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Our battered suitcases were piled high on the sidewalk again; we had longer ways to go. But no matter, the road is life.
– from On the Road, by Jack Kerouac
David and I are leaving in just a few minutes for 11 glorious days of vacation! Today we head back to Detroit – we’ve got a Tigers game and perhaps a trip “up North,” as David calls it, on the agenda. Wednesday we’ll head to the Buffalo area to see my mom’s side of the family. My cousin is getting married next Saturday up there, and I’m in the wedding. David has never met the large, very loud, very Italian contingent of my family (the side that’s lousy with lawyers, coincidentally), so it promises to be very interesting! Thursday we’ll take a side overnight trip to Toronto, where I intend to be very vocal in my dislike of the Yankees at a Yanks-Blue Jays game (for those of you keeping track at home, that will cover two of three baseball stadiums I’ve never been to, which is #64 on my list)!
Posting will probably be light, but I’ll definitely post a Three Things Thursday next week. Have a wonderful vacation from me!
There is no medicine like hope, no incentive so great, and no tonic so powerful as expectation of something better tomorrow.
– Orison Swett Marden
1. The nicest pharmacist ever
2. The start of 11 days’ vacation
3. A fancy, executive-length lunch with boss and co-workers, on the boss
What are you happy about today?
Hair brings one’s self-image into focus; it is vanity’s proving ground. Hair is terribly personal, a tangle of mysterious prejudices.
– Shana Alexander
Finally, after more than 18 months, I got a hair cut!
She cut at least two inches off, and it will look even shorter when I let it dry naturally, since I have curly hair. I let her blow dry it and straighten it today. though, since David and I have our make-up date tonight. I”m so pleased with it – it was really at the point where I either always wore it in a ponytail or it just hung down too heavily and wouldn’t really be curly anymore, so it was way past time to get a cut.
Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months.
– Oscar Wilde
1. The season premiere of Project Runway (finally!) – join Duchess Jane’s chat room, if you like; that’s where I’ll be tonight at 9!
2. When the automatic gas pump stops exactly on the dollar
3. Writing in your journal
What are you happy about today?
The rose is a flower of love. The world has acclaimed it for centuries. Pink roses are for love hopeful and expectant. White roses are for love dead or forsaken, but the red roses, ah the red roses are for love triumphant.
– Unknown
So this weekend is the anniversary of the Best Weekend Ever. We had reservations to go back to the Spanish restaurant tonight, but David is sick and I twisted my ankle pretty good, so I can’t wear heels, so we’re postponing until next weekend. Plus, David had to work today (boo – they don’t pay him enough to work as much as he does) and is exhausted, so it’s unfortunate, but it’s for the best.
But, he just came home with these,
which are gorgeous, and which I wasn’t even expecting, and a sweet card. We just put wine in the fridge for later, and we’ve got Sopranos and Barletts and plenty of movies to choose from, so we’re good to go. Who knows what we’ll do for dinner, though. It won’t be tapas, but it won’t matter, as long as the seat next to me on the couch is filled by my baby.
Let us rise up and be thankful, for if we didn’t learn a lot today, at least we learned a little, and if we didn’t learn a little, at least we didn’t get sick, and if we did get sick, at least we didn’t die; so let us all be thankful.
– Buddha
1. Being (almost) not sick anymore
2. Going to the gym even when you don’t feel like, just because you know it’s the right thing to do
3. Getting control over your finances
Are you happy about anything in particular today?
In 101 in 1001 news, the recipe binder (#29) is finished! It’s all nicely organized by main dishes (subdivided by protien), sides/soups, crock pot meals, desserts (subdivided by type), breakfast foods, drinks, and sauces, and it makes me feel great now that everything’s easily accessible! 99 more to go!
I have often heard people speak of true love, but for me, it was more of a sense of what was right, like the right amount of cinnamon, or the right amount of wine. And as far as other things I have heard, to say that I was his is not at all a phrase I find accurate, though I might say I was devoted to him, And I did not know if I would be with [him] when we were 12 and 15, or 54 and 57, but I knew that I should be.
– from A Still Small Voice, by John Reed
Yesterday was David’s 3oth birthday. I wanted to post something yesterday, but with all of the birthday activity, and being sick, I didn’t get a chance to. Today, I’m home sick from work, so I thought I’d take advantage of the free time and tell you a little something about him.
