ran out of time

I was going to put up this huge long post of how things are going, but then my mom called, and then Michael called, and now I've got to leave to go meet him and his two friends that go riding together every Saturday. Sorry! I'll post a ton later, I swear. I'm off to Taco Deli! hmmmm...queso.

one more thing - I'm on a Boat!

Ok, here's one more thing I keep meaning to post.

One night while Michael was working night shift (meaning he was sitting on my sofa chair with his laptop), I was watching MTV, and Fuse, and some other music channels, trying not to feel old. I was checking out what the 'kids' were watching. It was like 2 in the morning and this video came on. I did a double take and we had to rewind it. It's fucking awesome! I've tried showing it to some people and they don't think it's funny. Michael and I think it's hilarious, and maybe some people out there will too.

Adam Samberg is in a band called The Lonely Island, and it's like Weird Al but more curse words. If you don't get it.....they're making fun of rap songs.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7yfISlGLNU&feature=channel_page

They also have a lovely song called Jizz in my Pants. It's a play on dance/club music. The video really makes this one.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pXfHLUlZf4&feature=SeriesPlayList&p=ED9441CFC963F147

Enjoy!


I've got my swim trunks
and my flippy floppies!

What? It's just not seasoned salt?

So, you know the Lawry's Seasoned Salt that everyone has in the pantry? Scrolly L on the label, orange top. Well, did you know it's a freaking restaurant???? I had absolutely no clue!

http://www.lawrysonline.com/theprimerib.asp

Last time we were in Dallas visiting Michael's mom, we passed it, and I was like, uh.....that L looks familiar! It was also on Food Network's Steak Paradise special. Their 'thing' is prime rib. That's basically the only thing on the menu besides lobster. I told Michael the next time we came to Dallas, I wanted to go. He'd never been either, so we both looked forward to it. This past weekend we drove to Dallas to see his mom and went to Lawry's on Saturday night. It was so good! I'm not one to put salt on my food....but that Lawry's Seasoned Salt on prime rib was incredible. It's a quiet, posh restaurant that feels very intimate. They wheel these huge stainless steel carts around and cut the meat from the roast right at your table. It also comes with mashed potatoes and Yorkshire Pudding. I hadn't had Yorkshire Pudding since I was in England, and this one was really good! If you are ever in the Dallas area and enjoy a good piece of red meat, I highly recommend it. It was pricey, but I felt you got a very large piece of meat and the value was there. For the prime rib, mashed potatoes, and Yorkshire Pudding, it was $33. There were smaller cuts of meat and a couple of larger cuts, so the price can vary. But, the prime rib was really thick and filled the plate up, so I didn't feel like it was too expensive. I wouldn't go every night...but it would be a nice 'special occasion' place.

We are on track for Michael to move in by the end of October. I just sold my sofa and chaise and he has to put some of his stuff for sale. We had two garage sales in July and did pretty well. As he goes through his stuff and we find duplicates, we're putting things aside for another garage sale in Sept. I had to sell my sofa cause the sides were really high so you couldn't lounge on it that well. We bought a really cheap one that has low sides, so it's easy to put your feet up or rest your head on the cushion. We went cheap because it only has to last a few years before we buy our new house and get one that fits the space.

ok, I know that's a small post after being gone so long.....eh, you'll take what I give you! hee hee.

CA Pictures

As promised, the best CA pictures have been uploaded to Michael's smugmug site. Here is the website. Some have captions at the bottom.

http://hrast.smugmug.com/gallery/8506312_GXv6N#559894891_9rJVx

The ones that crack me up the most are on page 14 near the end. There are two pictures of the Golden Gate Bridge and a metal view finder (I don't know what they're really called). Michael was taking some shots of the bridge, and I thought the view finders looked cool. I asked him to get the view finder in the foreground and the bridge in the background. He took it and showed me the screen. I was like, well, that's not really what I meant. So he gave me the camera and I took the picture that I wanted. When I showed it to him, he was like 'argh! that's a better picture!'. And at that moment we realized how different our perspectives are, being 8 inches different in height. I was right in front of the view finders, while Michael looked over them.

All the ones of us together were taken with my Olympus. You can't really do that 'arm out to take a picture of yourself' thing with a camera that has a 6 inch lens on it. So, my little Olympus still comes in handy. We also brought my camera in to the Thomas Keller Napa restaurants to take pictures of the food. It's a little more discreet than Michael's big camera. hee hee.


Oh,,.....and whoever deleted their comment from my previous post - you can't do that to me! What did it say??? I'm dying of curiousity now!

lots of news

Just got back from a 2 wk trip to Northern California. We've been planning this since October, so it was quite fun to actually have it arrive. Although I usually like my trips a little spontaneous as far as where to go on each day....this trip was competely planned. We just had too many places to go, too many people to see, and it was around Memorial Day weekend so we needed to make sure we had hotel reservations. In all we saw Napa, Pinole/Stinson Beach, Santa Cruz Beach/Boardwalk, Monterey, Yosemite, San Francisco, and Muir Woods. We also saw all my family in Gilroy, Andrea in Pinole, Heidi in Stockton (on the way to Yosemite), and Kim in San Rafael (on the way back from Muir Woods). So, yeah, I had a spreadsheet to detail out where we'd be each day and what hotel we were staying at. We drove over 1600 miles in 2 different rental cars. Started with a Jetta, but it got a piece of metal in a back tire, and a nail in the other. So we turned it in and got upgraded to a Mazda 6. Two things to say about the Jetta - I DO NOT like the Jetta. I am TOO SHORT for that fricken car. My legs are too short and the head rest cut me at a really bad angle so much so that I had to stick my jacket behind my neck. The second thing- damn that thing had some get up and go! I drove it from the San Jose airport to Gilroy and it had so much power (compared to my Corolla). You hit the gas and that thing WENT. But, the Mazda was a lot more comfortable, but it didn't have as much power, so it wasn't as much fun to drive...eh, trade offs. Both got good gas mileage thought. It was about $2.80/gal for gas in CA which isn't too bad.

I have LOTS of pictures, but they're all on Michael's computer. Every night we'd take the photos off his camera and mine, put them on his laptop, and backup to an external hardrive. I'm not sure how many we ended up with, but we got some REALLY good ones. A new one of Michael's camera is like $800 and the lens we were using is $1300. I frikin LOVE that lens. We did some wedding photos for friends of his back in September and Michael rented a really professional camera and lens, lent me his camera, and rented that lens for me to use. It took such great photos he went and bought it. My pictures come out so great with it. He's going to upload the best to his smugmug account and I'll post the link then. There's a few we'll be printing fairly large and hanging.

