the start of something new.

new years is time where we throw out the old and ring in the new.  where party poppers, champagne, and funny hats run wild.  we look at the last year and think about all the great things we did and what we want to change in the upcoming year.  and of course resolutions.

this new years was a bit of a different concept for me.  it was the first year i would be able to kiss the same person as the year before as previous relationships had never lasted through 2 new years eves.  i also had a bit of a desire for something new to do for the evening.  being young and not having a ton of money we are all limited to the things we can do.  i have always wanted though, to get all gussied up and go out to a high end place, drink martinis out of real glasses and countdown with a drop ball of our own.  ::sigh:: maybe one day. 

we decided to keep it simple, and a little inexpensive, by going to matts house for the new years eve party/rave.  we arrived about 9pm and were immediately immersed in the activities!  eating, of course, and making vanessas famous jungle juice in the same container we would be storing our ornaments in a few days later.  the inside of the house was the party scene and the garage had been turned into a glow-in-the-dark world.  the cups for beer pong had been highlighted so they would glow.  there was a projector on the wall with the weird graphic that plays on windows media player, it was very cool though.  there were enough glow-sticks to dress an army that of course we all donned proudly. 

the night seemed to fly!  i didnt see much of richard in the beginning of the night, as soon as the drinks started pouring we both seemed to go different ways.  and for the first time, i felt comfortable enough to be ok with that.  i felt like the group had really accepted me and i could have my own conversations with them.  there was also more girls being added to the group, which usually doesnt make things easier, but for some reason in this group it does.  i guess being around for a year and a half really makes me one of the group now. 

as midnight approached we all started piling into the living room/kitchen where the tv was getting ready to countdown to the magical time.  richard and i found each other in the kitchen and were instantly wrapped up together.  when the final countdown was complete there was celebration all over the house.  happy new years wishes spread everywhere, hugs abound, and kisses all over.  our new years kiss though, was a different kind of magic.  it was like the rest of the room stopped and i was only in there with him.  it was the kind of kiss you hear about in books and movies, but not in real life.  maybe it was a little bit of the jungle juice we both had, or maybe it was the aura of the 2nd year kiss.  either way it was the best new years kiss i have ever had. 

the party raged on for the next few hours and before any of us knew it was 2am.  we were all starving by this point and not suited to go anywhere.  thank goodness lora and mike had brought frozen pizza.  lora and i of course had a system going and were doling out pizza only to the people we knew/liked.  soon after that the party started to die down and we all were making our way home.  richard and i left soon later, so exhausted im surprised we made it home. 

we woke the next day with a bright start to the new year.  nothing had been bad, nothing had been good, i hadnt overreacted to anything, and no bad news had been given.  it was the epitome of a clean slate, a fresh start for everyone.  we had decided to start the new year focused on our apartment...shopping for a new couch.  later in the day my family was hosting a new years dinner, so we had a few hours to do our shopping.  jennifer had told me about the rc wiley clearance center in north las vegas that would give us a smokin deal, and i finally convinced richard it was time to look.  i had been looking for a few weeks and knew basically what i wanted.  we had decided we wanted a sectional with the long end on the left hand side to go underneath the window.  we ventured up north and instantly found the perfect couch, dark brown, suede, and huge.  i was positive and ready to purchase.  richard however was not so sure.  we ended up sitting on that couch for about a half hour talking about things, it was actually really helpful. 

not quite ready to purchase we headed back down the freeway to check out ashley furniture and walker furniture.  ashley had a great couch that would have been perfect if the back cushions hadnt been pillows.  and walker, well this was the best we found...

it was kind of cool, just not our style.  after this we decided it was time to head back to our beautiful brown couch at rc wiley.  we were definitely running out of time, but were afraid that if we didnt buy it today it might not be there.  when we got back it was pretty quick and easy process, and i recruited my brother to help me pick up the couch monday after work. 

after the purchase we headed out to my parents house and were greeted by big congratulations from my family.  it was our first big purchase together.  it made me realize, i was really in this, full force. 

i decided this year i am not going to make the typical lose weight, quit drinking, get organzied resolutions.  i want this year to be about making myself happy.  continuing my running and actually enjoying it.  learn to take a step back sometimes before reacting.  and try not to be so hard on myself.  surround myself with people i love and enjoy.  it is the turn of a new decade, time for a whole new way to grow. 

the christmas story.

after great anticipation all year long christmas weekend had finally arrived!  this year christmas fell on a saturday so we had an instant 3-day weekend without even trying.  with all the running around and work that richard and i had been doing we hadnt had a lot of time to do the few traditions we had started the year before.  we also hadnt been able to spend much uninterrupted time together either.  so we decided to squish everything we could into the weekend. 

