Blue

I don't have sisters - at least not blood sisters - my girlfriends are my sisters. My very dear friend and sister, Alison, who has has been a loyal and caring friend to me since I met her in college 12 or so years ago, lost her life partner this week. No amount of words can express my sorrow for her. Please keep her in your prayers.

Valentine Anniversary

I never cared much for Valentines Day. I always thought it was ridiculous and more of a day to make single people feel, well, single. And alone.

Ironically, today is the four year anniversary of Dave's and my first date. He asked me out on a Tuesday at work. He was in town for a training class and he told me to think about it before giving him an answer. My first thought and many thoughts after that were, "no", "no way", "absolutley not" and "when hell freezes over". It wasn't that I didn't like him. We were buddies and I was fond of him, but he was a co-worker which was a huge red flag, he had two kids which was an even bigger red flag, and he wasn't officially divorced yet which was a flag of some sort of color that I can't even describe but it was brighter than red.

So I spent the day trying to figure out how to tell him to hit the road but not ruin our working relationship. So after work we're sitting there talking about it and he is telling me that he thinks we click, and we have a lot in common, and he thinks I'm so pretty, all sorts of nice sweet things and all the time I'm thinking, "NO, no, no." and I turn to him and out of my mouth comes the words, "What time do you want to pick me up on Saturday?" Which also happened to be Valentine's Day. I never dreamed I would end up marrying him, but I will tell you that our first date was like electricity and we've been together since.

On our first date we didn't really make any plans - we just figured we would get dinner and catch a movie. Ha! We tried to go to Outback and the wait was 3 hours. So we scrapped that - I can't think of any restaurants that are worth waiting 3 hours for. So I suggested we try Mexican Jones which is a little, kind of dumpy, Mexican restaurant in Brighton that never has a wait but has good food and amazing margaritas. I didn't know it, but Dave's dad (who passed away 8 years ago tomorrow) always refused to eat at chain restaurants. He would only go to greasy spoons and small mom and pop kind of places, so when I suggested a greasy little Mexican place, Dave was pretty excited. We had a wonderful meal and the conversation never lulled.

We go to Mexican Jones on Valentine's Day every year. So while I'm a not a big Valentine's Day person; I do enjoy recreating this special evening every year.

Feelings

I feel like I used to be a lot more intersting.

I feel middle aged.

I feel ashamed of some of the thoughts that run through my head.

I feel lost.

I feel found.

I feel anguished.

I feel loved.

I feel bored.

I feel overwhelmed.

I feel like running.

I feel like staying.

I feel like I don't know who I am right now.

I feel like I need to live more in the moment.

I feel comfortable in routine.

I feel judged.

I feel judgemental.

I feel accepted.

I feel accepting.

I feel like a woman.

I feel sexless.

I feel uninspired.

I feel like I don't know what I feel like.

I feel random.

Vacations

I have spent the week trying to catch up from being gone. It was a long long week as you might have guessed with my lack of posting. I just got the pictures on the computer this afternoon.

I love traveling. For me, it is truly the spice I need in my life. If I don't have a trip to look forward to, I feel sad and lost. So, I'm always planning one.

But man oh man, catching up after the trip is a lot harder post kids. When I was single I used to flit all over the place whenever I felt like it. I guess I still pretty much do that, but there is a lot more laundry at the the end!

My next trip is hopefully going to be Vegas in June. This will be a little business and hopefully a little pleasure. I try to combine those anytime I can because then I can fly on the company which is a huge help.

But I digress. We had another wonderful time in Disney World. The weather was gorgeous. The parks weren't too crowded and we got to see most everything we loved at least twice. Some of them, like "The Haunted Mansion" and "Star Wars", we saw multiple times. Those two rides are Becca's and Sam's favorites, respectively. I also got to see my favorite, "The Carousel of Progress" twice. We got to spend an afternoon at the pool, I with a Pina Colada and Dave with a Mai Tai. It was nice, but I will tell you this, our next real vacation is going to be kidless.

Okay, so a few photos:

Sam comandeered Dave's sunglasses while we were gone and just about refused to take them off. He thinks he is really cool right now. The cusp of teenagerness. I don't envy him the next few years.

I told the kids about "Hidden Mickeys" and we spent the whole week trying to spot them. Dave found this one. It looks obvious, but I bet most people don't notice it. Dave and I, because of our trade, often notice electrical/fire alarm things in buildings that most people would walk right by.

Cinderella Castle. And us. I take a photo like this everywhere we go. It's fun to look back and see how much taller the kids are getting. Maybe someday I'll put them all together.
We ate in Canada at Epcot this year and this was Sam's dessert. It was Chocolate "Moose" :)

A Good Time Was Had By All

We're home. Phewww. What a whirlwind. We got home at 10pm last night. This morning I had to turn around and drive back to the airport to pick up my mom who was flying in from Tampa. I dropped her off at home and went on the grocery store to get goodies for the Super Bowl and for the week because I had no food, and I mean no food, in the house.

Then I had to take Dave to pick up his truck because he lent it to his friend while we were gone. Got home from that and sat down to pay bills. The computer freaked out so I quit and went to make the Super Bowl goodies. Mmmmm. Wings, Queso dip, Olive bread and fresh fruit. Yummm. Dave's in the computer room beating his head on the desk right now, but at least he had a nice meal. I'm using his laptop to type this post.

So, needless to say, I have not been able to get the pictures off my camera yet. And tomorrow we are all back to the grind, so I think it is going to take me all week to get caught up. I still have a couple loads of laundry to do.

But I will say this. We had a wonderful time. The weather was beautiful all but one day and even that wasn't so bad. We got to see everything we wanted to - most of our favorite rides we went on at least two or three times. The crowds weren't too bad. The kids enjoyed themselves and so did Dave and I.