Sunday 10/29, Up at 8:00 and Dad was making pancakes and since Aubrie was off to a photo shoot I had to say bye to her then in case she wasn’t back by the time I left for the airport. Mom and I both got ready and headed down to Barney’s because Dad wanted me to get some work clothes so Mom helped me pick stuff out and we both had about 20 things to try on by the time we got into the dressing rooms. I ended up liking 2 pairs of pants, a jacket and a silk shirt and since Mom bought the jacket for me I bought the silk shirt and one of the pants. Then she insisted that I needed new brown shoes so we went over to Nine West and I bought another pair of shoes. We left and I did a fashion show for Dad when we got back then he made bacon wrapped fillets for lunch then I packed up all my stuff. 5 pairs of shoes, 3 shirts, 2 dresses, 1 swimsuit, 1 belt, 1 suit and 1 frilly silk shirt. Ouch. Dad had to get out a second suitcase for me to take with me. We loaded up the car and set off for the airport. They dropped me off and I got checked in and through security without any problems and sat at my gate until the flight was boarding. I called Auntie Lauryn to wish her a happy birthday and called Dad to tell him I was at my gate, then boarded the plane. I read for most of the flight and talked to the woman next to me a little bit. At baggage claim I met this guy from San Diego who was very nice and just visiting for a few days. I probably should have given him my number in case he wanted to hang out, but I didn’t. I guess if I really wanted to I could just go down to the Red Lion on 5th and ask for his room, but I’m not a hardcore stalker anymore, so I won’t. Got my 2 bags and met Mom up at ticketing. We talked all the way home about my trip and the family then she dropped me at Grandma and Grandpa’s to get my car and I headed home. I showed Susan all my new loot then crawled into bed because I was cold and tired. Watched the usual shows before falling asleep watching the news.

Saturday 10/28, I woke up a little after 9:00 and crawled into bed with Aubrie for a little bit until I remembered that I’d brought her something so I got it and told her to get out of bed. I yelled and told Dad I was hungry for breakfast and he said he was making French Toast and to come down so I think I trampled Aubrie on the way and ate 3 pieces. Yum! I got ready because I wanted to go shopping again, but Aubrie didn’t so I went without her and told Dad to call me when Mom got home so we could get on the road to Palm Springs. He handed me another $20 and told me to take the Denali and it’s actually very nice to drive, I was surprised. I went to Vans again and picked up some blue and white checkered sneakers then went over to Banana Republic and got 2 new shirts and since Dad had called me when I was in the dressing room, headed home. Alishia and Aaron showed up and we talked to them for a few minutes then Dad loaded up the car with goodies, Aubrie and I grabbed about 10 photo albums and we hit the road. Aubrie and I howled with laughter for about ¾ of the ride because of so many of the hilarious pictures of both of us which made Mom and Dad get all sentimental in the front seat. About 2 hours later we got to Palm Springs, parked and walked until we found a good place for lunch, which ended up being Kaiser’s or something. We sat out on this covered raised patio right on the sidewalk so we could people watch and the with the 80+° temperature with a nice breeze, it was the perfect way to spend the afternoon. I got an enormous California cheese steak sandwich and ate almost the whole thing much to my own horror and Dad made fun of some boys who kept walking back and forth in front of the restaurant because they were checking Aubrie out. We walked back to the car and set off for the model homes which Dad has been talking about since they saw them last month on their anniversary. There are 8 and they all have completely different interior design concepts, and each is really cool, especially since they all have courtyards with pools and outdoor kitchens. It took us about an hour I would guess to go through all of them then we hit the road to the Palm Springs outlets which has like 120 stores or something ridiculous, it was nuts. So Aubrie and Mom went to Juicy where she picked up some sweat pants for the bargain price of $80…I think this is nuts. Anyway, I went to Barneys and ended up buying two dresses at the encouragement of Mom and Aubrie and because they are both so fucking cute. I figured I was going to need something to wear my three new pairs of shoes with. Dad napped while we were shopping so we had to wake him up for the drive home. Aubs and I polished off the photo albums in the back seat then she fell asleep and I talked to Mom and Dad until we got home. Aubrie asked me to drive her and her friends to a party down by the Four Seasons so I made the rounds picking them up and then over to the party despite none of them really knowing where it was or how to get there. About 30 minutes later we found it and I drove home. Dad and I decided to order the Honky Tonk Homicide murder mystery party instead of the Mardi Gras one because it probably has a better menu. Mom and Dad were excited to watch Lost Boys when I got back so we all grabbed some snacks and settled in to watch. Apparently they watch it every year for Halloween, but I’ve never seen it and it scared the shit out of me, but was fun too. After the movie I went to bed.

Friday 10/27, Mom came in at 5:50 to wake me up and tell me that Dad was up and going to be going on his run in a few minutes so it was a good time to go surprise him. So I waited 5 minutes then snuck in and said “Happy birthday Dad, what are we going to do today?” and he goes “What the hell?!” he was shocked to say the least and that he didn’t want to even acknowledge that it was his birthday and people wouldn’t stop reminding him. Ha, anyway, it was fun, so Aubrie and I both crawled in bed with him for about 20 minutes until Mom said she would make pancakes and for everyone to go downstairs. We all ate handsomely then they all got ready for the day and I went back to sleep until 8:30. Dad went to work but was told to be home by 11:30 to go to lunch and Aubrie went to school despite not feeling well. I got up, showered and got ready for the day. Dad was home by 10:30 and Alishia came over so we took off for Charlie’s to have lunch on the ocean. Lunch was really good and we had some diplomatic conversation despite the daughters being on the opposite side of the political fence from their parents, but since Kassie wasn’t there things didn’t get heated. After lunch we went and browsed through antique shops and boutiques at furniture and I found the most beautiful dining room tables, lamps and benches at this one furniture shop and Mom and Dad were urging me to buy this gorgeous lamp, but I didn’t. We finally headed back home because Mom had an appointment and Dad, Alishia and I laid out in the sun because it was so beautiful but Mom made me put sunscreen on, boo! Alishia left then Aubs came home and I wanted to go down to the outlet and Dad wanted to work on the cars so the two of us took off with Dad giving us each $20 to buy something with, thanks Dad! We stopped in gap where I got a cheap shirt, then headed over to Vans where I agonized over which new sneaks to get, but I couldn’t decide so I got nothing. We walked over to Sun Diego Snowboard where I picked up a new swimsuit (finally!) and belt then over to Nine West where I bought 3 new pairs of heels. We went to Barney’s for a quick run through but didn’t get anything and since Aubrie was getting hungry and had a game to go to we went back. Dad ran around trying to get Alishia her car back to her while Mom and I watched scary Halloween shows and waited for Dad to get back. Finally he did and made some popcorn for dinner and we watched Ghost Whisperer, which is so my Mom it’s not even funny. We had ice cream and Mom felt ripped off because her low fat ones weren’t actually low fat at all, they were just half the size of the regular ones. We all went to bed and I waited up for Aubrie to get back from her game but fell asleep by 10:45 so she didn’t wake me up and I thought she went to bed so I decided to just go back to sleep.

Thursday 10/26, I left work at 3:45 and sped all the way to Grandma and Grandpa’s (I was leaving my car there) to meet Eric, we packed my stuff into his car and were off to the airport. For some reason I was feeling rather anxious and Eric told me there were pills I could take for that, but I managed to calm down by the time we neared the airport. He unloaded all my stuff out of the back, gave me a kiss and nice hug and waved as I ran into the terminal. It didn’t take me long to get my bag checked and through security, so by the time I got to my gate I had about an hour and a half to wait, then it was announced that our flight was going to be 45 minutes delayed, drat! So I got a sandwich from Starbucks and just sat there for a while kind of making eye contact with a cute guy playing on his blackberry or whatever, but then he left. I went back to my gate and read through some of the magazines Susan had passed to me a few weeks ago until it was time to board. I sat next to a guy who didn’t even make eye contact with me, which I think is rather bizarre, and I was pretty close to the front so I managed to get off the plane quickly and called Alishia then Mom. Mom was circling but the San Diego airport is widely known for it’s terrible luggage process. I was talking to Mom on the phone and turned to look at one of the carousels just as my bag came down, which is funny because the reader board said luggage from a United flight from Baltimore or something was coming down, but really it was an Alaska flight from Seattle. Bizarre, who knows how long I would have stood there had I not looked right at that moment. I ran outside and hopped in the new car and Mom and I talked all the way north to Carlsbad. I snuck in through the side granny flat door and Aubrie yelled at me to hide because Dad was awake but soon the coast was clear so I hung out in Aubrie’s room for a little while before turning in for bed.

Wednesday 10/25, I still hadn’t heard from Eric as I was driving home regarding our date but I figured I’d get ready for it anyway assuming he’d call. I was talking to Susan about him and lo and behold he called right then. Originally it was supposed to commence at 7:00 but he asked if we could move it to 8ish, I said that was fine and continued to prep. I showered, did my hair, makeup, got dressed and was out the door by 7:30. We went into Seattle and were going to go to Brasa until I got a gander at the menu and everything had fish in it so we decided to walk down to Palace Kitchen instead, because I know the menu and it was close. We were seated in the window which was nice and ordered. Eric ordered the prosciutto with fig for an appetizer which we were munching on when I looked up and saw Frank sitting down a couple tables over, so I thought, how funny there’s Frank, then I lean a little to my right and sure as shit, he’s dining with my sister. So I start laughing and tell Eric, who tells me not to get her attention right away but to wait and see how long it takes her to notice me. It was only a few minutes before Frank looked over and recognized me so they both jump up and come over and Kassie’s in shock which is so funny and the waiter asks if we want them to join us but Kassie says no, sensing that we’re on our date and they go sit back down at their table. Our food came, I got some cheese, sausage and zucchini ravioli and Eric got the whole bass or halibut or something. I ate all mine like a good girl and polished off Eric’s mashed potatoes too. I told him I never have a problem finishing my plate. We sat and talked for a while before getting the bill and saying goodbye to Kassie, Frank and Brett (who joined them at some point) and walking back to the car. When we got back to his house we made out in the car for about 20 minutes before he said good night and I drove home.

Tuesday 10/24, Right from work I headed out to Beacon Hill for Beth and Jason’s baby shower. I got there around 6:15 and didn’t know anyone, and apparently these people all work together so everyone knew everyone…except me. Finally J and B showed up and I got some hugs and Beth is almost at her due date but still getting around ok it seems. I could see Jason conspiring with Jerry because I think he still wants to fix me up with him but I don’t really know, I’m not opposed to going out with him, but I’m still all twitterpated over Sean Light. Jason introduced me to everyone because I told him “I feel sooo out of the club” and he sat me next to a nice woman named Esther so we chatted a little until the presents started being opened. They got some good loot and I think the Star Wars t-shirt went over pretty well and made everyone laugh so that was good. One of the girls there is a pastry chef so she made this fabulous lemon-y multi-layered delight of a cake. A little after 8 I said goodbye and headed home because I still hadn’t packed at all to go to San Diego this weekend and I needed to finish up my laundry. I got a little bit of cleaning and packing done then showered and settled into bed to read Allure and went to bed around 10:30.