we started by sleeping in friday morning, that alone is an amazing start to any 3-day weekend.  richard had told me the night before that he a had a last minute thing or 2 he had to pick up that morning.  while i giggled a lot-last year he had waited until christmas eve to buy all of his gifts-i decided i would get up and go for a run that morning then.  feeling very accomplished when i returned i decided to reward myself by registering for my next 1/2 marathon in nashville, tn!

richard hadnt gotten back quite yet and i needed to run over to the grocery store to pick up our 2 last minute things for breakfast the next morning.  as i headed out to the store i called my mom to see if she needed anything since she was cooking the next day, bad idea.  30 minutes and $25 later i returned home to spend the rest of the day with my love. 

later that evening we made the trek to the las vegas' north pole at the speedway for the gift of lights.  we had both gone for the 1st time the previous year and totally fell in love, definitely making it a tradition for us.  this year there was no line, hooray, so we drove through right away.  it was beautiful.  not nearly as good as the year before at sunset park, but it was fun to just be together with the 2 of us.

we headed back into town towards the conservatory inside the bellagio, one of my absolutely favorite places on the planet.  i still had not seen tiffany to give her, her christmas gift and we were trying to make it happen that night.  we ended up meeting in a del taco parking lot because we couldnt figure out anywhere else, weird i know.  after getting back on the road and getting closer to the bellagio, we accidentally picked the wrong lane and got boxed out of turning in.  of course it took forever to turn back around and make it through all the lights, by now which richard was getting pretty frustrated.  we made our way into the garage and it literally took almost a 1/2 hour to find a parking spot!  just as we were about to give up, one opened for us finally.  and of course it was worth every minute of wait...

 by this time it was darn near 830p and i had originally planned to cook that night once we got home.  fully prepared to go home and make fajitas, richard kept hinting he didnt want to wait that long.  so we did the most logical thing instead...pick up raisin canes.  its not richards favorite place, so anytime he wants to go i am so on board.  we made our way home to watch one of my all time favorite christmas movies, the family stone.  i had finally convinced richard to watch it with me.  we sat down to watch and before i even knew what happened richard is yelling and damn near throwing his food out the window, asking me if i like the canes sauce.  apparently he didnt see that it came on the sandwhich and he likes his things super plain, not even ketchup.  he stormed off into the kitchen after i told him no, not knowing, to turn on the oven to make something else.  i kept saying that i would eat the the sandwich with the sauce, i just put ketchup on top anyway and he kept saying you said you didnt like the sauce.   finally he slowed down long enough to listen and let me take the sandwich he didnt like and let him have my strips.  between the traffic and the order mess up it was not going well, it was better, but he still seemed so mad.  we finished the movie, i of course cried, and was ready for bed.  richard wanted to stay up because he always went to bed late and he still had to wrap all of my presents.  we decided to set an alarm for the next morning at 1030am to give us plenty of time to get up, make breakfast, take our time opening presents, and hang out for a bit. 

however, long about 9am i was ready to get up and open presents!  i mean it is christmas.  instead i decided to go in and make breakfast to keep myself busy.  that lasted about a half hour and i decided it was time to wake up richard, that didnt go too well.  he was not excited about me waking him up to open presents at all, he kept trying to convince me to go back to bed, i was wayyyy too awake for that.  so i let him sleep and went to try to upload pictures from the night before.  he came out a few minutes later and told me he was awake enough, we could open presents.  so as i started to bring the breakfast stuff over i found him curled up on the couch under the blanket barely willing to even open his eyes.  so not ok.  instead i made him sit on the floor with me and the bacon that didnt wiggle.

we began with stockings, something i struggled with the most to fill.  turns out we bought each other the exact same thing, silly candy and beautiful cards!  we continued on to more wrapped boxes filled with cartoon character t-shirts, flasks, and electric toothbrushes for him.  and minions, disney character mugs, ladybug girls, and sparkly earrings for me.  both of us were beyond excited about our gifts!  we ended up opening a little faster than we expected and once finished just looked at each other like now what?  so we cleaned up breakfast and decided to go back to bed before heading over to my parents house.

a few hours later we loaded up my car with the gifts and made our way up to my parents house to have christmas part 2.  we had to make sure we came over before erik and his family got there so we could do our family christmas.  it was so fun!  we had multiple gifts for all of us and they were all really thought out, the best was my minnie mouse seatbelt wallet.  as we were leaving the apartment we had to make sure we grabbed the last of my dads tools to take back, and i made the joke, wouldnt it be so funny if the presents under my parents tree were tools.  i told him though, thats how you really know you made it into the family because thats what we always bought my dad. 

