promise!) and Joe and Kristen didn't want to take away from that, they waited until they had Ryan, Heather, Jack and me alone at the end of the night to just casually whip out Kristen's rock. We ended up spending the next couple hours hearing all about the insanely romantic proposal (on Ka'anapali Point, on the beach, on one knee, under the stars...Joe had hidden the ring in his inhaler so Kristen wouldn't find it). So sweet!

Kristen just graduated from Mizzou last month and is moving to Chicago in a couple weeks, so they're waiting until late May 2010 to tie the knot...in some sort of island paradise, of course!

Congratulations, you crazy kids! :)

This is a shameless plug for the fantastic work of Chicago's finest, Fey & Company Jewelers. Because the founder's great-grandson is one of Jack's fraternity brothers, many of the guys (including Jack) have made a trip to Chicago to see Ed when it was time to pop the question. My engagement ring and wedding band (bottom left), Heather's center stone (middle right), Kristen's engagement ring (top left), and Natalie's engagement ring (not pictured) are all the work of Fey & Co.