Walking With Nora

Wow, so in addition to my request to have a four-day work week and three day weekend, I’d also like to request more hours in the day. 24 just isn’t enough. Not for work, for sleep, for gym, friends, etc. Lately it’s most especially not enough time for work.

Thanks to those of you who still have me on your reader and have put up with my absence as of late.

Here’s the lowdown on everything Nora…

* The Car. Fortunately the man who hit me did leave a note, did leave his information and did assume liability for the accident. I realize I am lucky in many ways with regards to the happenstance: no one was hurt, I knew who did it and etc. It just sucked, for lack of a better term. My car is in the shop and I should get it back within five to seven business days and I do have a rental car in the interim.

* The Killers. The band, not people with guns. They are coming to the StL on May 4th and I have tickets. Bought ‘em for TDH and myself, as part of an early one year celebration. Unless anything changes between now and then, it will be our first concert together. The show is at one of the cooler venues here, we have orchestra seats that are on the aisle. (Double bonus if you ask me.)

* February. The month is already looking better than January and nothing has even happened yet. Work trip, TDH has a surprise planned, reverse Valentine’s Day and the promise of much, much more.

* Dallas, TX. The gods have heard me. My office is sending me on a three-day trip to a place with weather that is about 20 degrees warmer than the crud here in StL.  Not sure if I will get to see much of what Dallas has to offer, but the few moments outside of a conference room that I get to spend in warmer weather, I will be a happy, happy woman.

* Reading. I’ve currently have my nose stuck in “Intervew with a Vampire,” by Anne Rice. (Fun fact, though perhaps not little known, Ms. Rice has also written adult erotica and Christian-faith based books as well. I find this fascinating though I doubt I’ll check out her other genres.) I would like to shake the vampire book kick I’m on but they are just so good it’s nearly impossible to walk away from them. I will be reading “Brideshead Revisited,” after this, just for a break.

* Everything else. I hate to say it but I’m not the most exciting 25-year old as of late. Work, as it does most people, has been fast, furious and consuming my waking hours from 7am when I wake up when I start to make lists about what needs to be done, up until 6pm when I’m on my way to the gym and can shake free the work thoughts. The gym is my sanctuary. Love the challenges, love the way I feel after I’m done. TDH and I are splendid as usual. The topic of moving in together has come up again; our lives continually intertwine and weave together making it seem like it rather silly that we don’t live together. I still have my blasted lease and do, of course, enjoy my apartment, my alone nights so for the time being, things will remain as-is. We are planning a few trips throughout the year; nothing extravagant (yet) but fun: Memphis. Boston. Perhaps Canada again. Maybe even Northern California. I’m feeling rather domestic lately, and am planning a massive bakefest: cookies, brownies, cupcakes. Won’t be too good for my diet but hey, I have a sweet tooth and I’m gonna feed it!

Alright, you know I’m not normally much of a debbie-downer on my blog but I’ve had enough!

Apparently I pissed off January 2009 in a major way…

* Respiratory flu which put me out of commission for four days
* Insane amounts of work stress
* Stomach flu, just two days after recovering from stupid Respiratory flu
* Trip to the dentist, where they inform me I have to remove all four of my wisdom teeth
* Car attack! The STL received ice, snow, ice and then more snow all in a 24-hour time period, something most people in STL aren’t used to. In nursing TDH through his stomach flu last night, I stayed chez TDH, had a snow day from work, and discovered this afternoon that someone had generously smashed into the back of my car in TDH’s condominum parking lot. Bumper is gone. Tailights are in a crumpled mess on the ground. Trunk is dented and lifted. Car slid at least four feet on impact. Car is not legally driveable. I am thankful I wasn’t in my car, but it was definitely not a fun discovery after being up all night with my own stomach flu. I get to spend the next few days dealing with insurance companies, estimates, body shops and either renting a car or finding myself without transportation.

My conclusion? Sometimes I don’t like being an adult. Days like this I’m so thankful for Jack, TDH and my supportive family. And on days like this, I wish I could be a young kid again, back at my parents house, relishing in the fact that I have a few snow days to be totally lazy, instead of feeling overwhelmed, unsettled and icky.