Monday 10/23, After work I went home and showered and got ready to go into Seattle to have Sean edit my hair. I talked to Kassie and read magazines until Sean was ready then he got me into the chair and we talked about the fashion show while he snipped for 5 minutes. He was wearing a shirt that said “Sex, Drugs and Christian Rock” with a little halo above the C which I thought was hilarious and Kassie said he wore it just for me. Ha, so then Kassie and some of the other girls were gossiping in the back so I joined them until they all left then Sean came back and Kassie sprayed him with the sage and he later asked how it killed the right guard. I waited around while he washed Kassie’s hair and styled it because she didn’t like that it was poofy. Sean closed up shop and I went and got my car to give Kassie some boxes then I was on my way home. I had the munchies so I made some veggies and ate a cookie then did some laundry and hand washed some stuff then climbed into bed.

Sunday 10/22, Got up at 8:30, got gas, did my grocery shopping, ate breakfast then watched some SatC until it was warmer out and I felt like walking. I did my short one because I had to go to the bathroom and I was a little lethargic and when I got back I showered and ate some lunch, then talked to Kassie and made plans to meet up in West Seattle to go see open houses. I found my way to Jason’s and it was about 1:30 at this point, saw his house, met his dog and soon we were on the road. We saw about 10 in all and picked up fliers for others that weren’t having opens, but it was really great having Jason there because he asked a lot of good questions and it was fun to joke around with him. At 4 I headed to Kay-See’s new place on 1st Hill, found parking a few blocks away and walked down Boren. It is a fabulous little condo with the most amazing rooftop deck I’ve ever seen. It’s got tables and chairs, lounge chairs, big potted plants, a grill, and an amazing view of Seattle. We stayed up there for a while until her dad came up then we all headed back down to chat while her mom finished up the painting in the bathroom. We decided to walk down to Anthropologie and made a stop at Starbucks first for some yummy treats then continued on and said hi to Michelle when we went in. We checked out the cute stuff and I made myself put back a set of onion salt and pepper shakers because I really didn’t need them, though they were so cute. We headed back up the hill that almost kicked our asses and talked about Eric and “other stuff” until we got to the front door of her building and I said goodbye because I had to head to Mom’s for dinner, so I walked up a few blocks to my car and took off. When I got there Jake was the only one there and I was irritated because I had cramps and didn’t want to help prepare dinner and listen to Jake’s stupid show blaring so I laid down in the living room instead until everyone got home. Mom made a good dinner and peach cobbler for dessert so we ate and talked and both Kassie and I took off around 8. At home I climbed into bed and watched Desperate Housewives then Eric called and we talked for a little bit before I went to bed.

Saturday 10/21, I woke up around 9:30 realizing that we’d slept 8 hours so I gently woke Eric up, though just doing that stirred the beast so we slept together again then got up. I told him I was craving French Toast so we went to PCC and got provisions then walked over to Tully’s so he could get some coffee and the barista was so chipper asking us all these questions, it made me laugh. Then we talked about Splenda and why it gives you cancer but he was defending it and beer even though you can get psoriasis of the liver and also not wearing sunscreen but I told him that if you can attempt to prevent those cancers then you should and also beer doesn’t help the ole waistline, which he took personally, even though I told him I was just speaking in general terms. We drove back to the house and started making breakfast and it was so good (delicious in fact, Susan!) I ate two large pieces. He went and got my computer to look at apartments online while I cleaned up then we moved over to the couch and he looked at skate websites while I looked at the Robb Report and found a $14m Kentucky estate that Eric was very enamored of, it was so cute. He ended up leaving around 12:45 to go skate and prepare to go to work so I took off to the mall to go get Jason and Beth a baby gift. I hit Nordstrom and ended up spending about $60 on various baby items then headed home even though I should have gone to the park and walked around because it was such a beautiful day. Instead I curled up in bed and watched SatC and read Vogue. Around 4:30 I got up to shower and get ready for the fashion show, called Chrystol to find out if they were still in (they were) and headed out the door at 5:45. Stopped at Mom’s to drop off a copy of a check then headed to the Wallingford house. I sat and talked to Schuyler and Jason and told Jason he should come too, then B came in and was talking to them and I didn’t even look at him until he started talking about his stupid ugly handlebar mustache and was all “I have to put wax on it so it doesn’t go in my mouth. Ha ha” all jolly like, and I just looked at him with the fakest terse smile I could muster. I think it got the point across because he left right after that. Chrystol came down and we hit the road since it was supposed to start at 7:00. We parked across the street and went into the very crowded salon. We headed toward the back and found a great spot behind the stereo right at the end of the runway so we had a front row seat for all the action. Sean came over and gave me a hug and we talked for a little bit then he left and the four of us were talking and observing while we waited for the show to begin. Chrystol commented that Eric really was Sean light after meeting him. At one point Tiffany ran up to me and asked me if I have the Justin Timberlake cd which made me laugh hysterically and I was sorry I couldn’t help out. The show started and I was so excited for Kassie to go on and after about 6 other models she came down and everyone started yelling and cheering for her, she got the most applause and I got some decent pictures and video which I will post on my flickr at some point this week. I looked over and saw Jason with a new Mohawk with his hot pink shirt on and he waved and had a big smile on his face. Then Kassie went back and we watched the rest of the show and some of the outfits were so ridiculous especially the red velvet dress with gloves. At the end they had all the models come out with their stylists so Kassie and Sean and the other girl came out and I got some more pictures and everyone was cheering loudly again for them. Tiffany’s collection was one of the better ones as well and she had this great model and he was posing and being really sassy, I got a picture of him luckily. After it was over the place cleared out considerably and we headed toward the front of the salon where I saw Jeff and met his friend Dave, then Sean came over again and I congratulated him and Jeff asked if he was herb friendly and was like “We just need to get this girl to be herb friendly” and Sean puts his arm around me and says “I’ll take this girl any way I can get her”. Thanks Sean for not making me feel like a loser just because I don't smoke weed. I saw Justin and got a hug from him then Kassie came over and was wearing these hot red fishnets over black tights that looked so cool, we talked for a minute then I went over to get some water from the bar and that guy Dave came over and was hitting on me big time and I was sad Susan wasn’t there to rescue me. I knew it was time to go so I went upstairs to try and find Kassie and said hi to Matthew and Cathy then goodbye to Sean and said I’d see him Monday, said bye to Kassie and Jason then the four of us headed back to Wallingford. We were driving down the street toward their block and Chrystol goes “It’s only 9:10, I don’t want to go home yet” and I was like, “Me neither, let’s go to Ivar’s!” and Jason goes “They’ve got a great happy hour that starts at 9” not even knowing why I wanted to go down there. So we swung by the house so Chrystol could pick up money and we headed down. We started to go into the dining area and I spotted Eric in the kitchen and he had a very confused look on his face but then the rest of the kids wanted to eat in the bar so we turned around I waved at him and went in the bar instead. We all ordered the fish and chips and started talking about the Rusty Trombone, Roman Shower, Flipper and Barnyard Strangler and how we’re going to make a book with the proceeds funding Jason’s kids book project…or vice versa. We all laughed and schemed then the food came out. About half way through Schuyler goes “Is that Eric over there behind the bar?” so I turn around and sure enough there he is, so we make eye contact then he motions with his head to meet him around the corner. I excuse myself then go over and talk with him for a few minutes until he asks if I want to meet the grill chef, whose name I don’t remember, so I say yes and we go over. He told me “Kentucky’s our hero around here, always leading us into battle” and I said I believed it then he asked if I’d ridden on his motorcycle and I said no and when he was leaving he told me that I should take a ride on Eric’s pocket rocket, so I was all “Oh, ok!” not even knowing that that meant something other than crotch rocket, which is what I thought he was implying. So Eric tells me that he’ll come out in a few minutes and say hi so I go back to the table to finish eating because everyone else is pretty much done now. We talk some more and finally request the bill but the waiter comes back a few minutes later and says that it’s been taken care of by Eric. Awwwww! I almost died because he’s so goddamn cute and sweet...I'm still sooo smitten. So we pack up and walk through the dining room so I can say goodbye and some waitress must have known who I was because she’s all “Can you get Eric, he’s got some guests waiting out front?” so then I was mortified and he came out all ready to go, but I didn’t realize he was going to come sit with us in the bar so then I felt bad. He walked us out and everyone said thank you for dinner and he told me what pocket rocket really meant and I said goodbye. I drove everyone back to their house and headed home where I filled Susan in on everything that had transpired, then I fell asleep watching SatC.

Friday 10/20, I went for my walk when I got home then ate some dinner, showered, got ready and headed back out to Home Depot to check out carpet choices. A very nice man named Charles helped me and gave me all the stats and things for each type and brand of carpet. I found one I liked but didn’t do that math until I got home for how much it would actually cost to carpet the living room and stairs. Then I hit Lowe’s just to see what they’ve got but didn’t stay long because I was tired and it was all pretty much the same, just more expensive. When I got home Susan and I did the math and figured out that it would cost me somewhere between $1,700 and $2,000 to do it, so I’m undecided at this point. We’ll see. I sat up in my room by myself after Susan left watching What Not to Wear and prepared for Eric to come over. He pulled in so I ran down and let him in. He needed to shower so I left him alone while he did then he was being so weird and hyper and saying and doing all of this weird shit but soon he stopped acting weird and started acting hot! Ha, anyway, so we messed around and, miracle of miracles, I had another orgasm, YAY! Around 1:30 I was tired so we went to sleep. We both heard Susan stomp up the stairs in the wee hours of the morning (actual time 5:00am, you naughty girl!).

Thursday 10/19, After work I got ready to go into Seattle and unfortunately Sean couldn’t fit me in to crop the final pieces on my hair, but instead I relaxed and lounged until about 9 when I headed down to meet Eric at his work. We drove back to his house and laid around in his room talking and looking at the pictures on his computer. I think I saw pictures of the ex, but I didn’t want to seem too nosy. There was one picture of him with a little mohawk and he was so cute, I called him adorable and he told me not to, but I did anyway. He asked if he could come over on Friday night after work and I said of course. Around 11:00 I left to go up to Neighbours, parked in my usual spot, walked and met Susan and we went in. Travers asked us if we would buy Playgirl if Eric (the bouncer) was in it, we both said sure, then went in. We went upstairs and the guy that walks around cleaning up glasses in the dish bin who always flirts with us was behind the bar up there and ended up spraying Susan and me with water from that little hose thing. We were irritated we left quickly to go to the bathroom to dry off. I continued to be irritated when Derek showed up and was lurking around. I wished Eric was there to hump me against the mirrored pillar to keep him away. But he wasn’t, so Susan kept an eye out for him and in return I kept an eye on Gavin for her. We danced by Kitty Cat and T for a while but ended up moving around quite a bit on the dance floor to avoid certain boys and people flailing about while they danced. Not many of the regulars were there and I was tired so I left at 12:45.

