20 Something in LA LA land...

3 days

I could NOT be happier that I have today off - I needed it so badly. Friday night was nice and relaxing, but I slept badly that night... why do you think??? Click-click-clickety heels next door. I woke up Saturday morning and went straight to my notepad - where I wrote a very polite letter asking her to PLEASE take off her heels when walking around her apt - ESPECIALLY in the middle of the night. I swear, I have NO idea what in the hell she's doing at 3 am walking back and forth, back and forth... I mean, when I get home after a long night I go to two places: the refridgerator or the bed!

Early Saturday evening, C and I headed towards the beach for out oyster and seafood dinner. We got there at the perfect time to sit at the bar and watch the sun setting over the Pacific. I ordered a 1/2 dozen oysters and three sampling wines with it. C also ordered an appetizer and shared my oysters! Pardon my excitement, but cut to a couple of years ago and I couldn't even get him to eat a piece of FRIED fish... now he's all about sushi and oysters? What a California boy ;)

After dinner, we stopped at the store to pick up Guitar Hero for our Wii... cut to two hours later with wine, wii and the guitar - it was SUCH a fun night. I got pretty buzzed so I went to bed a bit before midnight and I woke up at 4:30 am to drink some water. And that's where the fun started - I couldn't get back to bed until 7:15 am. Does that ever happen to you? It was so frustrating. I couldn't get comfy, and then I just wasn't tired. By the time I feel asleep, my alarm went off shortly thereafter. Needless to say, I was a walking zombie yesterday.

We had to get up to see the new condo we're moving into! You heard it, we're moving! Most likely April 1st, although we'll have to see in the next week or two how the condo progresses. It's being fully built right now, and it's going to be GORGEOUS. 2 bedrooms (luxury for us), 2 stories, beautiful kitchen with all new appliances, fireplaces, 3 bathrooms, a huge patio opening into a front yard. We are extremely excited, and it's rent to own situation. So we will pay rent and in approx. a year, if we decide we want to buy it, that rent will have gone towards a down payment - which is perfect for us considering I don't think we're exactly ready to buy a home just yet. It's in a new area that both of us don't know all that well, but it's near everything. YAY!

Last night, thankfully, I slept a whole 9 hours (I needed it!) and just gonna run some errands today... Hope you all had nice three-day weekends!!!

The rambling weekend recap

The weekend was - how else can I say it - perfect.  Not only was it filled with food, friends, and fun, but C and I are in a very good place.  I mean, other than when I gave him crap for coming home after playing basketball and throwing his shit all over the living room.  But that's pretty typical.  And showering?  You'd think it would be natural to want to shower after playing three hours of sweaty nasty basketball but apparently when football playoffs are on, showering goes down your list of priorities.  But that's a whole other story.

Friday night, we started our evening at out favorite Irish gastropub/bar down the street.  It's such a warm environment, where we can sit at the bar, enjoy some yummy beer and wine and just decompress the crazy week that just ended.  Oh, and they have the best fries known to man (or at least known to me) so that never hurts.  Afterwards, we went out to dinner to an Ethiopian restaurant here in LA.  Shocked?  yeah, I know, I was a little hesitant.  However, C and I have embarked on this new exciting mission of trying different, interesting, off the beaten path type restaurants - and what better place to do it than here in LA?  A couple of weeks ago was Peruvian and now Ethiopian.  And can I just stop and say that when C and I first met?  He would shy away from anything that wasn't meat and potatoes - and now?  He LOVES fish (even the raw kind), and different ethnic cuisines.  So, I could say I did a good job.  Anyway, Ethiopian food is SO good, everything comes on this thin bread/crepe, and there are NO utensils, so you eat by ripping a piece of the bread (injera) and scooping your meats and vegetables.  PROS?  YUMMY food, cheap bill, very interesting date.  CONS?  Smelly hands for hours and the possibility of eating too much and not being able to stop because it was SO damn good and then subsequently not being able to sleep because of VERY FULL TUMMY with indigestion.  Thank you C for running out and getting me Alka Seltzer at midnight. 

