Category Archives: Friends & Family

vacuum-robics?

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My future brother-in-law (aka Dave’s brother), Steve, is coming here from the UK to live with us for about 3 months. He wants to start his own landscaping business, and since we live on 2 acres that’s pretty much completely un-landscaped (calling it a mess would be far too kind), this seems like as good a place as any for him to start building a portfolio. We’re going to do before & after pictures and everything. I’m reallly excited to see what he has in store for us. I know that he’s going to extend the deck around the side of the house – so the French doors in the dining room will no longer open up to a 3-foot drop to the ground – but other than that, I have no idea what else he has planned. It’s a weird thing about having this much space, it seems overwhelming to gardening novices such as myself, so I can’t really envision how it’s going to look, but I’m sure it’ll be great.

Anyway, since Steve is going to be arriving on Wednesday, I am in hyper-housecleaning mode. Not that he really cares how it looks – I mean, the reason he’s coming here is to help us out with our home improvements – this is just my reaction to any visitor’s arrival. (I think I inherited this “Oh crap, people are coming! Quick, tidy up the house!” gene from my mother.) Today, I vacuumed the stairs. I even used the hose attachment to get in all of the little corners where cat hair tends to accumulate. Has anyone actually tried to vacuum a flight of stairs? It’s no easy task, I assure you. That was quite an impromptu little cardio workout that I gave myself. I also rearranged the furniture in the living room – which probably would’ve been easier if I had waited for Dave to get home to help me, but I was determined to do it myself so he’ll be surprised when he gets back. Cleaning is also the primary item on the weekend agenda. If we’re efficient enough, we might even get around to painting my soon-to-be office so I can start putting furniture in there. (It’s sort of a puke green right now. No thank you.)

So yeah, that’s about all that’s going on right now. Monday is my last day at my current (old) job. I don’t start at the Big Software Company until March 14th, so it’ll suck to have no income for 2 weeks, but we’ll catch up. Hope everyone has a great weekend.

new pics

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I forgot to mention in my insanely long post yesterday, I’ve added photos to the Thanksgiving album, and a whole bunch are now in my Christmas album. Feel free to browse, and take in all of the holiday festiveness! (Yes, I’m being sarcastic… I’m not even sure if “festiveness” is a word.)

My friend Opie (don’t worry, that’s a nickname) is here from Nashville for a job interview. He’s getting his Ph.D. in psychology and has to do a one-year internship, so he’s checking out a couple of places here; and of course, since he’s still in school, he’s completely broke, so I’m letting him crash on my futon. Which is no big deal, really, he’s an old friend and it’s been good to have some time to catch up with him. I just feel bad that I haven’t taken him sightseeing around Seattle at all, because I’ve been so tired from our trip. And he’s leaving tomorrow. Oh well, if he ends up with a job here, I’m sure I’ll see him a lot more often.

Not much else going on. Dave’s coming over to meet Opie tonight and we’ll go to dinner. Should be fun.

Holiday Madness!

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Brace yourselves, this is gonna be a long one.

December 23rd: Early in the morning, we headed to the airport for our flight to Jackson, only to find out that the first leg was going to be delayed for 2 hours. This meant that we were going to miss our connection in Dallas. So I called the airline to find out which later flight we would be on, and I was informed that we could maybe get on standby for the first flight out on Christmas Eve, but it wasn’t likely. (Keep in mind Teenie was with us, so if we had to stay in a hotel, we would’ve had to get food, litter box & all other kitty accoutrements that my mom already has at her house.) Dave and I made the executive decision to screw the 2nd flight, rent a car in Dallas, and drive to Jackson so we could get there the same day. We told the airline this, and they said that they’d change our luggage orders so our bags would stop in Dallas. Turns out, my bag stopped in Dallas, but Dave’s apparently traveled on without him. Oh well. We got the car and I drove us the 450-ish miles from Dallas to Jackson. Dave slept for 5 1/2 of the 6 hours – he woke up in Vicksburg, so he was conscious for the last 40 miles or so. We got to my parents’ house sometime around 2 a.m., and promptly collapsed.

