Rolling Out

just as pete said goodbye today to old blue, i'm gonna go ahead and say goodbye to old green here. i've moved on to a WordPress site at: http://coltempo.wordpress.com. check it. exciting!! change your bookmarks!

Indecisive

so since my last post, which garnered all of one comment from my doting reverend, i have gone from clear nails to red nails and then back to a pale pale pinky neutral. and then i just looked at my blog and now i kind of....want to go back to super dark. god knows what will happen when i spend tomorrow looking at 100 sets of nails at work. someone put a hold on my bank account so i don't go buy out all of the polish at CVS.

Nail Dilemma

one of my well-known, certified addictions is to nailpolish. i am easily swayed by seeing different shades out on people, or on tv. i commenced a severe addiction to super-dark red/virtually black polish after watching too much of the hills, and seeing LC with such pretty manicures, as so:lately i've been seeing a hot red around on people, and did do a full week with that on. now, in a rare mood, i've got totally clear polish on and i'm not sure how i feel about it. honestly, a little naked. i've almost always got a color on so life is a little off-kilter right now. i need advice, people. what color is good?

Last Night

apparently i forgot to post last night. i could be crafty and change my date and time stamp on this and make you THINK i posted, but that would be wrong. instead, i will own up to the fact that after working til 9 pm last night (don't worry, i didn't go in to work til 1 pm) and after wearing high heels all day long (at a retail job, so i stood for the entire time), i think the exhaustion in my feet and calves traveled up to my brain and hit it over the head with a sledgehammer. i was wiped out, to say the least. so there is my excuse, exhaustion as caused by wearing high heels. it's probably in a medical dictionary somewhere.

Confession

i have quite possibly the strongest sweet tooth in the country. or world. the craving to have something painfully sweet after dinner is so strong i often leave my house all over again just to go get something. example: you might see a little theme in my trash. despite working hard in pilates, i have consumed about a billion fun-sized reese's cups tonight. so bad but oh so good.

Last Night

him: "alright, i'm going to go plant my rutebega and head to bed."

me: "um, ok..."

Sculpted Plants!

i've been lusting after some topiaries at work now for about forever. they went on markdown yesterday, and i got my additional 40% off of them, so though originally they were marked at $29.00 apiece, i got two for $9.00! nothing makes me happier than a good deal. a couple days ago i got three double-walled green glass votives for $1.89 as well. this has been my week for bargains. gotsta love home decor!

I Hope No One is Looking Through My Window

because this is what they would see:except, like, it would be me. i have longer hair. and cannot by any means get my legs that low during the single leg stretches. working on it.

Hot Hot Heat

after all of my whining of winter cold and freezing freezingness, i will now commence whining about summer heat and its hot hotness. for unexplainable reasons, kansas city frequently (i.e. every day from mid-may until october) experiences 100% humidity. find me the body of water nearby that causes this. regardless, i slept with my window open last night only to awaken to my sheet plastered to me and my body at my bed's edge, gravitating to my little bedside fan as a flower to the sun. and so begins the nights of no temperature drops. we stay at a lovely 80 plus degrees despite the color of the sky all through the summer, which if you are unlucky to be without air conditioning (which THANKFULLY i am not) is totally miserable. working in a store that depends on walk-by traffic also is interesting in this weather, as everyone comes in not to buy or even necessarily to look at our merchandise but rather to cool off. makes a sales associate feel a little redundant. anyway, i'm only on a whine-about-the-weather kick since i just did pilates (three days IN A ROW! WOO!) and feel like my body temperature just skyrocketed into the triple digits. shower time.

Day of Klutziness

today was just not my day. i managed to make it to work unscathed, but instantly upon stepping out of my car began jostling my piping hot tall starbucks pike place roast coffee on to my hand (1/2 an inch of half & half, 3 splenda). i elegantly tried to lick it off as i walked juggling my car keys, coffee, and massively wonderful purse.

a few hours later, as i hurriedly tried to secure some information for a customer, i somehow managed to scrape the top of my foot (enough to tear the skin) on the bottom of a cabinet door. i valiantly soldiered on through the day with a big pink stripe across the top of my foot.

fast forward to cooking dinner. as i waited for my chicken to bake, i decided to wash the dishes. i set to work with my handy dandy scrubber brush from walgreen's. scrub, scrub, scrub, and slice! i cut my own thumb with my own fingernail...in my apparent fervor to scrub that food off of that pot, i was gripping the brush so hard i dug my own nail into my own little thumb. i bled.

still waiting for my chicken to bake i headed to my room to change to more comfy clothes. i could not wait to slip into my trusty yoga capri sweat pant things after a long day in BR chinos. taking them into my bathroom to change, i manage to dip them into my (clean) toilet. lovely. abandoned those in a hurry.

this was my day. good thing i am not a welder, a construction worker, or a haz-mat person. i would probably be dead.

Back In the Grind

i think i'm finally on a real road to recovery (FRANTICALLY KNOCKING ON WOOD). i have no days off in the foreseeable future, and i do not feel tired and shaky at the thought. also of note, i just did pilates for a half an hour. i am feeling shaky at that - due to muscle fatigue though, not sickness. pilates will kick. your. ass. try doing all those tiny movements without crying. i did the core and thigh workouts, and plan on doing so every day for the next month plus before heading to the beach for the fourth. goal: not feeling like a flat blob in a bikini. keep me accountable, interweb people.

Sunny Days

clinging to this gorgeous day in my brain as it rained today. but even if it were sunny again, it wouldn't be quite the same - he's not here to take that picture of me, to walk the entire kansas city zoo (even africa) with me, to sit with me at starbucks with frothy cold drinks to do the crossword, to give me a kiss on the forehead. so instead i will just meditate back into that day when times here are less than stellar. clinging on.

Weekend Leftovers

what i have left of this weekend with my reverend:

- a HUGE pile of clothes on my floor, accumulated as a result of my unwillingness to waste time on cleaning when i can be having fun with him.

- 2 men's dress shirts, one pair of men's dress pants (brown). now taking monetary offers...just kidding, i also have a box now to ship them out.

- 5 wire hangers. they stand out, as i am anal and have all wooden hangers.

- one prescription antibiotic for acute bronchitis. one bottle of mucinex. these are mine.

- a raging sunburn across my shoulders and upper back, but happy memories of the zoo.

- raggedy nailpolish, again as a result of not wanting to waste time on my nails when i could be playing a game of scrabble or shooting a round of pool with him.

- zero pictures. he took them all.

- a million pounds of heartache that yet another perfect weekend had to end.

