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8.18.2008

Weekend Recap

So.... it was a busy weekend here in the 'Nati, with lots of good times to be had. The weekend started off right when I left work around 1:00 (yay, summer hours!!!) and headed over to my friend Anna's pool. She lives in a loft downtown and her pool is on the rooftop. We had a couple of beers, soaked up some sun and made plans to do the exact same thing this weekend... gotta love it.

After a couple of hours of sun and fun, I went home and prepped for my big bourbon tasting cocktail reception. It was a BLAST and guess what - bourbon isn't as gross as I expected it to be! Maybe because my only experience with bourbon has been a tentative sip of my mom's bourbon and water. Which IS gross!

After the bourbon I was supposed to meet my friends Dennis and Christy for drinks to celebrate Dennis' birthday. Unfortunately, they decided to stay in. Barback Boy texted saying he and his friends were down the road from where I live but by the time I got home an hour later, they had left so we didn't have the chance to meet up.

On Saturday, my friend Jenny had a super-fun backyard bash with Paul Otten, a local singer/songwriter who mostly just plays cover songs. The morning began with mimosas and quiche, then quickly turned to beer and flip cup. Afterwards, Anna and her boyfriend and I met up with friends Lauren and Adam, where more beer was consumed, plus some delicious burgers. Then it was home to take a quick nap/shower before heading over to Stephanie's house for more delicious beer and burgers. At that point, I'd been in the sun and drinking for nine hours, so I ended up exhausted and ready for bed by 10:00. I'm old.

Sunday was another gorgeous day, so of course I spent it outside. Barback Boy and I took in a Cincinnati Reds game and then did our own version of a pub crawl in Mt. Adams. We hit all the good, divey places - City View Tavern (thick, greasy half-pound burgers, approximately five tables and the best view of downtown you'll ever see); Monk's Tiny Cove (where the service is terrible but the drinks are cheap); Pavilion (another fantastic view of downtown); Crowley's (where I was the only girl); and then back to Monk's Tiny Cove where we met up with his brother, Brad, and Brad's girlfriend.... who, by the way, was doing recon for Mama. I like the brother and the brother's girlfriend and so I hope she reports back some good things to Mama. Also, I hope she doesn't share how tipsy I got.

I showed my hand a little, because I told Barback Boy that I am dating other people still but that he is at the top of my list. I really do like him, folks, and my affection for him grows each time we hang out together. In fact, I think we sort of made tentative plans for a trip to Chicago in September. To hang out with his cousins. Ay yi yi.

So now I'm home with a bit of a hangover and a severe allergy attack, debating a pizza and getting all distracted because I want Barback Boy to keep chasing me but I think I gave too much away! :(

8.13.2008

L8 4 a D8

Uh-oh Teach. You may be in trouble now... seeing as how you were almost 30 minutes late for our date tonight!!

Let's go back to where it all started -- the beginning.

So this is my third date with Teach. Third dates are great... you know one another well enough to be comfortable, you might even have some inside jokes, and you know that you like one another enough to see each other again. The possibilities start to open up during the third date, and you start to actually consider keeping this person in your life for a little while.

Our first two dates went really well. What keeps me coming back to back to Teach is that he continues to surprise me - he's got smarts hidden behind this deep Kentucky drawl. He's funny and laid back. And while I don't like him as much as I like Barback Boy, I do like him and was looking forward to seeing him tonight.

For our third date, Teach and I yet again decided to meet for dinner and drinks. (Okay, mild criticism here: I like to eat, but I'm kind of in the mood to DO something, you know?! Like, Barback Boy and I went canoeing. Oh, and also? I have picked the place each time. How about you show some initiative and YOU pick the place next time?!)

Aaaaanyway, Teach had a fundraiser to attend for one of his friends, who is running in the Olympics, but whose mom doesn't have enough moolah to get there. Noble cause. Really admirable. Knowing that he had these other obligations to attend to, we decided to do dinner late and meet at the restaurant at 8:00.

At 7:55, I receive a call from Teach. "Hey, have you left your house yet?" he asked.

"Yep, I'm actually just parking. Why, what's up?"

"I'm running late. I might be closer to 8:05," he said. "Would that be okay? Are you mad?"

Well no, I'm not mad, I thought. After all, you were considerate enough to call and tell me you'd be late. So I responded, "Nope, not at all. See you then."

To kill some time, I took a nice, leisurely stroll around the block. I window-shopped as I passed by some of the upscale boutiques in the area. And I arrived at exactly 8:05.

No Teach.

So I waited for a few minutes in the lobby. I started getting fidgety. The poor hostess, sensing my discomfort, asked if I wanted to go ahead and be seated. Anything is better than just sitting in a lobby, so yeah, I wanted to be seated!!

I called Teach to let him know that I'd been seated and to just come in and find me. As we are about to hang up, I casually asked him if he'd be there soon.

Well, he's still about 10 minutes away. So no, he wasn't close and he was going to be late. "Go ahead and order a drink while you wait for me," he says.

Well, okay, no problem. A few more minutes is fine. But 20 minutes later, he still isn't there, my wine is getting warm and I, of course, am freaking out. That's when he ambles in.

