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…to save my soul. I want to get lost in that rock and roll and drift away… 
In the ADD-ness that is our wedding planning, we’re now looking at bands to play for our entertainment. No, we still have not selected a photographer or videographer. Yes, we are still down to the same 3 photogs and 2 videos. Yes, we talked ourselves in circles about which combonation to pick. Yes, we have two meetings tomorrow and one next Monday. Yes, I had to move on before I went crazy from my indecisiveness.
So, back to the band. During our pseudo wedding planning back before we were engaged, we said how we both wanted a band, but I knew that it likely would not fall in our budget. If we got a good DJ, it wouldn’t make a difference either. Once we started actually planning, the indecisiveness came up again (do you notice a them here?). We couldn’t afford what we wanted. Isn’t that the story of everyone’s life? There is a pretty well known regional beach music band that is a sort of family friend to L’s family and we thought they might cut us a deal. However, their initial price was higher than we thought. We tabled the idea for awhile while we chose our venue and worked on some other things.
At a bridal show, we found a DJ that was only $550 for a Sunday wedding with no time limit. That was certainly hard to pass up. Especially when another band we found that we liked was charging $2800. That’s when I decided for myself that we would have to settle for the DJ. But L was going to do what he could to make this band thing work. He likes the atmosphere of a band better. Thinks it adds more to the party. And will definitely help fill up the room a little.
Plus, there’s this:
The place has got a great stage! It just screams “you have to have a band at your wedding to go on this stage!” There is no curtain to go across the stage to block it completely or make it feel smaller if we were to have a DJ. I know we could work with the lights to darken the back of the stage and draw attention to the front and mask the empty space if we had a DJ, but doesn’t it just make you want to put a band up there?
We found another band that we loved, but they were a steep $2800. We were dumbfounded as to how we were going to make this work. And then Christmas came. We were fortunate enough to each get a decent amount of cash. So we decided to put that in the band fund. It was money we didn’t expect to have and was not part of the original budget, so it’s like a treat to ourselves. Then, we realized we had a large sum of money sitting in an ING account.
As much as L’s parents make jabs about us having two dogs, they are EXTREMELY generous. After Shep’s initial biopsy, his grandmother gave him enough cash to cover that and told us to take the money we had intended to use and save it for any future surgeries he may need. Then, when it came time for his big surgery, his mom stopped by the vet and paid the bill in full. I was shocked and could not be more thankful. So between that leftover amount and our Christmas money, we have almost enough. If you add in the $550 from our budget that we would have used for the DJ, we’re there even closer. The other night, I spent three hours counting change that we had been collecting, and with that final number, we were there.
We’re having a band!
But just to be sure, I started looking at other bands in case our first choice wasn’t available. And oh dear Lord, I found so many I like. And some of them are cheaper and some of them are just a smidge more. What do we do?!?!
We want a good variety of music. Definitely need beach music/shag, but we want country too, and top 40 and great dance songs and classic singalongs. Because what is a party without Journey?
In our searches, we found the band that played at a friend’s wedding last year. After inquiring, we found out their price was $3500. WAY out of our price range. For the heck of it, L sent them an email explaining that we loved them, but they were out of our price range and asked if they would come down (to our tip top amount). And they agreed! But we’re still not sure. Because there are several other bands we love now too that we’re waiting to hear back from.
This is tough! I’ve been using a website called Gigmasters.com which is amazing. You can request a quote from several bands at one time and so far, they are responding very quickly.
So, now we have one more thing that we just can’t seem to make a decision on. Pretty soon we’re going to start picking from hats. But in the meantime, at least we know that we’ll have a band and have someone that we love! It’s a little wedding present to each other and a nice little surprise since we weren’t sure we’d be able to make this work.
October has been one crazy month! I know we’re getting into that part of the year that is always busy, but since when is October so busy? Every weekend this month we have had something going on. This weekend started off with an open house for the VFD’s new building on Saturday morning. It was nice, but could have been more successful if people weren’t so greedy for credit and asked for help with the event. I made lots of FD-related sugar cookies which were a hit, too!
We followed that up with a get together at a friend’s house that night. The boys spent the evening in the living room talking shop and watching football, while the ladies hung out in the kitchen, drinking, talking and laughing. It all ended around 11 when all of a sudden there was a parade of crying children coming down from their upstairs play cooridors. It had been a long day for them and they all needed to go to bed.
Sunday we slept in a little, then packed up, took the puppies to the park, grabbed lunch and headed up to L’s parent’s house. Monday was his birthday and every year he goes to the State Fair. We got there, went to a hibachi place for dinner and just hung around the house. Monday we took Shep to a new opthamologist (a story for another time – we have to take his eye out, but we like this doctor MUCH better than the one we’ve been going to) then headed out to the fair for the rest of the afternoon and into the evening.
We checked out the animals, checked out the exhibits, ate some yummy (but artery clogging) food and rode some rides before heading home.
A couple pictures from the fair:
My boyfriend and I at the fair
My FIANCE and I at the top of the ferris wheel!
Oh, wait. Did I leave that part out???????? It was the best moment of my life. After months and months of waiting (and a little brattiness in there on my part), L proposed to me at the top of the ferris wheel just before sunset. The ferris wheel is my favorite ride, I don’t know why, it just is. We had waited in line for awhile, even though the line was not long at all, because they were having to balance the ride or soemthing. It was very strange how they were doing it and people were starting to get irritated. Some people got to go on just two people (it was gondala style cars), but others were being put with different people. When we finally got to load, L asked the guy if we were able to go by ourselves. I just figured he was annoyed we had to wait so long for no good reason. We got on and slowly started to go up as others got on behind us. I was leaning back into his side, looking out at the huge fairgrounds as we got higher and higher. He kept telling me how much he loved me and lots of other mushy things that he tells me all the time (and I love). For a second I thought to myself, this would be such a perfect time for him to propose, too bad it won’t happen. There have been so many times he’s started telling me those things that I thought would be the moment and it wasn’t, that I just figured this was the same. I don’t even remember exactly what he said, but it was something along the lines of, in a really cute voice, ‘are you sure you want to be with me forever? I would reply back, yes of course. him: are you really sure? me: yes, I’m really sure. him: are you really, really sure? Me: (turning back to look at him bc most of this time I went back and forth between looking at him and looking over the fair) I’m really, really sure.