One thing that is working really well in this relationship is that Michael really trusts my eye for composition. In Napa we were doing a tour of a cave for wine barrels, and as the guy was talking, I gestured and quietly told Michael to get on one knee and get a picture of a group of barrels that was really pretty. He didn't even say anything - just did it - and that's one of the pictures we're going to get framed. It's so beautiful. I don't understand the mechanics of cameras - iso and f-stop, aperture, depth of field, etc. So, when I want to take some pictures Michael just sets the numbers and then gives me the camera. We're going to work on having me learn that though, so I can set my own numbers. It's just confusing. Too much like geometry! But, I was still using my little Olympus and got some really good pictures with that too.

The big reason for this trip was to figure out how our relationship was going and if Michael was going to move in. His lease is up at the end of October. All in all, things went really well. We had a couple of tiffs, but nothing major considering the amount of driving and places we went to. So, we had a talk today about the things that annoyed us on the trip, we both agreed to work on them, and agreed that things went generally well. Michael said he likes me even more now after being around me so much....aw so sweet! So, we'll be working on that for the next few months. He's selling quite a number of items - washer/dryer, coffee table and side table, kitchen table and chairs, tv, computer desk, bed frame rails, and futon. He's moving most of his stuff into my extra guest room and will use that for this computer and gaming systems. We figure with the money he'll get from selling all that stuff he can buy a nice tv for that room. Luckily my other guest room already has a queen bed, so he'll move his mattress (that he bought recently) into there and he'll use that closet for his clothes and stuff. He can also use that bed when he's on night shift - which is for a whole week and it happens once a month. He gets paged all night to work on stuff, so he can just sleep in there and not bother me. I think it will work out well. I already told him he can't use my bathroom - so he can use the guest bath right next to that bedroom. This'll be my first time living with someone like that, so it'll take me awhile to get completely comfortable. He's going to pay rent and 1/2 utilities. I'm going to save the rent in a different account and use it to redo the master bath for when we are getting ready to sell this house. One cool thing - we both have Farmer's insurance, so when he moves in, even though we aren't married, we'll get 'multi car' discount since it's the same address! I think it's a 10% discount. Yay!

There's a whole lot to say about the trip, but I'm not in the mood to type it all out.

Oh, some movie review for those of you that have missed me:

Wolverine - fucking awesome! I don't care what the review say about it. I was thoroughly entertained.
Hamlet 2 - really thought this was going to suck, but both Michael and I thought it was hilarious and awesome. Rock me, rock me sexy Jesus!
Twilight - I do not base what I see and I what I won't see on how popular something is. Just cause people are going ape shit over these books don't make them good, but don't make them bad either. I wanted to see it and make my own opinion. Movie - not bad, made me want to read the books. 1st Book 'Twilight'- wow, that's really like the movie! Like, scene for scene. Huh. 2nd book (New Moon) - absolute crap, I am done with this series.
Bolt - so cute! really well done. The hamster steals the show.
How to Lose Friends and Alienate People - Someone needs to tell Simon Pegg to get back to doing Shaun of the Dead/Hot Fuzz movies. Hopefully he's good in Star Trek, cause this movie was horrible. But, on the bright side, it did have Gillian Anderson and she still looks great.
Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist - at first I was livid that some no-talent director hack was trying to use the venerable Thin Man series to sell some teenage crap. But, I heard it was good so I gave it a shot. It was really, really, really, really good. It wasn't a 'teen' movie. I really recommend this one.
Zack and Miri Make a Porno - ok, with a title like that, this movie should have sucked (ha! get it?) cough....but, we saw it at Mike and Annette's and we all thought it was great. It was hilarious, had great casting, and a nice plot. It wasn't too raunchy or over the top. It helps if you know some people in the porn industry (like Traci Lords and Katie Morgan)
My Name is Bruce - Like Bruce Campbell? See this. If you don't know who that is, DON'T see this movie.
Leonard Part 6 -voted one of the worst movies of all time. I saw this as a kid so I have a soft spot for it. Michael and I got through 25 minutes of it before he was begging me to turn it off. But, it's got Bill Cosby!! And no, there is no Parts 1 -5

Trips and no trips

Hey. How's everyone doing? Has the economy screwed anyone over yet? All I can say is that people that were buying houses for $500,000 when they were only making like $50k a year were idiots. So many people just ignored what they could 'afford' and wanted the swanky huge house with a huge mortgage and property tax. Really, having a down payment is a good thing! Luckily the prices in Austin have been fairly stable. But, a lot of the tech companies like Dell and Freescale are starting to lay off people, so who knows? I'm glad I'm in healthcare - that's pretty stable.

Anyways......my college 10 year reunion is in April in St Louis, and I don't think I'm going. Yes, I wanted to see all my friends that live out there, but Michael and I are planning a big trip to CA in May, and I'd rather focus my money on that trip. Sigh...I don't know. StL really is just a road trip - If I take Friday and Monday off for drive time, I can be there the whole weekend. But, really, I can go anytime. I went to the 5yr reunion and it was pretty lame. College just didn't 'shape' me the way high school did. So many of the kids in high school had been with the same people since elementary school. It's cool seeing how they've turned out. Going back to Wash U is kinda pointless. I would think everyone has made something of their lives. And the tickets are kinda pricey. yeah, I think I'll pass.

Monday night I'm meeting with the plant lady to discuss Phase 2 of the yard project. This winter was very mild and almost all of the plants seem very happy where they are. My water bill has gone up quite a bit, since I'm actually, you know, watering and all....but I guess that's the price to pay for a nice yard! I've received a lot of compliments from people in my neighborhood, and a couple people have asked me for her information. I'm so glad I did it, my house just looks so nice with it, and I never would have been able to plan that out myself.

The kitchen is not done yet. I had painted some of the walls a brown color and I'm not loving it. We're going to try a dark blue and see how that comes out. It's only paint!