He was incredibly apologetic. I swear, he must have apologized about a dozen times. But here's what happened. I guess he was late to this fundraiser event. Then, the newspaper and one of the TV stations showed up. (This story is big news in Cincinnati, so this much is plausible.)

Since he had some T-shirts custom designed and was selling them for this benefit, he was asked to be interviewed. He complied, but it put him farther behind. And then a bunch of his friends showed up, so he felt like he had to schmooze with them for a bit. Finally, at 7:55, he realized that he had to leave the benefit for our date... which by the way, was half an hour from where the benefit was being held. Hence the lateness.

Here's the thing: It doesn't bother me so much that he was late. It doesn't even bother me that he waited until five minutes before we were supposed to meet to call me.

What bothers me is that he told me he was going to be five minutes late, but in reality was going to be 25 minutes late. The benefit was in his hometown, and we were having dinner in the suburb where he lives now. So he KNOWS it takes longer than 10 minutes to get there. So why not just tell me that he's going to be 30 minutes late; I would have been slightly annoyed, but I would have killed some time and been none the worse for the wear.

And when I asked him why he didn't just tell me that he'd be 30 minutes late (and probably asked none too gently, considering I was actually kind of pissed off at that point...) he told me, "Well, I didn't want you to be mad."

But you thought that I wouldn't be mad just hanging out waiting for you for 25 minutes?! I mean, I could give him the benefit of the doubt and assume that he's being sincere and had the best of intentions. After all, he is a nice guy.

But on the other hand... is this a sign of things to come? What do you think, world? If a guy is nearly 30 minutes late to a date - pretty much knowing that he's going to be late but not wanting to "make you mad" by being honest about it - do you give him a second chance and see how it goes, or do you drop him like a hot potato and move on to the next?

Grade: C-

Cross posted at Cingle in the City.

8.12.2008

Hodgepodge of nonsensical musings and gibberish

Okay, so I've been remiss in my updating duties lately. I had such a busy week last week, with lots of events and such to attend to, and so updating my blog fell to the bottom of the priority list.

This week is shaping up to be more of the same. I've got a date with Teach tomorrow night, sand volleyball on Thursday, a pool party Friday afternoon, cocktail party on Friday evening and a birthday party on Friday night. On Saturday afternoon I have a BBQ/backyard concert to attend, and another BBQ to attend later that night. I'm hoping to squeeze in some time for Barback on Sunday night but at this point, I may be so tired and hungover that I just want to be by myself. Sigh.

So, who is watching these Olympics? I love the Olympics and have been tuning in every night. Swimming, gymnastics, beach volleyball... those are my faves. I love the commercials, the patriotism, the sportsman-like conduct, the commentary by the (sometimes douchey) TV announcers, the excitement of the crowds.

Also, did anyone see the Paris Hilton response to the John McCain ad? Who knew P-Hilt could be so funny?! Of course, she had someone write it for her, but she actually pulls it off, I have to hand it to her.

Aaaanyway, I'll post a better blog entry soon but I am exhausted and ready to watch some of these fine Olympic games we've got going. See you again soon!

8.01.2008

Well I haven't done THAT in a while

Last week, I read Sarah's answers to this survey. I liked it. So I stole it.

1. Last Movie I Saw In A Movie Theater? Get Smart

2. What Book Are You Reading? Running with Scissors by Augusten Burroughs

3. Favorite Board Game? Monopoly

4. Favorite Magazine? People

5. Favorite Smells? The ocean, rain, freshly cut grass, Aqua di Gio (or other nice boy smells), stargazer lilies

6. Favorite Sounds? The ocean, rain, the doorbell

7. Worst Feeling In The World? Hurting people I love.

8. First Thing You Think of When You Wake? Did I already hit the snooze button? How much longer can I wait until I really have to get up?

9. Favorite Fast Food Place? Chipotle, McDonald’s

10. Future Child's Name? Jackson, Luke, Dylan, Ava, Nina, Sophia Nicolas, Isaac

11. Finish This Statement—If I Had a Lot of Money I’d be rich.

12. Do You Drive Fast? Yes

13. Do You Sleep With a Stuffed Animal? Yes – and its name is Round-Headed Fuzzy Baby Bear

14. Storms—Cool or Scary? Rockin

15. What Was Your First Car? Ford Taurus

16. Favorite Drink? Coke, vodka tonic, beer, wine

17. Finish This Statement—If I Had the Time I would take a nap.

18. Do You Eat the Stems on Broccoli? Yes

19. If You could Dye your Hair Any Other Color, What Would It Be? Black

20. Name All the Different Cities In Which You Have Lived: Mobile, Dayton, Oxford, Cincinnati

21. Favorite Sport to Watch? Football

22. One Nice Thing About The Person Who Sent This To You: Sarah notices things and is funny about things that I don't notice and can't be funny about. I'm envious.

23. What’s Under Your Bed? Boxes of stuff that didn't fit in any drawers

24. Would You Like to Be Born As Yourself Again? Yes. There are some things I would do differently the second time around.

25. Morning Person or Night Owl? Night owl

26. Over Easy or Sunny Side Up? Over easy

27. Favorite Place to Relax? In my bed, on the beach or in the park

28. Favorite Ice Cream Flavor? Strawberry chocolate chip from Graeters