Him: Well, we’re at the very tip top. Me: Yup. (as I turned to look back over the fair as his movement caught my attention).
He was moving on the bench, reaching into his pocket, got down on one knee and asked me to spend the rest of my life with him. I started crying and leaned over to hug him and tell him yes. He claims I didn’t, but I know I did. Somewhere amongst all the crying and hugging he said he actually said ‘will you marry me?’, but I couldn’t hear it (bc of the crying). He took the ring from the box and slipped it on my finger.
I can’t tell you just how absolutely perfect that moment was. I just can’t.
We finished the ride and were heading out of the fair (after we stopped to get ice cream at NC State’s Ice Cream booth – bc it is the best ice cream ever). He told me that he was so nervous I was going to see the box in his pocket bc it had been there since we left for the vet at 9am. My mom was extatic, but already knew since he had called my dad that morning to ask permission. We stopped for dinner and when we got back to his parents house (who found out that morning when he asked his mom if she had a smaller ring box he could use), his mom was on the deck with the puppies who had heart-shaped balloons attached to their collars and Shep had on a bowtie and Dixie had on a veil.
Oh gosh. I am just so excited! It was all so perfect. The proposal. The ring. Oh god, it sparkles so much I’m blinded by it!
I can’t wait for the rest of our lifetime!
Because if there is a girl out there like me reading this, I know she wants to see this…
L’s mom and I didn’t exactly start things off on the right foot. She didn’t like the fact that I was Catholic, a Yankee and an only child, but over time things have gone from terrible to pretty good. She even says nice things to me about 98 percent of the time.
Anyway. L went home Thursday night and came back late Friday night. His mom sent some leftovers from dinner back with him for me. On the bag she wrote “Missed you!” It’s just the little things that mean the most to me.
It made me smile.
At first I thought it was a dream. “This can’t be happening, I thought to myself. “They seriously did not just say that.”
I turned on the news when I woke up, as I always do. And the first thing I heard the anchor say: “And now we bring you breaking news from [moderately large city in area]. The police & fire departments along with the bomb squad are on scene investigating a suspicious device found along the railroad tracks.”
You’ve got to be f-ing kidding me. Name of moderatley large city in area=my client. You know, the one that I am covering on my own for the first time ever bc the main account manager is on maternity leave. And when did she go on maternity leave? Yesterday.
Day 1 and I get a freakin bomb scare.
The news anchor went on to explain what the device looked like and mention which of the many streets that were closed as a precaution. I immediately checked my blackberry and cell phone to make sure I didn’t sleep through any calls or anything.
I didn’t. Thank goodness that although we provide the city with PIO (public information officer) services, that the police department is really good about handling it on their own.
I was kept abreast of the information throughout the morning until they finally determined that it was fake. But still. Day 1 and that’s what I hear when I wake up. Oy. Freakin. Vey.
*****
In other work related news, I just got a call from a man from Kenya who works for a coffee company and are trying to get into the US market. He got my name from a press release he saw that was put out for one of my former clients. He tells me they have very good coffee. And macadamia nuts. He will save my contact information and bring me back some macadamia nut cookies (bc I told him that’s the only time I’ve ever had macadamia nuts) from his next trip to Kenya.
Ooookkk.
*****
We had out monthly Support Team meeting at the fire department last night. I’m kind of pissed, in a very 5 year old way, because the woman who is the chairperson totally stole my idea and passed it off as her own.
I like this lady, I really do. In fact, her and her husband came to the steeplechase with us. She is very nice, but personally I think she has her hand in too many pots at that fire station and likes to take over. Last night she starts the meeting by saying she had an idea and wanted to know what everyone thought. We try to have a family dinner once a quarter. It’s usually potluck, but it always ends up being the same people bringing food and the same people coming that don’t bring food. Also, we tend to sometimes run out.
Her (my) suggestion was to host a dinner where we bring and prepare everything and charge members to eat. Moderately priced, $3-4/person. YOu know a big spaghetti dinner or something of that nature.
I know this seems petty and trivial to be annoyed by this, but really… I’m trying to get more involved and these people always preach about getting people involved, etc. Yet once again, this was V’s idea (even though it was really mine). Need I remind her that we spoke about this more than once. Oh, and it’s in the 7 page rebranding document that I created for the Support Team.
Speaking of that… at the the first meeting we had where they tried to get this group going again, she asked everyone to email her ideas of what they wanted this group to do and she would put them together and we’d talk about it as a group at the next meeting. That’s where my 7 page document came in. And since then. Nothing has been said. I’m getting ready to write her an email saying we need to revisit some of this stuff.
*****
Tomorrow afternoon L and I are heading to his parent’s house and going to his sister’s graduation Sunday morning. Apparently about 35 people are going (whoa!).
Initially I was going to wear the same dress I wore to the steeplechase, but then I wanted something new even though I didn’t really have the money to spend. But I didn’t really see anythign I liked that I could afford. Then I saw Ashley D’s post about dresses she was looking at for her graduation. And umm, yeah. The first one she bought was EXACTLY what I was looking for! And it wasn’t too expensive either. I was unsure what size to order, especially given the brand, but when I got it in the mail, it fit perfectly.
Actually, I loved it so much, I didn’t want to take it off. Between the pretty color, nice cut, perfect fit and the awesome new heels I had on, I almost wore it to the store (seriously, I love my new shoes. I don’t wear heels as much as I used to and I just feel so much prettier when I do. Especially bc they are so cute and sexy – and I don’t use the term sexy very often).
I’ve mentioned before that I kind of obsessively plan what I’m going to wear for events and it gets kind of stressful when it involves being around his family because I feel like they judge me and I’m afraid that what I have won’t be right for the occasion (you have no idea what I was like when I was trying to pack for our trip to Vegas with them last year).