I Want

i want to start a vegetable garden, and work outside on it in possibly a stylish floppy hat while my reverend mows the yard.

i want to get the new pottery barn outdoor chairs and lounge in them to tan my legs while sipping on an amaretto sour.

i want to make an arugula salad with shaved aged parmesan and a squeezed lemon juice and olive oil dressing with marinated grilled steak on the side. i want to eat it at my dining table with my reverend.

i want to be not sick anymore.

i want to be tanned, in some healthy way that still somehow involves falling asleep in the sun next to a pool.

i want to find the perfect 1922 bungalow with a large stone front porch, arched doorways, built-ins galore, and the hottest modern kitchen you've ever seen.

i want to find a pair of heels that are actually, legitimately comfortable. for under $700.

i want to be in his arms.

New Toy

i got this little piece of sweetness last week. i had been in a sort of awkward joint phone contract situation that i was able to extricate myself from, and i returned to my cell phone roots by going back to verizon. doesn't hurt that that is the reverend's company of choice and by doing so i would be enabling us to talk, text, and message for free and endlessly. then it came time to pick out a phone. i have always been one to pick out the free phone that is crummy and basic but will hold a phone charge for about 64 days since it does nothing else. but then, i fell in love. she's an LG chocolate in black cherry (to match my purse, much to the hilarity of the verizon sales force), she slides open and closed, she has a camera, and when shut is very ipod reminiscent in her aesthetic. sleek and smooth and gorgeous. she is my first truly grown up swanky phone, and i LOVE it. not to mention that i have commenced texting pete approximately every three minutes, just with the word "FREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE" and he has done the same. it is a thrill that can not be captured in words.

One Night Left

it was our last night in rome. it was cold, january, and got dark early on in the night. desperate to absorb every iota of the city into our skin before being torn from the place, my friends and i set out to visit all of our favorite tourist hot spots. we hit the trevi fountain, the pantheon, the monument to vittorio emmanuele, a gelato store. but there was one place that we reserved for last, one place that we had visited over and over, where we had sat outside on a stone wall eating fresh panini and watching asian couples get their wedding photos taken. and when we got to to il colosseo, it was after midnight and as the air got crisper we became more aware that our time in italy was over. and i walked to the grass lawn across from that monument that everyone knows, laid down on my back, and stared up at the tan edge of the crumbling stone etched across the deep black sky. and this is a moment i have trapped in my memory, the feel of the air, how i scooped my coat's hood under my head as a cushion, how i had such wonderful and new friends around me, the bittersweetness, the awesomeness of the history, and the smell of centuries-old stone. i miss it, still.

Sucked In

etsy has taken over my night. i am 154 pages into the ring section of jewelry, and really no end in sight. i clicked through them all through the hills finale. and still am. i consider it a strength of mine that i have not yet bought a thing. so i'm internet window shopping. harmless.

One!

today was my nephew brayden's first birthday. i had to work, but afterward went to my mom's house for a birthday party for him with my immediate family and my sister's in-laws (which translates to about 5 other kids 18 and younger). this means i walked into chaos. after pizza and presents, brayden got his own personal cake to destroy:after all that total insanity of what seemed to be 37 kids running around and screaming and crying and icing flying and tissue paper crinkling underfoot and sugar highs and full pizza stomach lows, this is where i want to be:for about a week. that should do it.

Hot Lap

my computer gets hot. i have taken to sitting it on its side, teepee style, to better vent. otherwise the hot hot heat of the engine or mouse in a wheel or whatever it is that runs this thing goes straight into my thighs, where it travels north to my cheeks. for some reason these are the only two places i get overheated due to the computer: thighs and cheeks. not those cheeks. the ones on my face. time to go teepee style to vent for a bit. computer: so hot right now.

The Links! They Move!

phone rings. "WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!" he finally separated the links! pete has been handcarving these links, out of one piece of wood, for a while now and finally got the links to move independently, as you can see. he is rather excited.

also, he approves this message.

Goodbye, Shudder

ever since i bought my car in november of 2006, it has had an increasingly dramatic shudder as i brake. especially dramatic at high speeds, which is quite reassuring on the highway to memphis in the middle of nowhere, mo.

today, i got my rotors replaned and new brake pads and shoes. (thank you, government-issued rebate. could i BE more practical?)

the shudder, it is gone.

i'm almost more scared without it, it has been my constant companion for so long. it is eerily smooth and silent coming to a stop off of a highway exit now. i think, though, that i can live with it.

More Materialistic

in a shift from the previous post in which i endorsed items that are within my means and bring me joy, i will now feature some products that i lust after and will consequently reveal my truly materialistic nature.

i want a tiffany's bracelet. i'll admit it. i like the shiny jingliness of it. i like the round tag. i like the label. and i feel like i should feel like a bad person for wanting one, but you know what? i don't. quality silver is an investment right now, since silver prices are shooting up, and it's an adorable piece that holds its value. so shoot me.
oversized chanel sunglasses. i like the double C, the oversizedness, the mystique going back to the days of our first lady of camelot, jackie O. total glam.
christian louboutin black classic platform heels. my other two things would be splurges, these will be what i buy when i win the lottery. from what i've seen and heard, louboutin heels are made out of fairy dust and magic. they actually don't hurt to walk in, or so people say. plus they are hotttt with an infinity of extra t's. the rev loves me in heels too so i'd get some use out of these. and when i say use, they will have to disintegrate off of my feet.

notice that i put no prices on these. they range from $200 to uhhh a lot. look for me to own them in the next ten years. i have very lofty goals that are not only intellectual but also do good things for the world, too. ok i'm a bad person. i'll go volunteer somewhere.

Endorsements

so whenever i see product endorsements on other blogs it's always like cool, indie products that are all botanical, with quirky titles, fun packaging, and can only be ordered online directly from a small island west of turks and caicos where the natives package them in banana leaves.

i am not this cool.

i endorse the following products for bringing me happiness year round and costing less than $47/ounce:reese's peanut butter cups. only acceptable in classic form and fun-sized. no pieces or whips or white chocolate allowed. can be found: EVERYWHERE. cost: $0.33 - $0.75 depending.
cover girl eyeliner in a dark brown. creamy, goes on smoothly, lasts forever. can be found: every major drugstore in america. cost: about $4.
serasoft oversized throw blankets. so good i got one for myself and one in blue for the reverend. so good our apartment cat, bowser, snuggles into it every chance he gets. and it is so damn warm and snuggly. can be found: bed, bath & beyond. cost: about $20.

conclusions to be drawn from my endorsements: i am easily pleased; i am cheap; i don't look super hard for ritzy products; i find lots of pleasure in lots of little things. decide on your own.

