At about 10:30pm California time on Saturday, October 2, 2010, Monica called Ian from Honolulu, HI where she was attending a work conference and asked, "are you having fun while I'm out of town?" He said, "it's been a long week and I'm pretty tired so I think I'll head to bed soon." She responded, "That's weird. I would've expected you would be up until 2am playing video games!" Little did she know that he was a man on a mission...

At 4am, Ian left Santa Barbara on a two hour drive to the Los Angeles airport to catch an early flight to Honolulu. He had only told his Mom two days earlier about his plans, but was fortunate enough that she wasn't working and could pick him up from the airport.

Ian had a few hours to get everything prepared. He picked up a box of Monica's favorite chocolate candy, Maui Caramacs, and checked into the Princess Kaiulani Hotel in Waikiki as soon as the room was available. The hotel held special significance for Monica, as she stayed there with her family three and a half years earlier, on her first trip to Hawaii. A few months before they started dating, Ian had helped her plan that trip, and Monica had fond memories of the vacation.

In between conference sessions, Monica sent Ian a text message, telling him how things were going and asked what his plans for the day were. He responded, "Nothing much really. Just hanging out and watching football. It's Sunday so I don't have much to do other than wash the last of the dishes :)" She figured he was still in Santa Barbara and had no idea what he was really up to. "Cool. I can't wait to be done today! Should I still call you when I'm done?" "Sure :)" he said. Everything was going according to plan.

Monica's last session of the conference was due to be finished at 3:15 at the convention center. Ian made it there a little after 3pm and waited patiently outside the conference room. After the session was over and the doors opened, she called him and told him that it went well and that she was happy to be finally finished. She said she felt like getting one of her favorite smoothies and he agreed that she should get one RIGHT AWAY. Unsuspecting, she walked out the door and saw Ian sitting there with a sly grin on his face. "Oh my god, what are you doing here?" she kept asking as a huge smile started forming. They shared a big embrace and he responded, "I haven't seen you in over a week so I thought I'm come and surprise you!" She was indeed surprised, but the bigger surprise was yet to come.

Together, they went to Shirokiya at the nearby Ala Moana Shopping Center to get their favorite fruit smoothies. She asked him how long he was going to be in Hawaii and he said that it was only until the following evening. "Are you going to stay with your Mom too?" she asked. "No, I got us a hotel room for the night." He wouldn't tell her which hotel, but that she would find out soon. The thought about his true intentions may have crossed her mind, but if so, she didn't let on. They drove through Waikiki and parked in the hotel parking lot, but she didn't realize that she was in the same hotel as her first trip to Hawaii until they walked through the lobby.

Once they got up to their room, Ian told her that he had another surprise for her. He gave her the box of chocolates and confessed that he had already eaten one. "You should have one too," he told her. She opened the box and gasped with joy as tears started welling up in her eyes. In the center of the box where the missing chocolate had been was a diamond ring. Ian said, "Monica, will you marry me?" "Yes!" she replied with more tears of joy.

The happy couple were engaged in the afternoon on Sunday, October 3rd, 2010.