But. This time I was very happy with my choice. And confident.
Then L calls me the other day and says he talked to his mom about this weekend. After the graduation, everyone is coming back to their house for a cookout. Ok, cool. She does not want him to wear flip flops at the house. She says they are too beachy and casual. Umm, ok. But it’s a cookout at their house. And besides, he has Rainbows - they’re not the most casual flip flop out there. In fact, I think they’re pretty nice. Also, I’m pretty sure that his Rainbows cost more than the heels I’m planning to wear. But whatever. No biggie, this doesn’t affect me.
Yesterday he talked to his sister briefly (a rare occurance). She told him (I’m not sure if he asked or if she volunteered this information) that she is wearing purple – I’m assuming a dress – to the graduation and then pink something to the cookout.
Panicking, I asked, “pink what? pink WHAT?!?!?!!“ He didn’t know. He didn’t have good service and couldn’t hear what she said.
Do I need another outfit, I asked. Now I’m beginning to stress. What else would I wear besides this dress if his mom doesn’t even want him to wear flip flops????? He had no idea. I asked him a while back and then earlier in the week to find out about the events and get an idea of what I needed to wear. And now I’m stuck. I don’t have anything else. The only thing I can think of is taht I have a navy blue casual sundress from old navy. It’s cute, but i would def wear with flip flops or cute sandals. Cute sandals that I think would fall into the flip flop category for his mom.
He called his mom last night to ask, but she didn’t answer her phone. He said he would call her first thing this am, but I haven’t heard anything yet.
Now, I’m stessing. But, I mean, maybe I’ll just wear the pink dress all day anyway. And bring the blue one. Oy vey. I hate this.
I could not be more excited for the weekend. Why? Well, there’s the whole not having to go to work thing, which, as we all know, is number one on my list. Oh, the Steeplechase! Yes, that’s right. It’s finally here and I can not wait! Tomorrow’s forecast – 85 and sunny. L is afraid it’s going to be too hot. Me on the other hand? Oh, I’m thinking of how I’ll get some color on my shoulders!
A little disappointed that my work friend had to back out at the last minute. Her husband’s uncle had a stroke the other night and is not doing well. She had tears in her eyes when she told. Tears that she couldn’t go. Not for the uncle (although, she does feel bad about that too ).
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The last couple of nights we (I) have been pulling any remaining painting tape off of the walls and touching up some spots on the ceilings. The only tape that was really left was at the peak of the ceiling which required moving the entertainment center and getting out the ladder. It looks so great. My lines are perfectly straight if I do say so myself. We just have one wall that needs to be painted. We held off because L wanted to cut an opening in to create a more “flowy” feeling between the kitchen. But now he’s undecided. So it’s getting painted anyway. Soon. Maybe Sunday. Depending on how hungover I am.
And as selfish as it may sound, I’m glad to know that he recognizes that I did 90% of the work on this project.
Next up we’re painting the bedroom. He doesn’t know it yet, but I’m hoping we can maybe do it next weekend. Just knock it out and get it done. We had talked about maybe going to the beach, but haven’t said anything since. Plus those fires are pretty damn close to where we go.
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This little nugget of information we received last night kind of annoyed me. As I mentioned, L’s sister is graduating from college the second weekend in May and we are going to her graduation (as it turns out, I apparently haven’t officially been invited, but everything his mom has said leads him to believe that I am invited. I told him I would like for him to confirm. Because I have issues).
Her college is not far from his parent’s house. We were going to go up Saturday evening or Sunday morning, go to the graduation and spend time with the family (I’m thinking lunch or dinner will be involved).
Last night his mom calls and tells us not to bring the puppies when we come.
Umm, why?!
She thinks that it will just be “too crazy” if they are there. Between their dog (cocker spaniel), his sister’s dog (pomaranian) and his aunt’s dog (some teeny, tiny rescue dog), it’s just not a good idea. Plus we won’t be around the house that much.
I still don’t understand. Whenever we bring them, both of their crates go in L’s bedroom and if we are not home, the bedroom door is closed. They barely bark and are pretty much not a problem.
L tells her that we’ll have to try and make some other arrangements if we can’t bring them. She says we should board them with our trainer. Well, he doesn’t board dogs anymore. And if we take them to the new place we’re boarding them, we’ll have to drop them off on Saturday (even if we don’t go till Sunday bc they have certain pick up/drop off times) and likely won’t be able to pick them up until Monday morning since we’ll probably get back late.
That will cost anywhere between $60 and $120 depending on what time we drop them off. We don’t have that kind of extra money to just throw around.
I feel bad asking our one friend who watches them sometimes because he has helped us out sooo much recently. Plus, this is Mother’s Day weekend. Also, his wife is pregnant and due like the next day.
I just don’t understand why it’s our dogs that have to get shafted. And what she has against them anyway. She is so wishy-washy. About everything. She talks about how we should never have gotten the dogs to start with, how dogs (in general) are a pain in the butt, cost a lot of money and ruin things (she does not know about the mattress and never will as far as I’m concerned). But at the same time when they are there and Shep is walking around whining for absolutely no reason and we make fun of him, she’s like “oh, he’s just trying to talk, how sweet.” And she takes them for walks if we’re out even when we tell her they’ll be fine.
I just don’t get it.
Meanwhile, my parents had no problem when I told them we’ll be coming to CT in August for my friend’s wedding and will be dropping the puppies off with them for like 3 days while we’re at the wedding which is a couple hours away.
Plus, how could you not love these two?
********
But, I’m not going to think about that right now. I am way too excited for a wonderful weekend. Now if only I can convince L to call in sick on Sunday! 
Since graduating from college, it seems as though summer is such a busy time. Gone are the relaxing days and nights. Now you have to jam pack everything into the weekends and soak up all the sunshine and beautiful weather in those two short days each week because dear Lord, you do not have unlimited vacation time available to you.