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A year ago, David and I sat on a bench at the Navy Memorial, trying to talk our way through the very complicated beginning of our relationship. It was a Friday after work, the day before his birthday; I had taken him to lunch earlier since I wasn’t expecting to be able to see him again until Monday. I had written him a letter telling him 10 things he didn’t know about me and baked him cookies, which I left on his desk before he got in to work. He loved both the letter and the cookies.
We were talking about how the beginning works, when everything’s so complicated. He was afraid of making a big change; I was afraid of never getting to be with him. We knew that this was a chance we had to take, or risk wondering about it for the rest of our lives, but the first step was very scary. Around and around we went, each of us fighting the other, trying to make our way to common ground.
Eventually, the talking stopped and we just looked at each other, searching each other’s eyes, wondering if we were thinking the same thing. I decided to risk it, and leaned in. He stopped me.
“Wait,” he said. “I want to tell you before I kiss you.”
“What?” I asked, hoping I was right about what was next.
“I love you,” he said.
I smiled with tears in my eyes. “I love you, too.” I said.
And that was that. We’ve been together ever since.
It hasn’t always been a walk in the park, obviously, but even when it was so hard a couple of months ago, there wasn’t anywhere else I wanted to be. David is my other half in so many ways; even after a year, he’s still the first person I want to tell things to, the first person I want to do anything with, the only person I can imagine waking up to every day and coming home to every night, the person who believes in me when I don’t believe in myself, the one who supports me and encourages me and helps me up when I stumble, the one who seems to understand me the way no one else can. His are the arms I want around me when the world feels like too much; his are the arms I burrow into each night as I fall asleep, knowing there isn’t a single place on earth I’d rather be.
I love the way, if I’m walking behind him, he absentmindedly reaches his hand back for me to take, because he wants me next to him. I love the way he comes up and kisses me out of the blue for no reason. I love that we casually say, “When we get married . . .” or “When we have kids . . .” like it’s a foregone conclusion, with no doubt that it will ever come to pass. I love that he takes such good care of the tomatoes, even though he won’t eat them. I love that he acts as my ears without either of us even realizing it. I love the way he brushes me off every morning when I tell him how handsome he looks (“You say that every day”) because I know he’s secretly pleased to hear it. I love the tilt of his head when he’s about to say something sweet to me, and the way he secretly touches my leg under the table when we’re out to dinner. I love that every time we drive somewhere more than an hour away, we have to be sure we find a Sheetz so that he can get a vanilla cappucino.
He’s so smart, and he makes me laugh every day. He makes me a better person in so many ways, and I know that I’m lucky to have found him. I hope I get to write one of these every year.
“You better cut the pizza into four slices, because I’m not hungry enough to eat six.”
– Yogi Berra
1. Pizza from our favorite little place around the corner
2. Good TV on DVD to entertain us during the summer when there’s only crap on TV (downstairs we’re just about at the end of the 4th season of The Sopranos, and upstairs we’re about halfway through the 6th season of The West Wing)
3. The raise that kicks in on my next paycheck that I forgot I was due for – an easy way to get started on numbers 58-60 of 101 in 1001 – paying off credit cards and my car!
What are you happy about today?
California is beautiful to look at, but you can’t be a part of it like you can in Michigan.
– Gov. Jennifer Granholm
Our weekend in Michigan was low-key, relaxing, and wonderful. The Eagle Court ceremony was really nice, but seeing all the teenage boys made me glad I’m not a teenager anymore. I had forgotten how awkward the teen years can be.
The weather was gorgeous, and we kept driving by all of these adorable little houses, many of which were for sale, and I imagined that I might actually like to live there one day. Then David reminded me that winter in Michigan is a lot like winter in Buffalo, with which I have a passing familiarity, and that idea was promptly set aside. Still, I love to imagine where our life together might take us, and you never know where you’ll end up.
I really enjoyed spending time with David’s family; they are lovely people, truly. And we hung out with his friends and barbequed Saturday night, and while I mostly read once the activities turned to Rock Band, that was fine by me, because he was having a good time with people he doesn’t get to see very often. It made me happy that he was happy.
Oh, also, I got an adorable new bag at Meijer for under $5! It’s perfect!
That’s not a great picture, but it’s purple and gray, and I love it! It holds everything I need with plenty of room to spare and it’s totally comfortable to carry. Yay!
Also, in 101 in 1001 news, I’m pleased to announce I’ve accomplished my first task, #16: Yelp! Fat Matt’s. See my review here! Only 100 more to go! I think the next thing to tackle is the letter to myself (#95) and putting my recipes into a binder (#29).
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