Bridezilla Pizza Party aka Birthday Do-Over

My fiance Easy had a birthday last week. He just turned 27, yay!

I had a birthday gathering for him that ended up being a comparison of who's friends were more flaky between mine and his. Mine ended up winning, but then again, they've only known him for a year. It's still a toss up.

My girls who are my bridesmaids decided to come by for a birthday do-over. It was really a nice surprise because I was under the impression that only Michelle was coming. But her plus 4 others came carrying pizza, beer, and wine.

They came to make up for missing Easy's birthday as well as to make sure I was okay after the bridesmaid dress fiasco. And they brought me something to make me (hopefully) laugh.

The pictures are backwards because I took them in the mirror. The top one is the back-side of the sash. It says C-Ride. There is a ridiculous story associated with that nickname that I'll explain in a second. The bottom pic is the front-side of the sash. It says Bridezilla.

They were all looking very nervous when they handed me the sash until I laughed when I saw it. Then they felt relieved. I thought it was funny. I don't know that I acted very bridezilla-ish with the bridesmaid dresses. If Camille hadn't tried to help the issue by making it 1000 times worse, there would have been no drama to begin with. but that's neither here nor there.

Besides, I mentioned before that my friends make up rumorsjust to be funny. Also, Easy said I can't be called a bridezilla because I didn't let bird poop break me. Soooooo, I embraced my new sash and my new bridezilla rumor and we got back to celebrating Easy's birthday (a week late). Mmmm, pizza from Giordano's.

Back to how I got the nickname C-Ride. I was out with my girls, apparently laying all the bonding groundwork necessary to have the perfect bride-bridesmaid relationships. We stopped by a liquor store to load up for what was sure to be a fun night.

I paid for what I purchased and the guy behind the counter balked at the name on my license. "How the hell do you pronounce this name? You know what? It doesn't matter. You need a nickname. I'm gonna call you C-Ride."

We all began laughing because C-Ride is the type of round-the-way nickname you give to someone who's got many many street credentials to back up such a name. On me, it's just ridiculous.

And instead of letting the moment pass and laughing occasionally that some stranger we never saw again chose to nickname me, my girls (and their guys) embraced the nickname wholeheartedly. It's still used to be funny, but it definitely stuck.

I'm C-Ride. Don't judge me. Judge my silly friends. In fact, Gloria's boyfriend Gregory never calls me CeCe. He only calls me C-Ride. And when she mentions me to him by name he responds, "Who is CeCe? Oh, you mean C-Ride? I don't know who CeCe is."

Okay, as I wrap this post up, I'd like to apologize for the terrible quality of the photographs. I snapped them quickly on my blackberry before I headed off to work Wednesday night. I swear I know better than to take photos in mirrors of words with light behind me. I'll do better next time.

Meeting My Future In-Laws And Being Late To Work

Since my family had an early Father's Day, I was free to spend time with my fiance. I was worried about his family getting sick of me being around all the time and having no time with him without me there too.

Easy assured me that they weren't sick of me. Also, there were family members he was going to hang out with that I hadn't met yet. He felt it was essential that I accompany him to the family BBQ so that I could meet as many of them at once as possible.

I put on a cute dress and natural looking (but still super flattering) makeup and off we went. He drove to my house and I drove the BBQ so I could head to work after dinner.

When I arrived, his family was all hugs and greetings. He did have a girlfriend of 5 years who only went away last year, so I was a bit worried about their reception (but I didn't tell him that). Turns out I was worried for nothing. They were so sweet and kind.

One of his aunts is the one who's opinion is strong and important to Easy. He came up to me after we had been there a half hour or so and informed me that she loved me. I was excited because I had liked her too. Some people just give off a good vibe, you know? I'm glad she liked my vibe like I liked her.

Easy has a much larger family that he spends time around regularly than I do. I'm looking forward to getting to know them better over time. And I'm feeling much better about having to invite all 109 of them to our wedding.

I ate some lovely Latin food, and then headed to work. Did I mention half of his family is Hispanic (Honduran by blood plus Mexican by marriage)? So there were elements that only seem to come in abundance from certain ethnicities (shout out to Greeks, Hispanics, and Caribbean Islanders!): music, great food, lots of laughter, never-ending amounts of children running around. It was fantastic.

When I finally left for work, I had just enough time to get to work. When I was just 5 miles away (around 7 min), there was a train. The world's longest train. Seriously. Someone from Guinness World Records should have been there to witness the occasion. I sat there for a very long time, called into work to let them know I'd be late, and then began people watching.