erik and donna came over a little while later to help finish making dinner and so we could finally eat.  we had very entertaining dinner conversation that kyle holding me back at one point and richard defending me at another point.  after that i tried to drive moms car to the movie, it didnt fly well.  quite a few years ago the four of us started going to a movie together on christmas.  we had gotten old enough to not have lots of toys, so we would get bored with nothing to do.  last year we picked a boy movie in sherlock homes, this year we picked a girl movie in tangled.  it was really cute, very disney, very cute.

richard and i made our way home after going back to my parents house for pie, we had been there most of the day and were ready to go home.  or so i thought.  richard ended up deciding to go to matts house after we got home for a few hours.  i was tired anyway i guess and just wanted to spend time on my couch, while thinking about such a successful day.

this was our first christmas living together.  we got to start our own traditions and do them the way we want.  it was like a real grown up christmas, our way:)

the ornament party.

a few weeks before thanksgiving we had decided to have our very first christmas party.  i was super stoked, always wanting to have my own place to throw a party.  richard was equally stoked to show off our place now that we had lived there over 2 months and to have so many of our friends together.  there was of course a great debate on which weekend to have it, as finally settled on the 18th of december.  i had decided not to put up a facebook invite after we got home from our thanksgiving weekend because i thought it was too soon and people would probably forget by the time the party rolled around.  other planning was beginning to come together though.  we thought about doing a secret santa, but that would be hard with such different groups of friends not knowing each other.  then we thought about white elephant, but werent super excited about that so we decided to just make the decision when it got closer to time.

when we got home from thanksgiving richard went over to hang out at matts house and found out that he was also planning some kiond of holiday party.  richard told him we were thinking the 18th and they said no problem, they would figure out a different weekend.  a few days later the facebook invite showed up in my requests folder while i was at work and i knew this was not going to be good.  it was also for the 18th.  now mind you, we had not sent ours out yet because i thought it was too soon, guess not.  the invite had said they were flexible and realistically so we were we, we hadnt set the actual date yet.  i received a text from richard asking what we were going to do now and see it hadnt been too early for the invite.  i suggested we talk to the matt and see what other weekend they were thinking and then go from there.  while i emailed matt, the we should have sent it out turned into a quick downward spiral into maybe we just shouldnt do this at all because it wouldnt be the right weekend.  after emailing a few times with matt i realized how loose their plans were and knew that we could easily figure this out, richard however was not at all convinced.  while on lunch that day i called him to tell him what matt and i talked about, but he was still not convinced and the spiral was going farther down.  luckily matt actually walked into the lunchroom at that moment and he and richard ended up talking about the whole thing and figuring it out in about 2 minutes flat.  we would keep the 18th and he would take a friday either the day before or the weekend before, problem solved!

planning continued and we finally decided on a theme for the party!  since it was our first year in the new place our tree was a little sparse and we were trying to come up with ways to fill it.  with help from jodi we decided to make our theme an ornament party.  instead of spending money on a secret santa gift, guests would take the money and purchase an ornament for our tree that would remind us of you and that we would keep for seasons to come.  we had also decided to do appetizer/dessert foods so that people could come and go as they needed to.  the weekend was getting closer and closer and we just had to buy the last few things to be completely ready.  i didnt have to work that morning, but did have a 2 year-old birthday party to attend that afternoon for a family friend.  my plan was to get everything baked, cleaned, and put together before i had to leave so when i came home i had very little to finish up.

it all sounded like such a great plan, until you actually put life in there.  richard did errands in the morning to finish his things up, and nothing was going right.  he couldnt find the things he needed and people were in the full christmas mean mode of shopping.  i ended up staying about 45 minutes too late at the birthday party, which meant i was late getting home.  he was upset cause i lost track of time, i didnt think it was that big of a deal as long as i got everything done, which was going to be tight.  he offered to help put the last minute food things together so i gave him the punch detail.  as he was combining things together we realized there wasnt enough alcohol for the punch recipe, and all hell broke loose.  he was mad at me because i didnt tell him the right amount.  i was mad because he didnt look at the recipe i gave him.  he was mad because i stayed at the party too long and didnt plan well enough.  i was mad because the last minute things were taking too long.  both of us stomping around mad at the other, richard decided to go get the alcohol and i decided to stay and finish my things.  i finished a few minutes before he got back so i decided to take out the trash to help.  on my way to the dumpster i passed him and he wouldnt even look at me.