December 24th: We had to go to the airport in Jackson to get Dave’s bags, and in spite of the previous day’s bad travel luck, we actually got them. Whew. I should add, my sister flew to Jackson on the 22nd, and she didn’t get her suitcase until the 24th, either. And then there was all the news coverage about the thousands of people whose bags were lost by the airlines, so we felt pretty lucky by comparison. Anyway, we all went to the candlelight church service that evening, came home, had the Huge Christmas Dinner, and opened presents. I cleaned up this year. I got clothes from my parents and a pashmina from my sister, which were all great. Then Dave got me a necklace that I absolutely adore, a purse that is nicer than anything I have ever owned in my life, and other assorted goodies. I got him a grandfather mantle clock, which he seemed to really like – although he only got pictures of it at Christmas, because it was too big and breakable to get it from Seattle to Jackson and back again. (He got the real clock when we got home yesterday.) What can I say, Christmas was good.

December 25th: The worst migraine I have had in ages. My mom even gave me one of her heavy-duty narcotic painkillers, which did absolutely nothing for it. Somehow, in spite of the pounding in my head, I managed to get myself dressed and packed, and we headed down to New Orleans. We had to take a roundabout way to get there, because it had actually snowed in Louisiana, which is something that never happens there, ever. But, we arrived safe & sound, and we had a great time visiting with relatives that night and on the 26th. Then Mom & Tracy headed back to Jackson, Dave & I got another rental car, and we had the city all to ourselves.

December 27th: The first day of our vacation without my family around. We woke up at 9 a.m., showered, lay in bed to watch the news coverage of the tsunami, and fell asleep until well after 1 in the afternoon. Ah, laziness. I love vacation. After we woke up, we went to an absolutely horrible lunch (at a restaurant that both of my parents raved about, oddly enough), and then wandered around the French Quarter for the rest of the day/night.

December 28th: Slept late. Got up, checked out of the hotel, drove around New Orleans for a bit before heading back to Jackson. Hung out with my parents and watched “Collateral”. It was good.

December 29th: Slept late again. Actually, that was an accident, I got up at 11:00, went into Dave’s room to wake him up (no co-ed sleeping arrangements in my parents’ house), and I lay down on the bed next to him and fell asleep for 2 hours. I was worried that my parents might have caught us like that and freaked out because the door was wide open, but he was under the covers and I was on top of them, so I think it was ok. If they walked down the hall and saw us, they didn’t say anything about it. Anyway, we eventually got up and drove to Memphis. We checked into our hotel, met up with Kris for dinner and then went to play pool at a sketchy bar near the university, which used to be one of our regular hang-outs. Kind of funny to be there again, although I didn’t run into anyone that I knew. Which is probably a good thing.

December 30th: Got up, had lunch, and gave Dave a driving tour of all the places I’ve lived in Memphis. Took him back to the hotel to shower, and then he wanted some quiet time, so I left him there while I went to go hang out with Kris for a couple of hours. We went to some of the local artists’ shops in midtown, which I love. Then Kris and I went back to to the hotel to pick up Dave, and we went to check out Peabody Place. This is one of those cool new things that’s happened to Memphis since I left the city – downtown is actually nice now. Who knew? It’s fabulous. We shopped and went to the Peabody Hotel next door to see the ducks. We avoided Beale Street because it was insanely packed, apparently there was some parade going on there, which may or may not have had something to do with the Liberty Bowl, we weren’t sure. The three of us met up with Becky, Naina and Carrie for dinner that night, which was great. Dave seemed to get good reviews from all of my friends, so that’s good.

December 31st: Spa day! Kris arranged for us to get manicures, pedicures, facials and massages. Ah, so lovely. I had never had a pedicure before, and I haven’t had a facial in years, so that was absolutely wonderful. And it took up the better part of the day; meanwhile, Dave had the rental car and he went off to explore Memphis on his own. We met up at the hotel that evening, got dressed, and went over to Kris’s house for her New Year’s party. I had way too much to drink and was quite obnoxious. Dave somehow managed to get me to bed, where I promptly passed out. Didn’t feel too hot the next day, either.

January 1st: Got up, checked out right at noon (barely made it), drove to Jackson. Chilled out with my parents. Watched “The Manchurian Candidate”. Dave & I had already seen it, but I knew there was no sex in the movie, so I would be safe to watch it with my dad. He seemed to like it.

January 2nd: Flew home. Not nearly as much airport drama as last time, just that we were tired and irritable. But I had so much fun on this vacation, it’s probably one of the best holidays I’ve had in years. I was sad that it was over. And I’m sad that I don’t get to see Dave every day anymore, I really enjoyed that. Even when I was pissy and he was getting on my nerves, I was still glad that he was around. Go figure.

birthdays, etc.

