Many people have been asking me about how I popped the question. The story goes back about 4 months when I decided I was going to do this. I knew that there was a family stone on hold for me in Switzerland, but I couldn't tell Elodie that, or come up with a good enough reason for both of us to go on short notice. So, I told her I had a conference in Rochester. No offense to Rochester natives, but I was quite certain Elodie would take little interest in this and wouldn't ask me any questions I wouldn't be able to answer down the line.

I then took a flight to Switzerland to collect the stone over a weekend. While I was there, I had already considered how I was going to propose, but I suddenly was further inspired while downing a steaming hot piece of bread covered in melted gruyere. I went and asked a handful of people if I could have their kids pose with signs that we had written up, detailing why I had lied to Elodie, and why I was in Switzerland.

When I returned to the US, I had the stone set and quickly sent the images to be printed on a poster. I convinced the owners of Tiny Jewel Box to put the image up in their window "as one of their ads" after they closed the night I had decided on proposing. All was set except for the fact that there would be scores of people on the sidewalk. So I asked 4 of my friends, Han, Zach, Dave, and Vic, to act as accomplices and block pedestrian traffic on both sides of the street to give me enough time to pop the question.

So I took my girlfriend out to dinner, and then went for a walk around Dupont. I then mentioned that we should go see my new "ad" at Tiny Jewel Box, which would be nothing out of the ordinary. As we made our way to the store, I could spot some of my friends waiting to take their position, but to their credit they were completely unrecognizable due to their fantastic disguises.

Once we crossed the street I stalled long enough for the sidewalk to clear and then walked up to the store window to show Elodie the ad. While she was examining it, I quickly got down on one knee and pulled out the ring. Elodie turned around, confused and ready to interrogate me on the poster, when I surprised her with the ring and popped the question.

From her expression I could tell my plan had worked perfectly and she was not at all expecting it. She promptly accepted and we returned home after a celebratory drink with my four accomplices.