I don' t know what to name this post so I'm not. : ) But I'll just say I survived Friday's meeting with the Boss and the weekend was lovely and I wish it wasn't over.

Bub is a pizza-making fool so he made pizza for friends on Friday night. It was so good that it left me wanting more, but all good things must come to an end I guess. Friend who had falling out with Bub didn't have really any comments on the house which is fine--there's something left there from the faling out I think; he was commenting more on the cool neighborhood. They did get us a gift--meaning his wife--which was sweet--and brought back tea from their trip to Indonesia which is where his wife is from.

Saturday was a big furniture shopping day. I am so fed up with the pushy salesmen and no, I don't have any questions and if I do, I wil ASK! They were so annoying. We found a bedroom set we like but we knew we weren't going to buy it that day. Too bad the salesguy didn't get that impression. After we told him we'll think about it, he snuck into an employee only area room with a frown on his face.

Saturday night we had a delish dinner with college friends and it was a better time than expected. My friend and I have no problem hanging out, but her husband is on the quiet side and a good eleven years younger than Bub so I was worried that the conversation would fall to me and my friend to keep up. Instead we all seemed to get along well and enjoy ourselves and after we paid the check we were not anxious to all jump up and leave.

Sunday was a snowy day, but we managed a trip to see Bub's grandfather who has newly been admitted into nursing care. It was sad; those places usually are, but I hoped our visit brightened his day. He seemed to want us to stay longer, but we didn't and continued with furniture shopping and we were successful! No bedset yet, but 2 lovely luscious chocolate leather swivel chairs entered our lives and will be ready for set up as early as next week, just in time for our housewarming!

When we got home I had this desire to make mashed potatoes, but with our new peeler I managed to try and peel my finger which felt oh so painful and would not stop bleeding. It's on a part of the index finger crucial for typing on the ol' keyboard, so I know that I've managed to make more typing errors than usual!

What did you guys do this weekend? And do you ever have awkward time when on double-dates and whatnot when one person from each couple is bound by friendship or whatever and the other two are sort of strangers left with little to talk about? Bub always makes a good effort. He's just that kind of guy.

Back

It sucks. I hate working on a holiday everyone else has off! Boo!

The weekend? Was soooo nice. The shopping and tea drinking and relaxing and manicuring I said I'd do?

Didn't happen. I was exhausted from the night before and freezing from well, the winter, and I decided to cozy up on the sofa and let the warmth trickle in.

We left later on Friday than anticipated since Bub had a client meeting. But I was productive until I picked him up. We ate really yummy food, found a little something-something for our house, relaxed, read, sat by the fire and really connected. It was so nice!

Today has been a fairly productive day, fortunately, so I'm off to finish things up before I go. More later.

And I think we've figured out when our housewarming will be--finally!

Snow Day

I'm working from home today and hope that my productive weekend streak runs through the next eight or so hours.

This weekend we got tons done.

Friday was spent with best friends over dinner at a restaurant not far from home so that when we finished and I was tired, I didn't have to jump on the train or drive miles and miles back to the house.

Speaking of the house, Bub and I were extremely productive both on Saturday and Sunday. On Saturday we had a nice walk through town. We can actually walk to get errands done! It was nice to get out and see more of the new surroundings by foot. We also checked out our backyard. I hadn't really walked way down to the end of it and seen everything since it's so woodsy. No surprises there. It had grass, trees, and leaves!

We cleaned and did more unpacking. All of the old lady curtains have been demolished! Yeah! And more wallpaper steaming was completed, courtesy of Bub.

Saturday night we had dinner out after seeing some horrific furniture and then we tried to watch the Pats win, but promptly fell asleep and then woke up grumpy, uncomfortable (on the couch), and went to bed.

Bub lived at the condo yesterday while I made more progress here, with only one room left to unpack and some cleaning here and there we'll finally be ready to focus 100% on our furniture and decorating needs. Those boxes that are left will be the few stragglers meant for the basement or ones to be thrown out with this week's trash.

The new tenant for our condo moves in tomorrow and we officially hand over the keys tomorrow night. We'll be happy to not have to clean, paint or do anything in there unless something goes awry (knock on wood) for a while.

So to all you snow bunnies, have a great Monday. Here's to a productive and good week! And a short one at that; we're off to NH for a weekend away courtesy of a wedding gift from my sister. Let the countdown begin.

PS--We seem to have a ton of ladybugs living around this house. I just looked up to view the snow outside and saw another ladybug. And the other day? We found one in our bed. We changed the sheets, don't worry. We aren't fans of bed bugs.