Wednesday 10/18, I went for my short walk after work despite it being cold and rainy out, but like Mom said “You won’t melt in the rain” and I didn’t. Eric called while I was gone and I called him back but got the voice mail. We were supposed to hang out but since I hadn’t heard from him I kind of assumed it wasn’t going to happen. I jumped in the shower and half-prepared for Eric to come over then he called and I told him I didn’t want to drive into Seattle but he was welcome to come to Bellevue but I wouldn’t blame him for not wanting to. He said he’d call me back. I went downstairs and ate a pop tart and turned on WoF and Susan was going to order Romio’s so I jumped on the bandwagon since she was buying and I figured Eric wasn’t going to be coming over. Then Eric called and was the chattiest I’ve ever seen, though most of it was dirty, especially when I told him he had a little P*nk in him, or he would if he came over. I mostly confused him but we were both laughing pretty hard. He asked me out on a date next Wednesday so I’m very excited for that because I’ll get to dress up and hopefully this fucking zit between my eyes will be history by then. Anyway we talked for about 40 minutes which has to be a record before I finally cut him off to watch ANTM. Susan and I talked shit about some of the girls and kept trying to keep the twins straight (no pun intended) and were both moderately happy when AJ got sent home. Our food arrived and we both ate so much that we could barely move. I ate like 6 pieces of cheese bread and then half of my enormous sandwich, but it was all so good I couldn’t stop. We started watching Project Runway which was a repeat while we let our food digest, but as soon as the finale started I had to get the angel food, strawberries and whip cream out, oh yeah! That put me over the edge; it felt like my dinner was sitting in my esophagus. Gross. I felt conflicted about the finale, I think Jeffery was a good win because his collection was the best but I liked Michael the best throughout the season and Uli after that. Anyway, after it was over we both went into our rooms and I read a little bit before crashing.

Tuesday 10/17, I was down the lake until 7 and when I got home I went through some mail and emails then went down into the kitchen to make dinner and talk to Susan. We gabbed down there for a long time and I decided to make an angel food cake since I had the mix and a plethora of strawberries. It was so easy and I used the pan Alishia gave me like 3 years ago. While it was baking we went back up to my room and read our sex horoscopes from the book she got at the library, which is also the same one Jess bought with the gift certificate I gave her for TiB, and agreed and disagreed with many of the entries. We laughed so hard at some of the ones for Eric, and I nodded when she read some of the racier entries for me. Then we talked about Eric’s “Top 5” then it was time for Susan to watch Veronica Mars so I stayed in my room and called Dad and donated to the ASPCA online then I called Aubrie back and we talked about Eric and her glam birthday party. I did a little more cleaning in my room then read and went to bed.

Monday 10/16, After work I hit the grocery store and bought some more strawberries for my angel food cake that I’m going to make this week. I showered when I got home and got ready to leave the house to go get my hair cut at 7:00. I got to the salon a little early and sat and talked to Kassie while she flipped through a magazine until Sean came downstairs. He brought me to get a robe and held up a negligee and was all “Ok, go slip into this, but you may want to leave your underwear on because it doesn’t really cover” so I laughed and he told me that’s actually what Kassie’s wearing in the fashion show, which didn’t surprise me at all. So he sits me down and I tell him what I’m leaning toward and he starts cutting. As per usual we chat about all sorts of things and sing along to Gloria Estefan because it is clearly St. Martin music and he knows all the words, which scared me a little bit. Finally it was time for my hair washin and we talked about Eric and how it’s ok for me to keep him through the winter but that I don’t have permission to date him long term. I told him I didn’t want to let him go because I fear he’s the only guy out there that can get me off. Sean said that’s understandable and that some people are born with natural talent, but that there are plenty of other guys out there who can um, satisfy me. I’m not sure that I believe him, but I don’t have to worry right now and will continue to ride this wave of casual sex and orgasms as far as I can. So Kassie was antsy and telling Sean to hurry up because she was hungry so he polished me up and set me loose. K and I drove all the way down Madison to Cactus and surprisingly I knew where it was and she didn’t! I’d been there with Kay-See and friends like a year and a half ago, in fact her roommate was there at the time so it must have been a super long time ago. I think her Fruit was there as well…anyway, so we meet Jason on the street and go in to find Frank, Denise and some other girl already sitting at the bar waiting for a table. Frank came over and we talked about recording and Tooth and Nail / etc. and we swapped stories and had some laughs then Matthew showed up and joined in and told Kassie about the new boutique / bar he’s opening on 1st and University and she’s all excited because she wants to help coordinate, but he warned that it’s his sister’s project and that he’s just the money. We finally get seated and all 7 of us squish into a booth and order then Jason’s cousin shows up, Nathan, and he is cuuuuute, I was like “Hel-LO” and he even introduced himself to me first, though he’s in school or something so maybe he’s young…though he didn’t look it. So K and I split the fajitas and ate a ton of chips and salsa / guacamole, and some of Matthew’s hush puppies which were delicious. Eric called while I was there and told me to call him later so that made me happy. We talked about DSL and how Denise and the waitress were going to have a DSL-off with Jason as a willing participant. We paid the bill and headed out and I started home and called Eric who requested we hang out Wednesday. When I got home I checked myspace, read some of my magazine and went to bed.

I'm feeling conflicted...

And no, not about Eric. Ok, maybe a little about Eric but that’s not the focus of my current confilctedness. It’s something I need to mull over with Susan and Kay-See about the current status of my blog. There may be some changes coming soon…I’ll leave it at that for now until further panel discussion concludes.

Let's just say I'm glad I've had a site meter for the past few months to see where all my viewers are located.

Sunday 10/15, We both drifted in and out of sleep all morning and eventually he climbs on top of me and we start messing around and lo and behold I come and can’t help but laugh afterward and just shake my head at him. I was on top again, go figure. We eventually got out of bed around 11:30, got ready and headed out into the shitty rainy weather. We drove down to the International District for Dim Sum. We got some very interesting items off the cart but the best was the Hum-bow (I don’t know how to spell it but that’s how it sounds). We mostly talked about sex and he tried to tell me that I’ve said some dirty things to him but he couldn’t recall any of them, I told him he wishes and that he’s full of it. We drove over to Snowboard Connection so he could look at shoes and Court called about the dress so we chatted a little but my phone was going to die. We drove back to his house so he could drop me off and I felt bad because he was going to be late, but he didn’t seem overly concerned so I didn’t worry too much. I drove home, showered and took a nap until 5:00 when I drove over to Mom’s for dinner. Kassie was late but we stayed and talked with the parents and grandparents for quite a while before leaving around 7:45 for the Sufjan Stevens show. We drove down to Vivace so K could get her latte and I could leave my car, then we went to the show. Our seats were on the main floor so that was cool and we caught the end of the opener which seemed very good. Then Sufjan went on and it was visually the most awesome show I’ve ever seen. There were 6 violinists, 2 cellists, 2 tromboners, a trumpeter, drummer, 2 other people that rotated between guitar, piano and bass and lastly Sufjan who played guitar, banjo and piano and everyone was wearing a set of wings. It was amazing and beautiful and he played my favorite song so that pleased me. He also told some stories about birds that were quite entertaining and played a new song which was so good. We left the show and Kassie dropped me off at my car then I headed home and called Eric on the way though he didn’t answer, but I didn’t mind because I was only calling to tell him about the show. Got home and went to bed. Pretty eventful weekend.

Saturday 10/14, I woke up around 6:15 and couldn’t go back to sleep so I got out some reading material and read for a little while before falling right back asleep…until 9:30! Ack, I was hoping to be up and back from my walk by that point. So I eat some breakfast then call Eric who must have had a late night because he could barely form complete sentences. He had expressed an interest in going with me down to Southcenter so I could try on the bridesmaid dress for Court’s wedding but since he was still half asleep I told him I would just go by myself and to call me when he was up and moving around. I get ready, hop in the car and take off. Kassie calls to give me dirt about her evening and to see if I wanted to come by after my dress fitting to Sean and Tiffany’s to see the baby, so I say yes because who the hell knows if Eric’s going to call me or even still want to hang out, plus he had to take his roommate to the train station at noon. So I tell Kassie yes. When I got off the phone with her Eric called and told me to call him when I was done, whoops, I tell him I’m going to hang out with Kassie but to call me when he’s done with the train station and maybe we can meet up for lunch. I go into the bridal store and I try on a size 6 and the girl is like, this is a little big, I’m going to go get you a 4. A SIZE 4?! Are you kidding me? I’ve never been a size 4 in anything in my life, and Court had warned that the dresses run a little small so I was extra surprised by this. Cripes, so I try it on and it actually fits, the only problem is that the halter strap isn’t long enough so it’s a little snug around my neck, because I’m sure it was made for a smaller person or someone with a shorter torso or something, but the girl was really rooting for me to get it. I told her I would go for the 6 because you can always take it in and who knows, I might gain 5 pounds between now and March, though let’s hope not. So I buy it, and head back up toward Ballard. I met little Addie and she’s so cute and such a good baby. She doesn’t cry like ever and I should know, having raised 5 children of my own. We hung out there for a little bit then decided to go get some lunch so we went down to Café Besalu and had their fabulous quiche for lunch and I called Eric and told him to meet us down there. He arrived and the three of us chatted for a little bit while Addie slept in the crook of Kassie’s leg, though it looked like she was faking it. Finally it was time to go and Eric had to get to work so Kassie and I drove down into old Ballard, parked, ate our Pain au Chocolat, got Addie strapped into the Baby Bjorn and hit the shops. We hit the baby store, though I didn’t get anything for Beth and Jason, then Merge which is a new boutique and was having their first day open, so of course Kassie bought a new shirt, then we walked down to Ok Ok. Addie was getting fussy because it was time to eat so we went back to the car and drove back to Ballard. I took off because I wanted to go see Pirates of the Caribbean so I called Susan and picked her up and we were off to Bella Bottega. It was long but had some humorous parts and we got it for a matinee price so I was happy. We went back home and I ate some dinner then showered and got ready to go to Eric’s for a sleepover after Susan and I saw Hedwig and the Angry Inch. We drove separately so I could go to Ballard afterward; we parked in the garage, bought our tickets then walked down to Manray where some guy made us dance with him to the new Scissor Sisters song. We went back up to the Egyptian and found our seats, then this guy comes down the totally empty row in an equally empty theater and sits down right next to Susan. I whispered to her, "Seriously?" then he tries to talk to her but she pretty much just ignores him so he gets up and moves onto the girl behind us, and when she left he started hitting on the guy a few seats down who looked like he was the third wheel on this couple’s date (who were fiercely making out). He starts asking the guy all of these inappropriate questions, and loudly, then put his hand on the guy’s leg, it was all very weird and irritating. It was finally too much for Susan and we got up and moved to the end of the row. The movie started and about 30 minutes in the guy left. The movie was good but I was so tired that I was half-falling asleep by the end. We walked back to our cars, said goodbye and I drove out to Ballard, met his roommate again and she was a little less handsy this time, then we went down into his room. We hung out down there and eventually got into bed and talked and made out / etc by the light of the vanity mirror and went to sleep.