I Have Nothing

nothing to discuss here.

i'm just going to go ahead and help out the reverend in his eternal quest to become the biggest blog slut on the planet and say, go read his new post! fuel him! tell him how much you love him in the comments! because really, nothing makes him happier. seriously. he calls me with every new comment.

not to mention, he's an excellent writer and it's fun to read him, every time. so go back to his page (since most of you came there from here) and tell him so.

pete, you're welcome.

Steichen

i love edward steichen's work. i flipped through a new monograph that we carry in our store last night and today and it is GORGEOUS. just sharing him with the world in case you've never heard of him. google it. also, on an art historical note, steichen's self-portrait above was an attempt to justify photography as an art medium by portraying himself as the typical artist and applying brushwork to the rough print to ally his work more closely with what people of the time considered high art. so, there's your nerdy moment for the day.

Makez Me Laffs

for some reason i can't stop laughing at this. i am tearing up. maybe it's because i haven't had coffee in weeks and so i feel like my face might permanently resemble this. or maybe it's because i took this picture of pete pre-coffee and it brings back memories:

Cash Money

i am compulsively checking my bank account to see if my government-issued rebate has shown up yet. how about now. how about now. now? any time guys. any time.

A Portrait

so about once a week for months now i have received these. quickly snapped portraits, often on his camera phone, at all times of day, in all moods, in all poses, with all different expressions. i have probably 75 of these in a file called pete pictures, and i figured i could go ahead and share those with you who have either a. trickled over from his site and are curious what the rev looks like or b. know me, know him or of him, and just are entertained that he takes lots of self portraits. enjoy.

editor's note: i have 146 of these portraits. 146.

Still Dragging

The Mono is a wily one. i think i'm pretty much back in the game, despite a ninth-inning stomach virus, i work for a few hours, and i feel like i need scaffolding to keep my eyes up. because scanning jewelry all day is really so tiring physically. lame.

From the Archives

embarrassing picture # 8437 of me, aired out as a means of filler-when-there's-nothing-much-going-on. this is from november 2004, according to my records, and has a reason. i promise. i, with some classmates, began a campaign to make my fellow wellesley students recapture that essential pause in our day - lunch - with a little fun. i had had too much of girls studying aggressively in the dining hall, their glares for my loud laughter, and people snapping from pressure. and thus began severance fun lunch. they were themed lunches, sometimes one day a week, sometimes for a full week blowout extravaganza, complete with VIP guests (the president of the college, favorite professors, etc.), performances, mini-classes, wall-to-wall decorations, candy, themed food from the dining hall, themed loud music, and, quite often, extremely embarrassing actions by yours truly. reference: the above. it was a hip hop themed fun lunch, and i went all out. i am totally from the streets, as you can see by my artfully flipped visor and strategically placed sweat band. that is how they dress on the streets these days, right? i'm down. anyway, by and large fun lunches were a hit, broke up the monotony of studystudystudy, and gave me a good reason to break out into costume. i miss them. maybe i could get my work to have them? something in me says no.

Tired

there are several ingredients that contribute to my having a good, solid, blissful sleep. i am one of those total darkness total silence sort of sleepers. i have not one but two black-out curtains on my windows. i unplugged and put away my bedside clock, too sick of its blaringly neon green numbers glowing in my face. yet there is one ingredient that is close to essential, one that i did not realize until last night i had been missing of late - cold. i sleep fitfully in any level of warmth. i must be under covers, yet if i get too warm i get restless and unable to fall into deep sleep. this morning, though, found me virtually unable to get out of bed from the sheer luxury of being wonderfully cozy under my comforter with a cool breeze wafting over me from my open window. i slept so much harder, so much deeper, with this coolness than i have in probably weeks. the only thing that would have made it better would be a full-on thunderstorm raging outside. i probably would still be asleep, in that case.

Sweet Serenades

i frequently get serenaded. rarely in person, though when it is in person it's usually more via a strummed guitar, like so:when it is not in person, which is more frequent, i get a phone call of a man blasting into full song. sometimes it's goofy. more often it's sweet, and i'm going to selfishly keep those to myself. for now, i will share with you that i often call pete puffin, stolen from the illustrious tv show "the girls next door" and what one of the girls calls hugh hefner. tonight i got:
"DO YOU KNOW THE PUFFIN MAN, THE PUFFIN MAN, THE PUFFIN MAANNNN?
DO YOU KNOW THE PUFFIN MAN, WHO LIVES ON SHELBY AAAAVVVVEEE?
DO YOU KNOW THE PUFFIN MAN, THE PUFFIN MAN, THE PUuuhuhhuhh hahahahaha"
and that's where it devolved into giggling. he brought it back later in the phone call. but was still thoroughly unable to stop laughing. ME EITHER. me either.

Taking My Tattoo To Heart

the silver lining of the past few days:

- at least i didn't feel this atrocious while i was in memphis for pete's birthday.

- good thing my toilet is four leaps from my bed.

- my bed is soft and comfortable.

- the weather seems nice outside, as viewed through my window.

- my roommate got me ginger ale.

- my mom got me food and juice.

- maalox gets better tasting the more you need it.

- i managed to stand long enough to take a shower last night and finally feel clean-ish.

- this virus has to end at some point.

Wrapping Up

the rest of our weekend together was rather uneventful. ill for a large portion of sunday, i reverted to my classic feel possibly better but at least not worse strategy: freeze. i sat completely immobile in bed until i finally felt stable enough, with the support of a packet of melba toast, to take a shower and move through the world. pete and i went to spend his macy's gift card on a flashy new fossil watch, then out for a birthday dinner at macaroni grill with his family. i was fading in and out in terms of strength until the arugula and steak salad i ate stepped in and helped out. the rest of the night was spent watching tv with his roommates and relaxing.

monday saw pete waking up early to go to work. it saw me passed out cold til 2 pm. then, being the obsessive compulsive that i am, i packed everything up perfectly, cleaned pete's room, and even (to his dismay, at my apparent destruction of some important receipts) did some laundry. i repainted my nails and passed some time watching tv. dinner was eaten out at a vietnamese restaurant - pete's first foray into the culture. his dinner turned out to be just at the threshold of spicyenoughtocausepain, though i think it may have crossed over since he downed about 4 glasses of water.

then, a very repetitive story on this boring blog, i had to leave him. he stood in line with me at greyhound until i was literally on the boarding "dock" (p.s. why does greyhound fancy themselves a shipping line that docks and boards and apparently sails forth smoothly). while i say he stood with me, i mean that he stood there with mouth agape at all of these wonderful people-watching opportunities that just happened upon him. i got his attention enough for a kiss goodbye, and then i boarded my ship. bus. whatever.

