Big News from Bali

Tom and I are in Ubud, Bali staying in a beautiful villa surrounded by rice paddies, rivers and jungle. Our backyard looks out over a waterfall. It’s pretty amazing. Tom was very insistent that we stay somewhere nicer than anywhere else we have stayed for our anniversary.

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Our first morning here we had an incredible breakfast delivered to the table in the back of the villa that is set over the river and faces aforementioned waterfall. It was the most relaxing way ever to start our anniversary!

We sat back enjoying our coffee with the ruins of our poached eggs, cheeses, smoked meats and salmon, fruit and croissants littered around us and started talking about our plans for the day.

All of a sudden Tom was standing and moving his chair away while looking at my face. It seemed all together too purposeful; I could practically smell the adrenaline coming off him in waves. “Huh?” It was a bit incongruous to our relaxed post breakfast state.

He got down on one knee. I’m a little embarrassed to admit that I still had no idea what was happening. He took my hand with one of his hands and reached into his pocket with the other. I think girls in movies usually look prettily surprised when they are proposed to. I was tousled from sleep and wearing a robe with probably the most ape-like expression of incredulity I have ever had on my face. I gotta say – I don’t think it was pretty. Ignoring my wrinkled up forehead, furrowed brows and slack-jawed mouth Tom said some very lovely things that ended with “will you marry me?” and pulled a ring out of his pocket.

This is the part where the girls always nod wordlessly with beautiful glistening eyes as their beau slips a ring on their ready finger.

I just stared. I think I may have said “what?! really? like, but really?…..really?”

He started kissing me (probably just trying to get me to close my mouth which was still acting as a fly catcher) and started to put the ring on my finger.

It took me a few more “reallys?” but I eventually got to the “Yes.”

He told me later that by the time I’d said “yes” he thought – “Oh, is she still on that part?, I thought we’d moved past that.”

As I’m sure you can imagine Tom and I spend a lot of time together. Like a whole lot. There have been maybe a total of 20 waking hours spent apart over this past year. So that leaves a big question.

Where did he get a ring?!

Well this is Tom we are talking about- right? So of course when we were in Bulgaria in the snow and I was inside by the fire thinking that Tom was outside chopping wood, he was actually making a ring from a Bulgarian coin or “stotinki” as they call it there. He then spent the 6 minutes he got away from me in Istanbul to “go to the ATM” sprinting to a hardware store to get sand paper to polish it, and then spent the 90 minutes he had in Thailand between dropping me off and picking me up at a yoga class to get a tuk tuk driver to take him to hardware stores looking for a finer sandpaper to polish it some more. All of that interspersed with furtive middle of the night polishing activities while I slept.

I’m a lucky lady.

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We celebrated that evening by going to dinner at Mozaic, one of New York Time’s “Best Restaurants in the World” and toasted our engagement, our future and lots of other things because each of the six courses was paired with a glass of wine. By the end of the night I think we were toasting the napkins, or the geckos or something.
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Now I am a bit hesitant to write this but it is so ridiculous I just have to share it. We stumbled from the golf cart that Samaya (where are staying) uses to transport the guests to their private villas into said villa, and immediately stripped down to jump into our pool. It was close to midnight (it had been a long dinner) and we were both on the other side of tipsy. I back floated on the water to be able to look up at the stars while holding Tom’s hand and a shooting star zipped by over head. I am not making this stuff up. For realz. I know it’s the cheesiest thing ever, but I can’t help that it happened. I’m just reporting the facts even if they negatively affect my street cred.

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Jenny

I think of California as officially "home" but can usually be found a lot closer to the equatorial belt. After finishing a Masters program in 2011 I found myself trying to decide between a couple of different high-powered career options. I decided I wasn't quite ready to "grow up" and went with an entirely different plan which involved selling off everything I owned with my partner Tom and buying a one-way ticket to Colombia. Our plan was to travel "Till The Money Ran Out" and then go home to start our grown-up lives. Instead, we started our own app development company on the road and have been criss-crossing the globe, traveling, working, eating spicy food and refusing to "grow up" ever since. You can find me on Twitter, , Facebook or send me a message using our About Us page.

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18 Responses

  1. Joseluis Espinosa says:

    Let me be the first on your blog to congratulate you two!!! What wonderful news. In spirit and spunk you two were already paired about 20,000 miles ago. How pleasing to see you make it official ๐Ÿ˜€ Super-romantic story. Enjoy the heady rush of engagement, and I look forward to hearing whatever zany wedding plans emerge.

    Affectionately,
    JL

  2. Jennifer Carrillo says:

    Congrats!! I’m so happy for you two. So since you guys are traveling the world (I’m living it vicariously through you Jenny) where will you go for a honeymoon?

  3. Rebeca says:

    Can I say one more time how thrilled this makes the sister-in-law-to-be???!!! Tom, ya did good:)

  4. Alesha Hixon says:

    Holy Crap!! Congratulations. Every post I read, I silently imagine that It’s me having an amazing life adventure with someone who doesn’t mind seeing my face everyday… You’re pretty lucky. I love your story it’s totally you with a touch of unicorns and pixie dust.

  5. Nancy says:

    Wow! That’s amazing and so sweet! Congratulations to you two lovebirds! xoxo

  6. M Tovah says:

    Yay!!!!!!! That’s how it’s done! Congrats you guys! Lots of love Jenny!
    xoxo Mageina

  7. Roy Mayer says:

    Congratulations!!!!

  8. Wolf says:

    Congratulations.
    Well done , both of you.

    Wolf

  9. Rosie says:

    Congratulations! I’m back in London now but enjoy reading how you are getting on on your endless travels ๐Ÿ™‚

  10. Aunt Ann says:

    Aaaawwwww, what a sweet Valentine’s Dayish episode in the Jenny & Tom adventures. So happy for you guys!

  11. Jill Lugay says:

    Oh my goodness!!! I am sooooo happy for you guys! Congratulations!!! How perfect!

    Also be impressed that Tom managed to size your finger and make that ring fit!

  12. Shawna says:

    I cannot believe no one has commented on how wonderful you two look! So happy and glowing. Quite a handsome couple… LOVE the bangs Jenny! What a wonderful match you two make. Love you both! xo Congrats!

  13. Leslie Jordan says:

    Mazel Tov to Jenny and Tom!! Your mother is ecstatic. May the wonder and magic continue in your lives and may you continue to share it with us. Where on earth will you go for the honeymoon? I love Bali and we stayed in Ubud back in the 80’s and went to a tooth filing ceremony and a cremation ceremony.
    Much love,
    Leslie

  14. Philip says:

    A proposal in Bali–I love it! Congrats you two, I am so happy for you. Hope our paths cross again somewhere else on this beautiful planet. I’m off to NZ in two weeks.

  15. Nick says:

    The homemade ring is totally Tom… Congratulations to both of you!

  16. Beth says:

    A little bit late… Congratulations! This is beautiful!

  17. Sara shurr says:

    Congrats on the engagement. You two are so blessed!!!

  1. February 12, 2016

    […] amazingly, been 6 years since our first date, 5 years since we started traveling full-time, and 4 years since Tom proposed the last time we were in Bali. I never expected to still be traveling five years later and it has put me into a quite a […]

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