Just the other day I noticed that I hadn’t been really, really sick since I met TDH. Sure, I have had some sniffles or a stomach flu day or two, but nothing like what I’m going through right now…

I took care of TDH during his flu-days for the last week which I really was more than happy to do. (A part of me still feels the need to audition for the role of his girlfriend so I will go above and beyond on more than one occasion.) Apparently I love the boy too much because I landed his darn sickness.

The fever, sniffles, sore throat, need to sleep 18 of 24 hours a day and have a tissue at my disposal at all times came fast and furious on me Wednesday evening.

The most annoying part of this is that I was just at my doctor on Tuesday for  my annual physical and at which time she said I have the virus that all of StL has. Argh.

So, for the last two days I have…
- Slept
- Watched seasons 5 and 6 of Friends
- Drank an entire half gallon of orange juice and V8 Splash
- Consumed six pieces of toast
- Lost three pounds
- Only read two pages of my book (it hurts to read)
- Played on twitter, FaceBook and Gmail
- Contemplated going to the gym, just because I’m crazy and am craving my normal life
- Answered over 150 work emails from home (that place can’t survive without me. super annoying.)
- Slept some more|
- Had broccoli cheddar soup, twice
- Made promises to myself about how much more careful I will be to wash my hands after each new client I meet, how I’ll eat more vegetables and drink more juice, and how I’ll hit the gym with renewed vigor as soon as I can. (It always happens I’m doing so well at the gym and then, bam!, sickness! and I have to get back into it.)

I’m bored. I’m tired of resting. But the good news is: I have my DVD player and couch all to myself (TDH has a late night at the office for a server install) so I’ll take advantage of it and make it a faux, mini girls night.

If there is one doctor I dislike the most out of all the doctors we ladies have to go to, it’s amazingly enough The Dentist. Not the OB/GYN. Not the radiologists who have to smash our boobs for x-rays. Not the dermatologist. Not the people who take your blood for the yearly check-up. Most people find these doctors uncomfortable, awkward and downright strange, but for me, it’s The Dentist.

I admit I went over a year without going to The Dentist. Forutnatley none of my teeth are rotten or yellow and gross, and I don’t have any new cavities but even so, it’s just so uncomfortable. The reasons I detest The Dentist:

* Your hands taste and smell like rubber gloves for hours after no matter how many times you brush your teeth, use mouthwash or (gasp!) chew gum.
* The polish they use on your teeth is gritty and sure, they can rinse and rinse and rinse with their little water picks but there is still grit in your mouth when you leave.
* You can floss each hour, on the hour, for a whole year, and they still tell you that you need to floss more.
* The dental hygenist, while trying to be sweet and personable, talks the whole time: about her husband snoring and needing to lose weight, how her neighbor’s house got struck by lightning, free make-up lawsuits. I will admit it relaxed me a bit, but how am I supposed to answer you when your hands are in my mouth?!?!
* You’re stuck in the chair for an hour and while they have a TV in the cleaning room, it’s not functioning. It only displays the pictures of your teeth the hygenist took for the Dentist to see.
*It costs an insane amount to see the dentist and you only get a toothbrush in return.
* And my latest reason for detesting The Dentist: they informed me I need to have all four of my wisdom teeth removed which is totally not cool.

Dentist: 7
Nora: 0

I still struggle with the disclosure aspect of my personal life with TDH on my blog. I don’t talk physical, disagreements, and those super personal, intimate moments regardless of their nature.

Over the holiday I went through my blog archives and realized that I never even wrote about my first date with TDH except for one small bullet point in a random post back in June.

So for posterity, here are the three things TDH and I bonded over immediately:

• A mutual disdain for Valentine’s Day. I wear black each year, regardless of if I’m single or attached. We have created our own tradition which we are calling “Reverse Valentine’s Day,” this year. No romantic presents. No red, pink or orange clothing. We are going bowling, drinking cheap bowling alley beer and then going to see Friday the 13th. It doesn’t get much more less romantic than that.
• RAIN. We both love the rain. I don’t care if it rains 200 days a year, I’m a happy girl. We’ve had some of our best dates on nights when it’s raining.
• Street Lights. It seems that we both put out street lights; I have googled this and it’s a phenomenon that does indeed exist. Scientists say some people emit more electrical waves than others resulting in stopping clocks, watches, turning street lights off/on and other random electrical unexplicables.

