Man, compared to last weekend (moving, dad’s amputation and a horrible accident), this weekend felt like heaven. Sometimes that’s what it looked like, too:
Friday night I scrubbed the hell out of the kitchen in my old apartment. I was relieved when Jason volunteered to clean the bathroom, but then I realized our oven has never been cleaned – even after Jason was supposed to like a year ago.
I have never cursed more than when I scrubbed that thing. I thought I could bitch and moan freely at the top of my lungs, but then I realized someone had opened the windows and didn’t tell me? So the whole complex probably heard my entire unpublishable vocabulary. How awesome is it that I never have to go back? Haha.
I was too worn out after that so I stayed in – but then around 10, Justin IMed me to say that he’d just finished making me a present and was excited to give it to me. It was another mixtape! Hooray! (I refuse to call them Mix CDs. He puts tons of thought and work into them, so it feels cheap to call them anything less. Like, he listens to it all the way through. It’s not a click and burn thing.)
He brought me other presents, too, and we sat on the back stoop and shared a bag of gummi worms and talked about our day.
Saturday I finally ran 2 laps on a nice track just down the street from me. It’s under video surveillance and that makes me feel safe about running during dark winter mornings. After that, I explored Willmore Park and I love it! A pretty path, big picnic trees, a lake with a CRANE that catches fish, and more. I listened to Justin’s mix and wandered around for like an hour; so fun.
That night we went out to Ron and Dustin’s family farm to celebrate Dustin’s birthday. Lots of friends were there. I’ve never been to the farm before; it’s so cute! Their mom lives out there and it seems like such an ideal life – gardens and cows and a GOAT NAMED ZSA ZSA:
I have yet to meet Pancakes the Cow, but don’t worry Jersey Boys, it’ll happen.
The menfolk had spent the entire day fixing a tractor and clearing tons of brush from a fence. After it got dark, we rode in a pickup truck out to a big field and set all the brush piles on fire. We had FIVE huge bonfires, plus all the stars in the country sky. So beautiful!
Oh also, Ron’s mom has a hula hoop that LIGHTS UP AND CHANGES COLORS YEEESSSS!
All in all, super fun. It was nice going on long drives through the country with Justin. We didn’t stay the night because we both sort of hate camping (although we both think sleeping in a tent in the living room is THE FUNNEST), but we realized that camping with each other might actually be lovely and we can’t wait til The Spot next month.
On Sunday – after a yummy cinnamon roll breakfast – I finally unpacked and organized all my art and little knick knacks. It feels nice to be settled. I love that I have windowsills for all my cobalt glass:
The best part about all the nooks is I can now dedicate my bookshelves to just books – I whittled everything down from three bookcases to ONE – THIS IS HUGE PEOPLE.
And why yes, those are flowers from my boyfriend eeee:
He surprised me with those when I met him at his work (he told his co-workers, “This is Stephanie” and they all went “OOOOOOOH!!”). We went to my parent’s house to measure the doorway for the ramp we’re building. (Tonight we’re getting wood, giggity.)
Then it was total super date night! 500 Days of Summer (cute, but more predictable than I thought it would be) and Courtesy Diner (a first for both of us).
Oh! Did I mention it was COLD and I got to wear hoodies all weekend in August? PERFECT.
One great thing about Justin (who needs a nickname btw; he has a good one for me) is that he refuses to read this blog based on principle – he wants to hear all my stories naturally, straight from me. So while most things will stay private, I can tell you the super-cute stuff without making him blush!
Secretly Stephie 
You know, I had been wondering about the whole “blogging about your boyfriend on a public blog” dealy.
Wow, he’s got some serious restraint not to be checkin your blog. I’m not sure I could have ever resisted the temptation to read what my girl would be blogging about me. I can’t decide if that is being nosy or narcissistic… or both.
I think girls with blogs intimidate me…
Well like I said before, most stuff is private and this isn’t even half of the cute stuff. No private conversations, no PDA-ish stuff, no talks about feelings, etc. Just like, the fun places we go, or sweet cute things that I would brag about anyway. And though I haven’t been mad at him yet and can’t picture it, I wouldn’t write about that stuff if it happened.
I mean, I’ve mention my pals on here all the time, and no one has ever gotten offended and they still feel okay telling me their secrets. After five years, I think I’ve found a good balance between the share-able vs. the non-shareable. I’ve never been asked to delete something. (And I can’t set this thing to friends only – well, it would be a hassle – so I’d never get into the uber-scandalous entries that you’re probably thinking about, like private LiveJournals.)
It’s basically the same stuff I would tell you guys in real life, and probably less than that, even. He’s just on here a lot right now because I see him every day and it’s the good part. I don’t plan on writing about him that much at all, but he’ll probably be in my stories because he’ll be present in my life. You know?
I gotcha. And, no, you’ve posted nothing scandalous; it’s all very cute and pleasant and I’d love to have someone blog about how wonderful and cute I am too.
I did have an incident where a Match.com date blogged about me in an unfavorable way. Yeah, my fault for googling her name and finding her blog, and I admit it was all criticism I probably deserved, so I guess that’s okay really. It’d be different if I went out with one of our mutual friends and she blogged negative stuff about me and everyone read it. That would call for me to make an unflattering flash animation of her, hehehe….
But all’s fair in love and blogs, I suppose.
Of course I’ve begun posting stuff on my private LJ space about Jen, which only about seven people can read so it’s practically like shouting into a hole in the ground, but a few of my friends did give some advice which was nice to get. Really, I think I’m done posting about her anyway. It was mostly when I was still trying to figure out how I really felt about her.
Still, I probably should talk to people face to face about stuff more often anyhow. It is a strange thing how we now all can now easily post all our deepest thoughts and feelings to the world.
Gotta love living in the future, eh?
I can hear the squee in your voice.
🙂
And yeah Charles, one time this guy I wasn’t even dating – I think I kissed him once – wrote that we had a “mystical connection”, he was upset and jealous when I couldn’t hang out, etc. It was creepy as hell. So even the good stuff has a limit.
That girl who blogged about you was mean. You should never write stuff on a public site that you don’t want someone to read. But yeah, take the silver lining and look at it as hard-to-swallow advice.