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!

Lawn Games, Shopping, and Beers- Oh My!

Well, I don't know about you folks, but my three-day weekend was jam-packed! And it flew by... sigh.

Friday night, Chris took me on a date. We got pizza and then went to a concert, as Chris won tickets (second time this summer!). The headliner was The Hold Steady, and boy, did they suck. I know I'm a music snob and all, but I'm talkin' for serious here, people- the band was AWFUL. We walked out after three songs. And three beers...

Saturday, we drove up to my dad's house for a lawn games party, which was a lot of fun. I don't know if you all remember my post on the game Kubb, but, I finally got to play again! The first game I played, I came back from behind and beat Chris. Cuz I'm awesome. Then, I played a game of horseshoes with my dad. I lost, but, I got a ringer! THEN, we played a game of bocce on the gigantic bocce court that my dad built for the party. It was pretty amazing. Then we played a game of Corn Hole. I can't say "corn hole" without flinching...

We got back late from the lawn games party and then collapsed into bed.

On Sunday, my mom and her partner came to town. They took Chris and I out to lunch at an AMAZING(!) Mediterranean restaurant, and we had a nice, long, leisurely lunch. Then, we dropped Chris off at the house so we could go shopping! I got a really nice dress from J. Crew (new favorite store!), which I'm quite excited about. My mom also brought down some goodies from the grocery store (woo!).

That night, Chris cooked the flank steak my mom brought, and we threw some leeks on the grill as well. It was probably the best steak Chris has ever made.

Monday, we got up and drove to Fredericksburg. One of Chris's friends was there for the day, so we decided (on a whim... how spontaneous of us!) to drive there for the day. We walked around the historical part of town and then went to a place called the Capital Ale House. This place has 300 beers, 60 of which are on tap. AND, their bar has this big strip of ice that you can place your beer on between gulps so that it stays cold- pretty cool. Needless to say, I drank a few.

THEN (yes, there's a "then!"), Chris and I went to a concert at a local venue. This time, the show was unbelievably good. Everyone should check out Gary Clark, Jr. He's like Smokey Robinson, Jimi Hendrix, and Chuck Berry all rolled into one. We had so much fun, despite the exhausting weekend.

After that, I collapsed (again) into bed and then got up to go to work in what seemed like the blink of eye.

Oh my!

How were your Labor Day weekends?

No Boys Allowed

 Whelp, this weekend was full of laziness. We got the sailboat all ready to go and drove an hour and a half to try to finally conduct our maiden voyage, however, when we got to our destination, it started storming violently. 20-ft Mast + Lightning = Fried RyanandChris. So, we turned around and went home. And that was all the work I did for the whole weekend (though it was hard work; we pumped up the trailer's tires by hand, secured the boat to the trailer, oh, and pushed the damn thing up the hill in our yard and over the curb and into the street). Chris and I watched a lot of Mythbusters, made yummy pasta, read our Michener books (ain't we cute?), and went on a beer-tasting expedition.

Late this week, Chris is leaving town to go to Long Island for over a week. Which leaves me in an empty house (except for the bun!). I am going to miss Chris a lot, but, there's also part of me that is excited to have a little time in the house alone. That would be the girly part of me. I believe I posted before about Secret Single Behavior, but what I'm really looking forward to is getting to do whatever I want whenever I want. Sometimes I think men do this regardless of whether or not they live with someone else, but I certainly do not. 

With Chris gone, I can go shopping and take as long as I damn well please to browse, even if I'm not even planning on buying anything. And I can do this and not even feel a little bit guilty. I can eat sushi and drink red wine and watch a movie where things don't blow up and there's a happy ending. And NOT EVEN FEEL GUILTY. I can eat dinner early if I feel like it. Or I can eat dinner at 10:00 PM. AND. NOT. EVEN. FEEL. GUILTY. I can eat three popsicles in a row and no one will ever know, so I WON'T FEEL GUILTY. I can have girlfriends over for the eveing and take over the entire house and not feel guilty about having to kick Chris out (No Boys Allowed! Kind of like the Get Rid of Slimy GirlS club in Calvin and Hobbes (G.R.O.S.S.)).



http://brainism.blogspot.com/



Well, I'm sure that's how I'll feel for a day or two. But after that, I know I'll feel lonely...

http://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes

Beach Pictures

Update: I still have Vertigo. For the past five days, it has felt like my entire life has been uprooted and moved onto a cruise ship. One that's cruising across the North Atlantic. Except there's no Ledo Deck and no little drinks with umbrellas.

Anyways, I have a Dr's appointment Saturday morning, so hopefully it will be something that is easily treated. Of course, if you google "vertigo," the results are almost all related to brain tumors. Sweet.

So, anyways, as promised, here are the pictures I took while on my vacation. Sigh. Vacation.

Currituck Lighthouse

Someone else's family photo

The long, narrow walkway that started the Vertigo issue

Very tall grassy-type plants

My dragon fly friend

Pretty

The lighthouse, from the sound

Canadian Geese

The Captain reads the sign

Pretty again!

Ridiculous squinty picture of me

Blade

My monarch friend

Support your local hookers

Signs, signs, everywhere are signs

Sunset through a foggy lens

Vertigo

Well, I've been at the beach on The Outer Banks of NC all week (pause to let you hate me). I haven't been able to go for the past three years or so, so I was exceedingly excited that I could this year. Chris came as well, but he had to leave this morning because he has to go be a big important guitar player in our friend's band for two performances at Floyd Fest.

I will post some pictures I've taken later... I haven't had the energy to pull them off my camera.

So, the week has been great. I'm on book #4 (yes, I like to spend vacation reading!). I've gotten a bit of sun (no rash yet!), but I've spent most of my time on the beach in the shade provided by this big tent/shade thing my dad has or in the water.

Yesterday, I got this horrible bout of Vertigo (dizzy, light-headed badness) for several hours, and I'm feeling it again today. This kind of shit's not supposed to happen on vacation! I've been trying to drink water, stay out of the sun, eat well, and basically take care of myself, and I'm not sure what else to do. I've gotten Vertigo before (and it has been popping up more often lately), but never for more than one day in a row. I'm not a big fan of getting the spins for no good reason.

Anyways, hopefully it will go away soon. Back to my wonderfully fat book.

Being Civil

Today, I went to a Civil War reenactment of The Batlle of Bull Run/Manassas. It was five zillion degrees, and I got a bit burnt, but it was really amazing to see the battle. Eight thousand people volunteered to take part as reenactors, and they all got really into it. There were real officers giving real commands to real regiments, and everyone's garb looked great. The coolest part was the end, because we got to see a cavalry skirmish. Horsies are nifty.

Because the reenactment took place in VA, there were a lot of Confederate-supporting types there, and I was afraid that people would be yelling obscenities at the Union side or something, but, everyone was civil (ha!).

Tomorrow morning I leave for vacation. At the beach. Hellz yeah. I am at the point where I don't care what the weather does, I don't care if I need to stay out of the sun a little more than years past, and I don't care if the waves aren't great. All I care about is relaxing. Sometimes I have to work really hard to be able to relax, but there's something about the beach that makes it a little easier on me.

I won't be writing too much, but I will surely post some pictures sometime during the week.

Have a great week all!