2007 September « old blog

About that time I hated summer…

September 27, 2007 at 3:21 am | Posted in annoyances, autumn, weather | 1 Comment

Here in the Mid-Atlantic region/lower Northeast/ extremely upper Southeast/ whatever this region is *actually* called, we’re experiencing a really warm start to autumn. Granted, it just officially became autumn this past weekend, but it was hovering around 90 degrees outside and that’s just ridiculous. I heard someone on the radio using the term “Indian Summer,” but that’s not really accurate. An Indian Summer is a period closer to winter where cyclical changes in weather patterns result in an uncharacteristically warm period of weather for a few days. I learned that when I took a class in college called Climate and Life to satisfy one of those nagging science credits still lingering during my senior year. What we’re experiencing is more like a prolonged summer, and it’s annoying.

Am I crazy to be complaining about nice weather? Well, I guess that all depends on your definition of nice. I am a cold weather type of girl. I love climbing into bed at night into a cold bed and snuggling under tons of blankets to get warm. I love drinking hot chocolate by the fire. I love knitting scarves to wear. I love snowstorms – as long as I don’t have to drive in one. 90 + degree weather is a nightmare for me. My forehead gets all sweaty, my hair gets all frizzy, and I find it impossible to cool down. At least if it gets to cold outside all I have to do is put on a hat and a thicker coat. Hot weather is for the birds.

That being said, I do enjoy some aspects of summer. I like going to the beach. I like sitting on my back porch and drinking iced tea or a cold beer as the sun goes down and a nice breeze starts to blow. I do not like scorching heat. As a fairly pasty woman whose Cherokee heritage is far over-weighed by her Irish blood, I do not like the sun because it makes me really pink and itchy.

I love autumn. I can’t think of a single thing I don’t like about the season. I love when the leaves turn. I love when the weather gets cool. I love wearing a sweater for the first time. I love apple orchards with their apple cider, hayrides, and cider donuts. I love caramel apples, pumpkins, and little kids dressed up like goblins. I want to watch marathons of ghost stories and the Halloween anthology on TBS. I want autumn. I want autumn now. I do not want 90 degrees, I want 55. Tops. It’s almost October, people. Am I being unreasonable?

Someone please tell autumn that I have a sweater, a cuddle, and a ton a ghost decorations waiting for it. If I don’t start smelling fireplaces in the air soon I may go crazy.

About that time I got engaged…

September 15, 2007 at 11:55 pm | Posted in i can't believe that just happened, i win at life, jeremy, Uncategorized, wedding | 3 Comments

After spending most of my afternoon being a complete voyeur and reading about other people’s weddings on Weddingbee it occurred to me that I’ve never blogged here about my own engagement, despite the amount of posting I’ve done (and will continue to do, mark my words…) about my own upcoming nuptials. If you don’t know me personally, or know The Old Boy, you may not understand how absolutely perfect the engagement was. It just kind of fits our personalities to a T and I can’t imagine a more fitting story.

It was February 12th. I came home from work and The Old Boy was already home. I knew in advance that he would be home early, which is a nice surprise because he usually works until 10 at night. He had ordered sushi from our favorite place and had set the table with tea light candles and vases filled with two dozen red roses. When I asked him what the occasion was, he told me that he wanted to take the opportunity to celebrate Valentine’s Day with me since he would be working late on the actual day. I have to admit that this was a little fishy, because for the entirety of our relationship all that I’d ever heard was how much he hates Valentine’s Day. I’m not too big on it myself, because although I am a sucker for holidays, that particular one is kind of hokey. When I mentioned that fact to him, he replied that he did indeed detest Valentine’s Day, but since it wasn’t officially the 14th, he wasn’t breaking his cardinal rule of being a love humbug. That seemed to make sense.

Next, I was instructed not to read the card that came with the roses until after dinner, which piqued my interest to the point where I scarfed my meal down with anticipation. I am pretty sure I swallowed at least one or two California rolls without even chewing, and a piece of eel became lodged in my throat, incapacitating me for a second or two. When we finished eating and I was sure I didn’t need the Heimlich, I finally opened the card. It said, cryptically: “Look in the dryer.” So I did.

In the dryer was a valentine – you know, the old school kiddie kind with mermaids and princes on the front – instructing me to look under a specific towel in the bathroom. I took off down the hall, ran into the bathroom, and looked under the towel where I found yet another valentine telling me to look in another location in our house. This continued until I had found 60 (!!!!) hidden valentines, scavenger hunt style. These valentines were hidden on top of the kitchen ceiling fan, between specific pages of books on the bookshelf, behind Smores flavored Pop Tarts, inside boxes in closets, in between seat cushions of the sofa. There were some cards instructing me to find things that I didn’t even know we had.

The last valentine (although I didn’t know it was the last at the time) was hidden behind a picture of us taken a couple of years ago at my cousin’s wedding. This valentine didn’t lead me to another place – it said simply “Will you marry me? Circle yes, no, or maybe.” I started crying the second I saw the word “marry,” and when I turned around, The Old Boy was holding my engagement ring. I was so overcome and busy hugging and kissing Jeremy that I am pretty sure it was a couple of minutes before I even said yes, although my answer was obvious.

After basking in my joy for a few minutes I got on one phone to call everyone I knew and give them the good news, while The Old Boy was on his cell doing the exact same thing. We then drove over my Mom and Dad’s house to share the good news and show them the ring. My parents knew that the engagement was coming up, because Jeremy had talked about it with them on Christmas. They didn’t know how or when he was going to propose, and as I related the story for the first time I started crying all over again. Even now, though I’ve told the story countless times in the past seven months, I still start to tear up when I think about how much time and planning went into that evening and how adorable his face was when I turned around to see him holding the ring.

Yeah, he’s totally a keeper.