The Long Awaited Story

December 18, 2010
Oaks Park in Portland

Jeff had made arrangements for us to hang out with a couple of our friends, Jeff and Jamee Shermer. We hadn't spent any time with them since the evening in October when we were invited over to play games and talk and stuff. Jeff and Jamee's wedding was the first one Jeff and I attended together as a couple, so we have a particular fondness for hanging out with them.

The guys decided it would be fun for us to all go roller skating together. So Saturday morning, Jeff and I headed off to the location of our first "official" date.

We got there a little later than anticipated because Jeff kept fighting with my GPS. He didn't like the way the Aussie Lee or the Brit Daniel told him where to go (guys! Why did he want me to bring it in the first place???). After many incidences of "recalculating", we finally arrived at the skating rink.

Jeff and Jamee were already there and skating. Jeff and I put on our skates and started finding our balance on the wheels. I told Jeff after the highly entertaining drive out there, I needed to use the restroom, so I gave him a quick kiss and told  him I'd see him in a sec.

When I came out, my Jeff was no where to be seen, so I found Jamee and her Jeff and started out on the rink. I figured Jeff was either fussing with his skates or using the restroom himself. The music was different this time. There was a birthday party going on that day, so instead of the 80's hits we reminisced to last time, newer pop music blasted us around the rink. At one point I looked at Jamee and said "is it sad that I know this is the Jonas Brothers playing?" Thankfully, she didn't think so. She's a very nice person.

Eventually I located Jeff. He still had not come out on the rink. Instead he was over next to the deejay booth talking to the person running the music. Requesting "Love Shack" just to irritate me, no doubt. I headed over. When he saw me, he paused in his conversation and came to me to see what was up. "Are you coming out?" I asked. He said he'd be out in a sec and went back. He doesn't usually shoo me off like that, so I figured maybe he's being sweet and requesting a song that we could skate to together to surprise me. That's the kind of thing he would do. He's just sweet like that.

Finally he did come out and skate with me. He held my hand and pulled me around a little quicker than I was comfortable with, but I held on and enjoyed the ride. He was a little distracted, but I know guys have a hard time doing two things at once and figured staying balanced was taking up his focus.

He started complaining that his feet were hurting. My poor guy; I suggested he sit down and give his feet a rest. He agreed and started heading through the middle of the rink toward the exit. Having spent many years in the roller skating world, I knew it was not proper etiquette to go through the middle, but rather to go around, so I pulled his hand to get him to go around the edge to a different exit. He started complaining more, saying he REALLY needed to sit down. I said I know and that the exit is right over there. No, he wanted to go this way. That's when I noticed there was a chair in the middle of the rink. I briefly wracked my brain to remember a skating game that requires a chair in the middle of the rink and couldn't think of anything, but it didn't matter; there had to be a reason the chair was there and it was probably NOT for a resting place for a guy who didn't want to go out the exit like everyone else. I kept pulling him toward the exit.

Jeff was persistent and I finally gave up. For whatever reason, he was determined to sit in the middle of the rink. I let him pull me over, rolling my eyes affectionately at the quirkiness of my boyfriend. We got to the chair and he leaned on it while I stood next to him. "It would have been just as easy to go that way and sit there," I told him. "Yes, I would have," he responded. Then he looked at me straight in the face.

The mood suddenly changed. The beginnings of my favorite, my most romantic-feeling song started flowing around me. My eyes widened in surprise. No one in their right mind would play Moon River during a pre-teens birthday, unless it was for a specific reason. "I know this song!" I said. What I meant was "I know what's going on." Jeff smiled and told me to have a seat.

I moved in what felt like slow motion. I was vaguely aware of Jeff and Jamee standing in the distance, one holding Jeff's camera, the other holding a video camera, both sporting wide, happy smiles.

Jeff moved in front of me and knelt down on one knee. He told me that the past seven months with me has been amazing and that he loved the adventures we have shared so far. He said he wants to spend his life with me. Then he pulled a ring box out of his pocket and asked if I would let him be my husband.

I said yes, of course.

It was amazing. In all my dreams, I couldn't have imagined a more perfect proposal. He was clever enough that it was a surprise; he was thoughtful enough that, even though it was in front of people, we weren't necessarily center of attention, so I didn't feel pressured (I'm not sure it would have mattered, though, because as soon as he knelt in front of me, the world around us literally disappeared to me); he was wise enough to plan ahead and write out the words that he said to me and have Jamee take pictures, so that I can include this most special moment in my scrapbooks; and he was creative enough to figure out how to give me my romantic soundtrack. Is it any wonder why I love him?

Playing Catch-Up

Okay. You win. All of you.

I've been a very bad blogger the last six months and I am sincerly ashamed of myself.

