Big news in our family: my brother got engaged this weekend. My little baby brother is going to get married. He and his girlfriend fiancée (oh my god, fiancée) have been together for nearly three years and have lived together for the past year or so. We all love her. He proposed to her after dinner at Tavern on the Green, and afterwards, they came to the lounge at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel at the Time Warner Center, where Matt and I, my parents, and his girlfriend’s fiancée’s parents were waiting. (Actually, Matt and I showed up a few minutes late, but close enough.) My brother was really old-fashioned about it – he officially asked her parents’ permission and everything, and they drove down from Canada to be in New York for the weekend. (The family is from Montreal.) She had no idea any of us (especially her parents) were going to be there. We had a window table and looked down on Columbus Circle – it was beautiful.

So my brother’s getting married in about a year. Another life milestone. Congratulations to him and his new fiancée, and welcome to the family!