Halloween

This was the first of what I hope is many Halloweens with the man.  He loves the holiday.  I am sort of ambivalent about it.  For instance, I would rather light myself on fire than put on a costume, he thinks of something to dress up as every year to hand out candy.  I use candy for decoration (OK, I am eating some of the candy corn now...) he stockpiles it because he loves to eat it.  I am happy with a few pumpkins and a Halloween tree, he has a plethora of Halloween decorations and relishes putting them all out.  He picks out pumpkins to carve, I pick up cans of pumpkin to cook with.  You get the point.

While these differences seem like they are vast, I think that they balance us.  While I doubt that I will ever be convinced to dress up, and he will be able to see pumpkins as a food source, we can certainly meet in the middle.  That is the great thing about this relationship.  We are able to compromise. 

In the meantime, he is picking out the perfect Christmas cookie recipe, and I am looking for the perfect pair of boots...

Working for the Weekend

This weekend was another great one.  The man and I are set to begin our new $10 date month the day after tomorrow.  We decided to practice in New Glaryus on Saturday.  We came close.  There was a $3.50 beer tasting, a trip to the cheese store (don't laugh, I LOVE cheese) and all the beautiful scenery we could handle.

This week is now officially my third week of getting up at 5:00 am.  Technically, this should be the last week before it is a habit.  While I am kind of sad, I am excited, as I have discovered that I like getting home earlier.  I just have to get a handle on bedtime being at 10:30.

Have a great week everyone!

Everyday is a Winding Road

Tonight was girls night.  We were all a little off.  One of the besties had both of her children with her (who seemed to be a little off themselves) and had to leave early, as bedtime was fast approaching and naptime did not last as long as originally intended.  The other bestie has had some troubles at her office, and is feeling overwhelmed.  I myself am still adjusting to my new schedule and have forgotten to take my vitamin D supplements for a couple of days hence, I was exhausted as well.

The truly great thing about Girls night is that no matter what happens or doesn't happen we are still together.  We help each other and we understand each other.  I think that that in and of itself is more comforting than two sleeping children, acknowledgement of a job well done or three days worth of sleeping in.  I am glad that even after all of these years, and life changes that we are able to take the time each Thursday to be together, even when things are tough.  I am lucky to have these two wonderful women in my life.

Can't buy me love

After all of these vacations the past month, a few new pairs of shoes, a COBRA payment and just life, this girl is a little cash poor.  It turns out the man is stretched a little bit too lately.  We have collectively come up with a new plan for November.  We are only going to go on dates that cost $10 or less total.  Meaning TOTAL.  No date shall cost more than $10.00 USD. 

This joint venture is going to take a fair amount of creativity and some good old fashioned home cooking, but I believe that we are up for the challenge.  Who knows.  Maybe this will end up being so fun that we will do it a little more often.  At any rate it will be interesting and a bit creative.  Life for us is about to change...

Here are some ideas that we have come up with so far:

1) Dinner and a movie.  We go to the grocery store with $10 and pick out wine, food and a redbox movie
2) City Pass from the Library (more research is needed on this one, as I am not sure if his library offers this as mine does not)
3) Day trip to starved rock
4) Day trip to Lincoln Park Zoo
5) Book Night
6) Game Night
7) Library movie and Pizza

I am sure we will find more, but this seems to be a good start.  And if all else fails we already know that we have fun no matter what we do.  That in and of itself is worth more than any theater tickets or bottle of wine.

Shake Some Action

Tonight was another PartyLite training.  I love how motivated I feel after I leave there.  Now, I just need to put these ideas into practice.  I did make the most delightful discovery on my phone though.  I have a memo pad as an app.  I simply put things that I need to accomplish this week for each of my five passions on the phone.  While I do write these things on post its in my planner for the week, this is with me all of the time.  I can erase as I get things done and then move on. 

Speaking of my top five passions (which I got from taking The Passion Test), I recently reviewed my Passion Test and revamped my top five.  I even went one step further than last time and made the recommended "Passion Sheets" detailing the benchmarks to know when I have hit each passion.  It is recommended to retake the test every 6 months, and frankly, I was surprised by what came up for me to concentrate on for the next six months.  I do believe that these new passions of mine were a direct result of being in a miserable work environment that I was eager to escape.   So for the next five months and change I will concentrate on being balanced, surrounded by love, a successful blogger, (so if you read this tell your friends!), enjoying my ideal relationship (the man is thrilled to be able to help with this one) and laughing the whole time.  While I know for a fact that this system works (I accomplished most of the previous five passions in about six months) I am eager to see how these passions play out.  Many times, things don't look exactly how I imagined them to be when I wrote the Passions, but they are accomplished just the same.  I will keep you posted!

Working at the Carwash

The man has been busy.  While I was on vacation this weekend, he detailed and waxed my car.  He got me a new plant (which we will call Phil), he picked me up from the airport, and fed me dinner tonight.  He has done all of this and more for me.  I appreciate all of this, but sometimes, I have to admit that it freaks me out a little bit.

I now completely understand the Sex and the City episode where Carrie's computer crashes and she has a hard time letting Aidan help her.  Like Carrie, I am worried that I will get used to having all of this help and become dependent on it.  What is a girl to do if her boyfriend who loves the clean car and is willing to do all of the work to get it clean and keep it that way is no longer around to do these things? While it would be easy to motor on over to Turtle Wax, I think that the psychological damage would be greater.  I worry about my independence atrophying.  I like taking care of myself, and I am working hard on letting the man help in this endeavor, but it is hard to let go of some of these things.  Is independence like a foreign language, if you don't use it, you lose it?  Or is this another sign that this relationship is different than any other I have been in. 

I know that this relationship is truly a partnership.  The man and I are a team.  I just have to let go and throw him the ball.  And keep my car clean...

We are Family!!

Every year, the women in my family all get together in a different city to relax and catch up.  This year we decided to meet up in our nation's capital to do a little Civil War history.  We went to Gettysburg, and today we did part of the John Wilkes Booth Escape route.  We have learned about Robert Lee's bold attempt to break the Union lines at Gettysburg (this was not the best strategy he could have employed). We spent time in Ford's Theater, the Peterson house, the Surratt boarding house (which interestingly enough is now a Wok and Roll restaurant with a plaque outside), the Surratt Taven and the Mudd House.  We met and took a picture of an actual descendant of Dr. Mudd.

Part of the adventure is the laughter and companionship, there is never a dull moment.  The other part is the interesting things that we see.  While I do hold out hope that we will someday continue our Ghost walk trip, these ladies have helped shape me into the woman I am today.  Even as I write this, we are laughing about Disco music and the Abraham Lincoln activity books that we have now to commemorate this trip.

So far we have been to Washington D.C (twice), Savannah, Providence, Springfield IL, Las Vegas, Philadephia.  We have made some great memories and we laugh all of the time.  I cannot wait to see what will happen next.