The busy season is upon us, dear friends. As I looked at my planner this morning, I realize that I only have seven weekends between now and August available, and three of those are being held for tentative beach trips that may or may not happen. Seven sounds like a lot, but really, it’s not.
The Steeplechase is this weekend and they are still predicting 80 degrees and sunny (woohoo!). The following weekend is free and then after that is L’s sister’s college graduation.
Let’s talk about that, shall we?
L and his sister are not very close. At all. But when he told me when her graduation was, I obviously assumed that he would be going. I, however, did not assume that I would be going. Don’t get me wrong, I actually want to go (I’m weird, I know). I feel like that’s a big occasion. Even if it’s not for him, it is for his family. And it would be the first big occasion I had with them (besides the trip to Vegas last year).
I am not the type of person to invite myself to anything. But I will not-so-subtly drop hints. Although, in L’s case, he rarely picks up on them. For some time now, as we’ve been talking about what we have going on, I would say, “Well, that’s the weekend of your sister’s graduation and I assume you’re going.” Never did I say, “and we’ll be going.”
Besides not wanting to invite myself, especially to a function of his family because I’m still not totally convinced that his mom likes me (tolerates me? yes. Likes me? not so sure.), who knows what kind of crazy rules colleges have for graduations.
For example, at my graduation, I was only allowed 6 tickets. Granted, I went to a much larger school – she goes to a small, private college. I didn’t know if her school had a similar ticket policy. And if they did, I had no idea how many she was allowed. Their family is very family oriented when it comes to stuff like this. I assume that both their grandmas and perhaps and aunt or uncle or two will be there as well. So, I didn’t want to assume that if there were tickets, that one would be used on me.
Last night his mom called him. His phone is very loud and I can always hear what she is saying. I heard her talk about the graduation. When he was finished, I asked what she had to say. He tells me, then says that we’ll need to be home for Mother’s Day (same day as graduation) and that if we are going to the graduation, we need to be there by 9am.
“I’m invited,” I asked. “Of course,” he told me.
Well, shit. Now I have to find something to wear. I could wear the same pink dress (#2) I’m wearing to the steeplechase this weekend. Or I could see if that Lilly dress fits any better and have him wear the matching tie. I proposed that idea to him. He said “maybe.” I think that his “maybe” is really more like I’m saying maybe so we don’t have to talk about this, but really the answer is no because you know I hate that tie.
We’ll see if I can wear him down.
So, in fact, I am excited. I asked him to let me know a run down of what may be going on that day so I can dress appropriately or bring other outfits. Because, let’s face it, I’m going to start making that list now even though we’ll only be there over night. I have to allot for perhaps buying a new shirt or accessory (I have still yet to find the perfect “everyday” summer purse).
Now on to your help…
We need to get her a graduation gift. I told L a few weeks ago that I would make some suggestions for him. And I came up with some stuff yesterday, but I just don’t know what to do. We’ll split the cost and are looking to spend no more than $100 total. I don’t like stuff that is too over the top “graduationy” though. All the stuff that screams ‘graduate’ of ‘class of 2009′ – it’s just a little much for me.
Here’s my first idea:
This bag from Preppy Monogrammed Gifts . com
And include the following items:
From Preppy Monogrammed Gifts – I would include her first initial or name instead of the palm tree
Beach towel from Preppy Monogrammed Gifts
I would only do the crab or maybe a palm tree instead – no name or initial
From Thingsremembered.com
I would have the name of her college and graduation date engraved on the top. This way it has a little bit of ‘graduation’ to it, but not too much.
My other option is one nicer gift. She seems to be a bit of a “brand lover” and I think she would like something from Tiffany’s. Unfortunatley, there isn’t a whole lot from that store that is less than $100. They have the silver bead earrings, but I think she is too petite for them. Then they have circle and heartshaped earrings that say “Return to Tiffany”, but I can’t see her wearing them.
Here is what I chose:
Elsa Peretti Open Heart Crystal Box
Tiffany Crystal Box
Return to Tiffany key ring
Tiffany Oval key ring – would engrave with initial or monogram
Here’s my question though… do you think the boxes are dumb? I would like them, and they are from Tiffany, but what do you think?
Same with the key chains. They’re kind of small gifts, but we can’t go too much bigger due to cost.
Do you like the beach bag idea or the Tiffany idea better? Any other suggestions? She’s hard to shop for and makes it known if she doesn’t like stuff. And isn’t much into “cheap” jewelry. Any help is greatly appreciated.
Originally, we were supposed to go the beach this weekend, but our plans fell through. Then L said he was trying to plan something that was a surprise, but unfortunately that fell through too. So we just spent the weekend doing this and that. It was actually quite nice.
Friday, L worked, so in my continuing efforts to save money, I stayed in. And practiced our training exercises with the puppies. They have one more session left that we have been putting off for weeks because we haven’t been practicing as much. And it shows. They didn’t do very well. We need to kick it back into high gear.
Saturday, L crawled in bed with me for awhile and I eventually managed to get him up about 2 hours later. We went to lunch and to the Polka Dot Bake Shop, which I have been dying to go to for months. It’s a cupcake bake shop. The only one in the area that I know of. NYC is known for its cupcakes (which I didn’t know until I worked there) and I’ve missed them oh so much. We each got red velvet. It was delicious.
Then we went down to a town about 30 minutes away where there is a HUGE cloth store. My mom said she would make us slipcovers for our couches. This was our second visit. We went once back in March, but didn’t really see anything we liked. This time we came home with ten samples. We have it narrowed down to four now. We’re painting the living room soon (story to come below) and I think we’re going to wait until that’s done before we make any final decisions. L was happy that I “saw things his way” this time and “didn’t shoot down every idea he had” like the last time we were there.
We came back and L fell asleep watching football for awhile. Then we headed out to Coyote Joe’s, a big country bar, to see the Zac Brown Band. I mention that I recently have become obsessed with this song. All of our friends had other plans for the evening, so it was just the two of us, but we had a great time. We got there early enough that we secured a table. The beer was cheap and the music was good. The house band played a good variety of songs, and although I didn’t know any of the songs that Zac Brown played besides “Chicken Fried”, which they didn’t play until the very end, it was all very good. I have a video, but I can’t seem to upload it. Oh well.