we came back upstairs and didnt even speak to each other, oh except for him to ask if i was going to take a shower because i stunk, which definitely helped my mood.  i finished my appetizer things and left for the shower still not talking.  after getting dressed i knew we had to at least figure this out a little bit because all our friends were coming over in about an hour.  i finally broke the silence and apologized for running late, well that just opened a whole door of pent up things.  we had a pretty serious discussion the weekend before because i was pretty upset and thought things had been resolved, guess not.  he had said his piece, i felt about 3 inches tall, but knew we couldnt have an all out argument because we were running out of time.  so i kept it all in and finished getting ready.   he seemed better once getting it all out and was helping set the table and arranging food so i ran with it.

the party was a definite hit!  everyone really got into the ornament buying and had to find the perfect one.  they loved the food and could not believe how many decorations we had for just being our first year.  it was a small party, which was fine with us, but it was definitely a good tradition to start.

that same night there was a pretty big ufc fight happening, which i was afraid was going to totally derail the party plans.  but the guys had been big thinkers and taped the fight to watch once the party was over, thank goodness.  (ufc fighting is just not one of my favorite things, im not so good with that stuff.  but richard loves it and so does his friends.)  right around 10 everyone was pretty full and the guys were ready to go watch the fight.  i stayed home, gladly, to clean up and hang out with the newest girl in the group (had to feel her out).  i think it was one of the best things for richard and i to spend a few hours apart anyway, still not super settled on our fight.  we hadnt really hung out a lot during the party, both keeping busy on purpose with others.  this was our first really big fight since we moved in together and we were trying to figure out how to do all of this.

girl time with heather and a very drunk lora is exactly what i needed.  mike and lora had shown up right as the guys were headed over to matts to watch the fight.  so we kept lora with us and mike went with the guys.  i was going to take heather home later and pick up richard when they were done with all their manly things.  the girls talked about so much and i got great advice from lora.  like i said, it was exactly what i needed.  i realized some things i definitely had done wrong and was able to clear my head so that richard and i could talk about them later and not be defensive.

as the guys finished the fight lora left to pick up mike while heather and i stayed for awhile longer.  the original plan was to drop heather off at matts and pick up richard at the same time when he was ready.  after both of us falling asleep on the couch we decided to just take her home and i would go out again later and get richard.  i was trying to give both of us space and had no problem going out again later.  right as i was getting home he called.  he said he wasnt quite ready to come home and anthony would actually bring him home later.  i was a little sad, but so glad he had called, i knew that everything would be ok.

once he got home that night i was already asleep and he was not feeling good.  he woke me up to let me know he was home and then he started getting sick.  he hadnt really eaten that day, then drank all night, and we had a pretty big fight.  i immediately got up and tried to help out anyway that i could.  it actually was a blessing in disguise.  we both started openly talking and being very vulnerable to each other.  we both apologized and admitted to those we had done wrong.  we realized in that night that the newness had really worn off.  we really lived together and were starting to find out a whole new level of the other person.  a friend had told me the first year is the hardest thing ever.  the second year is so much easier, and the third year is amazing.  up until this point everything had been so easy.  i really thought we had skipped the hard part, definitely realized we were not any different than any other 2 people who lived together.

the holiday party was a great success, even with all the things that went awry.  we definitely figured out a little bit more about each other and that it was ok to fight and then take space.  as long as we came back to the table and could talk openly with each other.  and we had a whole new set of fantastic ornaments added to our tree!

the tree lighting.

after returning from a somewhat bummy ending to the thanksgiving weekend, it was time for one of my favorite things to do of the year, put up the christmas tree.  while driving home i had seen all kinds of friends posting things on facebook about their trees and could not wait to add mine.  we had already decided to put up the tree and decorations when we returned from california, which i could not be more excited about!  plus i was excited about really having our apartment decorated.

we had been buying for awhile, as you know.  but it seemed like when we really thought about it, we didnt even know what we had.  we finally purchased our last piece, the tree while in california.  we were definitely ready to put all of our things together.

once we got home we unloaded the car, we tried to get a few things organzied before completely undoing a whole nother set of things.  putting together the chirstmas tree with my dad and brother has always been one of my best childhood memories.  after that my dad and i always put the lights on together.  and by lights, i mean tons.  i was really excited to start this new tradition with richard.  we had returned home with chick-fil-a that i knew richard would eventually be taking over to friends that evening as well, we had a lot to do.

we decided to put the tree together first, as it was the biggest and the most center piece.  finally opening the box we realized this was going to take awhile.  there was metal pole, a topper, and each row of branches had 6 pieces to attach to the center pole.  im pretty sure there was at least 8-10 rows.  about an hour later...we finished the tree, there was so much fluffing once all the branches were attached.  this tree had also pretty much taken over our whole living room.  we knew the measurements of the tree, but didnt really understand what that would look like until we had the tree assembled.  it was right about that moment richard realized it was already time for him to go.  i hadnt realized he was going to leave so soon after we got home or i never would have started the tree process.  however while he was gone, i was very firm on not doing anymore without him.  this was our first decorating together.