All the motocyclists were de-biking and meeting each other and making new friends. People were not only putting their cars in park, but turning the engines off. A couple people fell asleep and started snoring. These people had time to reach deep sleep and probably begin dreaming.

After the 200+ car train finally passed, I sped down the road, going 60 in a 30 mph zone. I didn't want to be too late to work. I made up those 5 miles in under 5 minutes. Don't judge me, I hate being late to work for something that's not my fault.

I love having eventful days and it seems every day is like that these days. Yay!

Father's Day, Playing Catch, And Growing A Second Head

Saturday wasn't a particularly eventful day, but three interesting things happened that I wanted to share with the blogosphere.

The first thing was my family celebrating Father's Day a day early. My family is all about holidays. All about them, okay? And my father spends the time the holidays focus on him saying things like, "you really really shouldn't have gotten me anything," the rest of us still enjoy celebrating in his honor.

We all gave him our gifts Saturday and had a great meal of jerk chicken, beans and rice, and cabbage. Then I had to rush off to work. Why did we do this a day early? My father leaves for Reno at 10:00 am to go to a bowling tournament.

 

Want to see what I got him as gifts? They're great gifts, if I do say so myself. What makes it even better is that I paid for these gifts with money I earned from work, without input or help from anyone (except payroll, bahaha).


Great Gift Idea: The Knot Wedding Shop



Lennox Tuscany Decanter at Macy's



 I do love my Daddy so much. I was glad that my first gift purchases with my all-grown-up-and-working money went to him.

After I left for work, my second interesting thing happened. I found out that all my co-workers are just as incredibly silly as I am.

It started because one of my co-workers threw a ball of paper at another one. It quickly devolved into us throwing swag from previous employee meetings around the office.  It was like this:

Well, except in an office not a pool. And with those little hackeysack balls, not water balloons. But it certainly felt that festive. We had fun and then the phone range and we got back to work. It felt like some flash mob that breaks into dance and then resumes life as if it hadn't just happened. Or any musical ever. It was awesome.

The third thing is actually two moments that feel like they are exactly indicative of my life right now in this point in time. Easy brought his stuff back from St. Louis (that means he's officially moved back!!!!) and put it into my storage unit. Nothing says all grown up and standing on your own like sharing a storage locker with your fiance.

The other thing is I got some snacks from Wal-Mart before work. I finally pulled out an apple to eat it because I was hungry for something sweet. That's when I noticed it was the hugest apple ever! I mean, genetically altered, gonna-grow-a-second-head-if-you-eat-that-growth-hormone-pumped-fruit, big as a baby's head apple. And of course I ate it. It was either that or a Snicker's bar.



imagine this but like three times the size



In conclusion, my Daddy's Father's Day was early (and awesome!), my co-workers are buckets of fun in downtime, and I'm quite the adult in this genetically altered 2011 summer!

Did anyone else have an interesting day?

Back In Chicago

I drove toward Chicago Wednesday around noon, and made a two hour stop in East St. Louis to hang out a bit with Lion and then I was on the road. When I finally got on the road, I felt good. I wasn't too tired to drive. I hate driving tired. I spent half the drive on the phone with Easy and half the drive listening to Michael Jackson music on my Kindle.


I love that I can listen to music on my Kindle in my car. I just play it the same way I'd play an iPod. Yay for technology. Anyway, I was hoping to get back in time to catch American Idol on television live, but then Michelle asked if we could hang out tonight. I hadn't hung out with my girls in Chicago in what felt like forever, so I was willing to forgo watching American Idol live just to hang out with them.


But luckily, Camille was still at the library studying. So I got to watch American Idol, America's Next Top Model, and Chopped All Stars before it was time to head out. Camille, Michelle, two of our other friends, and I headed out to Hooters to get some chicken wings. We had a very good time while we were out. Laughing and joking and catching up. I feel very lucky to have a great group of women to hang out with.


And these women are the type of women I can grow with. We were definitely having a good time, and we were discussing what our friendship would be like as we aged. We were talking about trading in nights out at Hooters for dinner parties. If that was mentioned a few years ago, I'm sure the conversation wouldn't have ended so well, but it was an idea everyone was open to, at least in theory. So it's good to know as I get older and have different preferences, I won't have to replace my friends with more age-appropriate ones.


After we ate, we headed to Gloria's house to hang out with her. She couldn't come out with us because she has a two year old son and can't make spontaneous plans like that. But we brought her chicken and we hung out and caught up.