During the course of Saturday, L randomly says, “oh, did I tell you where having company tomorrow?”
Uh, no.
His aunt and uncle were in town for the ECU vs. VA Tech game and were stopping by for lunch and to see his house before heading to the beach. Thank goodness I had cleaned earlier in the week.
But alas, we got up on Sunday, expecting them to be there around 10:30 and I hurried around the house picking up, dusting quickly, etc. He kept telling me that it looked fine, but I kept going. ha. We decided to order some chinese for lunch and bring it back to the house seeing as his aunt and uncle had their dog with them. They didn’t end up getting there until closer to noon, which allowed me to vacuum while L ran out for the food, and it was a very nice visit.
As I’ve menitoned, L and I talk about getting married constantly. Through these discussions, I’ve stated that I want a Catholic wedding. I’m not the most religious person in the world, but that’s what I’ve always wanted. As we talk about it more seriously, we’ve talked about that as well. Because, L isn’t Catholic. He’s Baptist. And he’s told me he doesn’t want to get married in a Catholic church. I can respect that. Because I won’t get married in a Baptist church. Although this is something we’ll talk about more seriously when the time comes, I’m thinking we’re going to go ‘middle-of-the-road’ or perhaps do something non-denominational.
Besides him not wanting a Catholic wedding, he also told me his family would not come if we did. Yes, that’s right. They wouldn’t come. I guess this shouldn’t surprise me since the fact that I’m Catholic was one of the three major reasons his mom didn’t like me at first (the other two being I’m an only child – apparently she thinks they are weird, and I’m from CT. Oh good God, how could her son date and potentially marry a Yankee?! Luckily, we’re past all that now).
To be funny, I keep telling him he is shattering my hopes and dreams. I do this a lot. Although I am somewhat serious, I do it because I think it’s funny. He does not think it’s funny and he says it makes him feel bad. A few weeks ago, I told him there were two things he could do to make it up to me and I would stop with the whole ‘dream shattering’ ordeal.
1. He had to see Sex and the City the movie with me. Because he had refused to. Even though I told him he would see boobs. He agreed. Bastard got out of it though since it’s not in theaters anymore. Although, he does still have to watch it with me when it comes out on DVD. And possibly every episode of the series before then.
2. He had to go see Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants 2 with me.
So, that’s what we did Sunday night. When we were walking across the parking lot he said. “I’ll pay, but you need to ask for the tickets. I’m not going to go up there and ask for tickets to this Pants movie.” I agreed. When we got closer to the ticket counter he handed me the money.
“You know what,” I said. “I’m not going to buy them. This is you making it up to me for shattering my hopes and dreams, so the least you could do is buy the tickets yourself.” He didn’t believe me at first and kept trying to give the money back to me, but I wouldn’t take it.
We got to the window and he asked for two tickets to the Travelling Pants movie at 7:30. The cashier said, “What movie?” And he had to repeat it. It was classic and so worth it.
Then he laughed at me throughout the movie when I cried. But when we left he did admit that it really wasn’t that bad.
We slept in Monday and then went out for a quick lunch and to Lowe’s. We’ve been trying to pick out paint colors for months now and we finally got it narrowed down to two for the living room. We’re going to do one room at a time so it’s not so much money all at once. We went to get samples of the two colors. Came back and painted half the wall around the fireplace and TV one color and the other half the other color. I think we’ve made a decision, but we’re still debating and looking at it during different times of the day.
He had to go into work last night, so he left around 3:30. I was sad, but glad I got to spend the weekend with him.
Then this morning something great happened! A couple weeks ago I entered this radio contest. You submitted a picture of your dog(s) and they put them up on their web site. Whoever got the most votes won a year’s supply of dog food and a puppy party.
We voted every day for Shep and Dixie and told our friends about it to. We both listened this morning for them to announce the winner. I wasn’t expecting to win. Just as I was getting off the highway by my office they said “and the winner of the Dog Days of Summer Contest is Kris [Dance in the Rain]. She lives in [small town], NC and has two labs named Shep and Dixie.”
WHAT?! We actually won?! Holy crap! I’ve never won anything so worthwhile in my life. That is A LOT of dog food!
I immediately called L and was like “guess what, we WON!!!!” He was in disbelief as well. I’m so excited. Definitely a good way to start off the week.
Now if only Tropical Storm/Hurricane Hanna doesn’t ruin our concert plans Friday night.
Hope everyone had a great long weekend.
I’ve mentioned before that my financial situation is stressing me out lately. In a very real way. But I’m dealing with it the best I can. It’s not easy, but I’m managing. The last few weeks, L has been talking about how he has been having some troubles. Not quite as serious as mine, but more in the fact that he doesn’t have a lot extra after he pays all of his bills.
He talks about how he puts money into savings so that hopefully he can buy me something sparkley in the next year or so, that he wants to be able to give me everything I want and take me to all the places I say I want to go, and that sometimes it becomes overwhelming because he just can’t figure out how to do it all.
A lot of times I will say that I want to go somewhere one day. “I’d like to go to Savannah one day.” “I’d like to go to Charleston, just the two of us, one day.” “I’d like to go to the Outerbanks one day.” I truly do mean one day. Not next week. Not next month. Just at some point. I never meant for him to feel overwhelmed.
And also? He shouldn’t feel completely overwhelmed, it’s not like I’m one of those girls that makes him take me.
Although, it would be nice if that happened.
Like, as a gift.
For my birthday.
Since it will be a 3 day weekend this year.
A great amount of time to go to Savannah or something.
I’m just saying.
In case he’s, you know, reading this and has mentioned before that he has no idea what to get me for Christmas or my birthday.
Anyway, back to the point of this post….
We were sitting on the couch last night and he picked up his laptop and opened up a blank Excel sheet. He was totalling up how much he would probably take home in a year from his part time job. Then listed out all of his bills.
