Well, was just replying to a post and just realized that I'm pretty sure I forgot to mention something significant. (at least, I can't find anything I've posted)

Luisa and I are engaged :p
...and yes, she's still a little bit faster than me in distance running, but I finally caught back up with her on the bike.

It was in feb when we were vacationing in Kona, Hawaii with my family. I'd been busy trying to design a sort of ring pendant, as she can't generally wear rings with her work (post doc lab rat in neuroscience). When we drove into town I noticed a shop that does titanium rings...so I finally managed to get away from everyone about halfway through the trip and took a look. Figured it's something that she might be able to wear as they're a bit thinner, and instead of any sort of gems I'd go with a koa wood inlay around the band.

I was able to get down there again the next day with dad under pretex of "getting something for mom" (well, she *did* get a new set of in-laws!) to get dad's perspective...but turns out that I didn't know her ring size, because Luisa never wears rings. I knew it was somewhere around a 6 from overhearing some random conversation, but not exactly where. So began the calling friends. No dice. Thought about calling her family...didn't want to ruin the surprise. The shop-keeper had a six already made up in the style I wanted, so we made a deal. He'd give me a discount if the premade one works, as they're always harder to sell. If that didn't work we could come back and size her for a new one, but would have to make it by mid afternoon in order to get it done before our plane took off. Ring purchased.

I didn't want to just propose in the middle of the condo so I decided that the next morning after our morning swim would be good. I could leave it with the guard at the pier (which I was just guessing would be there) and life would be good.

So we get down to the Kona Pier the next morning...guard can't keep it. There are shelves where people stash their stuff. I wasn't about to just let it lie around, so figure I'll just swim with it. It's in a couple ziplock bags, in my zippered pocket in my board shorts that is impossible to open (so I'm not really worried about it falling out). I did check a couple times during the first few minutes to reassure myself that the zipper hadn't decided to simply break, but after that it was smooth sailing.

Afterwards, on the way back, I simply pulled us off to the side to take a look at the ocean from closer on the beach. She said yes almost before I finished asking :D.

She also loves the ring, as it's something she can actually wear. We're going to use it as well for her wedding ring and simply get me a similar one as I just have a simple titanium band at the moment.

So, for those who don't know her:
The two of us: [URL=http://images14.fotki.com/v336/photos/1/132522/3312078/IMGP0880-vi.jpg]c...
The Ring: [URL=http://images23.fotki.com/v822/photos/1/132522/4868256/DSC00621-vi.jpg]c...

Full pictures from the trip can be found at [URL=http://public.fotki.com/RiverBrady/outdoors__trips/]here[/URL], though I'm still in the middle of getting pictures from family and organizing stuff.