Cooking For One

My last post touched on the fact that Chris left for the oyster aquaculture program. What I haven't yet mentioned is just how hard it is for me to be away from him so much of the time. I assume most couples have this hard of a time when spending this much time apart. But, I guess I thought I'd be able to handle it better than I have. Of course I knew I'd miss Chris. But man, it's been so hard. Even before we lived together, we pretty much saw each other every single day.

And, well, he's just my best friend (and fiance... woot woot!), and I tell him everything. And it's hard to have mostly phone contact with the person you love to embrace on a daily basis. AND, I'm a crazy-emotional female who cries when she is feeling... well, pretty much anything. So, needless to say, I've been crying buckets these days.

But, Chris is enjoying the new job and doing well at it. He's got a river view from his abode, and his days seem to incorporate a split of manual labor and lab work. And I'm just proud. He's growing oysters, which are not only one of the best-tasting foods ever, but which also filter 20-30 gallons of water per day (EACH oyster does that!). He's helping to keep the Chesapeake Bay clean!

Anyways, now I'm going to switch gears from sappy to silly.

One of the things that's been hard to adjust to with Chris gone is cooking. That is, cooking for only one person. Part of the problem is that everything at the store seems packaged for a family of four. Even the produce is that way! If I want some avocado with dinner, I have to cut one open. I can't eat a whole one, but if I don't, the rest goes bad. If I buy the variety of veggies and fruits that I want to keep in the house, I either have to go to the grocery store every day and buy small amounts of things, or I have to buy them all at once and gorge myself ont them to keep them from going bad. A can of anything is too much for one. A box of anything is too much for one. Anyways, I have tupperwares FULL of food in the fridge right now!

Chris and I really enjoy making meals together, so when I'm cooking for myself, I'm always thinking of him.

So, I'll leave you with these lines from Joni Mithcell:

"And when he's gone, me and them lonesome blues collide

The bed's too big, the frying pan's too wide..."

The Last Hurrah

Life was so crazy-nutso leading up to Chris leaving for the aquaculture program that we had to have our Last Hurrah night together almost a week before he left. I'm glad we even got one night together just the two of us, honestly. I was afraid we wouldn't even get that. So, we made delicious salads with cherry tomatoes, avocado, black beans, corn, hard-boiled egg, and lightly-breaded chicken. It was SO good.

I also gave Chris one early birthday present (his birthday is next week) because I wanted us both to be able to enjoy it at least once before he left:

Ray LaMontagne on VINYL baby! Sweet.



We also celebrated with champagne and mango-orange juice, even though we've both had enough champagne (actually, this was Prosecco) to get pretty much the whole state of VA tipsy. We just wanted to do our own toast, just the two of us!

Then, of course, we played a game. The game we played was:

Tower of Bunnies!!!!!!

It's basically like Jenga, but, you know, with BUNNIES. Yay! Oh yeah, and I won best 2 out of 3. Champion Tower of Bunnies Player= Moi!

Tower of Bunnies!

An Engaging Week

Oh boy (girl!), where do I even start??? I know it's been longer than a week, but, SO much has happened in the last 7 days, so I'm going to focus there, in chronological order. Sound good? Good.

First off, I chopped ALL my hairs off. Not like last time. Like, pixie-cut style. Annnnd, I LOVE it. So much. I seriously should have done this years ago. It feels so incredibly comfortable!

Secondly, Chris got into an oyster aquaculture program he was hoping to get into. We're both really excited, and I am a very proud lady. It's 6 months long, and he has to go away for it. But, we'll see each other on weekends. It's going to be difficult, but I think we're both looking at it as an investment in the future, which I think is a pretty healthy outlook. AND, oysters are filter feeders, so Chris will be working to keep the Chesapeake Bay healthy. AWESOME! And, I'm hoping that he can maybe sneak me home some oysters for to eat. Yums.

Thirdly, I got a raise.
Lastly, I'd like to take this opportunity to officially announce to the blog world that Chris and I are engaged. (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

This past weekend, we decided to go to Williamsburg for two nights and camp. We'd both had crazy weeks and knew that we'd have very little time together before Chris leaves for the oyster program, so we decided to get away. We decided to go to Williamsburg because we both went to The College of William and Mary, and it had been too long since we had been back to visit.

On Saturday morning, we went and got coffee at the coffee shop I used to work at on the William and Mary campus. Ah, memories. Then, we decided to walk around campus to check out our old haunts. As we walked down the hill on campus that goes by the Crim Dell bridge, Chris grabbed my hand and guided me down the path that takes you over the bridge.

Now, if you didn't go to William and Mary, you might not know what the deal is with the Crim Dell bridge. Here's what Wikipedia says about it: "It is rumored that if two lovers cross the bridge together and kiss at the crest of it, they will be together forever. If that couple separates at any point thereafter, however, the lady must throw her ex-lover off of the bridge and into the water to break the curse of being forever single."

Anyways, so as we were walking that way, I got a little nervous and started joking: "Are you going to push me off the bridge?" I asked.

He said that he had something better in mind. And then he got down on one knee, pulled out a ring box, and asked me to marry him. And of course, I said "yes."

It was awesome. I put on the beautiful ring he picked out, and then we hugged, and then I cried a little.

Then, we walked around a bit, grabbed a drink to celebrate, and then started the insane number of phone calls we had to make!

Here's my new shiny:

The diamond belonged to Chris's grandmother. He got it put into a beautiful, modern setting that is simply perfect. It's amazing, he's amazing, and I'm amazed.

Ok, now I'm tired. Goodnight blog-world!