Friday 10/13, Peggy let me leave at 11:30 for all of my hard work during the week, yay! It was so nice. I went home and ate lunch then set out for the Social Security office to request a copy of my social security card since I haven’t had one for the last 10 years. It took a little while but soon I was on my way to Discount Tire to get my tires rotated, I felt so productive! So the guy that helps me is kind of cute and clearly flirting with me so I flirt back a little bit, you know, mostly just smiling and being nice, so he takes my keys and I update the information in the computer, thinking, if someone working here had stalker tendencies a customer could be in a bad place giving out all this information, like cell number and address. I assume my little helper isn’t one of these so I give up the information willlingly then sit down and read some Seattle Homes magazine or something. About 20 minutes later I hear “Karrah?” and it's my little friend and I’m a little surprised he remembered my name, but he points outside to my car and tells me I’m good to go. As I’m walking by he’s flirting with me more telling me to have a great weekend and blah blah blah, so I smile coyly and wish him a pleasant weekend as well and walk out. Another cuter guy hands me my keys and I set off for home. I got ready and went on my walk since it was a beautiful sunny day and it felt so good to do the whole 3+ miles, but also made me sad because I know the weather changing is going to affect how often I'm going to feel like doing it for the next 7 months. After I got back I took out the garbage and cleaned up downstairs a little bit just trying to declutter for the impending arrival of my couch and possibly new carpet. For the rest of the afternoon I sit and relax in my room playing on my new computer and watching SatC and drifting in and out of sleep. Finally I wake myself up and take a shower, call Kassie to see what was going on because I wanted to go out but continued to lounge since she was going to call me back. I go on myspace and see that I’ve got a new message that says “There's a good chance I'm retarded but when you left something about you caught my attention...get back to me if you noticed the same thing”and I’m like WTF is this? I don’t even understand the wording, but I click on the profile anyway and in the “About Me” section it says “I’m the manager at Discount Tire” or something and I’m like OH MY GOD, he fucking tracked me down using the personal information I gave up so easily. He probably did take my phone number and address and is sitting outside my house RIGHT NOW plotting his next strategic move. Or not. So I start laughing hysterically and call to Susan to come read this message and tell her the whole story. He was cute, BUT he’s short, works at Discount Tire (I know that’s a bitchy thing to say but come on, he’s a stalker) and one of his favorite movies is Gone in 60 Seconds. I’m going to have to say no. After I calmed down from that I continued to wait around for Kassie to call, but she didn’t until 11:00 when I was already in bed. Eric called as well and was going to a party or something and told me to call him in the morning to hang out. I read a little then went to sleep.

Thursday 10/12, I hit the store on the way home then went in my room and played with my new computer some more and just relaxed. I ate some leftovers and around 6:45 I left to go to the Rack to return some shoes I’d purchased the week before and then headed to Costco Home to see if my couch was in stock yet, it wasn’t, but was available for special order. So I put my order in and $1,200 later and in six to eight weeks I’ll have my new dream couch and ottoman. I drove home and stopped at the store to pick up some vanilla yogurt to have strawberries with it. I holed up in my room for the rest of the night, showered and went to sleep early…like 10:45.

Wednesday 10/11, Eric and I left my house separately around 8:45, him to the Crossroads skate park and me to MI to meet up with the parents. When I got there Dad presented me with my birthday present: a new wide screen laptop. Yay, thank goodness because I’m pretty sure mine is about to give up the ghost. We got on the road to Ernie and Erika’s (thank goodness Eric hadn’t hitched a ride with me as I thought the briss was on Bainbridge at Josh and Amy’s and it would have been an uncomfortable situation) by 9:45 and were the first to arrive at their house. We all milled around and then the baby got there and he’s very cute. Everyone started showing up and we all just milled around until it was time for the snip snip. I couldn’t watch, though Kassie did and we did a little dance afterward and then it was time for brunch. I told Mom and Dad I needed to leave because I still had to get back to work so we left, Eric called me on our way back and I filled him in, then when we got to the house and I took off making it to work around 1:00. I worked late to make up some of the time then headed home and prepared for Chrystol and Schuyler to come over. I started getting the new computer hooked up but because B the Asshole had set up my wireless I don’t know what the password is so I had to call tech support and the guy was really good and walked me through it and I got it all reset and the new computer up and running! Susan informed me that she had felt the entire house shaking the night before and her bookcase almost fell over. Needless to say I was mortified, so I called Eric to tell him and he just thought it was hilarious though he told me to apologize to Susan for keeping her up. Then C & S showed up and they started making dinner. We had a huge salad and a yummy pizza with artichokes, tomato, sun dried tomato and some delicious fresh mozzarella. It was very good to say the least. We watched ANTM and booed and cheered at the appropriate times, also vowing to do this more often. When it was over Chrystol cleaned up and wouldn’t hear of just leaving it alone for me to do later, it was really nice. I brought my computer downstairs and got the cookies out and I showed them all the pictures from St. Martin and told them all the stories that go along with them. They left around 10:15 and I pretty much just went to bed.

It's about time.

Tuesday 10/10, Eric informed me that he wouldn’t be coming over until about 8:00 so I took that opportunity to go on my short walk, which I mostly ran, and figured it was better than not going at all. When I got back I cleaned my room more, washed the kitchen sink and showered in preparation for his arrival. I was just sitting down to some emails and myspace messages when I saw him pull in, so I went downstairs and greeted him. He told me on the phone he was going to bring flat bread but he couldn’t find any so he brought some organic water crackers and camembert along with some goat wine which I told him was very romantic. I started cooking right when he got there and he picked out some Tom Petty for us to listen to. He helped just a little bit by getting the cheese ready and cutting the potatoes for me, otherwise I took care of the entire meal. While it simmered he fed me crackers and grapes with the cheese…and of course we made out against the counter and sliding glass door. He tried to postpone dinner 45 minutes because he was getting all frisky, but I told him no and served us up. We sat in the living room eating, laughing, talking and listening to Tom Petty. After we were done eating we made out and talked about him being a prince and that he was just testing me to make sure I liked him for him and not for his billions of dollars. We finally made it upstairs after I cleaned up the kitchen and I put on the Hives cd I only listened to once and started going at it. I had a hole in the back of my lacy purple underwear so he decided to utilize it and just ripped them off…though I think he was more turned on by it than I was. I was just sad that my pretty panties were ruined. Oh well. Then he threw them and they stuck to some of the books on my shelf and are still there as I type this. I got off once, then he got off, but it was really, um, rough and I kept thinking in my head “OMG!,” I will give more details to my friends, but I don’t want too much out there. He eventually fell asleep while I was kissing his neck and kept mumbling things in his sleep like “It’s not funny!” and I was like “Uh, ok, I wasn’t laughing” and finally I fell asleep as well. Come 4:00am however, he started getting fresh with me and I let him, so we started getting down and I actually had an orgasm from sex for the first time ever in my life, well minus using my vibrator, but there was none of that this time. I was shocked, then he got off and we fell back asleep. I will reiterate again that this boy knows what he’s doing, and I’m very glad that he’s doing it with me.

Monday 10/9, I cleaned a little downstairs then my bathroom and straightened up just a titch. Otherwise I sat on my ass while playing on my computer and watching tv. Talked to Eric and made plans for the following day.

Sunday 10/8, My alarm went off shortly after 8:00 and I tried to figure out if I was supposed to be getting up to go to work or not but then remembered in my semi-sleep state that Kay-See and I were going hiking. I got up, ate some food then she showed up and we set off. There were actually quite a few people hiking that day despite the not so sunny weather. We started huffing up the trail and the gossiping began. We talked about a lot of things but I mostly bitched about Eric and the fiasco from earlier in the week and we analyzed it and broke it down but I don’t think either of us came up with any earth-shattering conclusions as to why guys are so ridiculous sometimes. Anyway, we decided not to go all the way to the top and made it to the part where you have to clamber up some rocks before turning around and had a pretty good discussion about drugs / alcohol / lifestyle choices. On our way back down we saw two really hot guys and wondered why our timing is always off with the cute hiker boys and also why they didn’t stop to ask for our phone numbers. It must have been because of our hair and lack of makeup, yeah, uh huh, that’s what it was. We made it back down and decided to go to Starbucks to pick up some treats, I got a chocolate old fashioned donut at Kay-See’s recommendation and she got a croissant. When we got back to my house she left to get ready for a wedding and I crawled back into bed and watched Whale Rider while finishing up resizing and uploading my St. Martin pictures onto flickr. I watched a couple episodes of SatC then got out of bed, showered, got dressed and called Peggy to see if she wanted me to come into work to help out with all of the report stuff, she said yes so I went over for an hour and a half. I went directly to Mom’s from there, chatted with Court on the phone about dresses and boys and when I arrived I called Dad and talked to him about the property for about a half hour. We had a good dinner and dessert then looked at Alix’s pictures from Homecoming and she looked fabulous, the prettiest girl in the bunch and I’m not just saying that because she’s my sister, she really did. I hit the road around 7:45 and got home in time to watch Extreme Home Makeover and talked to Aubs on the phone about Eric and Leavenworth and she already knew what had happened, sneaky little thing. Watched Desperate Housewives then called Alishia and talked to her for a little bit before going to bed.

Saturday 10/7, The alarm went off at 8 and I snoozed it a few times while we both drifted back in and out of sleep holding each other. I got up and started to kind of get ready then he finally got up and we packed up the stuff, turned off the water and set off for Leavenworth. We were both very tired but he wanted to skate and we needed to be rolling out of Leavenworth by 10:30 to get him to work by 2:00 so we had to get an early start out of Plain. He skated and was having me take pictures with his fancy camera and it was so cold out so I tried to stand in the sun as much as possible. I made a trip to the store to use the bathroom and get some tissues for him then he did some final tricks before we packed up and headed out. We stopped on the pass on our way down and he set up his camera on the back of my car and using the timer he took some pictures of us with the gorgeous fall colors in the background. He also insisted on stopping at Deception Falls so we went down to the little bridge and took pictures and kissed and I posted them on flickr but they’re set to private so only my designated friends are privy. Hmph. On the way down the mountain he posed some “what-ifs” regarding him potentially being my bf and I posed some right back and basically told him that even if he wanted to be my bf that I don’t know if I’d want him to be. We talked a lot about substances which continued through our ordering lunch at Zeke’s. We also talked sex while we were eating and the number of times in a day / week that are acceptable in a relationship. He seems to feel that one should be having at least 2 or 3 orgasms a day / 7 days a week and at least 1 per day in a long term relationship. Wow. Um, that had me speechless. We got back in the car and continued on, though by the time we were nearing Seattle we were both getting really tired and he fell asleep and I felt bad that he had to work a full day. I made it home without falling asleep behind the wheel, but barely. I took a nap and Susan and I decided to go see Pirates of the Caribbean, but she wasn’t back in time and I slept right through when we were supposed to be leaving anyway, so we didn’t go. Instead we went into Issaquah and then into Factoria to do some shopping. I got some new shirts and a couple new pairs of shoes then we ate at OE She where I had the beef yakisoba which I haven’t had FOREVER! One of the waiters there was really cute, and probably really young, just how I like em! We went home and watched Sliding Doors and I continued to resize pictures and then fell asleep on the couch after the movie was over. Eric called and I told him I was tired so we decided it wasn’t good for him to come over, even though I did want him to, I knew we would just be going to bed. So I wandered upstairs and hit the sack.