Saturday was errands and dinner and games with a very close couple of ours.  Remind me to elaborate on that another time because also?  Quite the experience having dinner with a newlywed couple who are SO intent on showing that they have the HAPPIEST LIFE EVER.  With matching outfits too!

Yesterday was breakfast, followed by an open house nearby and hi?  I want to afford my own house TODAY.  Also, we went furniture shopping and bought a new dresser which should be arriving at some point this afternoon.  And last night?  Fish tacos and Amazing Race. 

I'd say it was one of the better weekends in a long while.

I'm baaaaaaaack

Oh how I missed you so!  It's been about two weeks - which is ridiculously long to not keep in touch.  Sure, I love to bore you with the mundane details of my life approximately 4-5 times a week and I'm sure it was hard for you not to have that, but what was really hard for me was not having the time to sit and read your blogs!  I have definite withdrawal symptoms.  So I will quickly tell you about my trip and then I will try to get to all of your blogs through the weekend by the end of this year! HA!

Number one?  We had a fucking fantastic time.  This is quite surprising to both C and me because a) we were in 10-40 degrees weather the whole time and being an LA girl, that usually tends to suck, b) we were with his family for 10 DAYS STRAIGHT and as much as I like them, that worried both of us and c) there was SO MUCH EATING and hardly any moving around and normally?  I hate that.  But guess what?  This time? It was nice feeling like a lazy fat pig!

I won't bore you with too many details but I'll give you the highlights.

Last Monday, we flew into Denver and C and I immediately rented a car to drive two hours up into the Rocky Mountains to Beaver Creek (It's right next to Vail).  Let me just tell you, that as a kid I always wanted to spend some time in one of these cute little ski villages, where there are ice skating rinks and chocolate stores and Starbucks and good restaurants, and you could walk around and ski and then relax by the fire and then walk some more.  It was so perfect and beautiful and out of a movie.  We stayed in a condo there with his family for two nights, playing Trivial Pursuit and eating yummy food and watching good movies and laughing.  C also decided (on his own) that he wanted to take me out alone for dinner the second night, so he found this beautiful restaurant and we went on a date.  Very sweet if you ask me, considering he sees me all the goddamn time and his family very rarely.  I guess he just knew that he wouldn't be alone with me for the next 8 days and wanted to give me a "treat".

On Thursday of last week, C and I had a flight from Denver to Chicago, and what do ya know? They downsized the plane and we were left without a seat, along with 30 or more people.  I immediately went into panic mode, as I quite clearly remember Last December 29th, when C and I had to be put on standby for 8 hours, and only got out of Chicago the next morning at 6.  That, my friends, was HELL.  SO, I nicely spoke to some sweet man wearing a Santa tie, who totally hooked C and I up.  We got to fly first class to Sioux Falls (please, stop the chuckling.  I know, I know, a 1 hour flight, but it was something.  And Sioux Falls's airport?  One long hallway with a stuffed dog.)  and a couple hour layover and then off to Chicago.  SO we made it there only four hours past when we should have BUT we did manage to score two free roundtrip tickets to anywhere in the US except Alaska and Hawaii so I would say we made out well.

Oh, did I tell you that I also was feeling sick again?  I couldn't believe it, as I had just gotten over the WORST cold of my life a bit over a month ago, and then all of a sudden, I was sick again.  And flying.  This was not a good combination.