“Am I forgetting anything,” he asked me.
“Umm, you’re truck payment?!” I said.
“I don’t count that.”
How could he not count that? That is a big expense! I remember him saying that one other time when he was talking about his monthly bills.
“Why wouldn’t you count that?”
“That’s what my [part-time job] money goes for.”
“But you’ve only been working there a few months? What did you do before then? Also, I thought you said that money went into savings for something in particular?”
“That money goes a long way.”
“I don’t think you’re telling me the truth. Does someone else pay for it?”
“NO! I’m not my sister!” (side note: BIG thing between him and his younger sister who – according to him- gets everything she wants. A brand new car, townhome, new furniture, doesn’t pay bills, etc.)
Then he told me it was his little secret. Not to worry about it. He’d tell me one day. When we got married. Even though the truck will be paid off before then.
Now I was slightly irritated. When I had told him about my financial woes, he made such a big deal about it. Not about the situation itself, but about why I hadn’t told him. How I should be able to tell him anything. How he has NO SECRETS from me. How he hides NOTHING from me.
And now? Now he has “a little secret”?!
I went to get up to walk in the other room. I was mad that now he was hiding something from me. For some people, this would be pushing it. We’re not married yet. There is no reason why he should reveal all of his financial-ness. But that’s not how we are. We talk openly about that. And always have.
He wouldn’t let me get up. But finally, I did. And I went and sat on the porch. A few minutes later he came out. Asking me why I was doing this. I was being calm. It wasn’t the crazy coming out. I was just irritated that he could say over and over again how up front he is with me and how he hides nothing, etc., etc., etc. And then, this.
“I can’t tell you.” “I can’t tell you now.” “I’ll tell you one day, but not now.”
“Why can’t you tell me now?”
“Because you’ll be mad. You’ll be madder than you already are.”
Holy crap. What the hell is he hiding from me? Did the ex buy it for him? Her parents co-sign on the loan? She/they pay for it and he pays them back in smaller increments? Did the money come from these “accounts” his parents have for him that he’s not supposed to have access to yet?
“I’m more mad that you’re hiding something from me when you said you had nothing to hide.”
Long pause.
“My dad pays for it. Right after I met you, he did. I tried to do it for 3 or 4 months [after the ex moved out and he had to take on all the household bills], but what it came down to was that I was going to lose the house or lose my truck because I just couldn’t manage both.”
My jaw dropped to the floor. I just stared at him. I was in complete disbelievement. (Is that a word?)
Then I began to laugh hysterically.
“You thought I would get MAD at you for that? Are you serious? Are you telling the truth about all of this?”
“Yes, I swear to God it’s the truth. I thought you would be so mad you would get up and storm out of here.”
More laughing.
“I thought you would be mad because I’ve been saying how I have no money, but I don’t even pay for my own truck.”
“Jealous? Maybe. Mad? Uh, no.”
I just couldn’t believe that he thought this would make me MAD. Oy. That boy. He is so cute. And then he asked me… “you’re not going to write about this on your blog, are you?”
And for the rest of the night, I would randomly start laughing.
Ok, I’m back. Sorry for the extreme delay. So I left you as I was hurridly trying to get home to pack and get ready for my trip to Vegas with L and his family. I got home Friday night and spent the evening with the puppies (L was working). My goal was to have myself packed for the most part so I didn’t have to do it Saturday. We were planning on dropping the puppies off at a friend of L’s who would be watching them for the week at about 2pm and then drive up to his parent’s house where we would be staying the night before our 8am flight Sunday morning.
Well. I was not in the packing mood. For many reasons. One, I hate to pack to start with. It’s not so bad if I have a detailed list to go from, but I didn’t this time. I tried several times, but couldn’t come up with anything. The weather was going to be that in between temperature (60-70 during the day; 40s at night) which I have no clothes for and the clothes I do have aren’t fitting very well at the moment. Ugh.
I did manage to make individual meal bags for each dog. One bag per dog per meal. Wise use of my time? Probably not. I easily could have put a whole bunch in a large bag with our measuring scoop to give to the people watching them, but this seemed like way more fun. ha.
Saturday, I got up at 7:30 to mop the floor and clean up a little before we left. Also, to pack! L got home around 8:45 or so and tempted me with breakfast with Bojangles. After we lounged on the couch eating our egg and cheese biscuits I decided I needed to pack. And so did he. But we ended up laying in bed for awhile. He fell asleep and I eventually got up and went to Target to get more towels/blankets for the puppies’ crate since we were now way behind schedule.
When I got home, sleepy beauty was finally awake and started to pack. Now, I had to too. It took forever because I didn’t know what to bring, then I was bringing way too much (what else is new?). But I got it all to fit, because I’m a master packer. We were finally on our way to drop the puppies off about 2 hours late. Then we had to stop by L’s work to pick up his camera and grab dinner because we wouldn’t be at his parent’s house till late.
We met up with one of his friends that night, played Rock Band for the first time (I’m now obsessed and HAVE to have it), then went to bed because we were leaving at 6am the next day.
Now, I was worried about flying with his whole family (parents, sister, and sister’s boyfriend) because I have horrible luck flying. Seriously. I’m talking hours of delays, lost luggage, cancelled flights – you name it. I rarely have a trip that doesn’t have some sort of issue. We checked in fine, our flight was on time, they gave us lots of snacks and when we got there, so did my luggage!
We stayed at the Flamingo. I stayed in a room with L’s sister who I had only met briefly once before. She has been made out to be a total bitch. I can see how that could definitley be true, but we got along great. We saw the different hotels, gambled some (and won!), saw David Copperfield’s show (not impressed, by the way).
Real Flamingos at Our Hotel
We also managed to check out some bars after his parents went to bed. I was very excited to go to the Rum Jungle. It’s in Mandalay Bay. I was there last time I went and it was awesome. Lots of smaller bars, a dance floor with mirrors (what?!) and people who “fly” over the bars and pour rum in your mouth (well, they didn’t do that last time I was there because it was a Sunday, but other friends have experienced it).