Friday 10/6, Big day at work but felt good about where we were at. I got home and hung out and anticipated Eric calling and cancelling but around 9 he called to say we were still on and to pick him up at work at 10:10. In the meantime I resized pictures from our trip in preparation of putting them up on flickr. I showered, got ready and took off into Seattle. We didn’t get out of there until 11:00 and stopped in Monroe to pick up snacks and use the bathroom. We finally got to the property around 1:30 and it was so beautiful out with the harvest moon and we walked down to the river and Eric took some pictures of me with the moon in the background and just my silhouette. We walked back up and made out in the loft and finally made it into bed and one thing led to another and pretty soon we were having sex. I then insisted on showering off so we made out and talked in there for a long time, until the hot water started running cold to be exact, and I told him I was sore and didn’t want any more action that evening. We crawled back into bed and kissed some more and realizing that it was 4:30 decided to set the alarm and go to sleep with my head on his chest. We spooned each other while we slept and every time I stirred he would kiss me and cuddle me which was so fricken adorable I can’t stand it.

Thursday 10/5, I was tired after work from the night before but I got ready nonetheless for the night’s events. Eric had mentioned wanting to hang out before I went to Neighbours but couldn’t get it together and decide when / where to meet up in a timely manner. Finally he said that him and Michael were going to go on the art walk and asked if I wanted to meet them down in Pioneer Square, I said yes and headed out the door. I found parking under the viaduct and walked past French Quarter peaking in the windows at the beautiful things, then continued up to 1st where he said he was walking up to. Finally I saw them down by the Owl and Whistle or whatever it is. I barely got a hug from Eric but got a kiss on the lips from Michael. At this point I thought, “How is it that I’m getting more action out of a gay guy than a guy who two weeks ago was giving me multiple orgasms?”. Hmm. Anyway, we walked down to this building and started up the stairs to the various studios, but Eric wasn’t really talking to me or standing near me or anything. Soon I started feeling really weird, especially when he left one of the rooms to answer a call, and I started thinking “Fuck this, I need to leave, why the hell am I hear when he clearly doesn’t want me to be?” I kept looking at him quizzically and he asked me if I wanted to ask him anything, and I just said I didn’t know but clearly he was acting different and I didn’t know how to approach it and certainly didn’t think the art walk was the place to do it. Michael was off flirting and talking to friends, one of whom complimented me on my shirt, and at one point asked me in front of Eric what kind of guys I’m into and I just said I didn’t know because I then felt like even Michael was well aware that Eric wasn’t interested anymore and was trying to steer me in another direction away from Eric. Finally we left after some guy told Michael he was going to have his grandpa pee on him and we walked over to another bar so Michael could see his friend again. Eric and I stood outside and I continued to look at him and try to figure out what the hell I was still doing there and he asked me again, a little confrontationally, if I wanted to ask him anything, like daring me to bring up the fact that he was acting so fucking weird and distant. So finally I said it, I don’t feel like you want me here or are even attracted to me anymore or anything. Then he said his friends had been talking to him about me while I was gone and making him feel bad and all of this stuff and that he didn’t want a gf and doesn’t want to string me along and that he felt like that was the direction we were headed toward, so I told him this was not new news, I knew it all and wasn’t sure why he was forgetting that we’ve talked about this several times before. I still felt a little weird but he reassured me that he’s very attracted to me and wanted to kiss me so I let him a little before pulling back and telling him that’s all he gets for now. We went in and found Michael sitting alone and making hilarious comments about the guy at the next table farting and saying that he would have sex with any of them, and then looking right at them telling them he did. We were ready to leave and Michael went to the bathroom and while he was in there Eric looked at me and asked if he could take me on a date just the two of us and not to a bar. I said of course and that pretty much made my night because he was so sincere. We started walking down toward Cowgirls Inc and I asked if they wanted to see it and early I had used the “Eric who?” line because I wanted him to know that my life wouldn’t be over if he decided he never wanted to talk to me again. I’ve still got Andy. So we walk down there but I don’t see Andy so I ask the bouncers if he’s working, they say yes but I don’t go in, though I did see him as we were walking back by when we were leaving. We walked back to the cars and Michael asked some random cute guy if he was into threesomes and the guy goes “Threesomes or foursomes?” so we all laughed and headed up to Capitol Hill in separate cars. We went to some pizza place on Pine and as soon as we walked in I recognized the guy who Michael had just asked if he was into threesomes paying for his pizza, so he looked down and kind of laughed and I told the boys and we all cracked up. It was really funny. Then we went down to the Bus Stop and Eric and I talked more, especially about sex and him taking his penis out but I said I wasn’t that kind of girl and he said he knew. We all sat and chatted for about 20 minutes then Susan called so I told her I would be there in 10 minutes. Eric walked me back to my car so I could stash my stuff and we talked and I made fun of him about getting married and we made out against my car for awhile then he suggested we have sex in his car because it’s a hatchback. I declined. I asked him if he wanted to go to Leavenworth with me the next night and though he was indecisive at first he finally said yes but stipulated that what happens in Leavenworth stays in Leavenworth. I asked him what that meant and he said he didn’t know. 30 minutes later I was on my way to Neighbours and the cute new bouncer said he didn’t need my id, and then I made both him and some other new guy laugh when I told them to stamp either wrist because I’m so crazy! I ran onto the floor but got a drink spilled on me trying to say hi to Susan so I had to go into the bathroom and wash my shirt out. Tye ran over and hugged me then we saw Kyle who I thought was with this guy so I was all “HI!” to him but then it was clear that Kyle didn’t know him and I had just given him an enthusiastic hello which he took to mean I wanted to dance with him…I didn’t. Kyle leans over and says “That’s a big piece of meat” and I told him I thought he was with him and he goes “Hell no!” Shit, so then Susan tries to pull me away but the guy grabs my other arm and pulls me back toward him, yuck. I danced with him for about one song before we ditched him and went to the other side of the floor. I saw Richie and went and said hi and got a hug and Cory too. We went to the bathroom and saw Kyle on the way where he said he was going to put his spooge in us and get us both pregnant and I said they would be twins! He then bit my neck so hard that it left a mark and felt bruised for the next 2 days. He dragged us onto the floor to dance with him and Kitty Cat and their group of friends and Kyle was being so hilarious. He plugged his nose when these two girls were dancing by us and kept grabbing both of our crotches. It was hilarious. Finally at 1:00 I took off and ran to my car since I hadn’t done any of my exercising since Monday.

Wednesday 10/4, After work I got ready to go to the Muse concert and waited until about 7:30 to leave to go to Kassie’s. I sat there while she ate dinner and soon we were off. We parked in Pacific Place and walked up from there. We got there a little after 9 and pretty much missed the opening band, especially since we sat out in the lobby eating a cookie (the snack bar guy teased us by saying “Skinny girls should eat a cookie!” so we did). Finally we went in and cruised around looking for where the hot guys were, but there really weren’t any, so we settled in the back and soon they came on. We danced and sang to the songs and Muse put on a great show, just like the last time, though this time there were more fancy lights and videos where we could watch Matt playing the piano on these huge screens. So hot. When the show was over we drove back to Kassie’s (I never saw Jacob who said he would be looking for me) and I started to take off but tried calling Eric to see what he was up to. He called me right as I was getting home and we talked for a minute before hanging up and going to bed.

Tuesday 10/3, I showered and did my nails after work then set off to Kay-See’s a little before 7. She had dinner prepared promptly when I arrived, a delicious combination of grilled cheese and tomato soup. We felt like we were in middle school again, and it was fabulous. We snacked on snow peas and ranch and talked about all manner of subjects. What she’s doing, what I’ve been doing, but mostly I’m excited for us with this new change! :) Ha, so then Eric calls while I’m there to find out what I’m doing that evening (I had called him earlier in the day to say I would be at my sister’s that night downloading pictures and if he wanted to meet up then that was an option) so I tell him I’ll call him when I’m on my way to Kassie’s. Kay-See and I looked at my pictures and I told her all about the trip then I packed up and headed to Kassie’s. She ate almost all of my brownies when I got there along with Jeff, her friend that picked us up in his van from the airport a long time ago. I like him, we talked and joked and we started downloading all of the pictures onto Kassie’s computer. I called Eric and told him to come over, he asked if he could bring Michael and I said of course, then Jeff left so it was just us sisters for a bit. The boys finally got there and I transferred all of the pictures onto my external hard drive and we looked through them and Eric laughed at some of them and Michael said we looked crazy in some of the other ones. The boys were getting restless and it was getting late so we decided to pack it up and leave. I gave Michael a ride home to Capitol Hill and we talked all the way, I just love him, then I drove home and went to bed.

Monday 10/2, Well Eric didn’t call me the again like he said he would, so that made me feel weird again and like “Fuck this!” After work I did my long walk and that felt good, then made some dinner and started making brownies for my trip to Kay-See’s the next night. As I was cooking and baking my phone rang and lookie who it was, Eric, but I didn’t pick up because I was irritated and didn’t want that to come across over the phone, so I decided I would just call him later or the next day or something. I did laundry and tried to clean up my room a little and pay bills, then when Susan and I were looking at myspace and laughing about something my phone rang again, around 10:00 now, and it was Eric again so I picked it up. He was all “Are we not friends anymore?” and I told him we were, but it’s like, you’re the one who’s not calling me back when you say you’re going to, so if we’re not friends anymore it’s because you don’t want to be. We chatted for a little bit and I told him I had a busy week and was processing and blah, so he said he would call me the next day but whatever, I don’t know, I didn’t even feel like he wanted to see me or something and didn’t know what to do with that information. I transcribed all of my journal entries from the trip and finished at 12:30.

Sunday 10/1, I woke up at 6 and couldn’t fall back asleep until about 8, then woke up a half hour later and decided to just get up and moving. Eric hadn’t called me back the previous night like he said he would, so that made me feel weird. Whatever, so Susan and I chatted about my trip and all manner of things that had transpired since I’d left and she accompanied me to the grocery store so we could continue our stories. When I got home Kassie called me to say that Justin wanted to take her out in his new Porsche and they were thinking of Issaquah and to get some breakfast and wanted to know if I was interested, so I said yes and that that would be convenient for when Dad called to meet up with us, which he did right after I got off the phone with my sister. Then Eric called and I told him I was feeling weird about him and what he wants to do and blah blah blah and he told me to not worry and stop being weird and that he would call me that night when he got off of work. Dad got to my house first so we just sat and chatted until Kassie and Justin got there. We looked at his Porsche then he let Dad and I drive it to Julia’s where we were having breakfast, it was so fun, and has some awesome pickup. We ate breakfast and talked for a long time, it was more like lunch at this point, but K and I had breakfast fare, and lots of it, so we’ll call it breakfast. When we finished we decided to drive (Dad, K and me) out to West Seattle to look at open houses for K to get some ideas and to see what’s out there. We saw some really good ones, and some really bad ones and finished up around 5:30. Dad dropped us back at Kassie’s and we said goodbye then K and I headed to Mom’s for dinner. We had a delicious meal then Mom and K looked at houses online and finally around 8:30 K took me home where Susan and I watched Desperate Housewives and I went to bed immediately thereafter.

