The Engagement Plus .....

The big news in the Harrison family is that John and Troy are engaged! The engagement happened on Friday night and first thing on Saturday morning they were here to share their great news with us. We couldn't be happier for them and we're so excited for all their future holds.

They had a busy first full day of being engaged. After they came over here on Saturday to share the news, they spent the morning letting family and friends know before Troy had to go to work (on Saturdays she has a side gig pouring beer at the brand new Side Project Brewing). But no sooner had she told them that she and John had just gotten engaged than the good folks at Side Project told her to take the day off, and so she did. John came over to the brewery, as did their friends Judah and Arhanti (Brad and I were stuck at home with plumbers and painting) and they enjoyed the afternoon together. That evening, we met John and Troy for a celebratory dinner at Brasserie, a fantastic restaurant in the Central West End, where I learned it pays to dine with popular people. We were finishing up our dinner when Troy spotted the chef who (I learned at that moment) she knows. The next thing WE knew, our server brought over a tray of desserts and four glasses of champagne, compliments of that chef. As if THAT wasn't enough, once our server realized Troy knew the chef, she exclaimed, "Now I know why you look so familiar—you're on the cover of Sauce Magazine this month!" John is definitely marrying up: a woman who garners free food and drink AND is a local celebrity!

Did I mention we were stuck at home painting on Saturday? (By we I mostly mean Brad.) We finished painting the upstairs sun room (I can say "we" because I did a bit of it too) and once I cleaned up the painting tarps, Allie started to discover that she likes the new and improved sun room. Brad hung the blinds and moved some furniture in there and the room is shaping up quite nicely—just in time for us to leave it, unfortunately. By six o'clock or so the plumbers finally finished for the day and they hooked up our shower again so we could wash the paint off and meet John and Troy for dinner.

Meanwhile in Morocco, Peter and a teacher friend ran the Marrakech Half Marathon in what looks to be splendid weather. Jessa, aka the team photographer, was there for moral support and it sounds like they've had a great weekend. As for Mary, I don't have any photos to share, but I wish I had recorded her screaming on FaceTime when John and Troy told her their news on Saturday morning from our house.