this was quite the ride back. i left memphis at 7:45 pm, scheduled to arrive in kansas city at 5:30 am. this bus was packed, and i unfortunately had seatmates the entire trip. the worst one was from jackson, mo, to st. louis, mo, as she decided that no rules applied to her and she would spend the entire two hours discussing with her friend delores, in her wheezy, smoker-tinged voice, all of the men that she is currently playing off of each other. the guy she had kissed goodbye and waved to as we pulled away from jackson apparently told her he loved her, and she said the same, but delores now knows that we're not sure if that's the truth and we're going to all be waiting til the end of the month to find out how she still feels. in the meantime she's going to go to olympia (washington? i'm not sure) to see steve, who paid for her ticket, and who she ALSO called en route. he told her he had a big b*ner waiting for her. cute. and then there's mike, in illinois, who has a pool. and jim, in olympia the same as steve, who has a SWEET tv. i am blown away by the fact that gruff, blowsy, smarmy women like this can wrap all these men around their fingers, making them give them things and money and who knows what else i certainly don't want to know, while many wonderful, intelligent, gorgeous women i know are left with no guys. disgusting. plus, she elbowed me in the side to find out when we were due in st. louis, and once i told her 12:45 am she commenced to loudly tell everyone she spoke with that we were due in at 12:15. whatever.

thank you jesus, i was not seated next to her on my ride from st. louis to kansas city. no thanks to anyone, i was seated in the aisle, with nothing to rest my head upon to sleep. commence horrendously unattractive sleeping with mouth wide open, head tilted back, and weird nasal passage semi-snoring. until such a time that some ASSWIPE, or sorry, assw*pe, decided to SMOKE a CIGARETTE on the BUS which is an ENCLOSED CONTAINER with NO VENTILATION. I HATE THIS PERSON. and will forever. i arrived in kansas city on time, reeking of smoke. a friend gave me a ride home, and i promptly passed back out til later in the day. what a trip.

Cuh See No

after much slightly inebriated confusion, we finally got everyone loaded into the van and rolled out. after more inebriated confusion, we selected a casino in tunica to actually go to. forty minutes and we were one happy group sprinting into a casino with one objective: bathrooms.

now we were ready to gamble. i did not bring a single dollar in cash with me. i very much intended to not gamble a dime, and i didn't - at least of my own money. we hit it big with $3 of pete's in a quarter slot machine, cleaning up with $24. as the night wound on, we managed to lose all of that. and then more. i blew a dollar of pete's and a dollar of his friend lauren's at nickel slots and declared myself officially unlucky. i became a slightly better lucky charm at the blackjack table for pete. we were stowing away $5 chips, til we landed at a bad table and walked out of the night with $4 in chips.

we cashed out at around 2:15 a.m. and pete worked his magic with a very large, very intimidating pit boss to get us comped food at the cafe. we got comped enough for two meals, despite the fact that, oddly, i was not in the mood for a large meal at 2:30 in the morning. a group of us sat down in the atrium cafe there and they all stuffed themselves, boys being boys and not caring what time of day it is for a huge raw bloody steak or some pretty foul looking pulled pork nachos.

three a.m. arrived and it was time for the ride back to memphis. generously, we tipped our increasingly patient driver with a cheeseburger and fries. we didn't get home til four. on top of The Mono, cooking all day, partying all night, and coming home to a freezing house, the late hour knocked me for quite a loop. i was out until literally 4 p.m. the next day, awake off and on with waves of general illness. it was worth it, though, since the party went over hugely and everyone had a blast. you always know a party's a success when you wake up to pee the next morning and walk through a living room littered with happily snoozing bodies, food remnants, many beer cans, and later, people pulling out the refrigerated remains to revisit the snacks of the day. the rev certainly turned 24 (74? 91?) with a bang!

Moving On

got caught up in conversation with the reverend two nights back. then last night as i was in the midst of writing this, my internet connection went out and i gave up and went to bed. someday i'll get back in the groove of posting every day. someday.

so back to the weekend. i woke up to birthday day with pete laying in bed, fists clenched and thrust skyward despite closed eyes, smirk on his face, croaking out "24!" the first thing he wanted to do? get the computer out and see how many facebook birthday wish wall posts he'd received. i then proposed a trip to the bagel company for eggels and coffee, which went over well.

after brunch, it was shopping time. we hit up walmart for supplies, filled a cart, and headed home to get preparations going for the afternoon cookout. feeling a little droopy from The Mono, i pulled a chair up to the kitchen table and got to cooking. a two-layer red velvet sheet cake with white frosting, fresh pico de gallo, fresh guacamole, seven layer dip, and 40 jalapeno poppers later, i was left with a whole mess of food and a hell of a capsaicin burn on my hands.

having to get ready for the party, i wrapped my hands in tanktops to apply eye makeup and avoid permanent damage to my eyes, all the while whimpering at the pain. i actually felt nauseous it hurt so badly. seeing the glimmer of approaching tears in my eyes pete took pity on me and began googling remedies. we tried smearing vegetable oil on my hands. twice. we tried a combination of bleach and water as a soak. we tried good old soap and water. nothing doing. finally, pete and his friend gray ran to the gas station and got me ice cold fatty vitamin D milk. as the party began and friends started trickling in, i sat down in the middle of the living room and dunked my hands into hypothermic-inducing milk in a bubba keg. way to make a first acquaintance. BUT. IT. WORKED. instantly. no more fire on my hands, and i was able to actually enjoy life again.

and so we barbecued. and bocce-d. and some (ok all but me) drank. and we sang happy birthday to the be-crowned birthday boy. and we ate and ate and ate. and then finally, ten o'clock arrived and so did our chauffeured van, waiting to whisk 14 of us off to tunica, ms, home of a jillion casinos. i'm going to go ahead and split the tale off here. i will regale you in the future of our time at the casino, and the rest of the weekend.

Wow

so, it's been a while. once again it was for a reason - yet another trip to see my rev for his birthday. this time, thanks to The Mono, i opted to take a chauffeured mode of transportation: the greyhound bus. thursday, all day long, i rode the greyhound from kansas city to memphis through what were at times torrential downpours. that equaled sleepy time for me, and i spent most of the trip dozing.

i arrived to a sunny, warm memphis evening and pete bringing me a dozen pink roses. i apparently foiled an elaborate plan to scream my name and film my arrival complete with balloons and flowers flying and who knows what all else to embarrass me in front of a rather diverse bus station crowd. maybe next time.

we had a quiet couple of first nights - pete & sam's italian food was in order for my first night, and it was every bit as good as pete had talked up. especially their salad...i could go for more of that right now. friday pete worked, so i luxuriated and slept in before we again went out for dinner, this time at los compadres for mexican. again yummy, despite an extremely loud and annoying to all but themselves group of people the next table over. we snagged some extra chips on the way out for the big party day that was forthcoming, which i will leave you hanging on - stay tuned for a whole mess of cooking, hunan hand, bocce ball, fire, slot machines, pit bosses, chauffeured vans, and late late nights.

