Marrying a boy from Iowa...: Engaged 1 Year Already!

Yep, a year ago Ryan surprised me with a trip to Cape May, a sunset, and an emerald...and we've been wedding planning ever since! Well, that's what it feels like! Way back when Ryan was scurrying around behind my back trying to set up the giant surprise,I had been under the impression that we were going to Providence for the weekend to do the H.P. Lovecraft historical walking tour that happens annually the weekend of the anniversary of his death. I know, silly me. It was amusing to everyone who heard that who actually knew what was in store for me that weekend. So, to celebrate the anniversary of Ryan surprising the hell out of me, we actually did go to Providence to do the walking tour this weekend. It worked out fabulously that we got to continue on to Boston and visit friends...but more on that later.
We actually got engaged on the ides of march — which gives my mother many opportunities to quote Shakespeare at us and wiggle her eyebrows ominously. Really, having a divorce judge for a mother is such an added, um, source of amusement when one is trying to get married. Anyway, for those of you who have heard the saying and don't know the background, it is actually kind of a funny ominous day to get engaged...and definitely also a fitting day for a walking tour featuring New England graveyards and creepy old houses!

The Ides of March (Latin: Idus Martias) is the name of the date 15 March in the Roman calendar. The term ides was used for the 15th day of the months of March, May, July, and October. The Ides of March was a festive Day dedicated to the god Mars and a military parade was usually held. In modern times, the term Ides of March is best known as the date that Julius Ceasar was assasinated. in 44 BC, the story of which was famously dramatized in Shakespeare. A certain soothsayer warned Caesar to be on his guard against a great peril on the day of the month of March which the Romans call the Ides, and when the day had come and Caesar was on his way to the senate-house, he greeted the seer with a jest and said: "The Ides of March has come", to which the seer replied: "Aye Caesar, but not gone". As the Senate convened, Caesar was attacked and stabbed to death by a group of senators; they justified their tyrannicide on the grounds that they were preserving the Republic from Caesar's alleged monarchical ambitions.

So for those of you who aren't keeping up with the immense amount of geeky stuff in this post, H.P. Lovecraft is kind of he missing literary link between Edgar Allen Poe & Stephen King. Very creepy, kind of horror stories mixed with the very beginnings of science fiction. If that sounds interesting to you at all, you should check out an anthology of his short stories. (That's my favorite collection)...and for the geeks who ALREADY know what i'm talking about....