once he got back he decided to put the lights on the outside while he still had warm clothes on.  we had rope lights to go around the pole on the balcony and blue and white icicle lights to hang off the edge.  it was so much easier said than done.  first we couldnt get the rope lights connected to light up.  then they kept falling apart.  the 2 of us are damn near hanging off the balcony to get the rope lights to wrap around the pole.  and every time we do they fall apart again.  then there is no way to attach the icicle lights.  we have a drill that we borrowed from my dad but he is sure the stucco is going to break.  then he is drilling on the bottom of our wall to see if it will even work.  im telling him he needs holes on the top of the ledge for the nails to hold the lights there and he is telling me none of it is going to work.  needless to say it was your typical first decorating experience.

after we decided the rope lights were wrapped around good enough we started with the lights on the tree.  i have been doing this part every year, forever, while it had been a few years for richard. we had quite a few strands of different lights between the multi-colored, blinking, and white, they overlapped a lot.  we also realized we did not have nearly enough for such a large tree.   i will say, he did a very good job.  except for the fact he kept saying we needed to turn the lights on before putting them on the tree because then you could see where they need to go.  and i kept saying you do the big lighting at the end.  either way the tree came out beautiful.

we didnt have any ornaments for the tree that day.  in my family every year while growing up you got to buy one new ornament for the tree.  this way when you moved out you had your own starter collection, which had not been unpacked at my parents house yet.  richard and i decided to make it a blue theme this year, thinking we wouldnt have enough ornaments to really decorate the tree, we just hadnt purchased them yet.  we placed our other decorations, the train, the gingerbread house, and a few other things, but realized that we really didnt have that much.  it was becoming more and more apparent that this is really one of those things you acquire over time.

looking back now, im realizing i could have been a lot more flexible.  like who cares if the lights are lit when you decorate the tree.  or if he wants more white lights, it doesnt matter.  or if the ornaments he does put on there hang off the bottom all awkward.  and yes a pre-lit tree would have been a lot easier, but that takes half of your memories away.  for our first christmas together, it was perfect.

the thanksgiving weekend adventure part 2.

i did not realize how many things happened in such a short amount of time!  continuing on...

after we finished our own black friday shopping we headed back to the hotel to see what the rest of the family was up to.  the original plan was to hang out near the beach friday and then saturday wake up and head to pasadena to revisit memory lane and stats.  when we got back to the hotel we realized that things were quickly changing, as they often do in my family.  there were so many things we wanted to do and just not enough time.  we went to lunch with my aunt and uncle, while deciding to forgo the original plan and go to pasadena/stats that day and go to the swap meet on saturday instead.  i wasnt sure how ready richard was for this adventure, but he was all in, especially with the hour nap we took on the way up while mom drove!

once passing the panda we got lost driving around downtown pasadena trying to remember which street stats was on.  upon finding and fighting with my sometimes lame brother we were ready to enter.  now by this time stats had been built up so much for richard.  we used to go all the time growing up, it was my favorite christmas store on the planet.  it has everything you could ever want in a christmas store.  it was to the point though that i was afraid he was going to be disappointed when we took him in there.  we kept telling him how fantastic and amazing it was, what if he thought it was the lamest place on the planet?  i was so excited to share that and the whole pasadena experience with him, but wasnt sure he was excited at all.  living in las vegas as long as we both have you cant really take a person home and show off your whole life.  this was going to be my chance, the same chance he had when we went to florida over the summer.  it really was the whole weekend, my chance to show off my family and previous life.

once we got into stats he was totally engulfed.  everywhere you looked was amazing displays and more christmas decorations than any place i had ever seen.  he loved it, thank goodness.  we only bought a few decorations, the cash register can total up quite quickly there, but they were going to be great in our apartment.  we later ate at a fantastic italian restaurant with my family, nice to get away from the big huge family.

saturday morning we got up bright and early to go the orange county swap meet.  mom and kyle had decided we should all go together.  i walked across the street from our hotel for coffee and a few breakfast goodies, while richard moved his car into the ralphs parking lot.  there was only 1 vehicle allowed in the hotel parking lot and he didnt want to pay the meter all day to keep it on the street.  so off to the orange county fairgrounds we went.  now this is not your ordinary etchy sketchy swap meet.  this is a magical land with real furniture, serious name brand perfume, sunglasses shops at every other booth, cars, backyard landscapes, socks, california t-shirts, and kitchenware.  i love wandering around this place and if you get there before 8am its free.  this was another place i was afraid richard would not like.  he would get bored or not find anything or think it was all to expensive for a traditional swap meet (which this one in its location is anything but).  but he loved it!