We woke up the next morning in Illinois to snow on the ground and a pretty sunny sky.  And so started our week of EATING.  Full-on breakfast every morning, and lunch 3 hours later, and of course a heavy hearty dinner.  Did I mind?  Not one bit.  I loved it.  C and I cooked for his whole family on the 23rd (that was 27 people - It felt like Dinner Impossible) and the other days I helped his mom out happily. When I say happily I truly mean it too, because if you would have tried to keep me inside for four straight days at C's parents' house last year or the year before I would have said NO WAY.  But this time, for whatever reason, I felt so comfortable and happy, and genuinely enjoyed their company - especially his mom (In fact, we had a long heart to heart about the "marriage" issue and she was so great about it).  I looked forward to talking to her, and getting her advice, and telling her stories.  It was so nice.  On the 2nd or 3rd day we were there, C looked at me and said this was the best Christmas home he's had in years because he could trust that I was having a good time and he didn't have to constantly check on me like he used to in the past.  This time, he could freely go down to the basement with his brother and dad and play darts or pool, and he knew I would be fine upstairs with the ladies and the kids.

And ohmigod the kids!  C's brother has two kids, a 4 year old boy and a little 8 month old girl.  The boy has always had this thing for me - when C and I see him for the first time in a long time, he tends to run right past him and jump into my arms.  I love that of course, but now that he is getting to a certain stage and has a new baby sister who gets TONS of attention, he had moments of devil-like behavior.  Which was not fun.  But the 8-month old!  So cute - what a sweet age!  And she was obsessed with her Uncle C and wow - to see him with a little baby girl got me teary-eyed at moments.

Other highlights?  We went to visit C's grandparents who are both in a nursing home, the grandfather for physical reasons and the grandma for dementia.  Even though it was sad to see them like that, they were both so sweet and fun and loving, and I just loved seeing the family interact and taking pictures of it.

Also, we spent the first Friday night with a few of C's friends and their wives for dinner at this great Italian restaurant.  It's always good to get together with them, because amazingly enough, I get along with all of the wives really well.  The not so fun part?  Being grilled about marriage after a couple of glasses of wine.  Haven't we had enough???  This last Wednesday, we went to one of the couples' condo, which we hadn't seen yet and they cooked dinner for us.  It was so great.  SUCH a cute house and great food and great music and obviously great wine (anyone else feel they have drank too much lately?) and good conversation and I just loved it.  So much fun. 

And finally Christmas morning.  With mimosas and Christmas music and thousands of presents under the tree, it just it so much fun for me.  And C and I made out pretty nice!  Although I didn't get EXACTLY what I wanted (this is kinda a joke because if C ever proposed to me Christmas morning in front of all of his family, I would be mortified), he did get me the perfume I wanted so badly, an adorable shirt, and a pair of beautiful earrings and a ring.  Not that kind but it was still beautiful.  His parents and family all got us great stuff too (including a new DVD player, gift cards to Marriot Hotels, Whole Foods, Trader Joes, Forever 21, Borders, etc. - they know me well!).

And so came Thursday morning, to quickly pack up and go home, but guess what?  DG got a ridiculous sinus infection!  So no matter how much medicine I took, and how much I tried to forget about it, that day of flying was honestly the most excrutiating thing I had ever gone through.  I mean, ridiculous.  My head was gonna EXPLODE!!!!!  At least I didn't focus on the fact that we were flying and whoops! I'm scared of flying but I actually wasn't at all and I think it cured my fear!

Lastly, C and I are doing really well.  There was hardly one argument the whole time, minus the marriage one after we got majorly grilled.  But other than that, we got along really well and I feel like we bonded even more if that's possible?  As far as the marriage and future talk?  We'll just have to see.  I will say I did get a little more insight as to why he's feeling the way he is, and a lot of it has nothing to do with me but with his job and the current state of his career-life.  So, we'll see.  If I'm happy now must I change it? 

:)

And so it's the day before Thanksgiving.  Can you guys really believe that it's the END of November already??? I can't even begin to understand where this year went.

Yesterday was such a fun day.  It started early (well, at 8:30 which is early if you're not going to work!) when C and I woke up to go to our SECOND spinning class together (and it was his idea).  The class was even better than the first - we sweat our asses off and loved the music.  So much fun.

