Must Love Dogs

               So after all that hype I guess you’re probably wondering how it went.  You know, the meeting of the family.  Or not.  Whatev.  The answer is – we’re still dating.  So I guess there’s your answer.  Of course two days after we got back he needed me to babysit his dog for four whole days, by myself, which is way more than 1.5 days with my family, so that could be why.  We made it to Boston without a hitch.  Made it to NH after a minor detour that resulted in me being super anxious and therefore being allowed to listen to country music for the rest of the drive.  He’s a wise man. 

                He got a preview of the extended fam Friday night – promised not to remember anyone’s, which he did not.  Promised my Gram he’d compliment her on her hair-do for the wedding, which he did.  He’s good like that. 

                Met the kids in the church – I pointed to the row of people that all look like me.  They all turned around to stare at him before the wedding started.  The ceremony was beautiful – I could not be happier for the two of them.  I forgot to bring the tissues from my gift bag the bride left for her out of town guests.  That was a mistake.  What? I’m a crier.  Boyfriend rolls his eyes and laughs at me.  We had a way fun time at the reception – I’m not a dancer but my little sisters were breaking. it. down.  We did get in one slow dance in the beginning.  He promised not to make me dizzy – proving that sometimes he hears what I tell him. (Noted.)

                Anyway.  He still loves me.  And I still love him.  And he went to Vegas to visit his family and left me with his dog, who I do not love, for four days, and I fed him when I was supposed to, so he was still alive when Boyfriend got home, so I say all’s well that ends well?  He was all ‘you two bonded while I was gone didn’t you.’  Well if you call sitting in the computer room with the door closed while I got super awesome at my timed mahjong game for like six hours straight so he couldn’t come in and ruin my life with his vomit inducing farts again bonding, then yes, we did that.

I'm so good at this game. You don't even know.

                The good news is, next time he goes to Vegas to visit his family I’m going with him. (!!)  Which means – I will finally journey west of the Mississippi River.  It also means that he has to love me at least until October because we already booked our flights. 

                In other news Half-marathon training starts today. T-minus 12 weeks.  Also True Blood came back into my life last night.  I think that’s everything.  Happy Monday people.

The Walking City

Apparently Boston is called “The Walking City.”  I just learned this.  I should have Googled before I flew there because I totally did not bring the necessary footwear to participate in this weekend’s activities.  Actually I probably should have bought those weird get in shape by walking around sneakers that everyone makes now because I’m pretty sure my butt would look awesome.  But – I didn’t know.  And in my first attempt ever to pack light – I only brought four – yes four – pairs of shoes for my weekend.  Two of which, thankfully were flats.  Actually I probably did bring the appropriate footwear we just decided to walk further than we should have making even the flat shoes – since neither pair were sneakers – less than ideal.

Sister and I got up Saturday morning to head to my cousin’s surprise Bridal Shower.  She was determined to not move her car from where she had finally parked it the night before and Google maps on the BB said it was a twenty-three minute walk.  So we decided to go for it.  Me in heels.  Her in heels.  Me with flats in my giant purse slash school bag.  Her carrying a giant red bag of gifts that we obviously forgot to buy a card for – for the second time in so many showers.  But she did stick some ribbons on that were slightly damaged because my niece had spent some time with them in her mouth.  And we may or may not have dropped the whole thing trying to ‘wrap’ it on the street.  But since we bought cookie sheets and a giant cupcake cake pan – no harm, no foul.  (Sorry Meghan.)

Well after about two blocks uphill I realized my shoes had to go – or we would never make it.  We also realized that Google maps had lied to us and this twenty-three minute walk was a bit of a miscalculation.  But – we couldn’t go back now.  We walked about forty-five minutes, made it to the restaurant sweating and exhausted about ten minutes before my cousin got there.  One Blood Mary, a slice of cake and a couple hours later – we were offered a ride back to where we were staying.  Gratefully we accepted.

Well the next event started sooner than we expected so we just had time to change our outfits and start walking again.  This time – confident of the BB’s GPS calculation of one mile.  Well after a slight detour to find coffee we arrived at our destination.  Upon arrival – and some mild jealousy of the caffeine we were consuming we left again to retrace our steps and acquire one more cup of coffee. 

Later that evening after all the festivities were over – it was time for Sister and I to walk that one mile back to where we were sleeping.  This time both of us were still in heels.  And it may or may not have been approaching 2am.  We got within two blocks of the house and Sister threw in the towel, hailed a cab which drove us the one and a half blocks to the door.  A wise $3 dollar investment all things considered.  And no, we did not remember to look up and find the super moon during our trip home. 

The next day before my flight out I had to avoid the parade to find a cab.  Which apparently the parade is some kind of big deal in South Boston.  And I definitely don’t get it – I mean why would I want to stand in the freezing coldness to watch some grown men drive around in lawn mowers they’ve converted into tiny Mack trucks? And I don’t like loud noises (especially post bachelorette party – more on that later), so the sirens and the horns were just miserable.  And then on top of all that people are throwing candy at me.  I don’t want candy that got thrown on the ground.  And I don’t want candy to hit me in the face either. Anyway.  Parades are dumb.  That’s all I know. 

  And in an effort to leave the city I had to walk some more -carrying my bag - to find a cab.  When I finally found one – he told me he can’t go to Logan airport and made me get out.  Awesome.

The next cab driver was a kinder – more chatty man.  Which I can assure you I was in no condition to chat.  But he insisted on telling me that he drives Derek Jeter and other celebrities around all week long and never once has requested a “signature.” Ok.  And then he almost killed us and he must have seen my face because he then proceeded to attempt to reassure me that he was a good driver and that him driving faster saves me money because of the meter.  Ok.  But saving money means nothing if you drive me into a truck or a lamp post or the ocean. 

While in the cab the radio told me that Boston was called “The Walking City.”  And I’m just telling you - so you can remember that - the next time you think it’s a good idea to carry on a bag for the first time in your life and not pack enough shoe options.  Which, the carrying on thing totally didn’t work out for me because I rode one of those smaller US Airways planes and they ‘gate check’ your bag anyway and I had to wait just as long for it when I got there. Anyway - super fun weekend in Boston.  And many congrats to the beautiful Bride-to-Be.