Writing about our first date doesn’t do it justice; I can’t describe how perfect the weather was, or how smitten I was with his facial hair and his laugh. I can’t explain the jitters I felt before he arrived to pick me up or the sensation of hope and excitement I felt when he hugged me.

He brought me a bouquet of flowers on our first date and made me promise not to eat them which he said since he knows I’m terribly allergic to pollen.

We spent the next five hours talking. Too nervous to eat, I found myself a tad tipsy off the Blue Moons I ordered. We strolled one of my favorite parts of town, window shopping and then moved on to dessert (ice cream, not each other).

He hugged me three times before he left. Two hours later, via text, he asked me out again.

And we all know how the story goes from there.

Last week in my “You Ask, I tell, Part Deux,” I talked about Italy as being the one place in the world I really want to visit. This is entirely true, it is most certainly at the top of my list, but after I thought about it, there are several other places I must go in my lifetime:

1. Prince Edward Island, Canada.
I think my fascination with this town started when I read Anne of Green Gables sometime in my late elementary years. There is really no other reason for my desire to go here other than what I know about it from the book, what I have seen in movies, travel shows and pictures. It would be like a fairy tale for me to visit this place since I’ve dreamed about it since my childhood. My parents can attest to this.

2. Alaska.
No place in particular in Alaska, I just wish to experience the scenery, the animals, the weather, the people. I know that television shows don’t mean much when it comes to real-life, but if Northern Exposure does Alaska any sort of justice, I will be quite happy. I’ve had dreams of running off to Alaska, finding a random job, and just being: reading, writing, enjoying new culture and a different way of life. I have rethought the moving idea considering I can’t handle below zero temperatures, I don’t think I would fare so well in Alaska. So, I’m thinking maybe a cruise or perhaps a few week retreat in a bed/breakfast or lodge type setting.

3. Paris, France.
Cliched, perhaps, but after taking French starting my 6th grade year up until my junior year in college, I simply must see the city. The people. The cheese. I want to take a train through the country side. I want to eat in several sidewalk cafes. I want to listen to people speaking French and understand maybe a whole 70% of what they are saying. I want a picture of me standing underneath the Eiffel Tower. I want to try tons of French wine and learn about the process while I tour their wine country.

4. New York City.
Oh, I’ve been before. In fact, as a young girl, I lived there. I’ve trekked back several times since my dad’s family hails from there. I haven’t been since 2002, just a year after 9/11. I want to travel there with TDH to experience the city as a couple, as an adult, as someone who can drink in the bars and stay out late. I would like to go to New Year’s Eve there at least once in my life. I’d love to attend a Broadway play. I’d like to buy more Bloomingdale’s underwear. I’d like to take the ferry across Staten Island again. I’d love to browse in old book stores, people watch and soak up the city, the sights, the sounds. I feel very, very alive each time I go to that city. I’d also love to take a girls’ trip to NYC for the quintessential trip: shopping, dancing, drinks, clubs, and an excessive amount of photographs.

5. The Pacific Northwest.
Seattle. Portland. Northern California.
I hear excellent things about the people, the air, the scenery, the foliage, the culture.
I’ve spent a fair amount on the East Coast (NY, NJ, NC, FL) but not much time on the West.

6. The Northeastern United States.
I’ve been to very few of them and would very much like to visit Vermont, Connecticut, Maine.
I want to rent a cabin on lakes.
Hike in forests and national parks.
Take an exceptional amount of pictures.
Learn how to be quiet by enjoying smaller towns and coastal life.

The Scene:

TDH and myself.
Several books for us to read.
A cute coffee shop complete with light dinner fare (think paninis and sandwiches, salads and soups), yummy smelling coffee, great artwork, a fireplace and comfortable couches.

