{Jayson’s Proposal to Poonam}

I’d just landed at LAX after a 10+ hour flight from China as part of a 10 day immersion trip through my MBA program at USC. I was TIRED and no one – not my boyfriend Jayson, nor my family offered to pick me up from the airport.

That particularly stung as Jayson always picks me up when I travel. Throughout my 10 days in China, when I called him he weirdly avoided the subject. Eventually I gave up and told him I’d go home with a friend.

Still, I secretly believed he’d be there to pick me up when I arrived. Even after I called him when I landed and he confirmed he wasn’t coming, I still thought, “maybe just maybe he’ll be standing there when I exit out of customs” at Tom Bradley International Terminal.

He wasn’t there. Disappointed, I texted my best friend complaining that he hadn’t come and she texted back, “boys are so dumb”.

{From No Ride to…a Limo + Champagne}

Luckily my friend Rebecca offered to take me home. Her mom pulled up, we loaded our stuff in the car, only for Rebecca to say “I need to go to the bathroom”. So her mom and I circled around LAX. When we came back around to pick up Rebecca she looked at me and said, “Umm, we can’t take you home”. Disappointed, stranded, standing on the curb…and still super-tired, a limo pulled up behind Rebecca’s mom’s car. And the driver got out and started putting my bags in the limo. My other friends who were also waiting for their rides proceeded to share that the reason she couldn’t take me home was because the limo was my ride!

I sat inside the posh limo and found a letter from Jayson and champagne waiting for me. The letter said  “surprise and congrats” on the job offer I’d received before leaving for Shanghai and that he had planned for the limo to pick me up as a congratulations gift.

As I sipped on champagne and felt like my day was taking a turn for the better, I tried calling my best friend Puja, but she didn’t pick up. I tried my parents – same thing – no answer. Even the limo driver put the middle screen up between us and wouldn’t talk to me! I thought, “Great no one cares that I’m home”.

As we waded through typical LA traffic, I was surprised that we stopped at my best friends’ Nitin and Puja’s place in Long Beach. The driver handed me the keys to their apartment and inside was a closet full of brand new black dresses and Louboutins as well as my beauty regime stuff (which after 10 days without it was amazing to have!) And…another note to get ready for a night out. I picked a dress, freshened up and got back into the limo.

This time we went to Orange County. More specifically our high school, Villa Park High School. The limo pulled up right in front of the locker Jayson and I shared during high school. It was covered in rose petals with candles surrounding it and…Jayson looking incredibly dashing  in a suit. I walked up to him and he opened up our locker where my ring was waiting for me. Then he got down on one knee and proposed!

Then our parents, his sister, and our best friends Nitin and Puja (and our awesome friend Cesar from Ocular Photography (@ocularphotography), who took the amazing pictures), popped out!

After the hugs and kisses, Jayson told us he made dinner reservations at Maggiano’s at South Coast Plaza for our families. Our families were already there when we arrived. When we walked in they yelled, surprise!” but they were in for the real surprise. Jayson had told them we were celebrating my new job! So when we shared the happiest news it was a huge hug sesh all over again!

It was such a beautiful, thoughtful and personal day for us both!