The whole time I was out, I was texting Easy back and forth. We even made plans to try and get our friends to all hang out together to celebrate St. Patrick's day up on the north side of Chicago. I think it will be fun, and I'm definitely interested to see how our friends will all get along. I'm extra interested in seeing if the pairings I thought my work between his guys and my girls will be cool. I hope our plans don't fall through. But as long as I'm spending time with Easy and my girls, I know it will be fun.


I definitely love that Easy is a solutions guy. I talked about feeling like I wasn't paying as much attention to various parts of my life that I should, and he comes up with a plan to combine them. So I get to hang out with my girls, spend time with him, and get to know his friends better. And I thought he was a terrible multi-tasker, haha.

Today Is A Day To Accomplish A Lot

This morning, I woke up pretty early for me. It was in the 6 o'clock hour. If only I could go to bed at a reasonable hour every night, like last night, I could wake up early without an alarm clock. I didn't actually go running this morning, but it wasn't my fault. But there will be running tomorrow morning. I guess it's not the end of the world to run every other day when it's just starting to become a part of the routine.


This morning I was doing lots of activities though, so I stayed up instead of falling back asleep, which is prolly what would happen were I in Chicago. This afternoon, I get to bake lots and lots o' cookies. I really liked the recipe I made last time, so I'll be making chocolate and peanut butter chip cookies. Homemade cookies are always the best don't you think?


It is Lent season and I have decided to give up alcohol. Not just wine, not just vodka and tequila, but all of it. I won't even use it for cooking purposes. I don't drink that much. I don't really do anything except in moderation, but I had to pick something, and so alcohol got chosen. But I'm glad to be observing Lent this year. It makes sense to me. I celebrated Mardi Gras, my church observes it, and I should be a part of it too.


I'm off now to do more research for the series of posts I'm doing on my rant-y blog. The protests in the Middle East and Africa are of serious interest to me right now, so it's worth the time spent to look up all the info. And I should have just enough time between that research and baking cookies time to apply for some jobs. I love days where I feel productive (even though I didn't go running).

Mardi Gras Versus Exercising And Other Topics

Yesterday was quite a day for me. After getting up at 6:30 am, I was all pumped for the next 24 hours, which included hanging out with one of Easy's friends and his girl, a Mardi Gras celebration, and running again this morning at 6:30 am. But of course, plans never work out like they're supposed to. Thanks God Easy and I are flexible people.


I went with Easy to this high school he volunteers at working with the band in East St. Louis. I don't know what you readers may know about that city, but if you ever find yourself there, you should prolly head back out on the nearest expressway. I'm only slightly exaggerating. I've spent a considerable amount of time there because one of my best friends, Lion, is from there.


Easy's friend who we were supposed to hang out with last night lives there too. He flaked on us for some reason (who really cares?), but we'll probably see him at some point this week. I wasn't upset about it since Easy and I always seem to get into a fight when we're around his friends. This is just a "his friends problem. Not family and none of my people. I wrote a post about I'll publish at some point in the future. I'm actually looking forward to spending time with this guy and his girl so I can test my theory that we only fight when it's new friends. We've thus far never hung out with one of his friends more than once, except his nephew, but that's family too, so it doesn't count.


But even without Easy's friend, we headed out to celebrate Mardi Gras St. Louis style. It's interesting, they have all the gold, green, and purple decorations plus beads and New Orleans style food one could want. And if you are okay with St. Louis Cardinals jerseys everywhere, it's pretty much the same mix of drunk white people, jazz, and happiness. As far as I know, there's no version of Bourbon Street here though, lol. We didn't go to the parade because of the rain and the cold. It was supposed to be in the upper 50s, but it never warmed up to that point.


We did go to the Broadway Oyster Bar by ourselves. There was live music. Easy knew the trumpet player and he was amazing. The food was great. As soon as we walked in, I smelled grilled burgers and knew that's what I was eating. And they had a New Orleans menu for dessert, so that meant bread pudding. That's been my new dessert of choice the last couple of restaurants I've gone to. And we also had a couple of drinks. We danced and laughed and had a really good time. I was glad we were there by ourselves because then we didn't have to spend time getting to know other people.


We left to go bar hopping and quickly found that idea would not work based on cost, location, and how tired we both were. I'm not old! I just was ready to go home at like 10 pm. We had been up for a long time. But we didn't go to bed. we stopped at the store on the way home and decided to finally Rent RED (and watch it) and got a bottle of my favorite wine, Chateau Ste. Michelle Riesling. We watched the movie and drank the wine and were in bed sleep before 1 am. Again, I'm not old, but we were just tired!