C had to go to work for a few hours, and it was a really cold overcast day.  So I sat on my couch with my laptop and read blogs, random websites, and really enjoyed being home.

At lunch I met up with my dad.  Won't go into details but really, Dad?  Seriously?  Ugh.

After lunch, I ran some errands and then came home, turned on Oprah's Favorite Things episode and waited for C to come home. When he did we just cuddled on the couch and listened to James Taylor for about an hour, and then we got in our car to head over to the Grove to go see a movie.  When we got out of the movie it was dark, and if you click on the link you can see just how amazing it looks when the decorate it for the Holidays and light up the Chritmas Tree.  They also have fake snow that they shoot out of the rooftops every hour.  It's really awesome.

When we came home, we popped open a bottle of wine, and played Monopoly.  SO MUCH FUN. I never really knew how to play because as a kid, I used to want to play so badly, set the whole game up by distributing the money and everything, and then my sister would tell me she wouldn't want to play anymore.  That sucked.

But yesterday was so much fun - with the music playing and the heater on and the wine flowing and the property buying...   

Sometimes it's the simple pleasures in life that make us really happy and grateful, don't you think?

Happy Thanksgiving y'all!!!

Wedding weekend woohoo!

OK, so even the title of this post seems like I am just BURSTING with energy, which in fact I am not. It's Monday morning and I am tiiiiiiiiiired.  Why, then, did I wake my ass up to go to the gym this morning when I felt like I was sleepdriving my way there?  GOOD QUESTION.  If only I had an answer.  No need to lose weight to look good at the wedding, cause it's over, and it's almost winter, so it should be getting cold anytime soon (minus the 95 degree weather yesterday - kill.me.now), and I can wear big sweaters and jackets to hide my flabbier areas.  I'll try to remind myself this tomorrow as I am STRUGGLING to get out of bed to make it to the hell we call a gym ;)

The weekend was FANTASTIC.  Friday night, the rehearsal dinner was fun, good people, great wine, just eh food.  I made a speech for the whole bridal party, letting the couple know how amazing they are and how perfect they are for each other.  It's amazing how easy it is to get me in front of people when I am drinking.  The nice part about the speech I made and everyone else's speech for that matter, is that they were ALL sincere - cause this really is that couple.

Since the venue was about an hour away, C and I had planned to stay in a hotel that the couple had picked for everyone since it was the right price.  Shoulda known better because holy shite, that hotel was the most DISGUSTING thing I had ever seen.  The room! OH GOD the room!  Blue carpet, stale cigarette smoke, apricot mesh curtains, cracks in the toilet seat, etc.  C and I took one look and realized there was a reason he didnt drink that much because we needed him to drive us home STAT. 

The next morning, he once again drove me to the hotel to meet up with everyone (my guess is everyone was WASTED and that's how they were able to sleep there), and we girls went up to the house where the wedding was to take place.  The house had the most amazing yard and view - PERFECT for a small (90 people) wedding.  All day was makeup, and hair, and dress, and pictures! And more pictures!!!  The bride (my best friend from college) couldn't have been more calm and happy, it was IDEAL.

By 4 all of the guests arrived, and guess what?  It started to drizzle.  The wedding was outside and there was no other alternative but to wait out the rain because the couple (on a budget) didn't realize that you have to have backups in case of rain at an OCTOBER wedding!!!

But within minutes, the rain stopped, and we walked down the aisle for a short and sweet ceremony (12 minutes!) and then more pictures!  And then cocktails, and yummy yummy Italian food and then speeches and then dancing.  And SO much dancing.  The bride didn't stop all night.  That was the kind of party it was.  One thing I know about my wedding (whenever it will be) is that there will be A LOT of dancing.

