Romantic little cottage

So last night, a friend of ours proposed to his girlfriend at our house. Random, huh? Well, his parents own our cute little cottage, and it made perfect sense: He wanted a place with a kitchen and a piano, but wasn't a public place like his apartment lobby or something. And I figure since his parents will be living on this property for the next indeterminate future (once they build their house, of course), he and his wife can stop by when they visit and say, "Awww, that's where we got engaged."
He called me about it a couple weeks ago, and I told him no problem. With two weeks' notice, we'd have the house clean and sparkling, and then he could take it from there.
He stopped by at like 5:50 last night to drop of the food he'd be preparing.... and the house was far from sparkling. Unless it was the sun glinting off all the dust and grocery bags covering the tabletops. Or the sparkle of the dishes piled in the sink or junk mail all over the coffee table. But since our house is tiny, Kevin and I rushed around and cleaned up the entire place! And by "entire place" I mean the kitchen, living room, and most of the bathroom. I think that's all the rooms in our house anyway. A bunch of junk got thrown in the kitchen cupboards, piano bench, bathtub (thanks Bethanie for that hint), and under-coffee-table boxes.
So by the time Stephen and his sisters and brother-in-law came by to set up and cook the food (at 7-ish), the place WAS sparkling. It even smelled pleasant. :) They got to work decorating with pictures and candles, cooking and preparing the food, and playing ambient mood music. I was really impressed that, of all the people he could have asked to help him out on his special night (roommates, old mission companions, random friends, a cappella group, etc), he chose his family. I've noticed that for many families who move a lot (and they grew up in the Foreign Service), one good side effect can be that their family depends on each other and has a lot of fun together-- more, perhaps, than they otherwise might.
But I digress. We helped prepare everything, and once the girlfriend/now fiancee (I still don't remember her name) showed up, Kevin and I took off for the evening.
Now, we'd attempted (once) to make plans, but they didn't happen. Sooo..... we were out for the evening. We went and had dessert (and food) at Red Robin and then hung out at Sarah and Dave's place. They're so nice.
Oh, and on the way to Red Robin, we also learned that if your vehicle registration is more than 3 months overdue, they can impound your car, but if the policeman is feeling generous and you're not drunk or anything, he'll just give you a ticket. Bless him for that!