Damn, you'd think there's nothing going on in my life...and I guess there isn't. We're still hanging out with everyone and doing stuff. Just don't blog about it. Michael has been messing with the smoker again and I had some people over on Sunday for pulled pork and ribs. In a couple weeks he's invited all of his close friends to my house for a bbq smorgesboard of briskit, ribs, sausage, and pulled pork. My friends have had it a couple times, and this will be a first for his friends. I hope everyone can make it. For Christmas I bought Michael some industrial/chemical rated gloves that go up to his elbow so he can handle things coming off the smoker. They are really cool. Oh, FYI, if you're looking for a good BBQ sauce, try Cattleman's Original. I don't know how available it is outside of TX, but it's really good. A lot of BBQ people that make their 'own' sauce use Cattleman's as a base cause it has such good flavor. You can get it at the grocery store.

Ah, that's right, we also had Valentine's Day. Since I am a romantic, we were of course doing SOMETHING for Valentine's Day. But, I didn't want to go to some fancy restaurant and deal with the crowds. So, Saturday morning Michael surprised me by taking me to brunch at Chez Zee, which we've been talking about for awhile. It was lovely and the food was good. Then we went shopping a bit, drove around Austin, and just hung out. For dinner we had talked about making something, but I just wasn't in the mood and really wanted fried chicken. So, uh, yeah, we went to Popeye's and had fried chicken and biscuits. Yum yum yum. Very low key, and that's what we like! Michael knows I despise red roses (cliche) so on Friday he had Tiff's Treats deliver warm cookies and ice cream to my office. It was such a surprise. Their cookies are so good! I don't know if they're local or national, but it's a great gimmick. Who wouldn't want a delivery of warm cookies?

ok, that's it for now.

Hello, 2009

I hope everyone had a great New Year's and holiday time. For Christmas I went with Michael to the Dallas area to spend it with his Mom. She has this huge 4500sq ft house and it's so gorgeous. We mainly just hung out - didn't do anything too major. She bought us a new food processor and a GPS unit for the car. The story with the food processor is this: Michael's mom (Karen) came to my house for Thanksgiving. There's a certain cranberry dish she makes every year, so she was going to bring the ingredients and make it at my house. Well, she asked for a food processor, and I did have one, but had never used it. When my grandmother passed away in 2001 I got it from her kitchen. It was Wolfgang Puck, and it had never been used - still had the receipt from HSN (my grandmother bought a lot of stuff over TV). Anyways, I figured I might have a use for it, so I took it and it's been in my cupboards ever since. Well, Karen got it out and started using it to chop up the cranberries. Well......unfortunately, the blade spun backwards! We could not figure out how to fix it. So, instead of chopping, it kinda just mashed them with the other side of the blade. It was so weird. My brother in law even took it apart and moved some wires around and it still spun backwards. We think the motor had been installed the wrong way. So, anyways, that's how she knew I needed a new food processor! As for the GPS, I refused to let Michael buy one since his iPhone connects to Google, and really what more do you need? But, hey, if Karen wants to spend money on a swanky new GPS, I'm not going to say NO! So, yes, I do really like it, and yes, it will really come in handy for our trip to CA. I just didn't want to spend our own money on it. But, hey, that's what the holidays are for, right?? My parents gave me and my sister money as usual, and there's no complaints over here!

Michael and I spent New Year's in my hot tub. He had a bottle of $40 champagne, and I had my $3 bottle of Martinelli's Sparking Apple Cider, which I drank straight from the bottle, thank you very much. Mmmm....sparkling sugar water....so good. My neighborhood has now been officially annexed into 'City' of Austin whereas before we were just county. Now we can't do fireworks in our yard. Too bad, so sad. Although we did hear quite a few go off on New Years. I think my Mom still isn't 'City' so at least we can go over there again for 4th of July fireworks in the street.

Again - can I just say how much I love Austin??? The Saturday before Christmas, it was 78 degrees so Michael and I went kayaking on Town Lake. Then, on Friday Jan 2 we had another warm day so we went out again with some of Michael's friends that were in town for the holidays. We weren't even bundled up! Shorts and a tank top on the water, in winter! Love it.

Friday night I had ANK Party Games Night at my place and we had 6 people total - good group. We played a great board game called 'Wits & Wagers' that incorporates trivia and betting. We also played Charades since the 2 new people that showed up had never really played. I know whenever Loel comes to Party Games, he and I can usually successfully lobby for Charades. Love playing that! But, we usually just write our own, which is starting to get annoying. I may just break down and buy an official game. My favorite one that I made up on Friday was 'manny'. You know, a male nanny. Now, that was hard! But someone eventually got it.

Oh, right, I promised pictures of the yard, right? Here you go.

Here's the 'before' pic. I really hate bushes in front of houses - just big green blobs. I told the designer I didn't want anything 'structured' or box like. She did a few different designs and gave me a bunch of pictures of native/drought resistant plants. I told her which ones I thought looked cool, and she incorporated what she could. We kept my Lacebark Elm tree in the middle of the yard since it was new and she agreed it was a really good tree for this area.

Here is the after. It took 3 days and they did it right before Thanksgiving. I also put in irrigation for the front yard. I had received quotes for that a couple years ago, and the guy she works with quoted me $1000 less. So, I went ahead and did that at the same time so his irrigation could match her plan. The rock sitting by itself on the right hand side is part of 'Phase 2'. It will be a circle around the tree which starts near the boulder and ends at the raised bed in the middle. It's already been taken into account with the irrigation and she said it will only take 1 day to implement. That will be in March sometime.

Yes, the grass is fairly dead...eh give me a break, it's winter! The rock in the front is pea gravel, the walkway has decomposed granite around the stones, and the beds near the house are Texas hard-wood mulch. We're going to start working on the grass in the spring.

Here's a closeup of the part near the house. They also put in the walkway leading to the front door. Before it was just cement and it was cracking and it wasn't straight. So, they did this flagstone walkway which is so cool.

I have 29 different plants and I have a map of what each one is. She also gave me a list on how to take care of them - which ones to cut down to the ground after the first frost, which ones to cut into a fist sized ball, and which ones to leave alone. They are all perennials, so they should come back in the spring. I really like how it came out, and the designer was a pleasure to deal with - Her name was Liz Klein with Design My Yard, for anyone interested. She has a website. I was just glad she took my little job. So many designers only want projects over $10,000. They won't even deal with small projects. I think with the economy right now though, this is the best time to do this kind of stuff. I even got great deals on the plants since it was 'end of season', so she was able to get me bigger plants than she originally expected.