afterwards we decided that we needed to hit rogers garden, another one of my favorite places, but we were hungry.   we needed to hit chick-fil-a at some point that day, because they were closed on sunday, and richard had to have it when were down there.  so we convinced my mom and brother to go while my dad drove up to where we were to go to rogers garden.  he even got a souvenir shot. 

shortly after we joined dad at rogers garden and was totally impressed with all the new things they had come out with this year.  now mind you this is not a place you expect to walk out with a lot of things either.  its more of a look and marvel along with a few things you can actually afford.  richard did however find one of the coolest christmas trees ever, an itree.  like made in conjunction with apple.  you could actually hook your ipod up to it would coregraph the light blinking to the music, it was awesome.  and i got a souvenir shot at rogers garden.

we finished up fairly quickly after, we needed to head to grandpas house for turkey day part 2.  see originally we would do thanksgiving on thursday, well then family started to move to other parts of california or out of state and it became harder and harder to do it on thursday.  so we created saturday as our big official get together out at a restaurant so no one had to cook twice.  we have been doing it for close to 5 years now, expect this year was going to be at grandpas house again, it was a little weird.  we all trekked over there and hung out for the evening.

we left pretty early heading back to laguna and decided we all wanted to go out for a drink.  richard and i stopped at ralphs across the street to move his car in front of the hotel because you did not have to pay for parking after 7pm, and we figured it couldnt be good to leave it over night.  i dropped him off and went to park moms car.  he met me back in the parking lot pissed as all get out because his car had been towed!  he instantly started yelling and throwing things on the floor, and blaming me that i had told him to park in there.  now yes, i will take some responsibility that i did say to park there, or we could go and try to find a place in the neighborhoods above our hotel.  my parents were walking back from parking my dads car and saw what was happening, my dad turned into an instant im right dad mode with, well shouldnt have parked there.  while they were no help i walked away trying to find richard, who was still pissed as all get out at me and the whole situation.  i convinced him to go into ralphs and ask if they know the towing company phone number so we can try and track down his car before we need to leave the next day.  meanwhile my parents came over offering to help and what did we need.  we needed to borrow moms car if we could track down his mostly, and mom offered to take me home the next day if richard wanted to leave that night, which i was praying he wouldnt leave without me.  he called the number they gave him and someone actually answered.  we were able to go that night, which was a miracle they were open 24 hours.  he clearly needed space, still throwing things and really upset, so i went across the street to the hotel parking lot and told him to let me know when he was ready.

no car ride had ever been so silent as it was on the way to the towing place.  after getting lost and finally finding it we had to call someone to let us in.  as if the ordeal wasnt sucky enough, the car is in his dads name and the new registration had not arrived at the apartment by the time we left for the weekend, so we werent even sure they were going to let us have the car.  luckily the guy did not ask for any kind of car info, just ricahrds id and cash.  we got into our respective cars and drove back to the hotel with tears in my eyes the whole time, sure he was going to blame me forever.  i had asked my family if they could give us the room for a little bit so we could talk and they could leave us alone.  they decided they were going to go to wahoos fish tacos and then we could meet up with them to go to the bar.  once we got back he had decided he was going home that night, he needed to work the next day, and honestly i think he was still really mad at me.  i couldnt imagine him driving home like this and without me.  i finally convinced him to sit down with me on the bed and just think for a minute.  well thinking turned into a little bit of talking, which turned into more talking, and crying-on my part.  i had been determined to leave with him, whenever he was leaving.  i felt if he left without me, we would be in serious trouble.  after the talking and the reassuring of both of us and our relationship, thankfully, he decided to stay.  he also dropped being so mad at me, and i finally caught on that it was a lot more at the situation rather than just me (its the natural girly thing to do).  he realized that you can make a mistake and i wasnt going to leave, it was going to make us stronger.  and i realized how much i truly love him and that he was really opening up to me.  this was a big step for us, able to turn something that was potentially really sucky to something that didnt need blame on either person.  besides, we could always blame ralphs and the towing company instead.

my parents came back to pick us up and tried their best to make light of it all.  richard realized they were just trying to make him feel better, and laughed a little, i think he thought they were going to make the situation a blame on him.  he was going to come out, have a drink, or 7 with us and we would go home together rather early in the morning. while out with my parents, brother, and aunt and uncle, we both let it go.  he turned to me at one point and thanked me for being me and caring and believing as much as i did.  i looked at him in that moment and knew that we were going to be ok, we were going to get through this.

we drove home the next day with an uneventful trip.  we also realized this was the first trip we were taking together and would be able to go home together.  no dropping each other off at our own houses, we could go home together.  and that night we would be able to sleep in the same bed, we couldnt in the hotel, we arent married yet, you know.  now it was time for our next adventure, decorating the apartment for christmas, the first one in our place together.