I suggested we make plans for next year to truly enjoy what St. Louis had to offer for Mardi Gras. I had a lot of fun out and wanted to do more exploring. I wanted Easy to promise me we'd try out hardest to be in St. Louis for Mardi Gras next year. His reply? "We'll probably be married by this time next year, so we'll be together where ever we are." I was shocked. He and I talk about our futures a lot. There's even a running joke about an engagement ring made out of Lucky Charms. But to make it so concrete was a surprise to me.


It seems like when it comes to taking that next big step, every time Easy has to stop and think on it and plan it, it becomes less about the romance and the reality of the future, and more about not rushing things. I don't care about "rushing". I care about him and making our own rules and doing what fits for us. I think I said that way back in August. Yup, just found the post. Back then the rules were to just be us without a title, and now, less than seven months later, the rules have drastically changed. But as long as the rules still work for the two of us, I say let's go with that.


I don't know what exactly is going to happen in our immediate future, but I'm glad we're discussing the possibilities and not imposing limitations. And I'm glad we can work together for solutions to any problems. The latest solution? Well, we didn't go running this morning. Drinking an entire bottle of wine at 11 o'clock at night tends to make one lethargic the next morning. Easy suggested we go running when he gets off work. It's not my ideal plan for when to run, but it was his suggestion in the first place. So we'll be running this afternoon/evening. He has turned me into a person who not only accepts compromise, but I'm starting to thrive on it. As soon as there's a disagreement, I'm itching to find a middle ground. Weird.

We Actually Went Running This Morning

Last night over dinner, we decided we would try to get up and run this morning. I wanted to do that in the first place, but Easy wasn't feeling the idea of waking up even earlier in the morning. But seeing as how our work-out intentions for the evening didn't go well, we went to Plan B.

We woke up this morning (without alarms, yay) and got dressed to run. We headed outside and stretched and walked to the street. We took off jogging, with Easy going at a much faster pace than I would prefer. But we were going good for a while. Then we both got winded and slowed down to a walk.

There were two teenagers standing on one of the corners waiting for a bus. They gave us a very pointed look that clearly said, "black people do not go running. What are you doing?" We just kept going knowing how we stuck out like sore thumbs in that neighborhood.

Seeing as how it was only day one, I wanted us to not overdo it. So we only ran about half a mile in one direction. Then we turned around and ran back, ignoring the teenagers as they watched us even more intently. We talked, laughed, and cheered each other on as we ran. I found it interesting that he ran faster when we started yet I ran faster when we finished. That will be an interesting dynamic that hopefully keeps up both from overdoing it for any part of the exercise.

We came back to the house and stretched out a drank water. We don't spend a lot of quality time together before he goes to work, so that was a nice extra benefit. I showed Easy some stretches to help make him more flexible and improve his circulation. He's already pretty flexible, but he will be more so. And then all my neck rubs will be purely because they feel good, not because he needs them.

I really hope we go running again tomorrow. I will be extra proud of us if we do go because we are planning on attending a Mardi Gras parade tonight with a friend of his (and his girl) from college. Mardi Gras at night doesn't match with early morning exercise the next day. But this is St. Louis, not New Orleans, so I think we'll be okay.

So We Didn't Go Running

Easy says we'll go running tomorrow morning to make up for it. I didn't bother to explain that neither of us had the stamina to truly make up for missing today, so that wasn't the correct phrasing. But I left it alone cause who wants to date someone who is constantly correcting you? I guess Easy doesn't mind, but I try not to do it all day long.


I know you're wondering what happened? You were rooting that I was putting together an exercise routine that people all over would love to have as an option. How did I screw this up? Well, first I have a story to tell from earlier today.


Easy was texting me in the morning to make plans for our evening. We were going to go running, then head to the grocery store, then I was going to cook while he wrote/practiced (he plays the sax and writes great music). I was in on the plan. Then I left his house at noon to meet him and some co-workers at Applebee's. If you know Applebee's, you know that even their healthy food isn't that healthy. I had a Caesar side salad and chicken wrap, and still the after food coma got to me. Stupid Applebee's. And lunch was kind of boring because Easy and his co-workers talked shop the whole time. But it's okay. That's why God made Blackberrys.