When I first decided to do this, I really thought it was going to cost a crap ton of money. I always watch 'Curb Appeal' on HGTV and most of their yards are on the east coast. Every so often they'll flash how much money each item is, and it's always really pricey. When Liz first showed me the plans, I really thought it was over $10,000. She was saying how item A is 'more expensive' than item B, and I kept saying, what do you mean, 'more expensive??' Couple hundred dollars or couple thousand??? I had no concept of what things cost out here. But, she said I could do most of the original plan for $5,000 I was shocked. But, she said things are a lot cheaper out here in Texas compared to the east coast. And, the quarry where most of my rock came from is actually just down the street from me, so the delivery was cheaper. All in all, if anyone is thinking of doing this, the irrigation was $1450 and the yard was almost $6000 - which includes all the stone work and new walk way. I think phase 2 is going to be around $1500. I'm really happy with how it all came out. Michael also chipped in some money as part of my birthday present, which really helped pay for it. I had planned on using the last of my Accenture stock, but then the market tanked, and I ended up just using money out of my savings. That was annoying. One of the reasons I'm doing this now is that if Michael and I do get married, we're going to need a bigger house. So, I know within 3-4 years I'm going to sell this house. By then the yard will be matured and it will really add value to the house. I'll definitley get my money back with the sale price.

Oh,....yes, I did paint my kitchen but I don't have pictures yet. I'll post that later.

I guess that's it for now. Going to Mike & Annette's for dinner and a movie tonight - They're making a new slow-cooker recipe and need guinea pigs. Eh, I'm always up for free food! I'm making dessert. I'm trying a new cheesecake recipe which is currently chilling in the frig. But, as is my way, I never rely on a new recipe when bringing food to a friend's house, so I also made Ghiradelli brownies which are always good. We're going to see Tropic Thunder, which I've been looking forward to.

And what are YOU thankful for?

I'm thankful that Thanksgiving is over and all 11 people have left my house.
I'm thankful that Michael's mom met my parents and it all went over quite well.
I'm thankful that several thousand dollars and three days of labor has transformed my front yard into something beautiful (pictures to come)
I'm thankful that having people over for Thanksgiving forced me to do some home projects I've been putting off....like painting the kitchen cabinets (pictures to come)
I'm thankful for Michael, my parents, and all my friends that support me and make me laugh.
I'm thankful for DVDFab.
I'm thankful for 1yr no interest financing (yes, I got my new TV...it's pretty)
and I'm thankful for many other things I can't put into words right now. I've been working really hard this past month getting my house ready for today, and now that it's over, I just want to SLEEP! talk to you soon....

Stupid ants!

Mike has soundly chastised me for not posting. Sorry y'all. I am currently waging a war against ants in my kitchen. When I first bought this house in 2004 I had a lot of trouble with ants, so I started paying for a regular exterminator service that comes out every 3 months, and if I need them to come out special, I don't get charged. For the past few years I haven't had any ant problems. But, I think the drought has forced them to come into the house. So annoying. I love how 409 kills them. I just have to spray a little and they all die. And I'm cleaning the countertops at the same time! Windex works too, but not as fast. Anyways, I'll call the exterminator guy tomorrow and since Michael is on night shift this week he'll be able to meet them. That way I won't have to take time off work.

Uh, not much else going on. Michael and I had our 1 yr anniversary. We both have kayaks now. Yay! For the anniversary we went back down to San Antonio and had dinner at Bohanan's. It was still wonderful. And, I told our waiter that we were there for our anniversary and that we'd been before. When she brought out our appetizer (duck confit eggrolls which were amazing!) she also brought out a free appetizer! It was french grilled oysters. We both looked at each other and were like, uh great! thanks!. I'd had raw oysters in Virginia when my sister lived there. I gagged - couldn't let it just slide down my throat- so gross. But, these were breaded and grilled. So, I thought, hey, they were free, gotta try them. And they were AMAZING. If someone had just handed me one and said 'eat this' I would have no idea they were oysters. Not rubbery at all. Michael really enjoyed them too. It's always good to try new things (especially when they're free!)


side note....MESSAGE TO RANDY
Hey. Don't know if you check your comments on your blog or not, so I'm posting here since I know you read this. What TV shows do you want? What can you get in Japan? Didn't you mention you lost one of the Buffy tapes I sent you? Just let me know and I'll send you my original. I don't know why I'm keeping them since I have it all on DVD. Does your DVD player play DivX files? If so, let me know. That's an important question. I can hook you up with a ton of shows that Michael can download for me.

..side note ended.

Go to bed!

The Big Disappointment I call 'Ike'

Yes, yes, major devastation throughout Houston/Beaumont/Galveston. But I'm not there, am I? No, I'm in AUSTIN. Where on Friday they said we had a 100% chance of rain on Saturday with high winds, etc, etc, etc. And you know what we got? Cloudy skies and four drops of rain on my windshield. First Eduard disappointed us and gave us nothing. Now, Ike comes through and we miss it by miles! Michael and I were watching the Weather Channel and I kept chanting 'Go West! Go West!', but alas, it swept east and we got NOTHING. I don't want to water my damn lawn tonight! When's the next hurricane coming through? Tropical Depression? Nasty looking storm cloud? Anything? I even cleaned my garage so I could park my car inside! Ike, you let me down!

Magnetic Spice Rack with bonus feature!

Sometimes everything comes together perfectly!

Example: I'd been playing with the idea of doing a magnetic spice rack after being enamored by Alton Brown's on Good Eats. It just seemed like a good way to clear out the spice cabinet. Also, spices aren't supposed to be near the stove - heat and steam are not good for them. I noticed that my cabinet to the right of the stove actually got fairly warm inside when I was making pasta or something that steamed a lot. But, the one thing holding me back was repainting my cabinets. Right now they're what I call "peaches n cream". The previous previous owners loved the color peach and had it everywhere. The previous owners did not like the peach, but only painted the outside of the cabinets a cream color. So, cream outside, peach inside! That's classy! Sanding and repainting have been on my to-do list for quite some time and I didn't want to install a spice rack till I had all that worked out.

Well, then I got a completely different idea for a project. My cutting boards were resting against my backsplash and made the counter looked cluttered. Also, my cookie sheets and cooling racks were laying flat in my cabinets and taking up a lot of room. My cabinets just don't have a place for thin vertical storage. It occured to me that I could buy wall in-box holders and put the boards in that! I went online trying to find some that were sturdy enough for heavy cookie sheets but I really didn't find exactly what I was looking for. I was afraid I'd have to get legal sized in-boxes to hold the larger cutting boards. Well, this is a good example to not rely on just the internet! The moment I walked into Office Max I found exactly what I was looking for (and I can't even find it on their website!) They are metal holders without sides - so it doesn't matter how long the item is! And....since they're metal I can use them as magnetic spice holders!! Awesome! Two ideas in one project. It came out really well.