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So today marks the birthday of two very important people:
1. My very first real-life crush as well as my first kiss when I was 4, gclark. He was the boy next door, our families went on vacation together when we were kids. I was heartbroken when his family moved to Arkansas. He’s one of the funniest people I’ve ever had the good fortune to meet, and he’s still just about the damn cutest thing you ever did see. (Excluding Dave, of course.)
2. Alphagal’s hubby, SNG. (Someday I’m going to find out what that nickname stands for.) Another great, funny guy who I’m happy to be related to, even if it is only through marriage.

So happy birthday, you little Sagittarians, you.

Other stuff: yesterday I treated myself to a massage, because my shoulders have been locked up since the whole Thanksgiving shindig. I thought it might be a good idea to unwind before I go deal with another round of family togetherness. It was amazing, definitely a worthwhile expense. The girl used so much oil on me that when I was walking the block from the massage place back to my apartment, I thought I was going to slide out of my shoes and fall on my ass. Mental note: next time, wear socks for traction.

Not much else going on. I’m trying to wrap up work stuff so I can leave on Thursday for vacation. Christmas shopping is done. Now I just need to get my laundry done so I can start packing. Whee!

holiday shopping finale

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Yesterday, I went to the mall to get the Christmas presents for myself, courtesy of a check my mom sent me last week. It’s kind of an annual tradition in our family. Problem is, the last few times I’ve been shopping, nothing has really looked cute on me. (This is entirely an issue with my self-image and not the clothes, and I know that.) But I also know that I would’ve gotten hell if I had used my Christmas money for something like groceries or utility bills, so I was determined to find clothes that I liked. I hit at least 9 different stores, but by god, I found a few things that didn’t look too awful. So hooray for that, Christmas shopping is officially over for me.

For the most part, my encounters with mall employees were pleasant or unnoteworthy, except for two little things that I thought would make funny anecdotes. Number one: While passing through the fragrance section of a department store, I stopped to smell a couple of things I hadn’t seen before. As I started to leave, one of the fragrance ladies jumped out with her little piece of paper that had been sprayed with perfume to offer it to me. I’m actually a big fan of this type of marketing, as opposed to the women who try to assault you by spraying you with the actual perfume. Sure, give me the piece of paper, I can throw it away in 5 seconds after I’ve decided I don’t like it. I’ll be much happier doing that, rather than having to take a shower to get rid of the smell.

So she comes up to me and says “New fragrance?”, and starts to hand me the paper. As soon as my hand touches it, she says in a voice about 10 times quieter than before, “… by Paris Hilton.” Doh! Too late now, I’ve already agreed to take the piece of paper by reaching for it. There’s no backing out of this little perfume transaction at this point. The funny part was that she was so clearly embarassed to have to push Paris Hilton’s perfume on people, I almost didn’t hear her say the name over the mall noise. So I took the paper and walked away, and it took every ounce of self-control in my body not to sniff it, turn around and say “Gee, it doesn’t smell like skank ho.” And of course, because I fought the urge and didn’t say it, I then got a wicked case of the church giggles in the middle of the mall. I had to bite my lip to keep from laughing out loud. I’m sure people thought I was nuts.

The other incident took place on my way out. As I finished shopping, it suddenly occurred to me that I hadn’t eaten in something like 7 1/2 hours. I skipped hungry, and went straight to “If I don’t eat something now, I’m either going to faint or kill someone.” So I decided that on my way out of the mall, I would stop to get a pretzel dog. [Aside: If any of you have not yet experienced this most wondrous creation of the mall food court, do so immediately. It’s like a hot dog, only more buttery and salty. Translation: heaven.] There was a kiosk in the middle of the hallway that had perfumes and lotions, and as I walked past it, the guy working there asked me if I’d like to try something. I don’t know what it was, he had a bottle of something blue in his hands, and I wasn’t listening – I was a woman on a mission. I shook my head and said “no thanks.” That’s actually excessively polite for me when I have low blood sugar. Then he says, “Can I ask you something?” Um, ok. I stopped walking and turned around. He said, “Are your nails real or fake?” I was so confused, I don’t know why I didn’t realize that this was part of a sales pitch. I said, “They’re real,” and held my hand out to show him. He grabbed my hand and started to pull me toward his kiosk. He said, “Can I show you something that would be just amazing for your nails?” This guy obviously had no clue that he had just taken his life into his own hands by delaying me on my Quest for Pretzel Dog Bliss. So I gave him my biggest, sweetest “I’m being polite because that’s how my parents raised me, but if you don’t let go of my hand this instant, so help me, I’m leaving this mall with one of your eyeballs as a rearview mirror decoration” southern girl smiles, and I said, “No.” Very firm, no room for negotiation. A fleeting look of terror crossed his face, and he let go of my hand. I decided to let him live, despite the fact that I would’ve been at least 10 seconds closer to my pretzel dog if he hadn’t stopped me. Oh well.