I get back after lunch and immediately pass out, only waking up because I feel my phone vibrating and I hear Easy banging on his house door. I had his only keys to the place and I was going to have to wake up to let him in his own house. Then he wanted me to sit on his lap on the couch. I promptly went back to sleep. I'm leaving one part out. He called in the afternoon in the midst of my sleepiness and asked if I wanted to go to a Zumba class instead of run. I didn't want to, but he wanted to try it. Don't get me wrong, I'm willing to jump on the Zumba bandwagon too (it's at my parents' house on the Wii), but I wanted to run today. But I agreed to try the class.


I think that's what took my motivation away to exercise. I was all pumped to go running with my new running shoes (on sale at Marshall's for $10!), and when that wasn't the plan anymore, the wind was out of my sails. Back to the story. I was knocked out on the couch and Easy got up to go practice. I'm sure he tried to wake me, but I don't wake easily, and am completely uncooperative when very tired. I finally woke up and it was too late to make it to the Zumba class and he didn't want to go running. So we are trying again tomorrow. At least there's no Zumba class tomorrow, so we'll definitely be running.


We just have to go in the morning because I'd love to go to the Mardi Gras parade tomorrow night in downtown St. Louis. Jordan tells me it's really great. That decreases our chances of actually going, but I still have hope. I have to do something now that I've cancelled my expensive ass yoga membership.

Looking Forward to Valentine's Day

It goes against my better judgement to look forward to Valentine's Day.

I've got 26 V-days behind me that let me know the only people I can count on to make the day enjoyable are my daddy and other also-single female friends.

But this year I'm in a weird spot. Easy and I aren't boyfriend and girlfriend. I may write a post one day about how weird he is about that title.

The point  is we are in a place that makes the assumption that we would be spending Valentine's Day together. But we are not in a place that keeps exes from popping up to ask if we're free for that night.

Nevertheless, Easy and I are celebrating Valentine's Day together. I was very hesitant to look forward to it because of the disastrous days I've had.

It ranges from the day being completely ignored to a guy trying to make it special and failing miserably.

But I won't dwell on how horrible my experiences have been. Instead I'm going to talk about this coming weekend.

We're choosing to celebrate Valentine's Day on Saturday. He has to work Monday and we live in different cities, so that pretty much settled that.

I've already decided what I'm going to get him. That will be new for him. He says he's never gotten more than a card before. That's weird to me, but he's happy I'm getting him something, I believe.

He won't tell me what he's doing for me. Seriously, I know nothing. I figure I'm getting another charm for my charm bracelet he got me for Christmas. That's all I know.

He has a rehearsal in Chicago that morning. I'm supposed to keep the rest of the day free. Part of me is really excited about the possibilities.

I've tried to hard to have lowered expectations because of all the holidays I love so much, this one can't feel happy simply because of me. The happiness of the day rests in the hands of whomever I'm involved with.

Easy says he has it under control and I should just sit back and let someone make me happy. I'm gonna try it. I think it will end well. Well, that's not true. I'm skeptical and cynical. But I hope it will end well.

I'm not expecting some big fancy day with lots of activities. I just want us to spend the day together having fun with each other, like we always do. If there's some chocolate or wine involved, that will be nice as well..

I guess the thing I'm looking forward to most is celebrating Valentine's Day like an adult. Like how I brought in the New Year. Anyone who reads my blog knows that I desire to look back on my 20s with happiness at all the fun I had. I'm hoping this day fits the bill. I'm sure it will. I'll be with Easy. Him + me is a pretty simple recipe for fun and romance.

Creating Things Day Eight - The Perfect Wrapped Gift

People may wonder why I'm wrapping a gift well over two weeks after Christmas.

Well, it's because Easy and I aren't exchanging gifts until tomorrow.

He's been gone, but by this time tomorrow, I'll be on my way to the airport to pick him up.

And since we're exhanging gifts, I wanted his to be wrapped.

I wrap a mean Christmas gift. so I wanted something really nice to see.

He's been out of the country for the last five Christmases or so.

I imagine that doesn't lead to a lot of fancy wrapped presents.

So he will have one from me tomorrow.

And if we do end up exchanging gifts with his family, his people will see that I took extra measures to make his gift look awesome.

So here's the box I had to wrap.

Next, I had to pick out the perfect wrapping paper.

My family had a low-key Christmas this year, but we usually do it big, so down in the basement there were plenty of wrapping materials.

This is what I chose.

Once everything was picked out, I had to cut the paper down to size.

Then I wrapped the first part. This was tricky because the box is not uniform all around and the paper has stripes.

So I pulled out my trusty (now painty) lap table to have a hard surface to work on.

When striped paper is wapped perfectly, it just stands out as really nice, don't you think?

Then I wrapped the sides.