My pantry is really to the right of the door and in the left corner was previously a thin 5 drawer cabinet that didn't hold anything important. I moved that out and installed seven metal holders. Three on the wall to the left and four on the wall facing the door. They are now holding all of my cooling racks, cutting boards, and cookie sheets. I have opened a lot of space in my cabinets now.

You can see how crappy my door is. I really need to sand all that sticky stuff off and paint it. But, the pic gives you some idea on how my pantry works.

This is a side view so you can see both areas, kinda. They aren't perfectly spaced cause I was going more by what was in them, how I would be taking the items out of the holder, and how short I am. So, there really wasn't any "measuring" involved (my kind of project!). I made a cardboard template of my largest cookie sheet and used that to help gauge where to hang everything. The cardboard was light so it made it easy to hold the metal holder up while I marked the holes. I also cut out some green shelf liner that's the foamy non-stick kind. I already had it on hand and it helps cushion the metal racks against the metal holder (you can see it below). Michael went with me to Lowe's to pick out what type of wall anchors to use, but other than that, I did everything myself.

So, let's talk about the spices! I researched on the internet about this and there are a couple different types of containers out there. I ended up getting mine at Bed Bath & Beyond. The lids have a pour hole and sprinkle holes. The backs have huge magnets on them. There are other containers out there that don't have holes, but I wanted them. At BBB they're $2.99 each, which is actually really expensive. I just found them today at the Container Store in a package for 3 at $4.99 (the exact same kind). But, the reason I went to BBB was I have $25 gift cards from my Discover points and I have the $10 off $30 coupons they print in their fliers, so I used two coupons, saved $20 and used 'free money' gift cards - so I didn't have to outlay any cash for them. In case you didn't know - BBB coupons NEVER expire. They ignore the expiration date and you can use three at a time. I keep mine in the trunk of my car since I never know when I'll be shopping. Anyways, I bought 26 of them which sounds like a lot, but I like buying extra since you never know when one will break or if they stop making the same style. I bought clear labels and printed labels on my computer for them. Yes, I played with the font for awhile - wanted something different but still easy to read. Ended up using 'Civic'. I don't really like how you can see the label since it's not really 'clear', but oh well. It's what I bought and I didn't want to deal with it. I'm getting used to it, and it's not as noticeable as it is in the pictures. I also went to Walmart and bought all new spices. Figured I'd start out fresh!

I also had this great idea - for those spices that may not be permanent items in my pantry - I cut up whiteboard and taped it to the front of the spice tin (see below). These metal inbox holders actually came with little magnets, a picture frame, and a very thin magnetic white board. I just used scissors and cut circles out. It all came together perfectly! I'm very pleased. I'm still working out how I'm going to do liquids like vanilla or almond extract...I already have some ideas....

And one last thing - A VERY BIG THANK YOU goes out to Gil for helping me with yet another 'I can't believe your house hasn't burned down yet' electrical project. This house is just one adventure after another. On the left side of the wall in the pantry was a little halogen light that was somehow wired into the wall. Not plugged...the wire actually went into the wall and the patch job was so bad there was a big crack in the wall next to the wire. It didn't bother me before because I had my plastic bag holder hanging above it, covering it. Well, for this project it was in the way. And as I do for all strange electrical things, I called Gil. He came by, took off the light switch on the wall next to the pantry, and saw where they had used ELECTRICAL TAPE and just taped all the wires together. Lovely. But wait! There's even more craziness. We got a screwdriver and started making the crack bigger next to the wire, trying to figure out how big the hole was and how they had wired it. After getting some dry compound out of the hole, Gil started seeing paper stuck in it. Once we got past the compound he pulled out huge wads of yellow pages paper, sunday comics, and newspaper (dated 2001). Instead of patching the hole correctly they just waded up paper and them slathered compound over it! If those badly connected wires had sparked it probably would've caught the whole thing on fire. So, we disconnected the whole thing, tore the wire out of the wall, went to Lowe's and bought a new switch and drywall patch kit, and did it all up correctly. It looks really good. Gil did a great job with the first layer of drywall compound over the patch. I did the second coat and painted it. With all the holders up now you can't even see the patch. Thanks Gil! I still owe you dinner!

We've started smoking! (In a good way)

One of my favorite things about Texas is that barbeque is taken VERY seriously out here. Michael recently purchased a smoker and it has been AWESOME! It's the Weber Smokey Mountain Cooker Smoker. I asked him why he got that one and his response was that there's entire websites devoted to this smoker and what you can do with it. Hmmm...good response. I have completely removed myself from the workings of this smoker. This is Micheal's fun time - I just reap the rewards. He's made a place in my backyard where there aren't too many trees around. Once the smoker's going with the wood and charcoal it really doesn't put off any fire hazhards - it's just getting the charcoal ready that's rather flamey.

Anyways, on his first big run he smoked two kinds of ribs (one with sauce and one dry), handmade sausage that he'd made previously, and a pork shoulder that turned into pulled pork.

When he said what he was making I started inviting people over. Mike/Annette and Jeff/Judy came over to help us eat. It was soooo freaking yummy. We had a ton of pulled pork left over so I gave some to my parents too (and getting some bonus points for Michael in the process).

This is what the pork looked like coming out of the smoker. The blackness is just the smoked meat. It's not burned or anything. It's good stuff.