Dunzo

yes, i lost my shiz when KU won. i have evil thoughts of bringing the memphis boys some kleenex for their loss. HA suckahz.

in other dunzo news, i am definitely done with this whole sitting-in-bed-all-the-livelong-day thing. it was a nice luxury there for a couple days, but now i am ready to go train for a marathon rather than keep sitting here. so dull. you can only watch so many episodes of the first 48 without getting a little down. i have redone my nails approximately 6 times in as many days. i have walked all the way to the kitchen, and back. i have made the executive decision to sleep that extra two hours. i have, remarkably, showered (more than once). the puzzling thing at this point is if the lethargy is from the mono itself or from just being constantly...lethargic. guess i'll find out.

Delivery

i'm spoiled. this time with food. pete ordered me a small pizza for dinner tonight so in my mono-induced state i didn't have to deal with getting myself dinner. i very happily sat on my bed with my original crust pepperoni and onion pizza and ate about half of it, maybe more, probably not less, and am now stuffed and content. he knows my weak spots, this man.

Too Much Tension!!

i cannot handle this.

tonight i made the grave mistake of both watching the lord of the rings: two towers and tracking the KU vs. UNC (ihateroywilliamshe'satraitor) game score At The Same Time.

i seriously almost hyperventilated, about 12 times.

and now i have to wait til tomorrow night for the end of the trilogy, not that i don't know what happens but what if gondor just doesn't show up? what will sauron's retribution be? will gollum kill frodo and sam? i don't rememberrrrrrrr ahhhhhhhhhhhhh.....

but hey! KU won! killah. i hope roy williams went into the locker room with his dejected team and just broke down bawling in front of all of them. this is what you get for abandoning the greatest basketball program in the country for some lame ass alma mater.

up next: kansas kicking memphis' ass. i'm putting a box of kleenex in the mail for pete and his roommates. they'll need it.

Follow Up

to wrap up a couple stories i've started....

yes, i have mono. no, it is not fun. i basically feel like i've just been filled with sand. i get tired rolling over in bed, and winded walking to the kitchen. day by day it gets a bit better though, and i'm hoping for a solid step towards recovery by next weekend, since i'm due in memphis for pete's 74th birthday.

my theft: my insurance has wonderfully decided to NOT cover my theft, thanks to some ridiculous clause in my renter's insurance contract. so, that's great.

i just watched the first lord of the rings. that movie keeps me on edge for the three solid hours or whatever it runs. they almost die about every 3 minutes, with big thundering overtures and scary crazy orcs running around and demons of doom and mean wizards and all that. not to mention the original bromance, frodo & sam, tugging at my heartstrings. i concluded, though, that i am definitely an elf. i just have to learn elvish. getting on that.

Surround Sound

"blood work came back annnnnd....i have mono."

"always thought you were a stereo kinda gal.."

"i don't get it."

"mono...stereo. that's gold!"

The Man, The Myth, The Legend

from our summer camp yearbook, 8 years ago: "Katie,
My life's been COMPLETELY changed from meeting you! You're every guy's dream girl, except that you're mean as hell! I hope you got a pic of me and Dan together, I know how you like that sorta thang...I wish you'd realized how in love with you I am earlier. I'll miss you, definitely! I LOVE YOU! Keep in touch!
- Pete"

Last Day

we finally did go ahead and sleep in a tad on our last morning in st. louis. we had worn ourselves out what with the eating and the walking and the being lovey dovey in public. after showering and packing, we went and checked out of the hotel with our lovely hostess, shontelle, and headed out for another try at the brewery tour at anheuser-busch. a bit nippy, but altogether fun, we did the whole tour, saw the clydesdales, tasted some beer (still thinking ew on the beer), and hit up a cafe for a yummy lunch. the bobble head in pete came back out, so i'm pretty sure he liked his steak sandwich.

then came the time i absolutely least like: having to drive off in opposite directions, not to see one another for yet another few weeks. at least we know that the next time we're together it'll be his 47th birthday, and it'll be party central on a bus to a casino - something to look forward to. still, it's hard as always and of course i cried, because i am a lame-o girl. but he always helps calm me down before the drive...or at least i pretend to be. and so ends another trip together for biggz and smallz.

Upon Reading the Last Post

"lamb?! they had lamb? if i knew they had lamb i would've gotten it!"

"he said, 'prime rib? lamb?' you knew they had it!"

"i thought he said, 'prime rib, my man?'"!!!"

Day & Evening 3

i...don't remember why i didn't post last night. alzheimer's again. damn.

alright, so for our second day and third night in the STL. we actually woke up early again - we had a 10:30 am reservation for easter brunch, so we had to be showered and dressed up and all that good stuff in time to make it there. our reservation was at the eau bistro at the chase park plaza hotel, and man...we had no idea what we were in for. first of all, we woke up to snow. we had a truly icky drive to brunch, parked, and came upon a locked door for eau bistro. cussing a blue streak (him) and not wanting to walk much further in heels (me), we went inside the hotel and managed to find the bistro that had just shut their outside door but was still open.

we sat down and were offered mimosas, which we jumped on, and coffee. shown the buffet, pete and i started going through the line: eggs benedict, hot pasta, french toast, bacon & sausage, then hand-carved prime rib & lamb, an omelet bar, fresh fruit, roasted cold vegetables, prosciutto, salami, cold pasta salads, duck, oysters, shrimp, crab leg, rolls & bagels & danishes, muffins, and i'm probably forgetting something. we filled a plate, then another plate, had a mimosa, then another mimosa, then a half a mimosa that was topped off with straight champagne. finally, we hit up the dessert annex to the space, getting fresh tiramisu, cold chocolate mousse, the richest chocolate brownie i've ever had, a fruit tart, and possibly more. we must've gained 10 pounds in one meal.

we staggered out, me certifiably tipsy, and drove a couple of blocks to the art museum. we found ourselves unable to immediately leave the car, we were so full, buzzed, sleepy, and content. after spending a good fifteen solid minutes in the car, we finally were able to get out and go in the museum, where we went picture happy and had a great time seeing more of the museum that we didn't have time for last time. and i did the whole thing in heels.

next we drove home and changed into notsofancy clothes, poked around online for an idea of something to do, and decided to go play pool. we got there, and i went on to kick booty. his booty, namely. i believe i will go on record to say that i won six out of seven games. woo! i'm now taking names for students, i will teach you all my skills. leaving the pool hall i decided that my windshield wiper blades needed to be switched around since the one in front of the driver is wearing out faster than the other. of course, i have no idea how to switch windshield wiper blades. so i made the illustrious rev do it for me. which he did, in a "quick, 5 minute operation" that became 15 minutes when my windshield wipers put up a fight. but he did it, despite my honking the horn while he was working, making him jump and slit his thumb. uh...oops. it was funny though.

we wrapped up our nice sleepy easter with dinner at TGIFridays and a drink at their bar. all in all yet another successful day, only tempered by the knowledge that we would have to once again leave each other the next day. maybe, though, that sort of situation will come to an end, eventually...