Too much has happened for me to completely fill you in with one entry. I'm not even going to try. I'll give you a brief summary of the past six months, and fill in the rest with random "flashback" entries:

I'm engaged!

Jeff has turned out to be a better leading man than I could ever have imagined. And he wants to continue playing the part for the rest of our lives. I'm more than happy to accept.

I'm still in shock at the moment. I've been an engaged woman for four days now and it still doesn't feel real. Tonight I told the rest of the family and so now all the people who needed to be told in person have been informed, with squeals of delight, hardy congratulations, and a few overjoyed tears being shed. Just moments ago, I officially changed my status on facebook, knowing full well that in three short months I will be changing it once again and for the last time.

The rest is a blur. Dates, dresses, bridesmaids, flowers, choices, choices, choices. And all this while trying to finish the Christmas stuff. It all makes the past six months fade in comparison.

And in the midst of it all, I'm happy. Happy to be loved, happy to be in love, and happy to have found such an amazing man to spend the rest of my life with.

Everything else becomes just background noise.

Meeting the Parents

Jeff took me to meet his parents today!

The whole thing started after church. We were meeting Don and Mom and Derrick for brunch to celebrate Father's Day. As usual, we were there before them, so while we waited, Jeff decided to call his dad and see what his plans were for the day. When he discovered that the family would all be getting together later that day, he put the phone down and asked if I'd be interested in going over and meeting them. When I said sure, he got back on the phone and told his dad he would be "bringing a guest."

Brunch with my family was fun. Jeff seems very comfortable with my family. He and Don have a lot in common and they had plenty to talk about. And Jeff told me later that he enjoyed getting the chance to get to know mom a little better too (he said she seemed a little more comfortable on this visit. Probably due to the smaller group and the lack of "first impression" pressure).

After brunch, we went our separate ways for a couple of hours. It gave us a chance to go home, change out of our church clothes, and each grab a small catnap. Sunday catnaps are very important.

I awoke from my nap to the sound of the doorbell ringing, followed quickly (and loudly) by the barks of two dogs who were just surprised out of a deep slumber themselves. By the time I stumbled over to the door and opened it up, I realized that I had slept too long and was going to have to figure out how to shake the drowsiness quickly so I don't make a bad impression to the parents.

I was able to rouse myself on the drive over to their house. As I had said before, his childhood home was not very far away from my childhood home, so the second we turned onto the familiar street of 39th, my brain woke right up. As we drove down, I pointed out the road that lead to my old church and looked at all the changes that the houses on my street had undergone.

When we got to the house, Jeff took me through a quick refresher of the members of his family (mother, father, brother, sister-in-law, and nieces) and we headed in.

The first thing I noticed when I walked into the room was his youngest niece (age 14?) sitting across the room, grinning up at her uncle and this strange woman following behind him. She had a very bright, very sweet smile that literally felt blinding to me. Jeff started making the introductions and my eyes adjusted to the bright smile in time to catch the look that swept quickly around the room: "Did you know he was dating someone???"

Well, that wasn't what I was expecting. As we sat down on the couch, I gave him a sideways glance and asked very softly "did you even tell your parents about me?" His sheepish and apologetic look told me all I needed to know. Perfect. Throw shy Deema to the unsuspecting family. This should be interesting. . .

Ready, set, GO!

Actually, it wasn't that bad. His dad is very much into photography, so their house is filled with beautiful photos, which gave me an instant connection with him. Phew, one parent down, one to go.

Luckily, his dad provided the perfect way in. At some point, his dad commented that I look familiar to him and wondered if we've ran into each other before. Jeff said, "tell her where you used to go to church" and wouldn't you know, it was the same little church I had JUST pointed out to Jeff on the way over. They started going there shortly after I moved to Tennessee.

Suddenly I was at complete ease. Even though I had never met these people, they were friends with the people who was part of my life as I was growing up. In a weird, roundabout way, they were practically already family. I was able to chat easily and comfortably after that. And in a HUGE effort to make a good impression, I even forced myself to remain engaged and responsive when his dad decided to take a rabbit trail onto a political soapbox.

Jeff told me after we left that he could tell they liked me. Phew! What a relief.

A Very Busy Saturday!

With all the stuff going on in our lives right now, Jeff and I realized that we would have to "schedule" our time together. As sad as that sounds, it seems to work for us. Except for one small problem: so much of our scheduled together time is tied up in other activities (church, bible study, volleyball) that we are left with only one day free and too many activities to try and pack into it.

Today for example:

My friends Ron and Christy had invited Jeff and I over for dinner so that they could get a chance to get to know him. But Jeff had an "End of the School Year" party with his coworkers from the school that day and had already invited me to go with him. So we had to figure out how to work both activities into one day.

