Outdoing ourselves

I know I manage to say this after every weekend I spend with K, but it's amazing how quickly time can pass.

Too bad that didn't apply to the 7 hours I spent in the airport on Friday thanks to menopausal Mother Nature. It was pouring like crazy in Dallas, so both my flights had gone elsewhere because of the weather. My options were to fly to Cincinatti and put myself up overnight there, and catch a flight to Pennsylvania to arrive at 1:30 Saturday afternoon; fly to Atlanta and do the same thing to arrive at the same time; or stay in Dallas at my own apartment for free and catch a flight Saturday morning to arrive in PA at 1:30 Saturday afternoon. I did the sensible thing: I flew to Cincinatti.

Just kidding. I went back to my place and wound up meeting ER and a couple friends at a sports bar to watch the Texas Tech game and have a beer. It was fun, since a friend was in from out of town ER wanted me to meet since she said we both have "such strong personalities." It was fun.

My day started at 4 a.m. Saturday. I got to Pennsylvania around 2:30. Kind of a bummer I lost half a day, since I'd only be there a three full days. I got to see K's new truck, which is a 2007 Tahoe. It's really nice. It's a little bigger than the Trailblazer he had, but it's nice. K seems to really like it.

We exchanged gifts when we got to his house. He really liked the iPod home speaker/alarm clock I got him. I also got him a button-down American Eagle shirt. He wore it for New Year's. It looked good on him.

K definitely went above and beyond on his presents for me. He spent an insane amount. I really felt kind of bad, almost. I know he just is a generous person, though, and that's just how he is. He got me a really soft robe from American Eagle. I'd seen it when we went by there after he got back from Afghanistan. I'd commented on how soft it was and how I needed to get a new robe. He remembered. He also got me a crimson thermal shirt from there. He got me a blue 4GB iPod nano, along with a wristband to wear over it while I'm working out. His video iPod has gotten some surface scratches, so he got me these clear things that look like the stickers that come on cellphones when you get them to protect it from getting scratched. He also got me a bluetooth headset for my cellphone, which came with a carrying case and car charger.

Remember my yummy cheesecake? Well, last time I made it for my family, I had some problems with my makeshift method of melting chocolate. I burned my hands a couple times and managed to catch a potholder on fire. I mentioned to K that it works better when I melt the chocolate at his apartment because he has a metal bowl. I use a glass one at my apartment. K bought me a double boiler so I don't have to rig something together and burn myself (and potholders) again. And last, but not least, he got me the complete series set of Da Ali G Show, which I've been a fan of since my freshman or sophomore year in college. It came on HBO, and it's the show featuring three of Sascha Baron Cohen's characters, which includes Borat.

We got up early Sunday morning and drove to Boston, where we spent New Year's. We had an absolute blast. Boston is such a cool, neat city. I'd never been before. I was worried after spending New Year's in NYC last year that we wouldn't be able to beat that. We totally did -- by far. We were actually able to enjoy ourselves more. We walked around quite a bit the first day we got there. We saw an ice slide and posed for a picture on an ice bench, saw the Cheers bar and had drinks at several neat pubs in the city.

(in case you can't read the mug, we're at Cheers)

It was a little colder in lovely Boston than it was in Pennsylvania. For some reason, I hadn't expected this, so I'd left the two scarves, two beanies, my coat and my three pairs of gloves I'd packed back in PA. I was pretty cold in my long-sleeved t-shirt and loosely knit sweater, so I wound up buying a better sweater, a scarf and a cute beanie while we were there. It was worth it to be warm.




It's amazing how much warmer a good sweater and beanie can make you!

We rang in the new year at this little bar not far from our hotel downtown. K and I were kind of the life of the party. Believe it or not, by the end of the night, I was dancing like crazy. All over the bar (meaning the establishment -- not the actual bar like something from Coyote Ugly), around other people, when only a couple others were dancing, at the sink in the bathroom while I was washing my hands ... I was dancing! I didn't care who was watching or what they were thinking. Yeah, I'd had a couple Bud Lights. And jager bombs. But whatever. It was fun. And everyone else who wasn't dancing was lame. :) Aren't you proud of me?

The next day, we spent pretty much in the car driving back to K's house. It was raining, and traffic was pretty heavy headed to NYC, so it was pretty slow until we passed that exit. We got back just in time for the Fiesta Bowl, which turned out to be a pretty rollercoaster, emotional game at the end. I'm glad that we at least showed up late in the third quarter. We finally really started playing then. We did well and didn't go down without one heck of a fight. We played well at the end, but Boise State played well through the whole game. They fought hard, and they deserved to win. They pulled out every play in the book, and we didn't see it coming. I don't think anyone did. I'm still proud of my team, though. I wore my OU sweatshirt when I flew back so people in Pennsylvania, Cincinatti and Dallas could see my loyalty, and I wore my OU polo shirt to work today. Through thick and thin, dang it!

Anyway, so my last day -- Tuesday -- was spent just hanging out pretty much. I couldn't believe it was already time to leave. I wasn't ready to go back to work, and I really wasn't ready to leave K. We had an awesome time, though.

When he was saying bye to me at the airport, K said, "We just keep outdoing ourselves." I asked him what he meant. Last year, he said, New Year's was awesome, but this year, it was even better. He said every time we hang out, we have a blast, and the next time, we have even more fun. Everything with us just keeps getting better.

I definitely have to say I agree with him.