Day & Evening 2

we woke up early saturday morning, as we usually do on our vacations, eager to fit in as much as we could in the day. we first hit an adorable little downtown coffee shop - of course, we did the usual coffee and crossword, and headed out aiming for what we thought was the aquarium.

we arrive at what appears to be an insane asylum for children. suspended over virtual thin air are abandoned planes, a school bus, wire tunnels, a trolley car, a massive ball pit, and various and sundry other very enticing climbing devices. walking under all of this with parents and kids screaming and climbing above us, we enter complete mayhem. children everywhere, exhausted parents, exhausted but forcibly perky employees, and the most insane environment i've ever encountered. a bit overwhelmed, we consult a posted map for the aquarium, only to find that the supposed water wonderland encompasses roughly one eighteenth of this place, this place we've come to find out is called the city museum.

we decided to wander through the store, which happens to be around the corner from ticketing and the one sad sack "guard," aka an older woman in sad bunny ears and a droopy easter tshirt. we look at the store, head out of it, and decide to just look around this crazy place. wandering off, we move far enough in to the place to realize that we have managed to sneak in without even trying. reveling in this, we went on to enjoy the entirety of the building, unfortunately excluding many, many climbing and hiding opportunities both because we were carrying large bags and because we were scared that we would disappear, never to be seen again except occasionally by other Dwellers of the Tunnels.

all in all, we had a blast. we literally high-fived on the way out for our screwing the man and enjoying a $20/person museum for free. totally going back there. because it was freezing, we hopped back in the car and drove a few blocks down to the union station for lunch at houlihan's. we achieved this after a brief driving the wrong way down a one-way driveway debacle, engineered by the chauffeur reverend. we had quite the wait at houlihan's, thanks to about 3000 college-aged wrestlers in town for the NCAA wrestling tournament championship deal occurring one block from union station. who knew that drinking a canned 40 of beer at lunch was mandated by the NCAA rulebooks? we had a great lunch nonetheless, and left union station to attempt a brewery tour, only to be crowded out by wrestlers there as well. our next try was gus's pretzels, a great buy. finally we hit up the history museum, learning about lindbergh, the early conquests of the country by various other countries and how they made their way to missouri, and the st. louis world's fair.

then we headed back to the hotel, where i proceeded to be really romantic and make great use of our time by napping for a large portion of the afternoon. i awoke to pete launching the ironing board around the room with extensive groaning and squealing (on the board's part), and a call to go get my butt in gear so we'd be ready in time for our 8:15 reservation. we made it to savor by 8:20, were seated immediately, and tried to chain ourselves to our table so we'd never have to leave. after an extensive meal of new york strip steak (that you could cut with a butter knife) and crab-encrusted salmon, followed by dessert coffees, we left beyond satiated, replenished, and desperate to return.

trying to extend our nice evening, we stopped at what was neon-lightedly exclaimed to be a bowling alley and movie theater on the same road as savor, only to search much of the building without any success of actually finding a bowling alley. literally, nowhere to be found in the building. so we called it a night, headed back to the hotel, and collapsed to prepare ourselves for the next day.

coming up: snow, bottomless mimosas, a room of desserts, art & heels, pool halls, windshield wipers, and tgi fridays.

Evening 1

my bad for not posting last night. it boils down to i was tired, the end.

alright so to recap our trip to st. louis, remixed...after calling the police, filing a report, doing a little relaxing to try to calm myself after everything, i headed out for st. louis. it's (for most people) a three and a half hour drive. for me, closer to four hours, since i manage to stop four times on that length of a drive. not to overshare, but i have the world's smallest bladder. when i later told pete that i stopped twice, twenty minutes apart, he decided then and there that we shall never road trip together, for he would have to murder me. i am sorry i do not have some backup reservoir system, i am only human.

anyway. so i got to st. louis, far ahead of pete thanks to getting to leave earlier than planned, and hit up the local schnuck's for a couple dinner supplies. we stayed at a homestead suites with a full kitchen in each room. i had planned in advance to bring and make dinner - the plan was to have it ready and on the table for him upon his later arrival. i unpacked, chopped up the chicken for the chicken tikka masala i was making (totally not from scratch, i got a kick a** sauce in a jar from world market), and watched a very interesting diane sawyer (go wellesley!) documentary on "working girls." finally, pete called to alert me that he was in the neighborhood, so i got dinner going so that it'd be piping hot for him. unfortunately we happened to be staying on the most annoying, difficult, and potentially dangerous road to get to in perhaps all of st. louis, so it took pete an additional 40 minutes longer than it should have to find the place and get checked in. needless to say, he was a little peeved when he got there. i had done all i could to maintain optimum heat levels on the food without burning it. it still tasted pretty good, though.

we exchanged some gifts before and after dinner - i had made him a little easter basket with his favorite candies and a huge hit: a white iron paperweight from pottery barn, shaped like a paperclip. apparently, this was his heart's most intimate desire. who knew? then he pulls out a bag and says he has something "little" for me for our 6 month anniversary. and hands me a zales bag...with two boxes in it. turns out the man got me diamond earrings and a diamond necklace for our anniversary - i was beyond surprised, and i have literally not yet taken the earrings off. i take the necklace off for sleep, but i have worn that every day since that minute, too. once again, i am spoiled beyond belief. in case you were wondering if that was waning.

tomorrow's tale will include sneaking into a museum, wrestlers by the thousands, a nap, a large steak, and an invisible bowling alley.