We started with an early dinner with Ron and Christy and Corban and Sam. I was rather impressed with how easily he connected with Corban. They got along really well and even built a Lego building together, so Christy is pretty sure that he got Corban's thumbs up. :)

Ron and Christy both seem to like Jeff (because, honestly, who wouldn't?) and he got along really well with them. Jeff told me later that he'd like to get a chance to talk more to Ron. I think they will have fun discussing guns and other boy stuff.

After we spent a few hours with Ron and Christy, we headed out to the company party. It was at the principal's house which was a very large property. There was a band of staff members playing when we arrived (we were very late due to our dinner engagement) in the barn. Jeff introduced me to a few people and we wandered around the party to see what all was going on. Jeff's coworker had built a HUGE fire that could cook me from ten feet away. After the band finished playing, they brought out the karoke, which Jeff was ready to take part of. He sang a couple of times, and I have to admit, surprised me with his voice.

He's so cute that I even permitted him to sing that song; the one I hate to hear; the one I hate so much that I was going to ban it from my ball. Blah. But he sang it with a few other coworkers and I have to grudgingly say it wasn't half bad. Considering.

I'm so lucky to have met a guy so willing to compromise with me. I'm not used to having someone else put my activities as a priority on his list of things to do. It's a very nice change.

(And for the record, now that I've written about it, that stupid song is now running through my head, which is one of the main reasons that I HATE that song so much!)

Not Who I Thought She Was. . .

We've been asked so many times what kind of dog Lucca is and we're never sure, so Derrick decided it was time to do a DNA test on her. So the last time we took the dogs in for a vet visit, we asked them about the test. The vet told us that yes, they could do that and hey, we were in luck because the test was on sale (what does that even mean???) We figured since we were getting a deal on it, and because some of our neighbors were insistent that she was part Pit Bull (and treating her with the fear that comes with the prejudice), we decided to have Jade tested too.

It took many weeks to get the results back. MANY weeks. But finally, the big news arrived. And I'm so amazed at what we learned that I feel the need to share our findings:

Lucca: Our hyper-active teddy bear turns out to actually be a mix of three different types of dogs.

Bull terrier + schnauzer + chow chow = Lucca

     

Interesting. It explains a bit about her personality. Especially the digging in my walls part (yeah, she's currently working on another hole. She's sneaky and onrey.)

The big surprise was in Jade's results. We'd been told that she was part Lab, part Boxer. We didn't really think she was Pit Bull as some others seemed to. But in reality:

Jade = Mostly black Lab (at least 75%) + American Bull Dog (at least 25%)

I feel like my world has been turned upside down. I can't seem to wrap my head around the fact that Jade has no Boxer, but instead Bull Dog. I mean, it makes sense. I can see the traits in both her body and her personality. But for over a year, I thought she was one thing and it turns out that she's something else all together. Wow. . .

Wild Waves

My church group did a trip up to Wild Waves! So much fun. And the best part: we actually got SUN!

I wasn't sure if Jeff would be able to go with me. He started classes this week and we weren't sure he would have all his homework caught up. Happily, he was able to get everything done so I could spend the day playing with my new guy.

It was a great day. We rode rides and splashed in the wave pool (I didn't take my swimsuit, but I did roll up my pants and wade in a little ways).

 We spent the day hanging out with Danielle, who is part of our Friday night Bible study.She's a lot of fun.

Eventually the activities and hot sun started getting to us and we found our way back to the rest of the group in the tiny bit of shade that we could find. We lounged around on the grass for a bit, talking, looking over our pictures, and napping slightly.

Dinner was BBQ ribs. Yum!

Then we sat around and played some card games.

The trip home was pretty quiet as most of us was so worn out we slept most of the way home. It was a great day and a lot of fun to hang out with Jeff for the entire day.

Spring Thing

Ah, the end of the academic year at the college. A time for relaxation. A time for fun. A time to prepare for graduation. 

Just before graduation, the college has its annual Spring Thing. It's a time to celebrate the hard work of the students. It's a big hoopla event that happens in the middle of the day. Because of the timing of the event, I am usually buried in paperwork and miss my opportunity to check it out, but this year I ran up during my lunch hour to see the festivites. 

They had pizza and ice cream and music. There was a rock climbing wall, an obstacle course (in the form of the Titanic), and Sumo wrestling. Oh, and an epic game of Capture the Flag: Pirates vs. Ninjas set up by my my cousin Angie.

A Year Without Grandpa

It's hard to believe it's been a year since Grandpa left us. Sometimes it seems like it was just last week. I still miss him so much and have not yet been able to get used to going over to Grandma's house and not seeing him in his chair in the corner. Every time I take a photo of flowers, I wish that he was here to enjoy it with me. Grandma's garden just doesn't look the same without Grandpa's loving care.