The Act:

We order paninis and drinks knowing we’ll get a hot chocolate and coffee respectively and find a cozy booth in which we’ll enjoy our dinner.

TDH realizes that he’s not getting “banana chips” with his dinner like he thought due to poor wordering on the baristas behalf so he goes to switch it to pita chips.

I settle into my booth seat, taking off my coat, not paying attention to my very full Sierra Mist/Pink Lemonade combination on the table. At some point during my disrobing, I knock the ENTIRE cup over onto the table, which immediately overflows and then spills onto my pants.

I have on light green pants so they are now covered with sticky soda, front and back, making it look I’ve suffered a moment of peeing my pants.

TDH comes back to me dripping wet with soda, laughing and in shock.

It took over 100 napkins to wipe up the table which we quickly abandoned in favor of another booth.

An entire family of six saw the accident yet they didn’t laugh or say anything. A more alternative couple stopped mid-sentence when they heard the crash of ice cubes and liquid hit the table, my pants, the booth seat and the floor.

Me? Totally embarassed.
TDH? Quite amused.

We enjoyed our dinner while I plastered napkins to my pants to work on soaking up the extra soda. I tried drying my pants using the hand dryer in the bathroom but the location of the hand dryer made it look like I was doing inappropriate things to the wall, so I threw my coat back on and endured the wetness.

Two and a half hours later after sitting by the fireplace, observing a few very awkward first dates, sipping a hot chocolate, finishing one book and starting another, my pants were dry.

I can be such a klutz and usually at the worst possible moments.

What’s one of your memorable date faux pas?

(not to be confused with the popular MTV Show).

A random list, in no particular order, of things I have yet to divulge to many, if any people in my “real life”, with no real reason as to why/how:

* I have a thing for Tyler Perry movies.
I don’t care what kind of reviews his movies receive, I watch them. My favorites to date are “Why Did I get Married?” “Daddy’s Little Girls,” and ” Meet the Browns.”

* I have seen each Sex and the City episode at least ten times.
I also own the coffee table book about the TV show, the soundtrack that maps to the TV show (not the movie) which I purchased off of eBay in 2004, the game, the movie and now one of the movie soundtracks.

* Up until a year ago, when one of my friends would tell me they were engaged I would secretly play “Another One Bites the Dust” in my head.

* My nights alone when I can’t sleep I have a habit…
I make either nachos, in the microwave, or toast, sit Indian-style at the end of my bed, and watch an episode of Sex and the City.

* I do not always pick up Jack’s outside “business,” if it’s late at night, snowing, raining, or if it took place in a pile of leaves.

* I despised eggs and spinach, together or separate, up until about three years ago. Ditto red wine.

* I can’t stand to watch American Idol. The judges ruin it for me.

* I have never seen the “Titanic.”

* I saw Backstreet Boys in concert in 2001 and I would have seen New Kids on the Block a few months ago if my friend hadn’t bailed on me.

* I have seriously contemplated getting breast implants twice.

* I want a tattoo but fear the permanence too much to take the plunge.

* In my entire life, I’ve only tried coffee twice. I’ve spit it back out both those times. I feel like an odd twenty-something for not joining the coffee/latte/iced coffee/chai bandwagon. I order hot chocolate at coffee shops.

* In Las Vegas last February I purchased a lap dance at the male strip club we went to. I took a shot, chugged a beer and had a cigarette before I was ready for it. I laughed the whole time.

What do you wish to confess today?

It occurs to me that just last Monday I wrote a similar post explaining my lack of blogging as of late. I no longer have time to write posts in advance and have them auto-publish. It is really quite sad this lack of time is squashing my dreams of ever becoming really awesome at this blogging thing, much less ever earning an award for it!

The list:

* Jack. For some reason he loves lots of walks in the cold weather. We are taking at least two more per day than usual. Not short ones, either. The meandering, sniffing, scrounging, scavenging kind of walks.

* The cold weather. I know it’s not as cold here in StL as it is in many parts of the world, but my gloves don’t hold up very well to below-zero temps and as a result my hands take about 20 minutes to thaw. Typing is not desirable after the defrosting of my fingers.