We got there about midnight one night. It was empty. Hardly anyone there. We sat at a bar, I got my vodka tonic with lime juice, L ordered his Bud Lite and jagerbomb. I will say this – those bar tenders are always great there. L was THRILLED with his jager bomb which he said was much better than the ones at our local bar – maybe because the bartender said “oops, my hand slipped, I poured twice as much jager.”
L’s Bud Lite and Jagerbomb
There was a couple sitting next to us who were about our age. We started chatting. They were from Minnesota. However, they were only roommates. She dropped out of college to work as a dog groomer at PetSmart. He worked at PetCo. Hmm, rivalry. We all took a shot together. They were nice. Until. The guy leans over and whispers to me, if things don’t work out with your boyfriend, remember me in Minnesota.
Seriously?! L is sitting right. next. to me. He didn’t hear the guy say this, but when said guy got up to go to the bathroom, I leaned to L and said, stay close to me and told him what the guy had said. He wanted to hit him, but I wouldn’t let him. No need to get into something.
A few drinks later, we parted ways and L and I tipsily (new word, FYI) headed back to our hotel.
More sight seeing the next day.
Then we discovered a small bar near our hotel. O’Shays. And what makes O’Shays awesome?
BEER PONG!
Yes, they had four beer pong tables. We went in just to check it out. We saw a large group of guys, extrememly wasted, taking up two tables. Some looked mid-twenties, some were definitely mid-thirties. One of which was wearing a track suit. It seriously reminded me of Old School.
We played. Of course. We didn’t play with anyone else though. It was a 10 cup game. A pitcher per person, per game. We had almost 2 pitchers each in about 40 minutes. Yikes. I wasn’t ready for that. The only bad thing… this game that is usually cheap when you play at home? It was $23/game. That was just for the beer. You didn’t have to pay for the cups, balls or table. And it was Miller Hi Life. WTF?
Oh well, we had a great time.
We spent the last day/night gambling where L really made a good bet and won a bunch. Maybe not a bunch to the high rollers, but it was to us!
We headed back to the airport where we had a delay-free flight and I got my luggage at the end. Awesome. I can’t even remember the last time this has happened.
The next day, we picked up our puppies. I was so excited – I had missed them so much.
They grew so much while we were away!
Friday, I was back at work, and it sucked, but at least it was only one day.
Saturday consisted of laundry, running errands, playing with the puppies and watching the Carolina/Duke game. I’m not even going to get into Coach K’s lack of ribbon wearing for Eve Carson.
Sunday was a bit of the same. And Monday too. Now, I’m back in the swing of things. Sort of.
And now as I go back and read this, I realize it’s pretty poorly written. My appologies, but I don’t feel like editing.
I tried to get to work early this morning – meaning on time. I’m supposed to be there at 8:30, but I normally don’t get there until 8:35 or 8:40. Not a big deal, except all the clocks (comupters and phones) at work at 6 minutes fast, so it always looks later that it really is. Anyway… I had a 9am meeting, the one that was originally scheduled for 2pm, but got changed at the end of the day yesterday, that was out of the office and we would need to leave at about 8:50 for. I had finished everything I needed to yesterday, but was waiting on the creative department to pull together the mock ups of the projects we were presenting for approval.
I sent a high priority email yesterday to the guy that does them for me as soon as I found out about the meeting change at 4. I never heard back from him, but didn’t think much of it. When I got to the office this morning, I was hoping that maybe they would be on my desk. But they weren’t. And he wasn’t in yet. As soon as I saw his car in the parking lot (at 8:40) I gave him a call. He had no idea. Turns out he left at 3:00 yesterday. He sits in another area of the building so it’s not like I normally see him, and he had no out-of-office reply on his email. He put it together really quickly, but there were one or two things that needed to be change on a web site concept that weren’t. Oh well. What could we do?
My boss and I went to the meeting and it went really well. They approved all three projects. It’s not really a surprise because they will generally go with the advice we give them. They have faith that we know what we’re doing and have their best interest at heart. And they pay us for a reason.
As soon as I got back to the office, I had a conference call with my boss, another colleague and a client (which equalled 5 other people on the call). The clients talk in circles and get side tracked really easily. It was comical to see us all making faces at each other when they would get off topic and we weren’t able to get a word in edgewise.
Then there were the conferecne reports for both the call and the meeting. Then I had to get all my notes together for work that needs to be done next week while I’m out. I was the last one to leave the office today. On a Friday. That never happens. But once again – I was slammed the day before I’m going to be out. Oh well, that’s just how it is sometimes.
L is working tonight. I have to pack and get the puppies’ things ready. We are going to Vegas on Sunday for 3 1/2 days, but we’re going to his parent’s house tomorrow and flying from an airport near them. One of L’s friends has volunteered to keep the puppies at his house for the entire time we’re gone. I’m so glad they won’t be at home by themselves with someone just checking on them a few times a day – this is a much better arrangement!
So my readers, the few of you that there are, I won’t be around for a few days – but don’t worry, I’ll be back on Thursday or Friday with a full account of my trip to Vegas with L’s family. I guess this is the true test to see if they actually like me or not.
I have got to say… it was a great weekend. Nothing super exceptional happened, but it was just one of those weekends that was good.
Friday was my 1 year anniversary with L. We were going to go to dinner, then head up to one of our favorite bars, Picasso’s, near where I used to live. Halfway home, he called me and asked me if I needed to stop at Target for anything. I didn’t. He asked if I could go there and walk around for 20 minutes or so, because my present wasn’t yet complete.
No complaints there. I love Target. Especially when there are sales. Also. Bad idea for him to send me there. Especially when there are sales. I walked in needing absolutely nothing and walked out $35 later.
When I got home, he was very excited to give me my present. And I was excited to get it. I told him he didn’t need to get anything, but he did anyways. When I opened it, I pulled out a picture album. A very thick picture album.
It was filled with 365 pictures of our first year together. Pictures of he and I, pictures of us with my friends, and with his friends. They were all in chronological order, starting with the very first picture we ever took together. It was amazing. It made me cry.