Wimberely

Item 3 - The 21st (Monday) was Michael's birthday. A few months ago we agreed to take Friday and Monday off but at the time didn't have any plans. We just wanted to get the request into work. As the time got closer, we decided to do a trip but didn't want to fly or travel too far. I told Michael I'd plan everything as part of his birthday present. I researched day/weekend trips from Austin and came across the little town of Wimberley. It's only 5o minutes from here and really easy to get to. It's known as an artist community and there's lots of galleries down there. It's kinda a 'one road town' where everything is based around RR 12 that goes through it. It's the type of town you could do in a day or a leisurely weekend. Michael wanted to have a lot of relaxation time, so this fit perfectly. I booked us at a beautiful Bed & Breakfast I found online (http://www.creekhaveninn.com/) and got the least feminine room they had available. Friday we drove down and went to the Wimberely Glass Works (http://www.wgw.com/) which was out of our price range, but stunning to look at. We then checked into the B&B and went down the road into town for dinner. I had chosen an Italian restaurant in the square that had good reviews on the internet. It was really yummy. The town itself is 'dry' in that they don't sell alcohol, but you can bring your own bottles to restaurants and that's allowed. It's a common thing in Texas. Saturday we had a wonderful breakfast at the B&B and then went shopping on the main street and square. There's lots of little shops that have art, pottery, jewelry, stained glass, etc. We were out almost three hours. I bought a gorgeous silver bracelet that was all hand worked. I didn't see any art that I wanted, although there were a couple of bronze statues that if I had $4000 to plunk down would have been coming home with me. We had a small lunch in town and then went back to the B&B to hang out till dinner time. The whole town closes up by 9pm, so I had made reservations at the local steakhouse for 7. I had found it online and all the reviews were positive (http://www.cedargrovesteakhouse.com/). It was an incredible dinner.

Michael always gets the crab cakes for an appetizer if the restaurant carries them. He said the ones at this place were the third best he's ever had (followed by one in Portland and one at some fancy 4-star place he went). I don't even like crab usually, but these were damn tasty.

Some of the reviews said that this place had the best duck they've ever had. I've never had duck, but figured might was well give it a try here. It was so freaking good! It tasted like a cross between turkey and steak. I didn't think it was gamey at all. It was in a port wine reduction sauce and came with creamy garliz orzo (small rice like pasta) and I substitued parmesan mashed potatoes for the asparagus that would've come with it. I really enjoyed it. Michael got a New York strip that he said was really good.

For dessert Michael got the creme brulee, and he said it's the best he's ever had. Even better than Bohanan's. I got the mousse chocolate cake. I'm usually really critical about restaurant chocolate cake. It's usually too dry. This was probably the best I've ever had.

Early in the meal I told our waiter we were here for Michael's birthday and to give the check to me. When he came with the check he said they had comped his creme brulee as a birthday treat! So, we got a $9 dessert for free! Yay! The whole dinner was under $100 which I didn't think was bad at all for appetizer, duck, steak, two desserts, and one glass of wine. I would so go there again.

All in all, Wimberely was just a great trip. Now Michael's all freaked out about how he's going to 'top' this for my birthday. I told him it's not the amount of money spent, it's the thought that goes into it. So, we'll see what he does in October. For his actual gift I got him a kitchen blow torch for making creme brulee and an aquarium that I know he wanted. I gave him a gift card for the plants and fish cause there was no way I was picking that stuff out. So, A+ for me for his birthday.

Baby Shower & Baby Room - no, not mine silly!

Ok, I have been soundly chastised for that tiny previous post. Since I've got some time right now, I'll try to update as much as possible.

Item 1 - Mike & Annette's awesome baby room which I helped paint. They went with a transportation/automative theme after seeing something similar on the internet. The entire room is that carribean blue color, with a wide tan stripe around the middle. The mural above the crib is from a picture of Austin's 360 Bridge (a major landmark here).




All of the signs painted were done using Mike's projector from the upstairs theater and pictures from the internet. He projected the picture onto the wall and we traced it with pencil. Using small art brushes we just painted regular wall paint within the lines. It was really tedious but it came out so great. Mike did all the work on the mural. I did the I-35 sign, the Slippery When Wet, a Stop Light Sign (not pictured), and half of the No Parking. Mike and Annette did the Stop Sign and the green Welcome to Texas sign. Annette did all the clouds. I realize that as much as I'm not 'artistic' in that I can't free hand worth a damn, I can follow the lines quite well. The No Parking sign looks like a real sign from a distance. Growing up on the east coast Mike & Annette are used to smooth walls. The texture on their walls here was so annoying when trying to get smooth lines!



The truck is a decal. It came in a really cool set that they found that had a bunch of car/truck/racing decals.



One of Annette's uncles in New York works for Mack truck and he got them these die-cast models that are 1/32 (or something) exact models of the trucks. The hoods of the trucks come up and everything is so detailed. They're a great addition to the room. The little trucks on the wall are decals, the Stop Sign is painted.

Item 2 - Annette's Baby Shower

As soon as we heard Annette was going to have a baby, Judy suggested throwing them a Baby Shower. So she and I got together to plan a N0-Kidding group baby shower! Heh, is that ironic? Since neither of us goes to many baby showers, we decided to have some fun with it and do a few games. The first one was 'Meaure the Tummy'. I brought ribbon and everyone had to cut a piece that they thought would go around Annette's tummy. The closest one wins. I was so close! I was only 1/4 inch off from the winner. (and don't you think the tiara is cute? Judy and I had a lot of fun shopping for this!)

Another game not shown was guessing the number of M&M's in a baby bottle. I had counted every single damn one of those, and in fact Judy got it right!

The last game we did was something that Judy had done before and it was a BLAST. You go around in a circle and everyone says a baby's name that matches the next letter of the alphabet. Since they're having a boy, we only did boy names. As the alphabet goes around, if we get to a letter and no one can think of a name (like for X or U or O), we would all agree to stop that letter and go to the next. But, if you had K and couldn't think of a K name, but other people agreed that there were other fairly common K names out there, then you were out of the game. I don't even know how many times we went around, but we came up with a lot of names! In the beginning I said you couldn't use 'Chair' or 'Window' or some crazy ass word and say it's a 'name'. All names had to be commonly accepted as a boy's name. We did accept older names though. We also said if Charles was said, you couldn't use Chuck or Charlie. Samething with Robert - couldn't use Rob or Robby. They had to be 'unique' names, so to speak.

Here's the list. The dash means the letter was stopped. I think if you click on the picture it gets bigger. I especially liked 'Zule'.

Heh. Judy pointed this out. It's their to-do list on the fridge. Check out what I circled in black.

Stop driving slow!!!

Yes, I understand gas is $4.00 a gallon, but driving 50 mph in the FAST LANE will only cause accidents! If you're gonna drive like an old granny, get your ass over to the slow lane! Argh! I'm getting so annoyed with these people driving so freaking slow.

that's it for now...I have a shit load of pictures to post and stuff happening, but I've got to keep cleaning house - Saturday I'm hosting a Pampered Chef party for my neighbors and co-workers. oh, and yes, my sister had her baby on Saturday - little Olivia Rose. I said it was ok to use my middle name (also my mom's) since I'm not going to have kids - it's only fair that she gets use of it.