Then I added the bows and name tag. I could have left it like this, but I felt it needed just one more thing.

I'm not saying I'm destructive, but me and gifts don't transport well.

Seriously, unless that thing is going right under the nearest Christmas tree, something always goes wrong.

So I grabbed a bag to keep the gift safe and the bows un-smashed.

I think the colors and the wrapping just scream CHRISTMAS, which is essential for a late Christmas gift exchange. 

I think Easy will light up when he sees it. Everyone likes opening gifts.

More About Christmas Gifts

The girls' night one of my friends planned actually happened tonight.

I will say that I didn't expect the night to happen.

My friends aren't flaky, just occasionally otherwise occupied.

But most of us ended up at Gloria's house tonight.

We were catching up on holiday events and activities. I haven't seen most of them since Christmas Eve.

One of the things that came up were questions about when Easy was getting back from Europe.

I told them of how we were exchanging gifts once he gets back on Monday.

Easy actually suggested that I come over to his parents' house that night and we all exchange gifts together.

That prompted Michelle to bring up the fact that I had to purchase two Christmas gifts for him.

They all want to know the story of course.

I start by showing them the pic on my cell phone of the bracelet he already owns that he wanted me to find a chain to match.

I told them about first attempting to shop online and showed them what showed up in the mail.

They all started cracking up and asking me was I really considering giving a grown man a gift that looks like I purchased it somewhere named "Hood Jewelry Pagoda".

So then I told them about dragging Michelle out to purchase a much better chain and pulled out the box.

They immediately showed relief as they saw that the gift came in a real jewelry box and had a warranty.

They all said maybe he wouldn't immediately leave me if I gave him the second chain.

Then they started cracking jokes about how his family would react if I showed up to their house to exchange gifts and they saw the first under-whelming chain in the crappy box.

They suggested I use the gift as a gag gift, but I was like, "um no, I'll probably have told Easy about this before he gets back"

That, plus I don't want his family to know that I purchased such a wrong gift at first.

They didn't stop laughing for a while. I'm glad to be a source of amusement to my friends.

But I think I did pretty good for a first gift. Especially considering I usually just go for cuff links.

I'm branching out of my box. I seem to keep doing that with Easy. Eh, whatever.

Back To Life's Activities

Ever since I got sick after Christmas, I've been kind of MIA at church.

I just really didn't feel well and didn't feel like doing much of anything.

The only thing I got accomplished besides actually going out for New Year's Eve is still applying for jobs.

That doesn't take any energy and I can do that just lying in bed.

But now I finally feel like doing stuff again.

So today I took my car to the Honda dealership so it could get it's 100,000+ miles fix-up.

Yes, you read that right. My car has over one hundred thousand miles on it.

And then I headed over to my church because our church organization that several churches belong to was having it's quarterly business meeting.

My church hosted the meeting, so they needed members on hand to help out.

Even though I originally had no intention of helping, I felt like I should.

I've missed the last couple of Sundays, and there haven't been many meetings because of the holiday season.

I'll start back with yoga tomorrow. Even though I won't be going again anytime after that (I'll be in St. Louis), at least I will have kept myself from falling completely off the wagon.

I'm just glad I didn't gain any weight this holiday season. I did a pretty good job of not over-eating.

And tomorrow, the bowling league break will be done. I hope I haven't completely fallen apart in my bowling skills.

I've only been out practice bowling with my dad once. That was when I ran into an old flame.

It'll be nice to actually do stuff again. I just hope it doesn't interfere with my ability to take time to make something everyday.

Speaking of that, I guess I should get to it for today.

Less Than A Week Til Easy Returns

I've been trying not to post too much about Easy while he's been in Europe.

I didn't imagine anyone wanted to read thirty posts that all say, "he e-mailed me again, isn't that great?"

With the exception of a few no-wifi areas, I've been e-mailing him back and forth everyday.

I heard from him way more than I expected to, which is only great news for me.

He went through a lot of things to be able to e-mail me and the occasional video chat on gmail.

He even borrowed a soundman's laptop at the sound check of one of his shows.

Even with all of the contact, it felt like the time was passing so slowly.

This has been the longest two and a half weeks ever.

But now it's down to less than a week. That's right, in six days he'll be back.

I'm not sure if I'm picking him up from the airport or his mom is, but I'll see him Monday night either way.

And then Tuesday, we'll both be heading to St. Louis to spend some time together.

I'll be there long enough for his jazz quartet to do a gig. I've been dying to see him play his saxophone in a gig.