the thanksgiving weekend adventure part 1.

while it is my favorite time of the year, thanksgiving is one of the best things about it.  instead of trying to coordinate a gathering at christmas, in my family it is the one true time of the year that we get together.  we have been going to southern california to my grandparents forever, the only time i remember anything different was the year we went north, and it felt really weird.  we drive down late wednesday night once dad got off work and stay until early sunday.  when i went away to college i always flew there, no question.  once i started working in retail it all changed.  the first two years i would literally went down for about 24 hours, long enough for the actual day of thanksgiving and then quickly came back for black friday.  last year i started at a new store the week of thanksgiving and couldnt go down to california at all.  so this year i was so excited to finally see my whole family again.

this year was also going to be interesting, because richard was going to come with me and meet the whole family.  he had met and spent time with my parents a ton.  and had met my dads parents, but this would be the first large family gathering he would participate in.  my family is a little nuts, as are all families.  i would leak a little bit of information here and there to richard as thanksgiving got closer, just enough not to scare him.  we decided that we would drive down early thursday morning and be there around 12 noon.  he had to work the night before and it seemed silly to drive down and midnight and be tired the whole next day.

i was really nervous to take him down there with me.  this would be the first time my family would meet a serious boyfriend i had been with for a significant amount of time, and we lived together.  as if i wasnt nervous enough, we had been fighting what seemed like more than normal that week.  it was just little things that didnt even matter, but for some reason that week they did.  i snapped at him about stupid things.  so he would get mad and i would just get more mad cause he was.  then i felt like an idiot for even snapping and it would take me a long time to apologize.  and being the amazing boyfriend that he is, would always tell that it was ok, when i knew it wasnt and i was just being mean for no reason.  i was almost afraid he was going to say he didnt want to go and would just stay here.  thank goodness he still went.

this thanksgiving felt very different for multiple reasons.  i was bringing a boyfriend, we were staying in a hotel, we didnt all drive down together, grandpa and myrna were doing thanksgiving and saturday dinner at their house, and still grandma was not here with us.  she passed away in 2004 and whenever we go down, it still feels weird she isnt there to celebrate.  luckily grandpa found a really great new partner named myrna, who definitely keeps him on his toes. 

once we finally got down there we went straight to grandpas house.  we arrived just about the same time as everyone else.  as we went in, i was getting really excited to show off my boyfriend, and i think richard was just getting more and more nervous.  the family took him well and never really drilled him with questions.  he spent a lot of time watching football with the guys and i spent a lot of time with my other uncles, aunts, and cousins.  there was lots of new family drama to catch up on.  i kept checking on him to make sure he was ok, and he did really well holding his own.  which i by the way, never had a doubt.

later that evening we went down to the hotel in laguna with my parents.  we had convinced them to let us stay with them and save everyone money in hotel.  it was a tight fit to say the least.  we had brought richards air mattress with us, one because there were 5 people in the room, and two because he and i couldnt sleep together.  we escaped the family for a little bit and walked around in hopes of food, didnt find much though.  i really just wanted to go to bed so we could get up early to experience our 1st black friday shopping, but he wasnt tired at all, and it was nice to just walk around with him.

the next morning at 3am the alarms started going off so we could get up and start the shopping!  this was going to be quite the adventure, number one it was my 1st black friday on the customer side.  number two he and i were going by ourselves.  number three 2 of my other aunts, mom and cousin all decided they were now going to go experience black friday since we didnt let them go with us.  we left pretty close to 330am and after getting lost and having to turn around and miss the 4am opening of target, we made it to the costa mesa target with a pretty empty parking lot.  we were stoked, thinking we had found the best target.  turns out that store specifically didnt open till 7am!  this meant we were already late and now were going to definitely miss out on the $3 grill cheese maker i desperately wanted at any other target.  we found another one super close and actually closer to south coast plaza.  we entered and made mad dashes to the electronics and kitchen areas.  my mission was to see the tv on dvd sales and his mission to find the $3 grill cheese maker.  i found sex and the city 2 for $10, but no big bang.  he came up empty handed with a grill cheese maker.  we were trying to decide whether we were going to brave the line for sex and the city 2 when we saw a huge george foreman grill on sale for $28!  we definitely decided to stand in line after that.  then while standing in line i found big bang season 3 for $13 along with 2 other movies for $4 each.  i also found the entire series of friends on sale for $10 per season and legit had all 10 boxes in my hand with richard looking at me like a crazy person, i realized i may have gotten a little caught up in the craziness.  i put friends back and joined richard back in line to pay for our awesome finds.  target was definitely successful.

