And a creepy bunny.

I love thrift stores. Not all the time, but when the mood strikes me, I literally walk around the isles of junk with a big happy grin on my face, covertly boogying to the late 70's tunes playing on the loudspeaker. Tonight I decided I have waaaay too many old, out of style clothes that do not fit me anymore in my closet. I felt the need to purge my throwbacks to 1992 mormon fashion and donate it back to that church that brought out the puffy sleeved floral dresses with doily collars (yes, I wore it). I took 8 boxes of clothes to the good ole' Deseret Industries. Or as us cool kids like to call it, the D.I.

Not only did it feel great to get rid of all that old clothing, to make room for new clothes - from this decade, but it also gave me a great excuse to shop there. As I was cleaning my closet I made myself a pact that I would no longer buy clothing from them, unless it was for costume or camping purposes. Seeing as how I donated back almost all of the fashionable goods I bought there on my last trip.

In this shopping trip, I found myself, as always, entranced by the book, nic nac, and kitchenware departments. I spent the majority of my time in the book section and learned 3 things.

a: People don't donate the classics. They keep them on their bookshelves to look pretentious and smart. (I know because I do it too)

b: People donate lots and lots of self help books. See point A. No one wants "A Woman Approaching an Emotional Breakdown" visible in her reading material on the first fateful night she invites the man in for 'coffee' (translation - she wants to get some).

c: There are treasures among these books, if you have a sense of humor and are willing to crouch on the dirty floor with your neck cranked sideways to read all the titles. I found a 1962 copy of "The Art of Homemaking" published by Deseret Book. You can be damn sure you'll be seeing awesome upcoming posts from that gem. And I'm hoping it might shed light on why LDS women tend to end up so f*cked up sometimes. I'm excited to read.

Along with a stack of 12 wonderful books, I also found a gigantic green pitcher for $2, a purple and blue piggy bank (which the cashier complimented me on having such great taste for picking out) and to top it all off, a seriously creepy looking pink ceramin bunny. All for $18 and a much cleaner and more organized closet. A very excellent evening.

Next week I'm driving to Mom's house to donate the wedding dress. It's high time. Hopefully it brings the next bride a lot more luck.

Gettin' Down!

After all the saddness yesterday, I felt the need to do something nice for my man. And what does a man appreciate more than a woman getting down in the kitchen and making him an excellent meal of meat and potatoes?

Now my man can cook. I mean he can really, really cook. He makes this pizza that literally makes me salivate just thinking about it, and he's from NY, so he knows his pizza. I have tried to cook him little things here and there. They usually come from a mix, a can, or the frozen foods section. It's not that I can't cook, it's just that I don't. I've been telling him that for over a year, and last weekend he said he was starting to doubt me.

I found a recipe on allrecipes.com, an excellent site for Chicken Cordon Bleu, with a white wine cream sauce. It seemed daunting with the white wine sauce, but it also sounded tasty and fancy, and just the ticket.

I printed off the recipes, made my grocery list and off I went. I was feeling sort of overwhelmed at the grocery store, wondering "can I really pull this off?" I'd talked it up so much, that I had to perform. It was a success. I felt all bad ass in the kitchen with my great-grandma's pink apron on and making a big mess of flour, oil, chicken, cheese, and olive oil. But ooh, it was yummy!!

John showed up at the perfect moment as I was pulling the chicken out of the pan, and starting to make the sauce. I was in full cook mode, and I was on it! The sweet man brought me a dozen roses, then proceeded to watch in awe as his girlfriend of 14 months did something he'd never witnessed before, and was starting to think not possible.

The meal was a great success, topped off with garlic red mashed potatoes and french cut green beans. He said he'd keep me. (he would've anyway, I am pretty sure)

Don't read this if you don't feel like crying.

http://itotallyforgotyougohere.blogspot.com/

I don't know this girl, but after reading her blog, I feel like I do. I had actually looked at this a while ago, on one of those bored days at work where you needed something, anything to pass the time. I hadn't looked at it in a while, but today I revisited it, and my heart broke. She's a friend of a good friend (Adrianna), but I can't help but see myself in her.

She's had a year much like the year I had in 2007-2008. I think I remember originally reading this and feeling like I was a year or so ahead of her, and knowing that she would not only make it through the pain and loneliness and heart-ache that a divorce can bring, but that she would find strength and happiness and joy that she had never imagined. I read a few of her posts at the time and remember having the exact same experiences that she did, and feeling the same emotions she was unselfishly sharing with us all. I admired her and knew that she had so much joy ahead of her, once she made it through the crap of it all.