Happy Blowing Things Up Day!

Was this really a three day weekend? It went by so fast. Friday Michael went to a co-worker's house for a picnic and I went to my parent's house. We did hot dogs/hamburgers, very low key. Later Michael and I were going to go to the Alamo Drafthouse cinema to see Sex and the City, but just as I was going to leave my mom's to get tickets, his friends Shelly & Bryan called me to invite us to dinner. They had a baby a few months ago so we don't see them that often. I really like them and get along with them. So, I called Michael and he agreed he'd rather see them than the movie. We all met up at Kerby Lane for dinner and had gelato (um!) afterwards. Shelly works at Parks and Wildlife and knows all the kayaking and hiking trails. The department actually 'rates' trails where they'll take kayaks down the path, take GPS coordinates the whole time, take pictures of flora/fauna in the area, and rate how deep the water is and if there's portage places. That's so cool that she gets paid to do that. Sometime they'll get a babysitter and we're all going to go kayaking. Ok...anyways,..... after dinner Michael and I went back to my parent's house. My mom's computer was acting up and wanted Michael to look at it. After he got done fixing it, the fireworks had started. Uh, yeah, that's something I'll never get used to. Out here fireworks are legal as long as you're not in the 'city' of Austin. My parent's house is considered 'county' as is mine, so fireworks are legal. Now, when I say fireworks, yes they have Roman Candles and sparklers, etc. But they also have the huge ass exploding fireworks that shoot way up in the air and explode in a huge burst. You know, the ones you see at professional events. Yeah, you can buy that kind out here! Crazy. One house to the left and two houses to the right were setting off fireworks in the street. So, we just all sat on my parent's front deck and enjoyed the show. The nice thing was that the fireworks were in the street, but we were up by the house so we didn't get into all the smoke/gas that gets discharged when the fireworks are set off. It was AWESOME.

Saturday Gil had a 'Thanksgiving in July'. He had a turkey in his freezer that he bought on sale and he wanted to get people together to eat it. He invited a bunch of no kidding folks, thinking a lot wouldn't be able to come due to the holiday weekend. Well, he had 19 people! We all brought food so there was plenty to go around. As usual I went a little overboard with cooking. I had wanted to do a pasta dish, homemade biscuits, and stuffed zucchini - all new recipes. I ended up making stuffed manicotti and stuffed shells. I also sauteed some yellow squash, onions, and zucchini in case people just wanted a simple veggie side dish. The manicotti were pretty good, but I think I need to fiddle with the recipe for the stuffed shells. I just gave up on doing the biscuits and stuffed zucchini. Well, I still have all the ingredients, so maybe I'll make them this week. We'll see.

Today Michael and I went shopping. We got the car rack and kayak holder for my car. Even though we're not buying kayaks yet, there's a place in town that rents a lot of different kayaks and Michael wants to try out some different ones. If we have the car rack we can go and rent them, and then drive to the water for the put in. I've basically found the one I want. http://www.wildernesssystems.com/tarpon-120

He wants to try the Tarpon 140 and a couple of sit-insides. After falling into the river last time, I've realized I definitly want a sit-on-top kayak. It's easier to get into from the water, and I won't feel 'trapped' if I fall in the water. I think I might want Orange. I've already decided I'm going to buy that Rustoleum spray paint for plastic and customize the paint job. We've joked about putting flames on it. That would be interesting. Anyways, we're slowly going to the inevitable of buying kayaks. Michael found out that the place in town he's renting from has a 'Demo Day' in September and the kayaks are on sale then. So, if they have the ones we want, we'll probably get them then. That's right around our 1 year Anniversay, so I joked about just buying kayaks as our gifts to each other instead of trying to find something special and most likely expensive. The kayaks are expensive enough - $750 or so. We also need to buy a mount system for my garage. We measured today and a 14 foot kayak will fit, but just barely. I know we'll be buying a kayak soon, I just don't want to pay full price. They never go on 'sale' so we have to wait for these special events. Hopefully we'll get ours in Sept in time for the weather to cool down. There are just so many rivers, lakes, and paddling trails around Austin - there's a lot of opportunity to kayak. I don't think we'd get tired of it. See how happy I am!

Keystone Kayakers

In my last post I said nothing was going on, well now there's stuff! A couple weeks ago Mike got a huge group together to go kayaking down the Colorado River. There's a little town called Webberville about 40 minutes from here and there's a place on the river that rents canoes and kayaks. Mike got 10 people together for the trip! Only four people had to rent kayaks and it was only $20 flat fee. I thought that was resonable. Michael and I brought our own paddles (which I LOVE) but the guy gave us the rest of the stuff. Anyways, the way it works when kayaking a river is that they drop the cars off at the bottom and then drive back up to the top to 'put in'. Then, we basically just drift with the current until we reach the 'take out' spot where the cars are. It's really not all that physically demanding - you just paddle to keep yourself straight and out of the TREES LINING THE RIVER. What? Keeping out of the way of the overhanging limbs? Surely you jest! Well kids, let me tell you a little story about the Keystone Kayakers. Everything was going fine in the first hour. We had all scattered a bit down the middle of the river but were still fairly close. There was a spot where the river turned a bit and the channel narrowed. All of a sudden, we hear that Lynn got knocked into the water by some overhanging branches - she hadn't noticed how close to the shore she had gotten. So, while we are all turned around watching to make sure she's ok, other people got swept into the trees by the current too. I hear Annette say that Michael's in the water too, so I paddled over to help. I grabbed his paddle so he could focus on the kayak and getting back in. The current was so swift, you had to grab everything quickly or else it would be downstream before you knew it. Then, maybe a minute after I grabbed Michael's paddle, Annette yells to me to look out. I turn around and there's a HUGE overhangling limb. Now, this isn't exactly white water rafting, so it's not like it was rushing at me. So, I saw it and thought 'oh no big deal, I'll just brace my arm against it and stop myself.' Well, yeah, that stopped ME, but it didn't stop my kayak which continued with the current. Yep, I fell in too. I was able to feel the bottom of the riverbed where I was, but the current was so strong, I couldn't stop and stand up. I was able to grab the two paddles and my kayak. Then Annette came over and grabbed the paddles from me so I could hold onto her kayak while she pulled me to the shore. I've never been swimming in current before, and I'm so glad I had my life jacket on. That really made a huge difference. By this point, I had no idea what was happening with everyone else. I was just trying to get out of the current and find a place on the shore shallow enough for me to get back into the kayak. Annette paddled me over, and one of the other guys who had already fallen in and gotten back into his kayak came over to help me get back into mine. At the end of the farce, we realized that 6 out of 10 had fallen in, and 1 (Mike) had jumped in to help the rest out. But, since no one was injured we could all laugh about it. The only items we lost was my water bottle and a small towel I had in my pocket. Everything else had been strapped to our kayaks. Fun times, fun times. I would so do it again!