One last thing, C was AMAZING and always is at weddings and social functions.  Dancing with all of the single girls, getting the bridal party drinks, talking to the chatterbox grandparents, friendly with the boyfriend's and husbands.  When I see him in that element, I'm reminded why I love him so much and how lucky I am to have him.  It says something when everyone you know LOVES your boyfriend.

Too bad they didn't see him the morning after hunched over our toilet from too much champagne.  Only I get to see that side :)  And you know what?  I still love the guy.

Chatterboxes

The weekend was so great, once again.  It started off with a rainy Friday night, where C and I went to this new tapas restaurant just up the street.  He basically had to force me to leave the house though, as my body is still adjusting to the crazy schedule I'm now on, and I literally couldn't stop yawing at 7:30 pm on a Friday night.  And the people that know me know that's not me at all.

Anyway, the restaurant was just eh but what C and I had fun doing was observing the two tables we sat between.  On our left was a couple who were hardly talking, but were fairly young.  They also seemed really happy which was strange since they just sat there quietly.  On our right was a couple that were chatting away, like, NONSTOP.  And having so much fun.  So our immediate assumption was that the quiet couple have been together forever and the loud couple were on a first date.

Well, I am a private detective in my spare time (ha) so after some listening and searching for rings I found just the opposite.  Chatty couple was married and quiet couple were engaged!  Veeeeery interesting I thought.  It used to really bother me when C and I would go out to eat and lack in the conversation.  But it rarely happens anymore and if it does, it's usually over a Sunday breakfast when sometimes, it's nice to just enjoy your coffee and people watch.  What about you guys that are in relationships?  Chatty or not so chatty?

Our softball game got rained out so instead, we saw a movie and did laundry and then on Saturday night we went to get sushi and drank way too much sake, which happened to be so much fun.  C and I laughed and talked for hours.  Honestly, one of the best nights I've had in a while.

Yesterday, we watched the Bears (sad) and went to Target (fun) and completely cleaned out our closets (horrible to do but in hindsight, yay!).  Then I cooked a really yummy halibut dinner and we watched The Davinci Code and went to sleep.  Sometimes the mundane things are really the best.

And now, its Monday morning, the start of a LOOOOOOONG week.  Happy Monday?

I'm penis-ed out

The weekend ended up being great.  After a Friday night of watching Friday Night Lights on DVD (SO GOOOD!!!) here at home, I woke up bright and early on a rainy Saturday morning to do the drive down to the OC to meet up with the girls. 

From there we went in two cars (there were 8 of us) and drove to a nearby Indian casino/resort.  I had never been and was pleasantly surprised to see how not ghetto the place was.  Actually, it felt like a pretty descent Vegas hotel. 

While a couple of the girls were up in the room decorating with penises galore, the other 6 of us sat at the bar and, what else, started drinking.  Hey - it was already 1:30 pm!

7 of the 8 of us are in serious relationships.  Two are married and two are engaged.  The one single one is in a serious relationship with her career which she's very happy with so you can imagine how fast our conversations turned into relationship and sex talk.

If there is one thing I've learned from the weekend, it's how different some relationships are and how HAPPY I am that I am with my C.  Not that they were all bad.  But one of the girls?  Her stories about her boyfriend almost made me shudder.  They have only been  dating for 6 months and already are living together and, you guessed it, FIGHTING.  He's closed off and quiet when she wants to talk about their relationship.  He doesn't call her when he says he will.  He drunkenly mentioned that he wants to marry her a few weeks ago and has since retracted the statement over 10 times to make sure she doesn't get her hopes up because he doesn't actually ever want to get married.  My instinct?  The relationship is doomed.  But how do you tell a friend that when you see how much they are wanting it to work?  So instead, you end up giving her advice to make it work. 

I also loved this weekend cause it gave me the opportunity to reconnect with one of my great friends from college who I lost to her career.  She and I and the bride-to-be lived together in college for three years and shared the best and worst times together.  And when we graduated, both she and I moved back to LA and live 10 minutes from eachother.  But I started dating C and she was so deep in her career that she works days and nights for, and so we slowly stopped talking.  This weekend was the moment where, drunkenly, over the Wheel of Fortune slots, we hugged and told eachother that we couldn't do that again and NEEDED to keep in touch.  I hope that stays true.