I realized that I never did get around to writing up an entry about how wonderful and special he was. But it's so hard to decide what to focus on. He was a great man and lived many wonderful years and there are so many things to say about him.

He loved his family very much. He especially loved his wife. He loved her long before she was willing to love him and he waited patiently for her to be ready to marry him. According to my mom and her siblings, he was an especially loving father. They rarely had babysitters because he always wanted the whole bunch of them with him. As his children grew up, got married and started having children of their own, he dreamed of somehow getting everyone into houses on his street so that all his kids and grandkids would be in one central location with him right in the center. He loved having us all together.

He was a fishing and hunting man. I have vague memories of sitting out on the small boat with him, waiting and waiting for a fish to finally take my bait and allow my grandpa to help me pull it in. I hated having to touch the fish, which he thought was terribly funny. But I loved it when he would cook those scaly creatures up with bread crumbs and lemon juice. Grandpa's fish was probably one of my very favorite meals ever. Followed rather closely by his biscuits and gravy, which I also remember eating at a young age.

Grandpa preferred to wear flannel shirts all the time. He had a whole bunch of them. Many of them were ones that I picked out for him for Christmas. As much as I love Christmas shopping, my very favorite part was when I would go to the men's department and locate their flannel shirts and spend great amounts of time trying to decide what color and style would look best on my grandfather that particular year. Every year he knew he'd be getting one from me, every year he would be very happy to get it, and every year he would be sure to wear it the next time I saw him.

There's so many stories I could share, so much I could say about him, but I don't think I'd ever be able to find the right number of words. Instead, I think I'll share a video we made for his memorial service last year. It shows so well the grandpa I remember, the one who loved his family, loved his dogs, loved his home, and loved his life.

Writing the Next Chapter

I'm so hesitant to write about this because of how quickly things turned ugly for me the last time I introduced a leading man into my story, but I'm getting scolded for not keeping up on my activities, so I guess I'll give it another shot.

When I had last left off, the cute ice cream guy had mentioned getting together again "sometime". The casualness of the question, mixed with the slight awkwardness of him getting it out left me thinking that he would chat with me at Bible study next Friday and then maybe bring up something causal we could possibly do together later the next week. I was not at all prepared to receive an invitation on Wednesday to do something that Saturday.

Saturday arrived and he and I went to Oaks Park to go roller skating. How fun! We bonded over shared memories of the 80's music and the old all-school skating parties we used to attend in elementary school. I knew we had attended the same high school, but I was surprised to learn that we also went to the same jr. high and elementary school. Turns out we were practically neighbors in our childhood days. Weird.

Roller skating was a fun and original date idea. And very smart. We were able to talk but during those times when we were not talking, we weren't sitting in awkward silence looking around the room wondering what to talk about next. Instead we had crazy 80's music and the desire to remain on our feet to keep us distracted. I think it's truly amazing that I can run around in vertigo-inducing heels like they are tennis shoes, but throw eight wheels on the bottom of my shoe and I become a total klutz.

After roller skating we went to a nice little family-owned Italian restaurant and discovered a shared fondness of pineapple on our pizza. He's more traditional with his pineapple, pairing it with the customary Canadian bacon, while I like to flirt with a more daring side and throw on pepperoni, but the common pineapple bond was a happy discovery.

Sunday was church and the "Party Because None Of Us Have To Work In The Morning" thrown by his roommates, which I happily attended and enjoyed. Terry and I taught him to play Kings while other partiers watched "That Thing You Do" or played Cranium games in the other room. At least, I think that's what they were doing. Terry said that a few of them seemed almost more interested in watching our game and the silly banter going on between me and each of the guys. I'm kind of glad I didn't notice that part.

Monday was Memorial Day and as such, a free day for those of us who work for the government. And Derrick (because Monday's are always his day off). I was planning on going to see Iron Man 2 on Tuesday and wanted a quick refresher, so I had asked if I could borrow the movie and somehow along the lines ended up agreeing to letting him come over and watch it with me. Yikes! Derrick assured me that we could get the house cleaned up enough for me to feel okay with this new interest of mine to come over without worrying that he would get eaten by monsters. I can't say I was at any point ever perfectly happy with the house, but at least Derrick was right and he made it in and out all in one piece.