Weekend Roundup

I left work early on Friday because the boss did and my mind was fried. We decided to walk away from the house I wrote about here. We decided that it's too expensive to chase, but being that it's a divorce situation, we know they must get rid of it and have no other offers on the table. Perhaps it will drop in cost, but for now, we'll continue to enjoy our condo.

I got a manicure just before going to pick up Bub at the train station. When I collected my husband, we went straight to a wine tasting where we were meeting my family to support the organization my sister volunteers at. The organization has to do with animals. The event was held in a hall. The event smelled like animals, namely cat litter.

We left after some tasting and stopped at a local Mexican place for some late dinner before some TV and then bed.

Saturday was consumed by cleaning. Cleaning the new kitchen counters and sink we just had installed. Cleaning the inside and outside of cabinets and reorganizing every item including the 6 boxes of cous cous we didn't know we had.

Bub was a laundry superstar. I had on my sexy plastic gloves for toilet and tub scrubbing pleasure.

Then it was off to 3 grocery stores in search of manicotti squares in order to make dinner for my friend who was visiting from DC.

No one sells damn maincotti, so lasagne was made instead. Bub thought it might be weird since it was a manicotti recipe for which I was making lasagne. I reminded him that manicotti and lasagne are booth NOODLE dishes. It would be OK.

It was OK--in fact, it was delish.

No lasagne leftovers remain.

Yesterday we went to the "Natick Collection" to see the first Nordstrom of Massachusetts. I bought shoes which I am wearing today. And they are glorious. Bub got a new suit. He is just the most handsome man ever in a suit.

We were exhausted after battling the cars and crowds at the newly renovated "collection" (mall!) and headed home. Some more TV and some more cleaning completed the evening. I finally got my Harry Potter books from Amazon and got back to reading where I had left off when I borrowed book 2 on the Cape several weeks ago.

I'm now writing this with 34 emails to follow up on and a bazillion things to do. You can see where my priorities lie. I also have the door shut, my space heater on, and I'm contemplating looking on the Starbucks Web site to pick out a new drink to go get at lunch to keep warm.

Any suggestions? I'm tired of lattes.

Ahhh, Mondays.

Update

Hi All,

We were on the Cape with the in-laws and to the christening of Bub's cousin's little boy, James Patrick. He is adorable! It was trying at times being immersed in so much of Bub's family in a concentrated time period and I should be a pro at this since Bub and I have been together for a while now, but I just seem to get so cranky. I really do need some space which I was able to get on the beach with my shuffle and with some Harry Potter. Yes, I'm slow to join all those that have enjoyed the phenomenon that is Harry Potter.

I'm feeling a bit better than I was last week. The flowers Bub sent survived the weekend while I was away and couldn't bring them home since we left straight from work to go away. My car is having surgery as I write this. Well, OK, I don't know about that. But I have the rental car that smells a bit like dog and I've bid my car a big goodbye while it gets some work done. In addition, we are going to see if we can get 1-2 other little imperfections fixed I was OK to live with since they're rather minor, but since I'm now having real work done, I may as well get my Acura baby all gussied up!

I'm strangely sort of *happy*? Wait, that's not right. OK. Yes, I'm OK to be here at work. The office is still heavenly in all its remoteness from the boss. I have a million emails and a ton to do from being out only 1.5 days, but a voicemail from a new contact at an organization we've been working with for a while gives me a sense of renewed hope since the woman who I thought was going to be my contact has given me every reason to find her snobby, stuck-up, and just plain rude. Doesn't return phone calls, emails, and bails on an IN PERSON meeting. Yes, it's true.

I still have a bunch of emails left waiting--some that could break the otherwise OK (happy?) mood I'm in.

My guy's birthday is Saturday. My parents' wedding anniversary is then, too. The eyebrows need help.

It's Monday. I'm ready for a good week. (Knock on wood.)

Weekend Top 10

1. Getting a really, really good manicure without being rushed, forced to pick a different "better" color, no crowd, and for cheap!

2. Finishing a slew of errands before the storm hit: groceries, bills, post office, and gym.

3. Baking fluffy and healthy blueberry muffins on Saturday morning for Bub so that he'd have something yummy to eat while he told me about his hiking trip.

4. Having an early evening on Saturday, discovering a new yummy beer, hanging at a noisy bar and feeling like we were the only ones there.

5. Getting up early today, seeing the sun shine into the quiet church, putting on our layers and getting ready for the race.

6. Running the 5k. Seeing Bub surprised that I caught up to him and then sprinting past lots of huffing and puffing and getting lost in the sea of green.