It's going to be a long one...

Saturday 9/30, I got up at 9 to continue packing and get ready and clean up the condo. We rolled out at 9:45 and stopped at the little Boulangerie in GC and got two pain au chocolate and two Tarte aux Pommes then headed to FB to say goodbye to the boys. We sat in the car and ate our healthy breakfast then went over and said hello. We sat down and ordered some water and a pina for K and talked with the boys and got kisses from G, Ben and Roger and we told Roger about our bonne idée. We got pics with them and K smoked with some crazy Rasta with a natty dread beard. We sat with G while he ate some lunch but he wasn’t hungry and said his head was in the clouds and I think he was really sad to see us go and kept looking at K longingly, though I got a big kiss on the cheek. We paid Roger, gathered our things and began our good byes. First was Roger with kisses, then Guillaume with kisses and lastly Kali with a kiss on the hand. G took a shot in our honor and we took our last look then set off. We had to go through Marigot and it was crazy but finally made it to the rental car place where we got squared away, took the shuttle to the airport and let the process of finagling our ticket begin. The first girl couldn’t help us so K asked for a manager and she couldn’t do much more for us than put priority tags on our bags so they’ll hopefully come out first. We walked around a little before going through security then sat and looked through all our videos and pictures from the trip. When we boarded the plane it wasn’t full at all so we both moved up, me to an exit row all to myself and K to the one in front of mine. We talked to the flight attendant who laid out our entire course of action once we deplaned and was the only person who said “You guys can do this, if there are no lines at Immigration and Customs, and you don’t dally, it’s possible for you to do this” which got us both very excited, even though it was only 50 minutes to make an international connection. When the plane landed Kassie pushed her way all the way to the front of the plane and I was two people behind her, when the door opened the flight attendants were like “Go go!” so we were off running to Immigration. Had to wait in line there for about 5 minutes, but got through with no problems, then down to the baggage pickup where the priority tags didn’t do jack shit to get our bags out quickly, finally they did come and we were off through Customs with no line and zipped right through. This is where it got tricky because our bags were only checked to Atlanta so we couldn’t just put them on the conveyor belt and go to the gate to try and get on the flight, we had to find someone with a computer to put us on that flight and check our baggage to Seattle, the first woman told me to go to the Elite desk but the guy tried to tell me I had to wait in the line of 15 people with only 30 minutes to make the flight, but I told him “That lady over there told me to come to you” so he helped me, little did I know that woman didn’t even work for Delta, but he didn’t know that. He told me he couldn’t put us on that flight because he needs 45 minutes for the baggage to be transported, which exasperated me, so K comes over and says “No, that is not an option!” and I pointed out that another woman on the Seattle flight was just now putting her bag on the conveyor belt so why couldn’t we? which made him think for a second and then he began typing furiously and hand filling out baggage tags. I thanked him about 4 times then we were off and running again, through security we had to wait behind about 8 people but got through fine, then ran down the escalators to the train. Unfortunately we were in Concourse E and needed to get to A so we had many stops to go and only 15 minutes to do it. At D the doors wouldn’t close because people kept getting in the way and K yelled “Get out of the way!” and everyone turned around and looked at her but she didn’t care, and when we finally got close to A this girl moved aside without being asked to let us go by, I assume because she had heard K’s outburst. We ran up the escalator and luckily our gate was only 2 down and we made it. They were doing final boarding call and we just laughed and huffed and puffed from being out of breath, boarded the plane and actually sat behind the same girl we had sat next to on the original Atlanta flight. K and I watched The Breakup then Happy Endings on our little dvd player. We landed about 35 minutes early, though our baggage never made the flight so K had to finagle with the Delta people then Frank picked us up, dropped me off at my car, I drove home, opened some mail and checked myspace and crawled into bed around 12:30. It was a fantastic end to a fantastic trip.

Friday 9/29, I woke around 9:30 and went down and got a baguette for breakfast and got ready and G called right as K was getting out of bed and we made plans to pick him up at 11:30 to go swimming. One of my favorite things to do is get up earlier than K, put on a cd in the little boom box, sit out on our lanai and look at the bay or write in this. It’s just such a great way to start the day. We both got ready but were running a little late though we made some good time going the French side and ended up being only about 5 minutes late. We went to Mullet Bay, on the Dutch side, parked and walked across the golf course to the beautiful beach. There were some dogs running wild and I thought they belonged to this guy but he said no, then it kind of bit G on the arm, so we were trying to keep it away. I decided to hit the water and right as I got to the edge of the water the dog jumped up on my back and was trying to bite me but I was pushing it off and K and G came to my rescue and chased it off. We all got in the water at that point and were swimming and laughing. We would spend some time in the water then get out and lay on the sand and tan then repeat. We were there for maybe an hour and a half then decided to go back to the car and go get some lunch. G said he knew a good place to go. We went to Baie Rouge and ate at Chez Raymond right there on the beach. We all got fruity drinks and even had some extra free ones brought later, I think either G’s connection to Raymond or our waiter liking us sisters is responsible. For lunch I got the beef kabob and determined that in the Caribbean they really know how to prepare meat. It was so incredibly flavorful and juicy. I’ve never had anything like it. So, it was delicious, to say the least. K ordered bananas flambé but there was so much rum she made G eat it, so he put them in his frozen. Then some guy came over that G knows and K, G and this guy went off for an hour or something and smoked, and I had to fait du pee pee so bad that when they got back I insisted we take a swim. While sitting waiting for them I sat and looked at the ocean and enjoyed just being with my thoughts, it was beautiful and I was so sad it was our last day. We all took a swim and it was so beautiful. It was about 5:30 and the sun was setting and reflecting off the water and it was the perfect temperature out and the water as well. I was so sublimely happy, luckily I captured it on video. Then these two guys came up and were talking to K and me and asking all kinds of questions like who G was (I said our bodyguard) and if we have bfs at home, the one really liked me and I told K it was because I have a bigger butt. I wasn’t interested in talking anymore so I went back in the water to be with G and he said he didn’t know these guys and when K motioned with her hand like a phone I said that maybe she wanted to give the guys his phone number and he goes “She’s crazy, never way” like never, no way. It was really funny but we realized that she was signaling because his phone was ringing, so he got out and K got back in and told me the guys told her they know G but he was disrespecting them by not saying hi and he was jealous of them. She also said the one told her he loves his ladies long time and wants to come to the US to visit. Yikes. We decide to go then these two older guys dog G on the way out by asking if we were his sisters because they’d never seen him with girls before. We got in the car and G tells us the guys on the beach said they wanted to hang out with us and he was like “They’re right there, go for it” like they were talking a big game or something. We brought G back to his hotel and told him to call us in an hour and a half and set off and actually saw the two guys from the beach in their white van and tried to avoid eye contact and drive fast. We drove the French side back and I continued to feel so happy, thankful and appreciative of the beauty on SXM and tried to acknowledge and absorb every second I had left. As we descended into Oyster Pond we passed the hot cops I had seen earlier in their “Hot Cop Van,” like 5 of them seriously. So we see these two standing on the road and we’re driving by really slowly, with the windows down of course, and one of them says “Bon Soir” and we’re both like, at the same time, “BON SOIR!” they were so hot, but we didn’t stop, then 20 feet later, after the cop commotion, these 2 locals are walking down the hill so as we pass I say “Bon Soir” and they throw their hands up so K stops and we chat for a second then take back off and finally make it to our room. We showered and got ready and headed back out to meet G at 8:30 to get dinner. We drove back to Grand Case to get pizza and since they’d both smoked and G ate one of K’s “space cakes” apparently he was going to be out of it in a half hour or so. We went to this fancy pizza place and the waitress was a total bitch and when G asked if they didn’t have Perrier instead of what she brought us she looked right at K and said “Non!” we all laughed at that. I got a really good pizza with tomatoes and garlic and lots of other veggies but couldn’t eat it all, shame! We took off for Le Noche to get dessert and the place was hopping. We ordered two chocolate cakes and G was so out of it but he ate all of his and then zoned out. The peppy waitress brought three shots of rum but none of us wanted them and were looking for a receptacle of some kind to dispose of them but then G pounded them and I called him my hero. He was getting a little too touchy feely with K so I sent her to pay the bill. We took off and drove G back to his hotel and dropped him off because he had to work the next day and was totally loaded. We told him we’d see him tomorrow and took off back home via the Dutch side. K and I got in a tiff about what time to get up and we went to bed not talking to each other.

Thursday 9/28, I got up at 10:15, had breakfast, sat outside and read, etc. I woke K up a little after 11 because if we were going to meet Clifton at FB at 12 we had to get going. We got on the road and stopped in Grand Case at the little Creperie / Boulangerie we had seen the night before for a morning snack. K ordered a crepe that was a little gooey and I got a really good pain au chocolate that was the most buttery one I’ve ever had, basically it had butter dripping out of it, but it was delicious. We paid and drove to FB and K talked to G while I hit the water and found out Clifton never showed with his Jamaican weed so it didn’t matter that we were 45 minutes late. We swam and laid on the beach and K built a snow man but the enormous waves kept ruining it and shooting sand into our crotches. Some guy whistled at K and she got mad thinking it was the same creepy guy from yesterday who was lurking by the car, but I think it was the guys working on the swimming pool. She was all “Shut the fuck up”. The beach boy for the day was the usual bartender, Roger, and Ben was working the bar so we asked for virgin pinas and he told us to sit in the chairs so we did that and took pictures for a long time just drinking and enjoying the peacefulness of it, I paid our bill ($5 a piece for those drinks!) and said goodbye to G (Roger called me baby) and hit the road because I was bleeding all over and needed to get back. We stopped in GC again to pick up a baguette and it was so soft, yum. Got home and showered / cleaned up then ate the entire baguette with brie, butter and jam. K and I were marmot for a little bit then G called at 5:20 to say he was off work and our exchange was funny, I go “Hi!” in high pitched voice and he did it back “Hi Karrah!” so he knew it was me from my greeting. He didn’t know what was happening with his fadda and the lobstahs so he said don’t leave the hotel and he would call us back. K and I sat on the balcony and talked about where we wanted to go next year and explored the many possibilities and are going to see how things look with my raise. At 7 G still hadn’t called so K called him and told him we were leaving then to meet us at Buccaneer (K thought Buccaneer was a cowboy and G was like “No, comme pirate!”) so we hit the road and went to the ATM in Marigot then over to Nettle Bay to pick him up. First we went on a drug run and I was very nervous and just wanted to get the hell out but both K and G were telling me to calm down and G even told the fricken drug dealer that I was scared of the part of town we were in. Cripes. We got the Jamaican shit and went to his Dad’s to pick up the lobsters and see the operation he had going on. They were all in these Jacuzzi looking baths with a ton of lobsters crawling around and trying to escape. G caught the biggest one and we got some pictures but it started flailing about and lost some legs so he put it back. G was then running about collecting things for our beach BBQ while we played with the kitten, Vanille (“Je t’aime Vanille!”) and met his dad and gf who was afraid we were going to take her cat. Soon we were on our way to the gas station for some fuel for our fire which was just put in an empty water bottle, not the most legit of containers for gasoline, but I guess that’s island style. We went back to his place to use the beach there but decided on one a little farther down that had more light so we put stuff down and foraged for wood, but this isn’t the forest and there isn’t just scraps and logs of wood lying around so we start to head back to his dad’s for wood and also his dad calls just then to say we’d forgotten the lobster there. Finally we got back to the beach and G started putting the fire together and puts the gas on when it’s already lit so this enormous fire ball erupts and lights him on fire and he throws the bottle over to this area with brush so then the beach is on fire and shit’s burning everywhere so I start throwing sand on everything in a fury and K’s holding her coconut of weed just sitting and watching then two guys come over and thought G was an idiot and helped us put the rest of it out. After that I was a little frazzled and kind of just wanted to go home or out to eat. He cooked the lobsters (la langouste) and around 11 they were done and while he’d been doing that K and I had been coming up with phrases in English that we wanted G to translate such as: “Get your balls out of my face” and “What does that have to do with you having a girl friend?” or “How big is your yacht?” or “Tell that bitch to shut her mouth” and lastly “My sister thinks she’s a police officer” (that one’s Kassie’s). Some cats were milling about the lobsters and G told them he would piss in their faces if they tried anything then told them he would give them a big slap on their asses (luckily I got that one on video). We ate the lobster and rice and I ate a whole bunch even though I wasn’t crazy about it, but come on, I had to. We finished and cleaned up and went back to the car because K wanted ice cream and G thought Haagen Dazs might still be open, but it wasn’t so we went back to his dad’s to drop off all the stuff then dropped him at home and took the Dutch side home. It was late.