Other than that, the weekend was filled with alcohol (not too much for me but the bachelorette?  Holy SHIT), food (piiiiiizzzzzaaaaaaa), and gambling.  Oh yeah, also a club on Saturday night where we danced our asses off.  Now THAT was fun - I hadn't done it in ages and there's nothing like dancing to the Shakira - Hips Don't Lie with a group of 8 girls.

So, all in all, the bachelorette party was a success but honestly?  The best part was coming home and cuddling with C while watching the incredibly depressing Bears game and eating dinner and just feeling happy to have him in my life. 

Hey, guess what?

I GOT THE JOB!!!

Yup, you heard me. This week is getting better and better ;)

I can see clearly now the rain is gone :)

OK so I'm not bipolar (well not entirely), but today I woke up feeling much, much better.  But not for any specific reason.  I still haven't heard an official answer about the job, but I have heard really positive things about how the meeting went - and I know that I didn't not get the job since they aren't meeting with anyone else (yet) and they haven't turned us down.  See??  I can see the fullness in the glass!

I also had a pretty good day yesterday.  Saw my grandma for a short time and she's adorable as ever and when she saw me (we haven't seen eachother in two years), she was so surprised by "how pretty and how skinny" I was.  Which secretely makes me wonder if I used to be a fatty.  But I'm not joking - if you want to make another woman like you, immediately complement her on how pretty and skinny she is because after someone says that to me, I'm instantly the M&M who melts in their...uh... hand? 

Speaking of M&M's, last night I met up with my friend to see the movie Once. 

Oh, but quickly, I have to tell you what I was doing before the movie. My friend was running a little late and so I stepped into Barnes and Noble to do some browsing.  Honestly, I LOVE bookstores - they are my candy store.  But instead of being drawn to the new fiction, or biographies, or even some self-help, I went straight to the wedding section - not even realizing that was where I was going.  And I sat there, and pulled out all of these Southern California guides, and dress magazines, and books about Interfaith weddings (I'm Jewish and he's Catholic), and those wedding planner books (do any of you engaged girls use them?), and I was so content for over 45 minutes.  But y'all - I AM NOT ENGAGED!  And I was never that girl - you know, the one who would plan her wedding before she needed to.  Every once in a while when people would walk by and see me sprawled on the floor I would instantly cover up my left hand so they wouldn't know how pathetic I was.  And when my friend called to say she got there, I threw those books so fast back on their shelves so that she wouldn't judge me and give me that poor, poor girl look.

ANYWAY  - Remember the movie that I was telling you about before I went wedding crazy?  Once is a beautiful indie movie about a man who is an amazing musician but is otherwise lonely and sad, who has nothing really to lose, and happens to meet a young woman who ends up changing his life.  The coolest part about it is that in a way it's a musical, since it tells the story mostly through the original music written by the lead singer.  It is definitely a love story, and almost as a viewer you can't help but feel like you are just a voyeur in their lives.  Very moving to me.  Well, we saw it at these new movie theatres on the westside that were just outrageous.  There was a beautiful bar in the lobby, where you could have a drink before or after, and the candy that they sold was amazing - they literally had chocolate from around the world - Pocky's from Japan and Tim Tam's from Australia.  I went all boring and ordered the Dark Chocolate M&M's.  But the best part was, in a few of their theatres, instead of your average seating, there were couches.  Some for one, most for two, and some for three or more.  So you could go with your sweetie and see a movie cuddled up on a comfy leather couch.  It was awesome.

And after a litle Big Brother last night (I could KILL Amber), I went to bed.  I got wonderful sleep, and here we are. 

Amazing what a day can do.