7. Beers at the bar after the race, talking with Bub's friends. Telling Italy stories, letting the buzz settle in.

8. Spicy onion rings and not feeling guilty about eating them after the run!

9. Napping in our layers after making it home from our early and jam-packed day.

10. Selecting wedding photos to purchase for framing; we'll finally have photos to display on the mantel when we move into a house.

Plans

When I'm in the shower and getting ready for work, I like to think about what I will do after I come home at night. They'll be dinner to make of course and the gym to force myself to attend, and then there are the leftover errands/chores/things I wanted to get done over the weekend.

So tonight I hope to put away all the laundry Bub so nicely did for us, finish washing the tub, and vacuum each room before heading to the gym.

But something about the snow makes me think that I would be so much happier curled up wtih Bub, sipping some wine, and just hanging out.

We had a great weekend. The in-laws were in town and we had a big dinner together with my parents on Friday night. Saturday I attended my first kick boxing class in a long time. I actually felt like I could work out after the class, too, but decided there was a lot more to accomplish that day, so I went home. Later I felt the pain start. It was so bad that I had to take asprin before bed and was sore all through yesterday. I guess I overdid it!

We got some shopping and errands done, but there were no houses to see. Sigh.

I am on a mission for new sneakers and had fun shopping online at Sephora. I love that store. And it's nice to be all by yourself and overwhelmed as opposed to zig-zagging between store employees and other shoppers to look and smell and test.

I'm on a mission, too, for a headband and have been so for a while. I think I found one I want online. Anyone have any good recommendations?

Have a great Monday.

Home

It was a long day of travel which started with a 3:30am wakeup call from Orbitz to let me know that my first of two flights was on time. I jumped back into bed for 15 minutes to let the alarm really sound at 3:45 since I have been up at 5:30 on my own--no assistance from any sort of alarm clock--while my unexpectedly cool roomie snoozed on and on since she stays up later to shower and what not before bed.

I pushed outside into the hallway the dirty dishes from the celebratory "I'm going home soon brownie ice-cream sundae" from the night before and grabbed the local paper which I heard the hotel staff plunk down while I was popping open my eyelids to psyche myself for getting the heck out of here and fast.

When I arrived downstairs and as my luggage ba-boomed and zoomed over the uneven stone floor I noticed some unfamiliar but familiar faces still awake from the night before; they were the die-hard partiers. That was fine with me. I mean it was a work dinner gone long. I was not regretful that I didn't top off the 3 margaritas, tequila shot, and wine with more. I'm surprised I was only thirsty for hydration and not hanging over a toilet hoping I could delay my flight time.

I rode in a cab with one of the founders of the company. When I first met him the other night at a cocktail reception he was the typical British dry humor type. And when I had more free-flowing wine I became more comfortable with myself and came out with the expected question we all asked of each other when we weren't wearing our lanyard's and name tags: what is it that you do? To which I was embarrassed to learn that he was one of the founders of the company. And when he said not to be embarrassed, that he doesn't go around telling people that, that he prefers to keep that info somewhat reserved, I figured how opposite of my boss is he?

We arrive at the airport and part our separate ways, wishing each other good and safe travels. From my fabulous planning I had close-to-the-entrance-and-exit-seats for both the first and second flights with no one immediately sitting on either side. The extra elbow room was appreciated and I held on for dear life as the cramps were at an all-time high.

I wanted to give my seat up to the quiet man two seats over from me. I wanted to ask if he was new to Boston or visiting for a short time. He craned his neck several times to see out the window which I blocked with my crazy bumpy ponytail and bunched up coat resting on my lap. I tried to lean back to let him see and felt awkward that he was constantly turned my way trying to catch a glimpse of the clouds, the water, the land. The snow.

Fastforward and I'm feeling really hot from being all twisted up in my plane clothes under a blanket on the couch when Bub arrives home. I'm groggy and annoyed that I didn't unpack just a few things so that I could have looked nicer for his arrival. Instead he waited as I put spring-colored tulips in a vase, combed my hair, threw on a skirt and clean sweater with newish heels. I had been in boots all day--with not painful heels--but enough to piss off my feet. But I wanted to step it up. I was home and this was our Valentine's Day.

We hit a favorite restaurant and Bub was extremely talkative. I watched as others packed into the cramped restaurant and rushed to shut the door to keep out the bitter reminder that we're still in winter even though spring is supposed to come soon.

We drank wine, ate appetizers which brought us back to Amalfi Coast memories, and we talked about what we would do this weekend. How we would pick up our house-hunting task and maybe figure things out as we go.

Because this weekend, people. This weekend is here. And it's a long one.