*Bonus points for the guy: he came bearing popcorn, Coke, and a small ball to distract Jade from barking at him. Very sweet and very smart.*

On Tuesday he sent me a note asking if we could get together during the week and talk about "our relationship". To me, this is right along the lines of saying "Deema, we need to talk. . . ." Nothing good could come of this! For the rest of the day I pondered what on earth I could have done already to scare him off. No, not pondered; I obsessed. Maybe it was a bad idea to introduce him to my brothers so soon. But then again, he was the one who wanted to meet them. Maybe it was something I had said? Or something I didn't say? Did I forget to do something that is vital in this stage in a relationship? He was doing the pursuing, so it couldn't be that I was chasing him off by being too aggressive, and I thought I was being receptive enough to not give the impression that I wasn't interested. . . At this point, I reverted back to my standard postion that dating just SUCKS.

But I agreed to get together with him anyway. I figured it was better to get it over with sooner rather than drag it out. Like peeling off a band-aid: fast and with little mercy. We agreed on dinner at his place the next day. That struck me as an odd way to have the "talk": "Here, let me make dinner for you at my place. Oh and by the way, I've decided that I'm not interested in pursuing this any further. Have a nice day."

Actually, only a small part of me thought that. In reality, I realized that I hadn't had a chance to do something wrong and it was very unlikely that the conversation was going to go like that. That's dramatic Deema taking the control and I decided to reign her in before she went too far.

As you might have suspected, I had nothing to worry about. The conversation was nice and honest and very positive. I found him to be very different from any other guy I've ever known. There's no indecsion or hesitation with him. He doesn't seem to be running the customary tally of pros and cons on me. He seems to have no desire to hide me away or deny any kind of relationship with me. And he hasn't needed me to do anything to convince him to move forward. In fact, if anything, I'm the one stepping lightly and cautiously and each time finding it an unnecessary precaution.

At this point I realized that I'm going to have to give him a name in my blog. I could continue referring to him as "the cute ice cream guy" but it seems rather clear that he intends to be involved enough in my activities that it would get a bit tedious writing that out each time. But like I said at the beginning, I was still hesitant due to the last time my leading man got a real name.

Still undecided about the name issue for my blog (by the way, I hope this also explains a little of why it's taken so long to write all this stuff up), I agreed to go with him to play miniature golf for a birthday party. I thought it would be a good way to see how he did this dating thing when other people are around. He's very sweet and attentive when we're out together, but how will he be with me with his friends around? How would he deal with me in a crowd of people I don't know? I gave myself permission to leave him nameless in my story until I observed the answers to these questions.

He's just as sweet and attentive in a crowd of people as he is when we are alone. He didn't make me play, but allowed me to take pictures instead (I hadn't told him how much I really HATE miniature golf, but did express a hesitation about playing). He would come over and stand with me if I seemed to be lingering back from the crowd (which I actually didn't do as often as I normally would) and wait for me to feel comfortable enough to jump back into the group. And he held my hand without even a little trace of embarrassment.

And if that wasn't enough, the next day he met most of my family. And he still seems to like me!

So, I guess that means he's proven himself worthy of a name. Meet Jeff:

I'm a little excited to see what kind of leading man he turns out to be in my story. :)

Sniffles

I hate being sick. Especially when I'm not really sick, but just sick-ish. Sore throat, headache, sniffly nose but without the sick person aches and pains. I'm too sick to want to do anything, but not sick enough to call in at work.

Oh well. I guess I'll make the best of it by making some white tea and loading my dinner with antioxidant-filled blueberries and calling it a night.

I suppose that's what I get for playing hooky from the flu season.

Saturday: A Story

I had a really bad headache on Friday night. As the Bible study wore on, it steadily (and rapidly) grew into a full blown migraine. I'm talking tightening-vice, squeeze your eyeballs out, sensory overload, sick to your stomach migraine. I managed to make it through the study, but I couldn't stay for the hang out time afterwards. I was just in too much pain. So, I don't have anything interesting to give you guys about Friday.

Saturday morning I woke up to a completely silent house. Everyone else was asleep in their rooms, dogs included, and I had free reign of a silent, video-game-free living room. So I wandered downstairs with my very slight migraine hangover to start flipping through the TV, searching for the right Saturday morning animation to wake me up.

I was still in the process of enjoying the quietness of my extra-full apartment when the phone rang. In an unusual act of good will, I actually answered the phone. It was one of the guys from my community group checking on my head. After establishing that I was feeling much better, he invited me out for some ice cream to finish a conversation we had intended to pick up after Bible study the night before.

We decided on Ice Cream Renaissance for our visit. It's this cool, artsy ice cream shop that makes the most delicious ice cream art. Really. The even call themselves ice cream artists. For them, it's all about the presentation. The fact that the ice cream is every bit as tasty as it is artful is just an added bonus. I've been there a few times and really like it, but I had never been there on a Saturday afternoon before. Apparently that's the time to go because there was one, MAYBE two, other people besides us in there. The perfect place for two non-coffee drinkers to meet for a chat. We talked for awhile about lots of things: church, ministries, our families, our friends, movies we like or absolutely despise. It was a lot of fun.