He knows how much I love pictures. He loves them too. And now, that we’re in this digital age, I have a very bad habit of never getting them printed out.
We went to dinner, which was delicious – a yummy Italian place around the corner from our house, then headed to Picasso’s for some $5 pitchers with some of my friends. Coincidentally, it’s where our first date was. We didn’t go intentionally though.
Saturday, we got up and took Shep and Dixie to the vet for their booster shots. They each gained about 3 pounds in a week and a half. Shep still cries for a little while in the car. We’re now taking them for a drive in the car everyday to get used to it. One, because I want them to be good in the car. And two, we’re driving to CT at the end of next month. That’s 12 hours. He only cries for about 20 minutes and then usually falls asleep.
We dropped them off at home and drove about 1 1/2 hrs to meet L’s mom halfway to her house. He needed to drop off some tax stuff with her. It was a pleasant meeting. In the parking lot of McDonald’s off the highway. She was very nice and personable and didn’t even have too much to say about the dogs. And when she saw pictures, she even said they were cute. We would have brought them with us, but they needed a bath and I didn’t want them to be dirty the first time she met them.
We drove home, ran a couple errands, and hung out at the house for the night. It was just a nice day doing “whatever” together.
Sunday, L had to work, and I managed to sleep to 11:30! That is VERY unlike me. I’m usually up by 8:45 at the latest. I guess I was just exhausted. I cleaned up around the house, gave the puppies a bath and took them for a ride. Before I knew it, it was 11:00 and time for me to hit the sack. It was the first time that I would be home ALL day with the puppies by myself. And L couldn’t wait. He said I didn’t know what it was like to have to watch them and clean up their “accidents” all day. But, they were VERY good for me. Only a couple accidents. Nothing major. All in all, I have no idea what he was talking about!
And now, I’m back to the grind. But I can’t wait to go home and see L and the puppies. I miss them when I’m away!
While I was at home in CT for a few days over Christmas, L texted me saying:
“Pack your bags – we’re going to Vegas in March!”
First thoughts in my head: Hell yeah! I love Vegas. Uhh, how am I going to pay for this and where did this randomly come from?
L has never been to Vegas and has always said that he wants to go. I was there once, July 2006, for an FKC Bachelorette Party (let’s just say, there were free limos, Chippendales, walking the stip in bare feet, 10am shots, and leaving the bar at 7am). I would love to go back, but this was kind of quick and there is no way that I, or he, could afford such a trip on short notice.
But wait… he texts back. All expenses paid (hell yeah!) – we’re going with my parents.
Damn.
OK, vacation with the boyfriend’s family? Big deal. Especially for me. Vegas? Not the ideal vacation spot with the boyfriend’s family.
Especially since they’re not big drinkers. OK, not drinkers at all.
Also, I’m convinced that they don’t really like me. L tells me otherwise, but in our first meeting:
-His mom asked me point blank to my face what religion I was. When I answered, she said “Oh. (pause) I guess most people up there [read: in Yankee-ville where you come from] are.”
-Then later that day his dad asked me what religion I was. I don’t remember his answer. I think I was so shocked that this was such a hot topic of conversation. Sometimes I forget I’m in the Bible belt. And apparently if you’re Catholic, you might as well have leprosy (sp?).
-When his dad asked me how many brothers and/or sisters I have, I answered “oh, I’m the only one.” His mom’s response again: “Oh.” This time looking down at her plate and continuing to eat. Apparently she thinks only children are “weird.”
Anyway, I know that she doesn’t actually hate me, but I don’t think that I’m high up on her list either. I guess my Catholic Yankee Only Child-ness doesn’t suit her well.
I won’t even get into the fact that I’ve moved in with him (they think you shouldn’t live together until your married), what she thinks about us getting a dog… or our final decision to get two dogs.
But she confuses me. For a Valentine’s present, they are going to buy us two storm doors (one for the front and back doors), so that there is still a barrier if I ever need to open the door to someone when L isn’t home. So, she’s looking out for my well-being. I don’t get it.
Ok, I’m losing track… back to the trip.
So, airfare, hotel, everything of mine will be paid for. It’s his parents, his younger sister and her boyfriend and us.
Well, guess how many hotel rooms we got. 3! Awesome, right? Oh, guess again. L and I will not be sharing a room. His sister and I will be.
Let’s talk about the sister. She just turned 21. Her and her boyfriend have been dating for awhile, but I don’t know how long. I have only met her once. Yes, once. And that was for a grand total of maybe an hour. And now I have to share a room with her for 3 1/2 days?!?! Better yet, the only things about her that I’ve heard from L and one of his childhood best friends. She is a complete bitch.
At first, I thought it was just sibling rivalry, until the friend confirmed stories. When she opens Christmas presents, if she doesn’t like them, she makes if very well known. She expects to get so much from her parents (a new car, a townhome which is almost paid off, etc.). This shocks me because this is not how L is at all.
The first time I met her?
L and I had been dating for 8 months. A significant amount of time. We were at his parent’s house getting ready to go to lunch with some other family members to celebrate his birthday. She walks in from the other room, walks by me and says: “Hi, I’m J.” And keeps walking. She only stopped because I kind of forced my hand out to shake hers and said: “Oh hi, it’s nice to meet you, I’m Kris.”
Oh. And she’s skinny.
I’m not really looking forward to this. Hopefully, we’ll have plenty of time to do our own thing and I won’t have to spend too much alone time with her.
And seriously. We’re going to have to share a bathroom. Girls have routines. I have routines. I am totally cool sharing a bathroom with 8 girls on a trip – but that’s OK if they’re my friends, not bitchy sister who barely even speaks to L.
Sigh. It will be OK. Maybe it will even be a good thing. Let’s hope so anyway. L said he’s telling his parents that he’s going to drink while he’s there and that they just have to deal with it. I doubt he’ll actually tell them that though. In anycase, I will be severly limiting my alcohol consumption for fear of another strike against me.