I haven't heard him play in a gig since August; it's just different playing than what you see at a jam session or during practice.

I'm really looking forward to next Monday. We're going to exchange Christmas gifts and make up for lost time.

I don't know if he's done any video chatting with his family, but if not, his mom is gonna freak out when she sees how much he's in need of a haircut.

I like the shaggy look on him, but I imagine she won't be a fan. Should be funny.

Okay, that's enough about Easy now. I'm off to discover what I can make for today.

I'm thinking I'm going to make some sort of sweet food. I haven't really baked anything since I moved back to Chicago.

New Year"s Day

All of 2010, except for Thanksgiving, we did the holidays really low key.

Not nearly as much food or guests over has become the norm.

It's just nice because there is much less stress about getting everything ready.

I think for 2011, I'll be ready for more fuss and fanfare again, maybe.

But today, I'm enjoying the relaxed nature of the day.

No waking up early to help set the table because there was no 8-10 person table to set!

That makes me particularly happy because I didn't get in until 4:30 am this morning.

I really had a lot of fun last night, see?

What did we end up doing? "We" is me, Michelle, Bad, and Jordan.

Well, first we went to this lovely restaurant for tapas.

We also ordered a great bottle of rose cava to do our toast with plus we got complimentary glasses of champagne.

And the food was fantastic. My favorite was the steak with bleu cheese.

Then we picked up one of Bad's best friends and his cousin and the party continued.

The only thing I didn't want for New Year's Eve was driving all over the city. But I wasn't driving, Bad was.

And to make things even better, it was soooo warm here last night. It was above 50 at one point.

So, there was no scary ice and snow out to confuse all the drunk happy people.

We ended up trying about three different bars before we found one that was open late enough and free (for us) to get in and the DJ was in a festive mood.

We ended up dancing for a couple hours and just really having a good time.

I even ran into an old friend from high school that I see every couple of years out at some club around downtown Chicago; it was nice seeing him again.

All in all, it was the perfect new year's eve.

I actually got the grown-up Chicago-style New Year's Eve I wanted. So unexpected, but definitely appreciated.

Salvaged New Year's Eve Plans

When it looked like all hope was lost, things improved.

It occurred to me that I might want to find a fun restaurant for the night and convince Michelle to join me.

But this is Chicago and everything was booked.

I gave up and settled in for the night. I figured I'd get some egg nog.

I was watching The Blind Side when Bad texted me to see what I was up to for the night.

When he found out I was up to a whole bunch of nothing, he invited me to join him and Jordan out for tapas.

Not wanting to be a third wheel, I asked if I could bring an additional wheel.

Michelle was at home, also watching The Blind Side.

She thought it might be fun to do something other that watching tv and drinking hot chocolate.

So we are off to salvage our New Year's Eve!

Thank God!

The Sickness Continues

I still feel pretty bad. The only thing that makes me feel like I will survive this sickness is that I still have an appetite.

I've missed all the events we had planned for the kids at church, but from what I hear, they went well.

I had some stuff I had to take care of, such as finalizing my lack of New Year's Eve plans, but I was able to take care of that without getting out of the bed.

That's right, no New Year's Eve plans. No show, no toast downtown with my friends at midnight, no cute outfit.

I have no idea where I'll be, or what I'll be doing. I really hope I don't feel better by Friday night because I will be really sad to be doing nothing.

Tomorrow night, a family friend is having an engagement party.

He's the same age as my brother and he's getting married. I'm not sure when the wedding is, but I figure it's sometime in the next year.

That means I definitely have two wonderful weddings to look forward to next year. Well, maybe only one.

I don't know where his fiancee is from. And they don't live in Chicago, so maybe they're not getting married here.

I guess we'll see.

One thing that made me happy today is I got some face time with Easy.

He called me about six times this morning, but I missed his calls. I was knocked out on aspirin and Tylenol PM.

But when I awoke, I e-mailed him.

He called me later in the evening and then we got on video chat.

We were only able to talk for about five minutes, but at least it was something.

I miss him so much. I miss talking to him everyday. The e-mails do fill in the gap, but it's not the same as talking to him.

And now I'm feeling sleepy again. Seriously, sitting up for more than ten minutes at a time just wipes me out.

I'm thinking about sticking with my idea of making something new each day starting January 1st.

I think I will keep it on this blog, no need to start a new one.

The question will be what to make. I guess I should start brainstorming.

An Unplanned Evening

Easy wasn't able to get online tonight. Which sucks.

There could have been any number of reasons why he wasn't able to.