Also, I have to give a shout-out to Sally over at Catoptric, who now has me completely and totally hooked on Project Runway. If any of you haven’t seen it, tune in immediately. The bitchiness is rampant. Rampant, I tell you! It’s so great. There are two of the gayest gay men I have ever seen in my life on that show. (And I used to be friends with a drag queen, so that’s saying something.) There’s also a guy on that show with cornrows, who I find oddly attractive. Which is kind of alarming, as I’m not typically a cornrow-loving kind of gal. Last night, they got rid of the girl with the constant sourpuss look on her face. And thank god, I was tired of looking at her, and her dresses were ugly.

Turkey Day recap

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I picked my sister up from the airport on Wednesday in kind of a panicked state. Her plane was a half-hour early, so I was still at my apartment when she called to tell me that she had landed. I met her outside baggage claim, she said she didn’t wait too long. I guess de-boarding time and all that. We went to Redmond to meet up with Dave for lunch, who was unusually quiet and well-behaved. I think he was more nervous than he let on. But lunch was fine, and then Tracy and I shopped for a while before we headed back to my apartment. (We both managed to find Christmas gifts for our mom, who is the most impossible person in the world to shop for, so hooray for that.) After chilling out at my apartment for a couple of hours, we went back to the airport to pick up my folks. They were supposed to get in at 7:00, and when we were at lunch, I could’ve sworn that I told Dave to meet me at my apartment between 7:30 and 8:00. I guess there was some miscommunication there (my sister heard the same thing Dave did, so apparently I was wrong), and my phone rang at 7:00, which was Dave, asking me to go downstairs and let him into the parking garage. Oops. I told him to go to the Irish pub around the corner and have a beer, and I’d call him as soon as I collected my parents and got back to the city.

Meanwhile, back at the airport, Tracy and I found my folks – my dad managed to make it almost 5 minutes before asking me if I had gained any weight. I suppose that’s progress. We got back to my place, met up with Dave, and went to dinner. That actually went pretty well. My mom seems to really like Dave, and he even got a couple of laughs out of my dad, which is amazing. After dinner, we got my parents settled in at their hotel (a block & a half from my apartment), and called it a night.

Thanksgiving Day, we loaded up the car with goodies and headed out to Dave’s house. And I must say, I think Mags and I managed to pull off a mighty impressive Thanksgiving feast. (Dave gets props too – he made the house look great before we all arrived.) But I’m SO glad that Mags was there to make the turkey, because it turned out amazing, and there’s no way I could’ve pulled that off. Everyone seemed to really like the food, and the families all seemed to like each other, so yay! I was incredibly stressed out and snapped at people a lot because I kept feeling like my family was nitpicking every little thing I did – even down to things I can’t control, like why is it so cold and rainy in Seattle. Dave, bless his heart, kept refilling my spiced rum and diet coke, which helped to relax me a lot. After dinner, we played Cranium and Pictionary, which was hilarious. My dad is the most random pictionary player ever. He draws boobs on a stick and we’re supposed to guess that that means “Miss America.” And his cars look like space shuttles. It’s kind of insane. Makes for a fun evening, though.

OH! The biggest breakthrough of the day: Greta, the semi-feral cat, actually let me pet her. I think this is all due to Mags, who is like Dr. Doolittle with animals. She had gotten to pet Greta, which may have made her realize that humans are not all bad. So when I managed to get her to eat a piece of turkey out of my hand, she let me pet her while she ate it. That was so cool. Who knows, she might actually turn out to be a normal cat someday.

Friday, it finally stopped raining, so I dragged my family through Pike Place Market and Pioneer Square. We were going to do the Underground Tour of Seattle, which I have wanted to do for ages, but the last tour was sold out. This is the 2nd time that I’ve tried to go on this tour and not been able to (the other time was because we missed the start of the last tour of the day), so I’m starting to think that’s a sign that I’m not meant to go. We were all pretty exhausted by early in the evening, so we got deli food from one of my local grocery stores, rented “Cold Mountain” (had to fast-forward through the sex scene at the end because there is No Nudity when my dad is in the room), and chilled out.