As I read back on past posts that I'd missed today I see that we've had a lot in common, it makes me sad I didn't follow her closer and maybe even become her friend. But today's posts just broke my heart to pieces. I was just thinking this weekend how happy I am. How far I've come. I have been through a lot of pain and heartache too in the last year or so, but I've learned so much and feel like I can finally let myself enjoy my progress, let that wonderful man love me, and not be afraid to be with him, to fully and completely be with him.

I think she had just gotten to that point too, and he was taken from her. My heart breaks into a million pieces when I think about that happening to the wonderful man that I love. It breaks to the point where I want to run to him at this moment and handcuff him to myself and never let him leave my side again. I let the thought of something tragic happening to him enter my head as he flew to NY last week, but brushed it aside quickly, not wanting to even go there.

Kirsten is there. I know there is nothing in this world that can make her feel better, nothing other than having him back, which cannot be. My heart just breaks.

Stolen From Adri

What is your current obsession? John. Yes, I broke up with him, then 2 months later begged for him back. He took me back. Since we’ve been back, all the hesitation from before is completely gone, and has been replaced with a (self defined) healthy amount of obsession for the man.
What do you hate the most that everybody else seems to love? The hipster scene. Maybe it’s my lack of hip that causes me to lash out at this group, but I can’t deny it, I hate it. Like all fads, the so named “cool-unaffected” group is the most affected of all. I really have a hard time being in Sugarhouse for longer than a few hours before I want to smear bacon grease on all the gauged eared vegan hipster-fucko’s.
What are you wearing today? Jeans, polo shirt and Birkenstocks. I’m comfy, that’s all I was going for.
What's for dinner? Tomato and Mayo samich and asain cabbage salad. I’ve been instructed to eat all the tomatoes that John left me from his garden, there’s a lot of them. I’m doing my bestest.
What would you eat for your last meal? Cheese and crackers - white sharp cheddar from VT and the nummy triscuits that I can’t remember the flavor of right now.
What's the last thing you bought? A fan for my living room and Mikes Hard Pomegranate Lemonade (my new favorite summer treat).
What are you listening to right now? Pandora radio, right now Alison Kraus is playing, I likes her, she makes me want to learn to fiddle and move to the Appalachians.
What do you think of the person that tagged you? Haha, no one tagged me, I took this on myself. The boss is out and I’m extremely low on motivation. But I did steal it from Adrianna, and I think she's pretty awesome.
If you could have a house, fully paid for, and totally furnished anywhere in the world, where would it be? Right now? Ireland, on the coast by the village of Killarney, but it would be a cottage and would be furnished with sheeps.
What is one of your hobbies? Photography, although I don’t do nearly enough with it and I need to learn to edit my pictures better.
What are 3 things that annoy you most?
-Grumpy co-workers that pound on their desks when they are angry. Relax!
-Produce that turns slimy too quickly in my fridge.
-The girl that stocks our break room at work, because she never remembers the green tea, but always remembers the nasty apple cinnamon tea. Eew.
What is your favorite color? I own lots of red and orange things, I’m attracted to warm colors.
What is your favorite piece of clothing in your wardrobe? My new Yellowstone hoodie with the Buffalo on it. I’m sad it’s way too hot to wear it.
What is your dream job? Sheep herder in Ireland.
Describe your personal style. Haha, me? Stylish? I just try to be comfy and not look like too much of a slouch.
What are you going to do after this? My job… maybe.
What is your favorite "happy hour" at Sonic? I’ve never been to a happy hour at Sonic, or even to a Sonic that I can remember. But I saw on their commercials that they have Cherry Limeade. That sounds nice.
What inspires you? Nature, people that are true to themselves, children, bluegrass music.
Who was the last person you kissed? Harvey – he’s a person in my book.
What are you currently reading? Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and No Man Knows My History.
What delighted you most today? A voicemail from John, I was sad I missed the call, but very happy to hear his voice. He’s in NY and hasn’t had cell coverage for the last 2 days. I’ve been sort of a crazy obsessed woman. (see question 1)
By what criteria do you judge a person? If they are down to earth or not. Fake, pretentious, and self-righteous people turn me off quick. I don’t care who you are, as long as you are genuine.