The wifi could've shut down at the hotel. Or his roommate could've been using the laptop. Or he could've fell asleep.

They've been on a hectic schedule since they got there. They've been almost literally all over Spain.

Even though I really miss Easy and was looking forward to talking to him, not talking to him tonight taught me something.

I am okay if something doesn't pan out like he says it would.

A number of weeks ago in the not so distant past, that would have been a huge red flag and I would be looking to run unless he had a really good explanation.

But today, my trust is not so easily shaken. I'm able to think of lots of plausible reasons why he wasn't where he said he'd be.

The evening ended up being quite eventful. Michelle and her sister came over. They stayed for quite a while. We were watching tv and laughing and joking.

It would've been fantastic fun if it weren't for the fact that my nasal passages were becoming more and more inflamed and I couldn't really breathe right.

And to make matters worse, every other commercial on the tv promised solutions to nasal congestion. And all the commercials fixed inflammation, not mucus.

It was like being taunted. I wasn't going to leave the house to go get medicine. The last time I left the house, I got sick.

A discussion of New Year's Eve came up and nothing got settled. I don't know what's going to happen.

I may just stay sick so I can't go out rather than feel disappointed.

I guess we'll see what happens.

But back to Easy. I wish I had an outside interpretation of my reaction to his not being able to chat online tonight.

Is it that I really am gaining more genuine trust for him or is it that being in love blinds me and makes me more accepting of flaws (at least in the early stages)?

Top always says that saying "I love you" is the easy part.

It's the time after that when things get tough because then you have to back it up. I hope me having more trust is a starting example.

Getting Ready For New Year's Eve

I've been MIA for a couple of days without intending to.

After I got my hair done on Christmas Eve, I went out to an early dinner with Top and Bad, and then I met Camille and Michelle (and a couple of our other friends) to go see Little Fockers.

And I caught a cold. Or maybe the flu. I'm thinking it's the flu because I've had a really bad fever and everything hurts, serious myalgia.

But Christmas was fun and lowkey. My mom finally put some ornaments on the tree.

Here's our tree.

After Christmas, I went from a slight cough to full-blown sick. I've been sleeping on and off for the last three days and doing not much else.

My hair ended up not being plum brown. My hairstylist found this new color she simply had to try on me. It's called Berry Wood. More red, less burgundy.

It's subtler than I thought it would be. But I love it. She says the next time we dye it, the color will be more obvious. I took a picture of it, but you can barely see the color in the picture.

Here it is.

So getting ready for New Year's Eve is on the agenda.

I usually don't take a whole bunch of medicine when I'm sick, but I cannot be sick this Friday!

As of now, we only have a hotel room. Nothing else. I don't know how we're going to work this out.

My flaky-friends proof plans were not sell out proof. No Kevin Hart show because the tickets sold out.

There is another comedy show, but I don't know about that one. It costs more and my friends aren't fans of those comics.

So we've got three days to sort that out. We'll see if I end up getting the new year's eve I want or not.

Getting Ready For Christmas

The tree is up and decorated, sort of.

We haven't put any ornaments on it, but it has lights and a tree topper.

It's just so much work to put the whole tree together and then have to take it back down again in just a short time.

It's not like we have any small children around. I'm the youngest person that will be in the house for the holiday, and I'm 26.

Granted, it is because of me that we even put the tree up. I'm the Christmas fanatic in the house.

Here is our tree.

And here are the ornaments we haven't yet put on the tree and cards we've received but not hung up.

So, we are doing other things to get ready for the holidays. Stocking up on egg nog, apple cider, and hot cocoa is a must.

Also, there is shopping for other people and their children.

Last night, we gave these two dresses to a family friend for her two daughters. I loved those dresses and was glad she loved them too.

I have some gifts to wrap for some of my kids at church.

Tomorrow, my mother and I will prep for Christmas dinner.

My family has been low key for most of the 2010 holidays, except for Thanksgiving, so we will do the same for Christmas.

We will probably have cornish hens and wild rice dressing.

I am doing something for myself though for Christmas. I'm finally dyeing my locks!

I'm excited for how it will look. I let my hair dresser pick the color. I hope it's not too bright, but I do want it to be noticeable.

The color is called plum brown. That will be a reddish-purple-y brown. I'm really excited because I've been wanting to dye my hair for a while now.

I will post a picture tomorrow after I get back from the hair dresser.

So all there's left to do now is watch Home Alone once more.

I love that scene where the kids are singing "O Holy Night" in the church and the old guy who scares Kevin inspires him to protect his house from the burglars.