we moved on to south coast plaza where we really didnt find that many lines.  i think the line i stood in at starbucks was longer than any line we stood in for a store.  i made great purchases at victoria secret and h&m where richard said the best thing to me, "you can never have too many coats."  (i think you may need to understand my obsession with outerwear to fully know why i loved that so much, but its ok.)  many stores werent even open and the line at gap looked like a club with a bouncer to get in.  we made our way across the street to old navy where i just shook my head and chuckled the whole time we were in there, reminding myself how glad i was to be on the other side.  we even braved best buy, which by 9am wasnt even bad at all.  we walked to our car with our fantastic purchases we damn near could have sold our rockin parking spot and gone back shopping for more.

our next stop realistically was phillys best for the most amazing cheese steaks and chicken phillys on the planet.  we just had to make a walmart detour, it was only 930 in the morning.  on our detour though, we ended up buying a christmas tree.  it was just like the one we had been looking at in vegas.  richard kept saying we can just go buy it on sunday when we get home, but i kept saying, why go out when we can buy it now and be done.  in the end the tree rode all the way home in the backseat.

the christmas decorations.

this is my absolute favorite time of the year.  hands down, without a doubt.  right before halloween until the new year is the best part of the calendar year.  most people think that it is a little crazy that i worked in retail for 3 holidays and still could get this excited.  this happens to also be richards favorite time of year, thank goodness.  last year we spent our 1st christmas together and it was so much fun.  this year though, he will be living with me,  a whole new type of experience for him.  insert large laughs and eye rolls here.  i like to go all out, decorating the day after thanksgiving, listening to christmas music right before thanksgiving and wanting to completely change the whole house to match the season.  i have always looked forward to the day when i would one day have my own place to decorate.

when richard and i talked about moving in together somehow our talks always made their way to christmas decorations.  we agreed and disagreed pretty equally with the other person.  i however, was not really sure how this was going to work.  we decided instead of "saving" all of this imaginary money to buy christmas things, we would start buying a couple things each week after halloween.  i always think i am going to save, then i find other things i want, forget about the saving, and now end up buying way more things than i should have on both fronts.  i thought this was an excellent plan.

we began looking the next weekend after the halloween party.  most places already had christmas decorations out, so this was an easy task.  we had to start with the most important thing, the tree.  we werent ready to buy, but knew we needed to agree on something to start with.  when the discussions first started richard was positive we were going to have a white tree.  are you kidding me.  christmas trees are green, lets just say we decided on a green tree.  we knew that we did want a fake one, but which one would come later.  the next discussion was the type of lights that went on a tree.  now, not only did he want a white tree, he wanted white lights to go on the tree.  once i finally convinced him on colored strands, he then decided we could just buy single colors and put that on the tree.  oh how i had to hold back!  i am all about the multi-colored and at least some need to be blinky.  that was a whole other discussion, because blinky would drive him crazy.

by this point just about all of my friends and family knew about the discussions we were having about just the tree and laughing hysterically on the side.  then we had to decided on pre-lit or not.  i was soooo far against that as well.  you must put your own lights on the tree.  finally we came to the decision to combine our two ideas.  we would have a green tree, with mostly multi-colored lights, only one strand of blinky (ps they were 150 count, yes), and one or more strand of white.  i wasnt really sure how that was going to look, but we will get to that next time.

while all of these discussions were going on, we were shopping around for other decorations.  we did a lot of looking and not much buying.  it seemed like richard just would not commit to buying anything.  now, i am all about looking and knowing what my options are, but it gets to a point where we cant go look at target anymore, because they still have the same things they did 2 days ago.  there were quite a few things we disagreed on in this category too.  i am all about color, if you couldnt tell from the previous tree discussion.  i am totally stoked that christmas decorations are now including pinks, purples, whites, blacks, oranges, and blues.  richard, not so much.  he is very much a traditionalist gravitating towards the red/green/gold themed items.  now luckily for me, these items have become somewhat more modern so i couldnt completely rule them out.  plus i love the new updated classics they are coming out with now.  not just an old looking train, but one that has new colors and graphics.  garland made out of christmas balls.  and table cloths that are no longer just gold sparkly.

as we did finally start buying we knew we didnt really have anywhere to store these things.  so they landed....at least it was all centrally located! 

it all started to come together then.  richard accepted that i would buy a few out there things he wasnt used to yet.  and i accepted that he would always love his white lights.  plus none of it really mattered when he told me that of course we are decorating the day after thanksgiving!  the little piddly stuff doesnt really matter.  and really who cares if he wants to buy single colored light strands, its going to look fantastic in the windows.  and i learned i need to compromise a little on christmas decorations, there are 2 of us living here silly.