* Laundry. It seems every day I turn around I have a new load of laundry to do. The culprit? My exercise regime. I create more dirty clothes than ever before.

* Sick. TDH is crazy sick and I get to play Nurse. No, no, I certainly don’t mind, but I’d rather not write my posts on his very public, visible computer at his house. Must remember to bring laptop when I stay with him. (And yes, I know it’s silly since he reads this blog, but there is something about him reading it after I’ve posted it, which I prefer.)

* Netflix. In the cold weather, post-gym, I prefer to cook a yummy dinner and cuddle up on the couch alone, with Jack or TDH, evening depending, with a big blanket and a movie. While the thoughts of blog topics swirl around in my head, I lay on the couch in a slightly comatose state. You should try it. It’s good winter weather practice.

* Dates. TDH and I have been on real dates in the last few weeks. You know, dinner and a movie, or drinks and reading in a cafe kind of dates. I’m not home at these points to be close to a computer and blog.

* Reading. I’ve been reading and commenting on blogs (fairly regularly, I think) and reading books/magazines/newspapers a lot more this year than usual. I’m currently hooked on “Interview With a Vampire,” and yes, I realize I need to take a break from vampire novels soon. Darn Twilight and it’s hold it still has on me!

* Gym. Sleep. These two are not new. Just intensified as of late.

Please rest assured I have many posts in draft stage, mostly in my brain, and soon enough on paper and maybe, if I’m lucky, on here.

My apologies for the lack of creativity/funny/inspiring/insightful posts. I suppose I need to get my blog ryhthm back…

(TDH Tidbit will be a new feature on Thursdays. So I don’t bore my lovely readers with my relationship oohs! and aahs! every other day of  the week, I’ll give you a few highlights from the previous week on Thursdays. So, you’ve been warned. The bitter, cynical and anti-relationship people can prepare to throw-up and gag if they proceed to read. The rest of you, enjoy!)

For those of you who follow me on Twitter will know that TDH bought and baited me with a “Surprise that would enhance cuddles.” My brain went into overdrive attempting to decipher the cryptic message. Ideas I had: a huge sweatshirt since I steal his on a regular basis, a super warm blanket or big throw pillows for my couch since he thinks the ones I have are to small. Ideas from friends on Twitter: engagement ring, heated blanket and a movie set.

The actual surprise was a flat screen 23″ in HDTV for him to put in his bedroom. Due to the fauxhabitation that takes place occasionally I’m at his house, without most of my stuff, attempting to fall asleep alone. Nights alone at my house consist of me falling asleep with the TV on, tuned to Gilmore Girls, Friends, or Northern Exposure. I like quiet when I’m fast asleep but to get there I need some noise. And so, TDH bought me a TV for his room. Complete with cable and DVD player. I know he secretly likes it since it will allow us to be lazier in bed on some days not to mention if he’s ever home sick, he can lay in his bed and veg out.

It may not come across super romantic but the fact that he observed my behavior, processed, thought about it and acted to make me more comfortable in his house is more than I could ask for!

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Blackberry Messenger Conversation # 1,532

Nora: Do you realize that next Friday it will be 7 months of us dating!?
TDH: No way!
Nora: Yes! It feels longer, but it’s true. What do you say to another 7 months?
TDH: Only 7? I want all of them!
Nora: Even when I’m old and gray?
TDH: Even those.
Nora: What about if I get fat and pregnant?
TDH: Those too.

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Update on the Gym/Video Game Pact: It’s going well. Better than expected. TDH sends me messages saying he wants to go to the gym and he’s managed to hook me on arcade games. (Dork Factor: I “beat” one last night. Now I’m on to the mastery challenges.)

At the gym TDH lets me show him exercises and push him; in turn he works hard and supports my workout time, even respects it. He doesn’t rush me out the door. Occasionally I’ll look up and he’ll wink at me or make a funny face to keep me smiling throughout my workouts.

In the video game realm he’s easing me into it and is thankfully very patient. He has caught a glimpse of my competitiveness which I warned him of… there is a reason I don’t play a lot of games in public, with friends or family.

The seemingly little pacts has strengthened our relationship in a big, big way.

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