Back From Break

i'm going to, for now, pretend that my weekend didn't happen so that i can regale you with what happened to me BEFORE my weekend began, and what threatened to completely ruin all possibilities of fun with my rev.

as i documented on here, my beloved watch and a cheap but equally beloved bracelet had recently gone strangely missing from my bedside table. i am beyond OCD about my watch. i take it off every night, place it in the little leaf dish katherine had sent me, wake up in the morning, put it on, rinse, repeat. so as i said, its disappearance was truly baffling to me, but i decided to wait it out for it to magically reappear in the freezer or something, as things of mine that go missing are sometimes wont to do.

then, friday morning as i got ready for work in one of my fav new cardigans, i decided to add one of my favorite necklaces to my ensemble: the freshwater pearls that pete had sent me for...well for no good reason, but they were super special to me, for obvious reasons. i opened the drawer where they live(d) in my jewelry armoire, only to find a blank spot. my heart in my throat, i tore out the drawer, pulled open other drawers frantically, slid my hand up the backside of the drawers, and found nothing. i flipped open the top of the armoire where my rings and earrings live, and found three blank spots in the ring crevices.

silver lining: i do not have early onset alzheimer's. tarnished anti-lining: i have been robbed.

i called pete and sobbingly apologized for letting his necklace get stolen, and then tried to go to work and put it from my mind, only to burst out in tears more than once telling people that my necklace from pete was gone. i finally ended up leaving work at noon, going home, and calling the police to file a report. seeing that the cop that came was able to pick a lock to a (now much more secured) door that leads directly to my room in about 3.6 seconds, we think we know how it happened. it still sucks, and whoever you are that took my necklace, watch, bracelet, and rings, watch your back. i'm coming for you.

Thanks...

"are you excited to see my tattoo?"

"i dunno. prolly not."

"um, thanks..."

"huh?"

So Hardcore

i just got a tattoo.

a real one.

i chose a more unusual path than most, and went with all white ink. my tattoo is on the inside of my left wrist, and is a line of sanskrit that translates to drishta dharma sukha viharin. it's part of the third noble truth of buddhism, and basically means "dwelling happily in things as they are." it's often used as a mantra while meditating. i'm just going to use it to try and guide my life a little more and help remind me to focus on what makes me happy.

here's an early image of it, literally the second he took the needle away from my skin:counting the minutes til i get to take my bandage off and see it calmed down. although first i have to wash the extra white off...derek (my tattoo artist) smeared extra ink over the whole tattoo after it was finished, telling me that after they do tribal work in brazil, they put extra ink over it since they are convinced that the tattoo still soaks up more ink. he did this with a shrug and a well, let's see if it works. guess it can't hurt. more pics to come!

Grand

"so you're going on dates with other girls?"

"well...i can't just withdraw from life...."

"WHAT?!?!?"

"wait what did you say?"

Bum Crack of Dawn

this morning i went to my second job to help them finish up a floor set to redo a lot of displays in the store. i woke up at 5:30 am today to be there by 6, and as insane as it sounds i kind of like going in that early. i work on the plaza, and it is so nice and quiet to go in before the morning rush hour, at that time when delivery trucks are making their rounds, when parking garages are empty, when the roads are clear and dark. not to mention the drastic reduction in commute time - i left my house at 5:42 am and arrived at work at 5:54, including a stop at sun fresh. i think, though, that the biggest benefit to early morning shifts is that you go, you work, and the whole time you're kind of in this half-awake state. then you leave, do other things, maybe take a nap, and then the fact that you worked kind of fades away. and then in a couple weeks you still get paid for going to do something you barely remember doing. suhweet.

I Am DOING This

a textual conversation between me and the rev:

"Pilates?"

"Shit."

"Ha oh well."

"Please just try not to think of me as fat."

"Oh please."

true, i did tell him to remind me daily to do pilates. but ever since that first session, i have not returned to my smooshy blue mat in the living room, nor the smiling b*&#h telling me how good i feel while i shake and sweat. but i'm going to do it tonight, right now, without him even telling me to. mostly to make me tired so i can get up at 5:30 am and still have gotten some sleep under my belt, but also for health reasons. and maybe a little so that when he asks i can say YES I DID SO HA.

Early Onset

what do i need to do to get evaluated for early onset alzheimer's?

i can't find my watch and bracelet. i have literally destroyed my room looking for them. i even emptied my trash. yet i have the niggling sensation i tucked them away somewhere, and now i've got nothing. then, thinking back trying to track my movements, i feel like i've had blackouts. i don't remember whole sections of the past week, so i have no clue when i last saw my watch. i'm serious, something is wrong with my brain. if someone saw me set my watch and bracelet down at a random locale and wander off (as i did this past week with a gap bag full of things i bought about ten minutes previously and was lucky enough to recover), could you let me know where? and then get me to a home.

Rehashing the Re-Meeting

despite that booty, the reverend and i had kind of lost and found contact repeatedly for seven years. one of those "hey, what's up?!" every few months on aim, an occasional facebook message or two, but nothing terribly consistent. he will avow up and down and left and right that he has loved me for 50 years, but the true story is that we just sometimes connected and said hey for a bit but being states away from each other we kind of went our own ways.

then, in september 2007, i got another random aim from pete. just a hey, what's up, by the way you should come down to memphis sometime...and for some impulsive reason, i said you know what? what if i do? and i decided to go down for a fun weekend away from kc, not knowing what was coming my way. we talked endlessly on the phone in the time leading up to my visit, and then the day was there and i was on my way. i left at three a.m. from kc, drove all the way there, and finally found his little bungalow by the university of memphis. and i will never forget the hug he gave me in the middle of his front lawn, the sense that i was where i belonged, that this was goodness personified, that something was definitely going down.

the first day there flew by with a lunch out, a visit to the museum, watching a band on beale street, and general hanging out at his house. i found myself wanting him to take my hand, to try to steal a kiss, to just be as humanly close to me as possible. i made my own little move as we watched tv at his house, tucking my freezing feet under that same cute (and warm) bum. finally, he let me know that he wanted to be more than my friend and had been feeling that way for longer than the day that i had been there with him (and not the 75 years he'll claim, either). and i admitted to him that i felt the same, and from that moment we've been together. it will be six months next week, and they've been the most fun months i've ever had with someone who evolved from a good friend to an awesome boyfriend who clearly spoils and loves me who i spoil and love back. the story is going to continue to write itself from here, stay tuned!