I'll be honest, though, my favorite part of the afternoon was at the end when we were walking back to the cars and he tried to find the right words to gauge my interest in getting together with him again sometime in the future. I can't say I've ever seen anyone fumble around for words like that before. Then he said "I'm so bad at this" and gave it one more try. It was rather cute. I told him yes, I'd like that. Then we said we'd see each other at church tomorrow and headed off to our other Saturday activities.

A few hours later, I drove up to my Grandma's house. As I walked in the door and tried to keep the barking, jumping, miniture dogs from using their freshly groomed nails to shred my new nylons, Grandma looked at me with delighted surprise and asked what I was doing over there. "Meeting you and mom for dinner." I replied, very matter-of-factly. Grandma was very excited; she didn't realize that mom had invited me to join their "girls night out, dinner and play" evening.

We went to Taste of Asia for dinner. What can I say, my family is rather fond of those yummy Chinese dishes. Mom and I are especially fond of the assortment of sushi that they carry. I had my first Coke in two days (which may account for the sudden migraine attack the day before) and all felt right with the world.

After dinner, we headed up to the college to get our tickets for the play. It was called "Doubt: A Parable" and we were curious to see what questions it was going to raise and then not answer (because you can't really expect something called "Doubt" to leave you with any kind of certainty in the end, can you?) Colynn would be meeting us at the college, so we wanted to get there early enough to get four seats together.

When mom went to the box office to purchase the tickets, she found out that they had no ushers for that showing. So being the financially-savvy woman that my mother is, she volunteer herself and her daughter to help usher (and thereby get the two of us into the show for free!) I had never ushered before, but it was pretty simple. Rows 1-3 by the door, 4-13 in the middle, 14-16 on the end, no row A, rows B-M in order going to the back of the theater. Mom and I each put a couple in the wrong seat only once. All other seat mishaps were their own faults.

The play was interesting. Just as suspected, there was no clear answer at the end. It left the story so ambigious that we were able to have a discussion afterwards about whether we believed the priest was innocent or guilty of the crime he was accused of (for the record, I prefer to still believe the best in the religious leaders, and feel confident that he was innocent. Mom, on the otherhand, was convinced that he was guilty. Interesting indeed)

After the play, I mentioned ice cream to my fellow show girls and we decided it would be fun for them to try something new and different, so we all went over for my second helping of Ice Cream Renaissance. YUM!

By the time I got home, it was late and I was too tired to write up the blog as I had promised Colynn I would, so instead I promised myself I'd "do it tomorrow" and quickly drifted off to a land filled with Chocolate, Honey Vanilla, Peanut Butter, and Strawberry flavored dreams. And I shall leave it up to your brilliant minds to determine the nature of those sugary sweet dreams. :)

Growing Up

I imagine everyone has one of those moments at some point in their lives where something causes them to stop and look at their life for what it really is. Maybe they realize how far they have come from whatever situation they started with; perhaps they wonder how they ended up so far from where they had intended to be. Whether they are pleasently surprised or surprisingly disappointed, the moment is usually accompanied with the question "how on earth did I end up here?"

My moment of reality came a few weeks ago in the form of a pair of pants.

No, this isn't a story of a magical pair of pants that binds me closer to my girl friends as we all move into new adventures and learn of life and love. That story has already been written (and quite well, by the way). Mine is a story of a 30-something woman who realizes that she is not who she once was and no where close to who she wants to be.

A few weeks ago, I went to put on my favorite comfy jeans when I realized there was a hole in them. Not the trendy kind of hole in the knee that I could wear with a colorful pair of leggings and pass off as the hippest fad. No, this was a frayed hole made of frequent wearing and washings and it was in a location that is neither trendy, nor hidable. I sighed a sigh of deep regret and went back into my closet to find a different pair. Unfortuntately I realized why those jeans were so often worn: since I crossed the 30 threshhold, I located some of the weight I had always managed to avoid in the past and none of my other jeans fit me anymore.

Well, except for one. One pair of tomboy-ish, super casual, blah colored pair of blue jeans.

I hate these jeans. I have no idea how they even ended up in my closet. There is nothing feminine or "cute" about them. The only shoes that work with them are my old, worn tennis shoes. Pairing them with a sexy top and high heels would just look ridiculous. And I have no other choice at the moment.

But it soon became apparent that this was not going to be a problem for me. As I started going through my closet, looking for tops to go with my blah-ish jeans, I realized that I was having little trouble finding equally blah shirts. It seems that lately, completely without my conscious knowledge of it, I had started defaulting to the blah casualness of my invisible junior high years.