You may be wondering why Michael and I bought paddles. Well, I'm not ready to plunk down $700 on a kayak, but I would spend $150 on $200 paddles that were on sale. The paddles at the rental places are heavy and don't have the guards to keep the water off your hands. I decided that crappy paddles were impacting my enjoyment of the outing, whereas a rental kayak wasn't a big deal. So, we bought the paddles and are enjoying it a lot more. The paddles are so light and the one I got fits my hands a lot better than the rentals. I'll probably buy a kayak next year, after I see how much I go this summer. But, I'll also have to buy a car rack/mounting system to transport them, so there's that cost too. Michael has it all figured out on what we need to buy....just don't want to do it yet.

Yes, yes, I'm still alive

I'm not even sorry I haven't posted! Not much going on, went kayaking, bought my own paddle, went kayaking again, we're going kayaking down the Colorado River tomorrow with 6 other friends, should be fun.

Movies:

Cloverfield - liked it, interesting premise and good camera work
The Kingdom - awesome movie, well balanced, good script, love Jennifer Garner
I am Legend - Will Smith can do anything. very well acted, but the ending was ok

Ok, that's it. Really, pretty boring.

I've been stimulated!

Damn, it's been almost a month since the last post. Time goes by so fast! Yes, there's a ton to post about, but I'm not in the mood. I got my $600 stimulus check direct deposit yesterday! Woo Hoo! Hmmm, what to spend it on. Oh, that's right, I ALREADY SPENT IT! That's right boys and girls, no fun toys for this cowgirl. Instead, I got a shiny new water heater! A couple weeks ago Michael and were going to go kayaking with Jane for the first time. That morning when I went to take a shower, the water was lukewarm. Luckily, the water heater hadn't leaked or exploded or anything. Just the pilot light was out. And, as I do whenever I have a house emergency, I called my mommy. She said not to try to light it myself, and if I didn't smell gas, it had probably automatically shut itself off. She called her handyman who installed their water heater and has done a ton of remodeling for them. He's very reliable. He came out on a Sunday evening and got a new water heater and installed it. So, with the water heater, supplies, and install, that was $638. Yup, there went the stimulus check. Well, they said you should buy local, right? I guess that qualifies.

Yes, kayaking was a blast, will post pictures soon.

Finally had dinner with Melanie after 8 months of not seeing her. Her baby that was a premie is now 13 months and doing great. He's off all his oxygen and other stuff. It was great having dinner with her again. I missed her. Everyone tries to say that nothing will change after you have a baby, but those of us without kids know that EVERYTHING changes. In fact, Annette and Mike are pregnant now, and it'll be interesting to see how often we hang out after the baby is born. I joked that between me, Gil, Jeff, and Judy, we could always have team babysitting if they need a night out to themselves. I figured between the four of us, we could figure out how to care for an infant. I'm helping them paint the nursery (quite involved with murals and whatnot). Pictures will be posted when I'm done.

Well, what do you know, I AM in the mood to post. Well fine then, here are kayaking pictures of us on Town Lake! This is the first time Michael and I have ever kayaked and it was damn fun. I didn't feel like I'd fall in - the kayak was very sturdy. We rented them from a place right on the lake, and Jane brought one of her smaller ones (she has 4). She gave us some tips on how to paddle, but it took me a long time to get my angle right cause my hand kept hitting the side of the kayak. I couldn't go down too steeply cause my arms are short. So, I had to keep the paddles a little wider. We were out for 2 hours, and by the last half hour we all had a good rhythm going. Jane went slow since we were beginners. At one point I told her to do her usual paddling, and she just smoked us! The day was really overcast and not that hot. We would've stayed out longer, but a breeze started and my legs were getting cold. We really want to go again, just need to find time.

Michael and I went out to Fogo de Chao (http://www.fogodechao.com/) which is a Brazilian steakhouse where the waiters walk around with different types of meat on big skewers and they cut off pieces at your table. We also went with his friend Scott, and he and I had never been before. It was fun, but kinda expensive since it was all-you-can-eat. The meat was good, though. Scott took this picture of Michael and I. It's really grainy cause the flash wasn't on, and I haven't figured out all the settings yet. But, I thought we looked cute.

a little more

I feel bad that the last few posts have just been about what’s going on. I haven’t really done a ‘perspective/my thoughts’ post in awhile. So, here you go.

I have been thinking about relationships a lot lately. Several of my friends have stepped up the search for a mate and I have been closely involved in the adventure.

Quite honestly, I still can’t believe I met Michael so quickly through Match and that we’re getting on so well. I thought it was going to take months and months to meet some guys decent enough to consider dating. The funny thing is that he thought he’d cancelled his membership, but instead it was on a monthly renewal. I guess that’s fate?

I have thoroughly thought through whether I’m with him just to be with someone or if I’m with him because I want to be with HIM. I’ve really debated this. As I have not been in many relationships, I wasn’t sure what my expectations (requirements) were, and I didn’t want to be with someone for the wrong reasons. I’ve learned a lot about myself in these past few months - what I need, what I won’t put up with, etc. And looking back before meeting Michael, I honestly liked being by myself. I didn’t mind doing things on my own and as I had several close friends, there was always someone around to go out with. I have never been the person that NEEDED a boyfriend, and I am so thankful for that. You have to be comfortable with yourself first before you can be comfortable with another person. Anyways, as much as I’ve thought it through, I am happy with Michael and I am happy in this relationship. He makes me laugh, he makes me feel good about myself, he supports and helps me, and I feel very comfortable with him. So, I’ve decided, yes, I’m really in this relationship. Is he my one true love? No. Am I expecting to ever find my one true love? No. I don’t think that’s cynicism, I just think it’s reality that it’s hard to find the PERFECT person out there. Michael is somewhat close to perfect, but his flaws are what make things interesting. If he acted exactly as I want him to or said exactly what I want him to say, that would be boring. He’s an individual and learning who he is and enjoying the adventure is what a relationship is. Right?