This morning, everyone is getting ready to leave, which means there is no sleep to be had in my apartment. My sister has already left, and my parents will be going soon. As soon as I get back from dropping them off at the airport, I plan on taking a nice 4 or 5 hour nap.

The Mother from Northern England

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I met Dave’s mom, Mags (or Margaret), on Friday evening. I was really excited about it until just a few hours before, then I started to get nervous. As it turns out, the pre-mom-meeting jitters were completely unwarranted, because we hit it off immediately. She is a total riot. We went to the Mexican restaurant in Duvall, because she was still a bit jet-lagged from the trip and wanted to get to bed early. It’s one of those Mexican chain restaurants where the food isn’t particularly great, but it’s simple enough and pretty reliable. Afterwards, we walked across the street to the new sports bar for a drink. (Apparently Duvall is growing into a regular little metropolis; you heard it here first. Next thing you know, all the alpacas will be wearing Louis Vuitton). The sports bar is actually kind of an odd place. It’s owned by the Chinese restaurant next door and they share a kitchen. So if you order food in the sports bar, it’s from the Chinese place’s menu. And the chairs and carpet are the same as the Chinese place. So basically, the only thing that makes it a “sports bar” is the fact that it has a pool table, a dartboard, a jukebox and a couple of big TV sets where they show sports-type events. But it’s smoke-free and the drinks are good, so no complaints. Anyway, we had a great time and called it a night around 11:00 (which was something like 7 a.m. for Mags with the jet lag; she mentioned that it felt like she should be ready for her morning coffee).

Saturday, I had a lazy day at home while Dave and his mom shopped and ran various errands on the eastside. We met up that evening to go to dinner at the Waterfront Restaurant at Pier 70, which is definitely my favorite restaurant in Seattle, and possibly the world. It’s one of those super-posh restaurants that’s too expensive to go often, but it’s perfect for special occasions (i.e., a mom visiting from 5,000 miles away; owing your girlfriend a favor for helping with home improvement projects, etc.). Pretty much everything on the menu is pure mouth bliss. That’s the only way I know to describe it. Anyway, we had a great time again, and after dinner we came back to my apartment so I could show Mags the view from my building’s rooftop deck. We took a few pictures up there (which I’ll post as soon as Dave emails them to me). The strange part of the evening was that I started to feel like I was talking to Mags so much that I was neglecting Dave. I spent a lot of time with him on both Friday and Saturday nights, but I felt like I hadn’t really seen him.

For the next couple of days, Mags is going to stay with Cheryl, who is Dave’s ex-mother-in-law. I guess that might seem strange to some people, but they became friends when Dave and his ex were together, and they’ve stayed in touch in spite of their children’s divorce. Which makes sense to me, they have a friendship that is completely separate from Dave and his ex-wife. Anyway, last night, they decided that the three of them (Mags, Dave and Cheryl) would meet up and have dinner, and then Mags would go home with Cheryl afterward. It’s a bit more social than Dave dropping his mom off at Cheryl’s house, I suppose. Then Cheryl’s other daughter (Dave’s ex-sister-in-law) and her 2 year-old baby decided to come along, plus the daughter’s soon-to-be-ex-husband, who I’d already met once before. (Yes, this is a very complicated family.) Dave seemed very anxious about the whole dinner idea, and I offered to go along for moral support. And selfishly, because I am incredibly curious to learn about the ex’s family. Dave seemed happy that I wanted to go, and I was glad that I could be his designated driver, because he certainly seemed to need a couple of drinks before we left the house. When we were in the car, I reassured him that when you go to a restaurant with a 2 year-old, she’s pretty much going to be the focus of everyone’s attention, so that’s going to dissipate most awkward situations. And I was right. It didn’t feel weird to be there at all, surprisingly enough. The ex-sister-in-law was perfectly pleasant to talk to, and I squeezed Dave’s hand under the table when he seemed tense. I’m sure the evening was a bit rougher on him, but I had a good time. The baby is totally adorable, she sucked down chow mein noodles “Lady and the Tramp”-style. So cute.

The good part about the ex’s family is that they are not night owls. Dinner was at 5:00, and we were out of there by 7. And since Mags left with Cheryl afterward, that meant that I got a few hours of “me and Dave” time, which was great. I’ve had a blast chatting with Mags all weekend, don’t get me wrong. But I was starting to miss Dave, despite the fact that I had seen him three days in a row. Go figure.

Forty-eight hours until my family shows up for Thanksgiving. Whee!