And that's when the question slapped me in the face: How did I get here??? In college, I used to wear dresses all the time. In fact, just four years ago I was constantly looked at as the "fashionable" friend. When did I lose all that? When did I decide that it was okay to tuck my beautiful heels in the dark closet and be content with one simple pair of black flats? When did that become who I am?

And then I started to notice that it extends further than my wardrobe. My daily routine consists of "go to work, go home, go to bed" and nothing exciting happens between those "big events". I don't hang out with people anymore. I don't do anything fun, active, or creative. I haven't scrapbooked in ages. My apartment is overly disorganized. And one day, I drove up to my apartment and saw a strange guy playing with a dog in the yard and found out that I've had a new neighbor for about two months now and had NO idea.

This stuff does not make me happy.

So, what to do about it? I guess I have to make changes. But changing is so hard sometimes. And I'll be honest: I don't like doing it. Ever. But it must be done sometimes.

It's time I start acting like the responsible adult that I'm supposed to be.


My first major change has been to set my jeans aside and start pulling my pretty skirts and dresses back out. Actually, that's not too hard to change my thinking about since I do hate the only pair of jeans I can fit into right now, but it is requiring me to put a little more thought and effort in my dressing habits again.

I'm also trying to start small daily routines to get my home organized and hopefully keep it that way. This is a little tricky as I have to work around two playful dogs and three other people who have different styles of "cleaning" up after themselves. But I guess small efforts are better than no efforts. Or at least that's what I keep telling myself.

And I'm getting out of the house as often as I can. I take the dogs to the park, go to the young adults ministry at church, and I joined a bible study group. I'm meeting new people and hoping that will help me to find even more opportunities to get out.

There's even a thought in my mind that it might be nice to start cooking my own dinner at home once in awhile. But I don't want to get too crazy too soon. Baby steps.

Baby steps to the grown up life.

The Great Escape (Attempt)

Derrick's other dog, Lucca, moved in with us recently. It's kind of a weird situation, but she's been living with Derrick's friends (and our neighbors) since he got her (since that was where he spent most of his time anyway). Recently some things have happened to disrupt our living situations and Lucca ended up moving to our apartment.

Lucca is a cute little pup. She's about 6 or 7 months old and very loving and friendly. She's got a lot of energy and loves to play "chase the kitty" (much to Esther's chagrin). She loves to lick faces and will lay contently on any lap that is accompanied by a belly rub. She's like a hyperactive teddy bear.

It's taking some adjustment on all our parts. Jade and Esther had worked out an understanding which Lucca refuses to adhere to, Jade isn't used to sharing me with Lucca, and Lucca isn't used to obeying me. I'm used to a quieter house with a calm dog and a declawed cat, so Lucca makes me feel a little exhausted. And Jade has grown out of the chewing stage, so I don't have to worry about kicking off my shoes and returning to find a pile of pretty leather in their place. But Lucca cannot be trusted with my pretties.

The hardest adjustment for all of us has been what to do with the girls during those few short hours that neither of us are home. Neither girl has spent much time without human company and like I said, Lucca has a chewing problem. We decided that the best bet would be to make the back room doggie proof and utilize the baby gates I got when Jade was still a puppy.

The first day, Derrick put the girls in the back with some toys, their water, and a doggie bed and set the little wooden gate up in the hall and left for work.

I arrived home a little over three hours later. I walked in and was greeted at the door by a very happy Lucca and the very unhappy whines of a still locked up Jade. I also found a pile of wood shavings next to the gate, which had been severely chewed on. I sent Derrick a text telling him that we would have to rethink this for some reason.

The next day, Derrick took the girls back to the back room and pulled out the other baby gate. Both girls sat and watched him set it up, Lucca looking rather cheerful and "innocent" with her tail wagging. Then Derrick picked up the wooden gate and started to set it up on top of the other gate. Lucca's tail suddenly stopped wagging and a fleeting look of panic crossed her puppy eyes as Jade gave a sideways smirk in her direction. Derrick had a suspicion of how Lucca might have gotten out the day before.

When I opened the door that evening, there was no dog to greet me as I walked in. They were both safely confined in the back where they belong. Jade seemed a little more satisfied with the arrangement, but Lucca was so anxious to get out that the second I took the wooden gate down, she hurdled the other gate (confirming Derrick's guess of her means of escape).

It seemed that we had found a satisfactory way of keeping the dogs confined while we are gone.

The third day, Derrick stuck them in the back, set up both gates and left feeling perfectly confident that I would have no problems when I got home.

I got home to find . . . .