Wednesday 9/27, I woke up at 8:45 and ate breakfast then woke K up cause we wanted to get an early start on the Marigot Wednesday market. We drove down on the French side since that’s what we prefer despite taking a little longer and parked by the pier and walked through the stalls. We each bought this display box with local St. Martin seeds from a woman who makes them with her husband and she actually showed us all the seeds in a book, including the Flamboyant seed, so G was right, it is a plant. She also showed us the one called “Old Woman’s Tongue” because it’s a very noisy tree, which we thought was really funny. Next I fronted K money for an embroidery trimmed Peter Tosh tank top from a Rasta. We hit the Creperie next and got some food but because it was so fucking hot I said, “Fuck the fruit market, let’s go swimming” so we headed to Friar’s Bay. We snuck down into the water and just played and floated for about an hour before K went up to inquire whether or not they accepted credit cards because she wanted the chicken again, they said yes so she waved me in from the water, I came in and said hi to all the boys and Kali and we ordered the fun virgin pinas. At one point Kali snuck up on me and poked my side which made me jump and him laugh. We ate all our lunch and just sat talking, but when G tried to run K’s card it wouldn’t go through so I had to go to the car to get my purse and this guy was still sitting there, he’d already talked to both K and I on different occasions and creeped us both out, and asked me to bring him back a beer if it was ok, but I told him I didn’t know if it was. It was weird and I just wanted to get away from him so I hurried back down. While I was gone G put a lobster on K’s stomach and then it was my turn with him sneaking up and putting it on my back and then telling me to touch it, but I didn’t want to and told him to get it away from me. He told us his dad was “The big lobstah boss on de island.” G wanted to take a swim but we were going to leave so he asked us if we were very busy and had a lot to do, which is what would require us to leave so quickly, so we said ok, we’ll stay and swim even though we’d just eaten. We went out first and started calling his name in super high pitched voices “Guuillauuuuuume!” and he called back in the same voice “Just a miiiiinute, I’m cooooming” cause he was serving some women on the beach. He came out and we swam and talked for awhile and he gave us some suggestions for our fancy AP dinner and thought he was coming too but K told him it was just for us and we would meet up with him after and go out dancing. He tried it again so K told him he wasn’t going to dinner and he was all “Ok, that’s cool, no that’s cool” all pretend mad and getting out of the water so we laughed and called after him and all these people in the water were laughing as well, it was funny. We swam a little longer and I found a pretty greet heart rock for Chrystol. We were both searching rocks for a long time, but when I was in the surf this huge wave came up and pelted my feet and ankle with rocks and it was so painful my toe has a big cut on it and my ankle is all bruised up, boo! We said our final good bye to G with him saying he’s call us when he was done with work and took off for home. We showered and ended up both falling asleep and I had this weird dream both Mom’s were throwing me a surprise mock-wedding and I was mortified and didn’t want Eric to know or be invited because it was so fucking weird…they had a registry for me and everything. I finally got K up and moving around 6:30 then G called and we made plans to meet up at 10:30, left our place for Grand Case (pronounced Gran-Cause) at 7:30, found a really cool restaurant called Le Noche with a South Pacific vibe and a great waitress. Our dinner was amazing, for starters they bring you some veggies and warm delicious bread, then for the appetizer we ordered this red pepper and goat cheese salad but they deep fried the pepper in the cheese and it was so fucking good, the best goat cheese dish we’ve had on the island. For my entrée I got the beef filet with caramel sauce and veggie medley. K got the Asian inspired shrimp and chicken with veggies (her chicken was really good) then for dessert we got this molten chocolate and vanilla cake with ice cream and this white pepper sauce, which we ate in its entirety. We got our bill at 10 and paid then left for Marigot to pick up G, but just as we were dropping into Marigot I see this thing standing on the side of the road and my first thought was “Look at the high ass on that deer!” then realized it was a cow, RIGHT ON THE SIDE OF THE FUCKING ROAD INTO MARIGOT! As we pass it it moos so loud it scared the shit out of me and K and I laughed for about 10 minutes because the damn thing must have practically had its head in the window for it to have been as loud as it was. It was so random. The plan was to pick G up at the Buccaneer, across from the le Flamboyant. He was a little late arriving and went and parked his scooter then we headed off to the airport to hit the clubs. He gave us the low down on all the sights and finally we arrived, parked and went into Bamboo Bernies (BAM-boo). We went to the bar first and he bought us a water and we scoped out the situation. It’s an outdoor bar with swimming pool and lights strung up everywhere, totally cool. We found a corner to dance in right by the ocean. K and G danced and it was so cute, his hand was on her butt, all I could do was smile. Then this guy from Boston comes up and starts talking to me and he’s nice but I’m so not interested but he offers to buy us all drinks, including G, so that was nice (“Welcome to my island” bleh, shut it shorty). We all talk and dance for awhile then Boston leaves and says he’ll be back and Clifton, G’s friend and some guys show up and they all want to smoke so we go out to the pier and I saw a shark thrashing about a little way out, they all smoked and were surprised when I asked “Quelle heure?” and insisted I speak French from then on, but I refused. We went back in and Boston spotted us straight off and was like “Where have you guys been?” yuck, go away. Then he tried to dance with me all sultry style but I told him I didn’t want to but he persisted, then K stepped in and told him off (he had tried to grab her earlier and was looking down her dress, so she was already pissed off) so he finally left with hurt feelings, oh well. K and I really started dancing and the boys just stayed off to the side and watched. This older guy comes over and says something to me but I can’t understand but he won’t come repeat, then comes over again later and I still can’t understand because he blurts it out and flees so I yell “Quoi? I can’t understand you!” and finally he comes back over and asks us in English where we’re from and K says Seattle and he says we don’t look like Americans and he thought we were from Holland so that’s why he kept speaking to us in Dutch, which we both took as an enormous compliment. He then leaves but continues to smile at me for the rest of the night from across the dance floor. It started raining and it felt so good because it was so hot and we were all sweating like crazy. The three of us were just dancing to mid-90s tunes and that Basement Jaxx song about shaking that ass and having a good time but decided to go sit down for a few minutes so we got a little French lesson and decided to go. We found Clifton and friends (one with diamond braces, the other with eyeliner) and said goodbye. Everyone was looking at G like he was the man when we were leaving and the bouncer even gave him a special handshake as we exited. We dropped G back at his place, each got our 2 kisses, he told us sweet dreams and we were on our way home via the Dutch side because it was late and it would be quicker.

Tuesday 9/26, We got kind of a late start with me getting up first and having breakfast and updating this then woke K up and we got going. We were going to hit the rental car place to let them know our A/C stopped working and also that the radio didn’t work, luckily they exchanged it out with no hassle and we were on our way to Marigot. We hit the mall first (West Indies) and it was pretty small and all the women looked at us like we were either lepers or like we were going to steal something, but K showed some of them in the cosmetic shop a thing or two by buying the new Marc Jacobs perfume and some pricey after sun cream. Next we looked for a place to have lunch and passed by all these guys that get taxis for you and they were all like “You sisters?” seriously, all of them, then one says “Twins? Twins?” we say no and he says “I need one of you for my wife” and since K’s the hippie she can have him because he’s got dreads. We finally found a place with a cute bartender and a nice waitress where I got the pesto and balsamic goat cheese tomato salad and it was so good especially on such a hot day. It was fucking roasting. I also got a few pictures of those vans. Finally. We finished there and walked back to the car, headed out of Marigot (a way we hadn’t been yet) and down to Friar’s Bay to swim, cool off and say hi to Guillaume. We slipped into the water unnoticed and swam for a long time and also went to the bathroom. K stated that she was peeing for like the 5th time and I said “Only #2 for me” then started laughing so hard because I didn’t mean it how it sounded and the thought of pooping in that beautiful water was hilarious. We laughed for a long time over that one. Finally we got G’s attention and he said he would be back to chat but we were kind of making plans for the evening. Back on our side I was playing in the water by myself and at one point got my feet swept out from underneath me and fell then got tossed around in the waves and on the rocks like a fucking rag doll, luckily K saw and laughed her ass off and thankfully no one else did, I don’t think, especially G. It was mortifying and painful but I wish I could have had it on video because that shit would have been hilarious to watch. I keep replaying it in my head and cracking up. I’ve got battle wound on my back to remember it by at least, because I’m pretty sure it’s going to leave a scar. We were up on the sand just relaxing and sunning ourselves when G snuck up behind us and scared the shit out of me but quickly returned to work. Pretty soon we were out of the water for good. We went and talked to G who said he would come back and give us his phone number so we gathered our things and Ben came over and gave me 2 kisses on the cheeks and G came back and we exchanged phone #s and he’s staying at the Flamboyant Hotel (which he told us was a plant but we didn’t believe him) and we said we’d talk to him later and headed back and got a baguette at Mom and Pops for an afternoon snack. Ate most of that then I read and K fell asleep on the couch. I woke her and we decided to walk and check out the restaurants but Beau Beau’s was closed and Daniel’s (Mr. Busby’s) was too expensive for what we wanted, despite his trying to cajole us into eating there, so we drove over to the marina but that was expensive as well, so we decided to just drive until we found a good opportunity, which came in the form of Le Taitu, which was a French / Creole place. We each got a salad and shared the Creole chicken, both were tasty. While we were waiting for our entrée the power went out and all over, not just the restaurant, and it was really romantic with just the candles, then it came back on after about 10 minutes then it went out again for about 10 minutes after that for 5 minutes. For dessert we had this chocolate / vanilla ice cream with hot fudge and whip cream that was amazing. We paid and came home to find the message light blinking on the phone and two messages from G and we had just missed him but couldn’t figure out how to call him so K went down to the front desk and while she was gone he called again and I talked to him until K got there but before we could make concrete plans to go out his phone disconnected and we figured out that since he’s got a French # it’s considered an international call from the Dutch side. So we watched Igby Goes Down instead and went to bed around midnight.

Monday 9/25, We set the alarm for 8:30 so we could get up and ready, find breakfast and meet David by 9:30 at Friar’s Bay. We got pain au chocolate at Mom and Pops where the guy told us we could call ahead to reserve pastries any morning and gave us a business card, we both found this idea to be hilarious, and then set out on our way. When we got there both Guillaume and Benjamin said David had forgotten he had to work that morning at some organic farmer’s dock or something and had asked the boys to tell us he was sorry he was missing our “rendezvous”. We chatted with them for a minute and got directions to Happy Beach and reassured them we would be back for lunch and set off down the beach. We started to walk up to the rocky coast because K insisted David told her that was the way but I was sure Ben had said you have to take a trail by the red sign, so we start to go to the rocks and this woman in the water yells at us asking where we’re going and that to get to Happy Beach you must take the trail, so we start following this semi-trail through some dense woods and super tall grass whipping us in the face and arms just waiting for an ax murderer to pop out but none did. Duh. Finally we come across this little beach and take a trail down and jump into the turquoise water. We both shed our tops and just played in the totally secluded and private beach. We joked Kali had a cam there and was filming us. We floated on our backs listening to the underwater crackling sounds and eventually found ourselves back closer to shore talking about sex and number of partners. It started to rain a little but only lightly and for a few minutes so we stayed in the water and rode it out. We got lots of pictures then decided to walk back and get lunch and hang on the beach with the cute boys. As we’re walking the trail back we run into David who is exasperated and all sweaty and had gone back and forth from Happy Beach three times looking for us, but couldn’t find us because we weren’t at HB, apparently it was farther down from where we were, whoops. So we chatted about Kali and his wife on the way back down and finally made it, put our stuff down and jumped back in the water with David. G came out and talked with us too and said he could see us from the beach and called us “les deux filles blanche” then said he would bring us drinks after I caressed his arm suggestively and said “Pleeeease?” he was like, ok, for you but not David. He’s so cute with his French / Rastafarian accent, adorable! K and I both want to make out with him. He went back in and we stayed in the water for awhile then decided to lay in the sun, so we took up some of Kali’s beach chairs and didn’t have to pay and K and I took turns on the one in the sun, then Ben brought out 2 delicious non-alcoholic drinks for us which we later learned G had bought us. I rubbed K down but not very well and she got a blotchy burn. D and I went back in the water and G came out to ask me which sides I wanted with my chicken and said it would be ready at 1:00. Then K came back out and D (who used to play “American football” in Canada) taught us some exercises for the water and after laughing hysterically for awhile it started to rain and G runs out to the edge of the surf and says “Rain, come in!” then turned around and walked off which made all of us laugh so hard, and we proceeded to repeat throughout the day. We headed up to the beach to get ready for our lunch. We moved our stuff to a table, got some pictures of the boys and waited for our super fantastic meal to arrive. We were not disappointed and our meal was as good as before, except better because this time we each had our own. K and I each cleaned our plates and we just sat and kept talking with the boys and G is going to give us a strip tease in a banana hammock on Friday, his day off. We paid our bill after G gave us some little cookie pieces and we kind of made plans to hang out on Thursday night and Friday with them again but basically just told them we’d be back later in the week to Kali’s and we’d get in touch then. We drove back and saw 2 horses just grazing right next to the road, no fence, nothing, so we took some pics and continued on home. We showered and got ready to go to Philipsburg to do some shopping and set off. It took us awhile to find parking but we were soon cruising the shops and there are soooo many jewelry shops it’s overwhelming, but I was on a mission to find new sunglasses and eventually settled on some $100 gold rimmed Ray Ban aviators. We walked back to the car and drove to Le Grand Marche to do some light grocery shopping for the essentials: baguette, brie, butter, jam, strawberries, cereal and milk then drove the 20 minute trip home. We killed the baguette then I read Whale Rider and we eventually decided to watch Alfie and went to bed when it was over. Probably about 11:30.

Sunday 9/24, I woke up around 7:30 but went back to bed (was also awakened in the middle of the night by someone blasting rap from their car in addition to the crazy heat) then woke up again at 9:30 and tried to get K up but was not successful so I got ready and went down to the Shipwreck Shop, bought a beach towel, some postcards and stamps. Came back and got her up and going with news that the wind was blowing and that meant the surfers would be out. That got her going. We did postcards then hit “Mom and Pops” for some breakfast fare. Drove up to Orient Beach after hearing it had the best beach (it was after 11:00 at this point) and is also where our waiter from the previous night lives, so after getting turned around a few times we found it. We unloaded the car and headed down, passed like 5 cute guys working the water sports cabana and walked down the beach to find a good spot for tanning. We went in the beautiful water for a little bit then laid out and scoped out guys. K went topless of course and some Portuguese guy asked a jewelry vendor to ask her if he could take a picture of her…she said no. He was fat and nasty. Around 12:15 we decided to leave to go to Kali’s at Friar Bay (a suggestion of waiter’s for good live music on Sundays for lunch). 2 of the guys in the water sports cabana walked by as we were packing up and I said hi, they said hi back, but nothing manifested, we left, though extremely sandy. On our way we passed 3 guys hitchhiking so K pulls over and a guy around our age, a younger guy and a little surfer looking kid pile in and tell us how to get to Friar Bay and we dropped them on the side of the road and headed down this little road which eventually turned dirt and led us right to Kali’s Beach Bar on the beach. We got dressed, headed in (took some pictures too), and got seated in this beautiful setting. All the wait staff were cute guys minus Kali, the Rastafarian owner, and we were greeted very warmly. Wink wink. Our waiter was David (pronounced Da-Veed, yes, he’s French) and he was really nice, helpful and would chat with us for long intervals. Kali would sit and chat as well and sat at one point for about 20 minutes and then through our desert (Bananas foster or “flambé”). For lunch we shared a roasted red pepper stuffed overwhelmingly with goat cheese and for the main we had the most delicious chicken kabobs, they were so juicy and flavorful…we vowed right then to come back. David tried to give us some rum after lunch though I thwarted him from pouring mine. There was another super cute waiter who was full of pep always saying hi, singing, running around with no shoes on, just a happy go lucky guy…or maybe he just had ADD. It started raining and Kali moved our table undercover, finally we got our bill, paid and started out. Kali stopped us first to make sure we would be coming back, then David, who invited to take us to a secluded swimming beach at 9:30 the next morning and we invited the cute friend too (he kissed K’s hand) but he said he was working, “But not on Fridays!” Oooh. It was pouring by this point so we ran to the car and started back home, though we were held up momentarily by a 2’ iguana in the middle of the road. We made it back despite huge puddles of standing water on the road in many places and our car throwing a fit several times. I showered and laid around then we finished our movie (not that good – Elizabethtown). Around 7:15 we left to go back to Orient Bay for dinner but stopped by the pool first to see what all the noise was about, drove there and went to this Safari Café and shared the asparagus risotto and hot chocolate cake. K’s napkin blew right toward this guy who had been making eyes at us for a while from the bar. We paid and as we were driving away him and his friends were waving us back but we drove away. Stopped by Mom and Pops for some snacks, ie donuts, then up to our place to watch Match Point.

Saturday 9/23, We landed at 6:00 am in Atlanta and found our concourse but decided to explore other concourses to find breakfast food, found a place but the food was terrible so we were both unsatisfied and went back to our gate. K fell asleep on the floor and I was freezing so I went and got a hot chocolate. Finally it was time to board and luckily our plane wasn’t full so we got the row to ourselves and both fell asleep again before we even took off. The first flight was 4.5 hours and this one was 3h 45m and I slept for probably half of it, seriously the best ever. As we were coming in for our landing we both got really excited because it looked beautiful. When I stepped off the plane the heat hit me like a brick, especially since I was wearing a long sleeved thermal, jeans, socks and shoes. We went through customs, which entailed handing over our passports and getting a stamp, and my first order of business was to get my tank top on. I waited in the bathroom line forever and by the time I got out our bags had come so we went out and boarded the shuttle to the rental car place. I put K in charge of bags again and I went in to get in line which totally worked because I was second in line out of about 7 or 8 people. The guy pulled our car up and K was like “Are you kidding?” so we piled into our little “roller skate” and started on our way to the condo. The car has no power but we made it despite some very tricky directions. St. Maarten / St. Martin is a very poor place, poverty I mean, though I haven’t really felt threatened at all and I want to check out crime stats because I don’t think it’s very high. So we find Oyster Bay Beach Resort, got checked in and the cutest little guy (well he was actually very tall, but, you know) helped us to our condo and even carried both of our big bags up to the third level where the breeze was delightful. We each tipped him and he said to call if we needed anything. The place is open, clean and nice, not luxurious, but it’s nice and has a fabulous view of the marina and surrounding estates. We both showered and decided to get ready and head to Marigot, which is on the French side and across the island. K drove and we found it fairly easily. Luckily there are signs everywhere telling us where to go. We drove through but continued on until we realized we were very far from where we wanted to be (Nettle Bay) so we turned around, parked by a Boulangerie, each got a pain au chocolate and started exploring. Found some cute restaurants and the first one had some very nice waiters so we said we’d come back after looking around the marina. Some French guy told K she spoke French well then we went back. They sat us and we started talking. The one gave us some tips and a map for places to go and eat. We got a Margarita pizza and 4 fromage pasta. Both were delicious and they tried to get us to drink a shot of their homemade rum (“It’s tradition!” we later found out at EVERY place we went!). They also gave us each a virgin welcome cocktail which I think was some fancy fruit drink. We got some pictures then headed back to the car and home. We put a movie on but couldn’t make it more than about 10 minutes watching so turned in around 9:00.

Friday 9/22, Work was kind of a fiasco but I still got to leave work early so it was ok, went home and packed more / got nervous / just hung out / etc. Finally left for Mercer Island at 7:00 and sat in traffic trying to get to Grandma and Grandma’s to park and sat talking to Grandpa until 8 when Kassie and Frank (Frassie) picked me up. Got to the airport with no problems, got checked in and found the bagel place still open so we each got some good food and went to our gate. We hit the newsstand place to get candy, snacks and magazines then waited by our gate again. Called Dad then Kay-See and heard about her potential new living situation. We boarded, I took a Benadryl to help with sleep and we both pretty much fell asleep right away though these two screaming kids kept waking everyone up but I probably got about 2.5 hours of sleep anyway, which is more than I think I’ve ever gotten.