How We Met

we are going to go back in the day for this one. i feel like illuminating, for all five of my readers and all five hundred of the rev's, how we met and how we re-met with the ensuing fireworks.

pete and i went to nerd camp together. that's pretty much the sum total of it. it was at the university of kansas, summer of 2000, i was 15, he was 16, it was hot as hell, and we were holed up for seven hours a day for three weeks learning "Writing With Power." he is, quite possibly, the first guy i've had a legitimate crush on. he smelled SO GOOD. so good i wanted to sneak into his dorm room and find out what it was that smelled so good and then buy it and keep it and smell it forever. i would work out ways to sit next to him in class JUST to smell him. he still smells amazing, and his current preferred scent is acqua di gio, of which i wholeheartedly approve. let's look back:there we are with our oddly-blurred classmates. we both were addicted to baseball hats that summer: him because he looked cool, me because i could hide my eyes from you. let's look closer:how cute were we? i was so so skinny, and he had so. much. hair. i prefer the current scruff levels he wears, to be honest. odd fact: the man never wears a baseball hat anymore. and hates girls that do. apparently present company excluded. but let's take one more look back eight years, to see what really hooked me and keeps me around these past six months:woo! and as for the re-meeting, it kind of evolved and was discussed on this blog, but i will rehash tomorrow. til then, enjoy his hot booty. another interesting fact: he is now blushing.

ThisClose

i came within ten seconds today of getting a tattoo. i even have an appointment for friday morning. but i don't think i'm going to go through with it. not that i don't want it...i do want it. but i don't think i $70 want it. despite a recent surge in funds thanks to my tax refund, i would rather spend extra dollars on a couple trips to see my rev than a mark on my wrist. for now. if someone wants to just hand me $70 for fun, i'll go ahead and get a tattoo. any takers?

No Longer Required

henry durant, beloved founder of wellesley college (sigilum wellesleiani), was ahead of his time. about a hundred years before the fitness craze of the neon thong leotards of the 1980s, durant believed in the sound body, sound mind theory. when he had olmsted design the campus, he popped each picturesque dorm on to the top of a hill. no chunky girls allowed at this school! similarly, since the beginning, we've had a gym requirement. through a combination of procrastination and a whacked-out kneecap, i needed one more credit of gym by the last semester of my senior year. for some unknown reason i chose a 9 a.m. pilates class that met twice a week. pilates sounds all relaxing, right? like one step away from yoga. probably it's mostly going to be meditating.

then i started taking pilates with a drill sergeant woman who has three kids and an approximately 12 inch, rock hard waist. when i say drill sergeant i mean a loving, attentive woman who just really put us through the motions. try pilates sometime. it will kick. your. ass. it is easily the hardest exercise i've ever done. i'm big in racquet sports - tennis, racquetball (this is how i busted my knee), etc. that's lot's of cardio, but pilates is all about muscle control. teeny little movements that make you sweat, shake, and often want to hurl. i did it for a semester and noticed an appreciable difference in my strength, graduated college, and promptly gained 25 pounds. olmsted and durant, they knew what they were doing.

now, after having lost that 25 pounds, i want to tone up. i have a mat and a pilates video, so i got back into it starting tonight. we'll see how long it lasts, but it does feel good. although this b*tch put me through the drill and i was red and huffing and puffing, shaking, joints popping, and now i'm sore. but the endorphin thing happened, the de-stress thing to some degree, so i'm going to do it again. but dang try holding that position for a second and you'll get an idea of what pilates is...brutal.

Craigslist: Pros & Cons

i was ok with craigslist til tonight. i found my roommates/apartment on it, and it worked out well. but then tonight, when i tried to post to give away my cat that is currently residing with my mom, and dared to audaciously suggest that i would need to meet the person interested before handing my cat over, the post was forthwith earmarked for removal within an hour. apparently asking to screen people is not ok, according to whomever decided to remove me. so yeah, all you dog fighters out there, let me hand you over my sweet, gentle, 10-year-old cat for bait without ever meeting you. sweet.

Garbled

i'm so tired from this week of work that i am hardly able to form coherent thoughts. coming across the radar:

i wish i could have someone make me a warm, toasted, buttered, jammed or honeyed bagel.

i want to go tanning.

i need to shower but that means like holding my arms up and standing up for over three minutes. then there's the whole having to blowdry my hair. meh.

hmmm ruby tuesday burgers look good. i am a sucker for food commercials.

my hands feel like they are full of sand.

i want an iphone. i am an unabashed consumer immersed in consumer must-have culture. they are cute.

i need to vaccuum my floor. instead, i will wear flip flops everywhere.

Heading Off to Sleepytown

last night i once again quickly hit the i'm-just-going-to-rest-my-eyes-for-2-minutzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz point after getting home from work and eating dinner, so i ended up passing out for the night at the respectable time of 10 pm. and sleeping til 10 am. apparently, i was tired.

i am now hitting the point in the evening where it sounds like a good plan to leave all my lights on and my door open and just fall asleep slumped over in bed, just because all those things are so.far.away. possible contributor to this state: a late-night trip to winstead's for fries, a double winstead, and a frosty. good old greasy diner food has a way of making you sleepy tired.p.s.: i wish the place looked like this instead of an oasis in a frozen wasteland.

Sleepover!

this past saturday night i, on a slightly ill-advised whim, decided to meet my sister and her family for dinner and from there to take my (step)niece to my house for a sleepover. she is newly four, quite precocious, quite the manipulator when she wants to be, and totally fun most of the time.

in my brilliance i decided to get her hopped up on sugar at eight p.m. only to watch a movie. we made triple chunk chocolate brownies (she stirred the mix! and she cracked the eggs! and she made brownies! she MADE THEM!), painted nails as they baked, read a book on monsters, had a bath, then settled on to my big bed (she was forced to use my leather bench at the foot of my bed as a stepping stone to get on to it) to watch "ratatouille" and gorge on brownies and milk. we were up until midnight, whereupon it was time for bed and for my hand on her back to protect her from Monsters That Will Definitely Get Her.

the morning started, for reagan, at 7:22 a.m., at which time she abruptly sat up in bed next to me and said, "katie. katie? katie. it is morning time." i groggily told her that it was morning time indeed, but still quiet time. she huffily laid back down with her feet towards the pillows and somewhat patiently tried to wait me out. i did hear several, "katie? it is still morning time. wake up now?" but they were fairly quiet and quickly shushed. 8:15 turned out to be her limit, so i clicked on cartoons and fell back asleep as she glazed over, finally waking up at 9.

that morning went on to include a trip to the nelson with mandatory treats from the store, and then a brunch out to 180 in westport with my coworker ray and his godchildren, evie & ollie. at 12 and 10 they had a few years on my 4-year-old, but they were great with her and taught her tricks with a straw and patiently listened to her regale them with how she. made. brownies. she. stirred. them! despite her finicky eating habits, she managed to down an entire salad (lettuce, cheese, and croutons, that is all, with "wanch sauce") and white grape juice.

from there we went back to her dad and my sister's house, the drive of which resulted in a severely passed out little girl, finally crashing from sugar, food, art, people, and movie rushes all exploding within her. and so ended my little experiment in parenting - although as a parent i guess i would not be able to crack her out on sugar, keep her up late, and then hand her off. way more fun this way.