Lucca was so insistent to get out of her confinement that she dug her way through my wall. In three and half hours time, she made a bigger mess than I had ever worried that she would do by running free.

So now Lucca has to be put in a kennel while we're gone. That's what the brat gets for being a bad doggie!

A Lunchtime Surprise

I was sitting at my desk thinking about lunch. I do that a lot between the hours of 8:00 am and 12:30 pm. Then after lunch I start thinking about dinner. Sometimes those thoughts are along the lines of wondering where I should go to eat, or what I should do during my free hour. Sometimes it's simply "why isn't it lunchtime yet???" But generally speaking, if you walk into my office during the morning hours, those are probably all you'd be interrupting.

Like I said, today I was sitting at my desk thinking of lunch. I had heard a commercial for Subway's "Five, five dollar foot-longs. . ." and I was imagining what I should put on mine when I go down to the one at the bottom of the hill. I had settled on a chicken, bacon and ranch (which has also been my recent Domino's usual lately). I was trying to decide what I would do after I got my sandwich, since I no longer have homework to do and I forgot both my book and my cell phone (with a fun bejeweled game on it) at home today, when a tall man in a hat walked in.

What a surprise to see Derrick! He had the day off and had some business to take care of on this side of town, so he thought he'd stop in and say hi. So I asked if he'd like to join me for lunch.

On our way down to Subway, Derrick called Grandma to see if she'd be interested in having a couple of grandkids over for lunch. Of course she was delighted to have us visit her. So we stopped and picked up sandwiches for me, Derrick, and Grandma, during which time Derrick and I had this conversation with the sandwich maker:

Derrick: You don't have Swiss cheese by any chance, do you?
Sandwhich Guy: No. But this stuff here is very similar.
Derrick: Nah. It's got to have the holes in it. It's not the same without the holes.
Me: Yeah, the holes are the best part.

It's alway funny to make a joke during a lunchtime rush because it takes them a second to register what was just said. Then they laugh and then the rest of the lunch rush seems a little less stressful to them.

Anyway, the rest of lunch was nice because I got to spend it visiting with my brother whom I rarely see (despite the fact that we share an apartment) and my grandma (who sees my brother even less than I do).

A very nice surprise indeed.

Another Day at the Park

Today was such a nice day that we decided to take the kids and the dogs to the park again. I won't bore you with yet ANOTHER post of pictures of the kids on swings and slides and the dogs carrying sticks. Well, at least not ONLY of the kids and dogs.

Today I decided to wander a little more around the park and check out the skate park area. It was pretty cool watching the kids doing their tricks and stuff.

Oh, and something I've never seen before: an iguana in a pink tutu.

By the time I got the pic, they were removing the humiliation from the poor creature. But it was there (and it was pretty funny!)

Ballet, Pez, and Toto, Too

Grandma and I decided to take in a show.

The Vancouver Dance Theater was putting on a ballet version of The Wizard of Oz. We thought it sounded interesting, especially since it's a program you don't really think of as a "ballet". The direector said it was challenging because the dance and music all had to be created from scratch. Most of the music was the soundtrack from the movie, but with some surprising, creative, and fun additions (for example, imagine Dorothy, Glenda the good witch, and the munchkins of Munchkinland sending the Wicked Witch of the West out of the city with a little taste of "Hit the Road, Jack")

The play was very fun and entertaining. Grandma and I really enjoyed it. Especially the cute seven-year-old who played the part of Toto She was just SO cute!

During the intermission of the ballet, Grandma and I decided that we wanted to be sure to do our part to support the Theater, so we bought raffle tickets, two for each of us. The raffle would be drawn at the end of the performance and the winner would receive some kind of Wizard of Oz item.

Imagine my surprise when the end of the performance arrived and they drew the ticket and called out my name. I was so shocked that I was completely speechless. Seriously. As in, complete silence. They were expecting to hear some kind of "Woo-hoo" or something, but instead crickets chirped as they began to wonder if they pronounced the drawn name incorrectly. Just to make sure, they started spelling it out. My brain kicked my legs into action and I stood up (naturally, I was sitting in the back balcony area, so I was about as far away as I could get) and made my way up to the stage where I accepted my prize: a Wizard of Oz Collector's Set of Pez. Pretty cool.

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Oh, Oh, It's Magic

I mentioned not too long ago the new Do Life groups at my chruch. I posted about the first meeting of our photography group. Tonight was our first meeting for the scrapbooking and paper crafts group. It was a lot of fun. There were several women there and together made Easter cards and a candy bag. It never ceases to amaze me how we can take a few scraps of paper, some stamps and ink, and a little ribbon and end up with Hallmark-worthy creations. Simply magical.

Card 1:

 

Card 2:

 

Card 3:

 

Candy Bag: