Cloud 9 Makes My Cheeks Hurt

I've been smiling so much the past 6 days that I must have the strongest face muscles ever. I've been thinking of a good way to start this entry for awhile now, but since I couldn't come up with a good intro, I'll just dive right into it. I got engaged on Thursday!

Most people who read this will already know that, but just for the record...Here's how it went: Perfect day only made more perfect by a sweet proposal in the hammock, followed by me saying "oh my gosh" five million times and needing to be pinched for fear it was a dream.

10 minutes later:

Me: "What if you change your mind?"

Pete: "That's silly."

Me: "What if you get mad at me and then change your mind?"

Pete: "No."

Me: "What if you want to kiss other girls?"

Pete: "You'll let me won't you?" Sly grin, followed by, "That's ridiculous."

Me: "... I thought you wanted to wait til you were 29!"

Pete: "You fell for that?"

Me: "... Yes."

For those I haven't told, we're going to wait about 2 years so I can finish grad school. I'm hoping that will make the planning more fun than stressful, too, because that's how it should be. Everyone else seems just as excited as I am.

Mom: "I'm going to have a son in law!"

Emily: "Can I be flower girl?"

Sarah: "You're engaged?! I'm so happy for you! Tell Pete I approve."
Sara: "WHAT?! Oh my gosh, I feel old." (But she's excited).

Alex: "Yaaaaaay!"

Mamaw: "I knew it!" (She always has "feelings" about things).

Papaw: "You know Mamaw can see into the future."

There are several more, many of which are along the lines of Mamaw's response. Of course, none top my mile-wide smile...I'm sure I'll have much more to say about all this over the next couple of years. :)

Until then, I have a bunch more to write about from this past week. I went to visit Pete in Minnesota for 9 days and every day was action-packed. Saturday was Steve's wedding (one of his best friends), Sunday was a Twins game, then Fargo, and Monday was Winnipeg, Canada.

I'd never been to Canada before, so Pete made sure I got a stamp in my passport. For future reference, Canadian grocery stores are way too expensive, but you do get products with French on one side. That night, we found a campsite that came with a pet chipmunk that we named Jean Pierre. The first night got really cold and uncomfortable because we were sleeping on the ground in the tent with no sleeping bags, but the next night was much better.

On Tuesday, we went down to the beach area at the campsite and I got to swing! Then we went through the Manitoba history museum and walked around town for awhile. That evening, we got lost trying to find a park that had free music, but we finally found it and got an earful of American 50s tunes.

Wednesday, we were back in town. We passed an auto place that advertised "free mustard," but unfortunately, I didn't get a picture. I did, however, get several of Chinatown. We stopped in one Chinese restaurant and I didn't like it very much. The food was alright, but the atmosphere was a little annoying. The waitresses kept coming around the table with carts, asking if we wanted anything on it. I personally prefer to order and be left alone, but it's still good to have a new experience.

On the way back into the U.S., ("Welcome to the United States" said the sign), we encountered some rude Customs guys. Getting into Canada was a lot easier than getting out. I was driving at the time to give Pete a break and turned the car off when we came to a stop. Well, I'd just started eating a Kit-Kat and realized that it would melt in the heat with the car off. While the Customs guys were looking in the trunk, I took another bite, then one of them came back around to the window and asked what we were doing in Canada.

I tried to chew faster, and answered with my hand over my mouth. "We were camping."

Mean Customs man: "You're going to eat while I'm talking to you?"

Number one, we've already told you what we were doing there. Number two, you saw I had candy in my mouth. I guarantee you he wouldn't have said it the way he did if I were a grown man.

Then they asked whose car we were in. Pete said it was his mom's. "Does she know you have it?" Pete said later that he should've told him his mom didn't know, but she wouldn't mind. Some welcome.

I suppose it wasn't the best idea to be eating while they were inspecting, but I bet they would've done the same if they had a melting Kit-Kat. Lighten up, lads.

Then they were critical of how we know each other since I have a NC driver's license and he has a Minnesota one. I told Pete they must've had a slow day.

Thursday (engagement day!) it was back to the cabin. That evening, I attempted to swim in the lake with Pete. I must say that my graceful dive (i.e. awkward plunge) into the water would have put those Olympic divers to shame. I acquired two humongous bruises in the process, then couldn't catch my breath to even laugh.

For a minute, I thought Pete might retract the engagement. To put it out of my mind, I thanked God for two things: that I took the ring off beforehand and that I was wearing a life jacket. Lesson learned: don't step onto the back of the boat when it's slippery.

Next was another attempt to steer the boat while Pete water-skied. (Ok, we seriously need to find something I'm good at. I only have boring talents like editing papers and cleaning). It was clear that I need more practice, but at least he didn't drown.

Finally, it was time for s'mores over a bonfire. You can't go wrong when chocolate is involved.

The next day, Friday, we cleaned up the cabin and headed back to his house for a dinner out with his family. That was a lot of fun and everyone had something to celebrate.

Then Saturday, I went to my first state fair with some of Pete's friends...he was there, too :). Go figure that it would be five states away from my own. I also tried cheese curds for the first time, and although I can't deny their tastiness, I still think they need a different name. "Curd" is so foul.

Later on, it was off to a Vikings game, but sadly, they lost in the last five seconds.

On the last day, Sunday, Pete took me to Minnehaha Falls. I want to live there for a week. Then came the sad part...the flight home. :( That's never as much fun as the flight there.

The plane ride was interesting, though. I had one more chapter to read in my textbook for class (on contemporary cults), so I decided to read it on the way home. That posed a small problem, though, because it was on satanism and I didn't really want to open to that chapter in such a confined space, so I kind of held my book at an angle until I was past the bold "Satanism" on the first page.

There was also a really annoying guy sitting diagonal from me. He said things like, "Chaz, baby," when he answered his phone and I think he'd had one too many drinks.

By the way, it occurred to me that the women's restroom is full of advice. Before my flight, I made a pit stop and had to wait in line. As each woman came out of a stall, she said something to the ones in line.

"That one doesn't have toilet paper." "You have to make sure that one flushes all the way." "There's water all over the floor in there."

I'm not up to speed on restroom etiquette, but I didn't give anyone advice in return. For some reason, I like to keep to myself in the public restroom.

Small Hair Crisis

I'm not sure if a crisis can be small, but anyway...

Yesterday was my day off since I have to work Saturday. Woo hoo, right? No. The first half of the day went well...I met some of Hilda's family (Hilda is the roommate), picked up a wedding card for next weekend and dropped a few things by Ahn's Alterations. Pete has informed me that Asian ladies do some of the best alterations, so I'm not worried.

So family, card, alterations, no sweat. Then I had a hair appointment that I've been looking forward to ever since I made it. (Fine, it's just been a week, but who cares?) I went to Aveda, which I've been to many times and I always like my hair when I come out...Plus, it's cheap, so even better.

THIS time, it took 2 1/2 hours. Hair doesn't take that long. Maybe if I was about to get married or something, but just a little change here and there on a Wednesday afternoon should not take more than an hour.

I was all excited because I brought pictures and the girl seemed like she knew what she was doing. She had a cool "Carpe Diem" tattoo. "Seize the day;" this will be a good haircut.

Wrong. After stupidly leaving the girl a tip, I left looking like I'd held my head out the window as I drove 90 miles an hour down the interstate. I thought the cut was decent, but there was no style to speak of because she did it wrong.

I had a few annoying things happen between then and this morning, but this entry will just be about my hair. :)

This morning, I figured it would look better after I washed it, but I was wrong again. After holding a mirror to the back of my hair, I freaked out and decided I wasn't going to work until I fixed it. (I tipped this chick?!)

I headed to "Today's Cut" ("for tomorrow's look," the door said) and told the lady I hated my hair. It was uneven and had a big poof at the bottom.

"How much do you all charge?"

Lady: "$35 for wash, cut and style."

Me in my head: "WHAT?! That's almost a tank of gas and twice what I spent yesterday! Are you crazy?"

Me in real life: "...............................................(large sigh) OK."

I realize I should have gone somewhere else, but I didn't want to drive around forever, comparing prices, when I needed to get to work.

Between yesterday and today, a total of $52, 3 1/2 hours and 3 inches shorter later, I headed to work. I told myself it looked ok and I would not, after all, make a secret trip to Aveda to strangle my former hair stylist. ("I want my tip back, you carpe diem maniac!")

So I guess I should have waited to write yesterday's entry because now I have another pet peeve. I hate when I have a vision of how something will look and it turns out nowhere near that...

Alas, I shall rock the look and hope it grows on me.

P.S. To all the ladies, go see Mama Mia. I thought I was in an alternate world watching Pierce Brosnan sing, but you can't see the "Dancing Queen" scene and have a bad day.

Pet Peeves

Last week I had to go to the eye doctor to find a new pair of glasses and realized that I was due for an appointment anyway. I came back a few days later and I want to know something. Why make an appointment for something if the person you're seeing makes you wait for 20 minutes? I have yet to meet a doctor that doesn't make me wait at least 10 minutes.

The lady I saw was extremely nice (which of course makes me feel bad for saying the previous), but another annoying thing is that she kept talking...I'm not kidding, the entire time. It's like when I call customer service for Verizon and the people will NOT shut up. "Ok, just hold one more moment. Thanks for your patience. Yep, here we go. Here it is. Alright, now let me just do one more thing. Thanks for holding. Ok, ma'am, this is it. Just a moment."

My head was already in this weird metal mask thing and she kept asking me random things, then telling me how wonderful I was doing. (It's blurry; why is that great?...I hate getting the letters wrong in the first place). Plus, it was 8 something in the morning and I don't officially wake up until 10:27.

Here's another pet peeve: ungrateful nit-pickers. We got a press release at work yesterday about free movement classes for disabled children. No one asked us to do an article, but I thought it was interesting so I talked to the people in charge. The lady who founded the organization was SOOO happy to have the publicity and after it ran this weekend, I e-mailed her a copy like she asked.

Well my co-worker is friends with one of her volunteers and she told him today that her boss was unhappy about the article. We should have used "children with disabilities" instead of "disabled children." Let's take a poll...Who says it's the same thing?

"They're children first, then disabled," she told her volunteer. "That's why I should have read over the article before it went to press."

One. You can't do that. As a courtesy, we could offer to read back a few quotes to be used, but it's the editor's job to read it before it's printed. Two. Free publicity; why are you mad? I told my co-worker that I wish we could retract the article and run a big black space.

I kind of hope she'll e-mail me so I can respond. I wouldn't be nasty, just explain why we write "disabled children." Besides it being AP form, I didn't write "children who are typically-developing," either; it was "typically-developing children."

This was after I was cussed out by a guy's mom for putting his name in the paper. I'll try to give you the brief version. So there was a murder in 2006 and 11 people were charged. The guy was killed because he found a bloody car on his lot and the mob thought he killed a guy who was at the time missing. One of the guys charged pleaded guilty in May and got off on probation. Two weeks ago, he assaulted a guy again and his jail time was activated. Well I wrote a short article about it and the mother of the guy who was originally missing (and later found dead) called me and called me names for putting his name in the paper.

WHAT? It's only been in several newspapers a million times now and he wasn't even charged with anything. He was a victim. She told me the newspaper is shaming him for putting his name in there and I was confused. I am incredibly sorry for her loss and I'm sure it's difficult for her, but she doesn't need to call me names for it. When she was done ranting, it went silent and I asked if she was still there. I don't think she hung up, but she didn't say anything, so I hung up.

Of course, if I'm offended by that, I'm in the wrong business.

Alright, I think I'm done. I just told Pete yesterday that things can always be worse, so that's something to keep in mind...By the way, "alright" is apparently "all right" according to AP style. Whatever; I like my version better.

On a different note, I love my new place! (Here is where I give my family a shout-out for making the trip to help me move. Don't know what I would've done without them). I was a little nervous about moving, but I really like the lady I'm living with and it's nice to be in a house instead of an apartment. (I've decided I only get nervous when I go to a vending machine. I hold my breath after I punch in my selection because you never know when it'll get stuck). We went out with one of her friends last night to get dinner and they're really funny together. And extremely nice.

I'm also excited to be in a place with sidewalks! I have yet to go for a walk, but I will soon. Maybe not tomorrow because it's supposed to rain...which is good I guess because my car is dirty. Although the dirty car is really just a testament of my faith. Faith that it will rain.

Oh, that reminds me. Mom said Emily has a favorite singer now. Enya of all people. Maybe she'll be refined.

One last thing: if you have time, check this Web site out: http://www.alphadictionary.com/articles/yankeetest.html.

My aunt sent it to me and it tells you how southern (or unsouthern) you are. I got 81% Dixie, which surprised me. It asked me if I still use Confederate money. I told my aunt I use Debit.