I Got An M&M!

I know, I know. I haven't posted in two weeks. Okay, fine, longer than that.

The day after my last post, I got two very nice surprises. The first was a beautiful bouquet of flowers delivered to my office; the second was the sender of those flowers calling to tell me he had an unexpected three-day weekend and that he was flying up to see me! Eee!

Greg and I spent a lot of time together this summer, but we were busy most of that time. Our unexpected weekend visit was exactly what we both needed before a crazy fall: quiet, relaxing time together.

Greg arrived Saturday morning around eleven. We got deli sandwiches from Gristedes to eat in Central Park. Grey clouds were looming overhead by the time we finished our lunch, so we headed back to my apartment. We spent the afternoon playing Monopoly in the living room, laughing with my roommate as she went nuts over a football game. We had dinner at a resturant called Fetch, which is just a block or two down Third. We took a walk after dinner, then curled up on the couch to watch "Love Actually."

We took a train to Larchmont the next morning and spent the day sailing on Morning Glory. It was probably the last time I will sail on that boat (and with Carl) for a very long time, so it made it even nicer that Greg was there.

After dinner with my parents, we headed back into the city for more movie time before he left the next morning.

It may have been just an M&M, but this visit was therepeutic for both of us. Low-stress, lots of together time, all-around ahhhh!

"One Minute, Please. I'll Be Right Back..."

"Excuse me for a minute, I'm just going to go over there and yell and scream about something completely unrelated to what you just told me."

Does anybody else ever feel like saying that to someone? Or telling them to their face that they just made your life more difficult?

I am more than happy to help out with finding crew for Morning Glory. Well, happy... ish... sometimes. Okay- actually, it makes me nuts, but I do it because it helps Carl out, and I simply adore Carl.

I tried using a web form at the beginning of the season to sign people up. Then I e-mailed. Then I picked up the phone and called people. Do you have any idea how long it takes to leave the same voice message for 40 people? How about 60? Sometimes I can ask in person on the boat or the Yacht Club lawn, but nobody ever has a calendar then.

I really don't like harassing people from April through October to just arrange for five or six people to be on the boat- it seems like it should be so unnecessary! And how does it always happen that once plans are finally set, people always bail at the last minute! GRRR!!!

Take the phone conversation I had a few minutes ago. I've been calling this couple for about a month to get them on board for the American Yacht Club Fall Series. I spoke to the wife, who told me that they would be very interested in signing up for both weekends, but that she would check with her husband and get back to me in a day or two. When I didn't hear from them, I left several messages over about a week. I finally reached the husband early this week- they had been out of the country. Whatever. So he says that they'll probably both be able to sail and that he'll call me in a few hours to confirm. Well, long story shorter, I left a few more messages when I didn't hear back (again!), and I finally got hold of him this morning. He will be able to sail one day each of the two weekends. His wife? Well, she's pregnant and won't be able to sail at all.
It's great that she's pregnant, but YOU DIDN'T KNOW THIS ON MONDAY?!?! GRRRRR!!!

Anyway, yeah, so- if anybody wants to sail this weekend, let me know. Especially if you're a tactician. Right.

Anyway, I'm meeting my Mom and Kathryn (the lady making my dress) at Saks tomorrow around lunch time to look at veils and talk about bridesmaids dresses. Should be fun!

Is It Friday Yet?

How is it that Tuesdays always seem to drag more than any other day of the week? I guess you go in to work on Monday expecting a long day, and you usually wind up thinking about your weekend at least a bit, so it works out okay. Wednesday is a happy half-way point- if you can just get to the end of the day, it's like you're almost at the end of the week. By Thursday, your weekend plans are in swing, and Friday is a breeze. It's just Tuesdays that draaaaaag. Uck.

So, I haven't posted in a few days because my life has been pretty uneventful. If it's boring to me, I can't imagine it's interesting to you. However, recent highlights have included:

--Friday night dinner with Lynn and Bob Hughes (Kate's parents.) Always a good time. And hey!- it turns out Lynn reads my blog! (Hi, Lynn!)

--Went shopping with Mom on Saturday. Hadn't really planned on buying much other than a new pair of jeans and maybe a sweater, wound up with three shirts, two sweaters and no jeans.

--Slept until one o'clock on Sunday. That was awesome.

I'm now in the market for a cheap acoustic guitar, preferably one with nylon strings. My Dad's been letting me play his 1970's steel string guitar, which is really nice, but it's too big for me and my fingers aren't nearly strong enough to play it. I'm hoping something with a narrower neck and closer frets will help solve the problem, so a-Craig's-Listing I go.

I put a bunch of stuff on my calendar for the next several weeks, including Pre-Cana with Greg (oh, more on that later!), a trip to Annapolis, cake tasting, and listening to bands for the reception. All it takes is one weekend of down-time to drive me to book myself silly for two months.

So, then Carl Olsson called about sailing. Um, right. I completely forgot the sport existed. Whoops! Just last year, sailing occupied all my free time- nearly every weekend from April through October that wasn't spent with Greg was spent with Carl racing on Morning Glory. I absolutely adore Carl and his wife Mary, and I've missed spending time with them. What I haven't missed, however, is finding crew for the boat. Ah well, only a few more months and I'm off the hook.

In other news, yes, I'm the moron who accidentally deleted all the music off her iPod. Yes, all of it. So. Yeah. Guess it's time I learned to use this thing. I finally figured out how to update files manually- that will be a big help. Now I just need to import all my CDs again. Oye.

Think that's about it for today. Quick- somebody post a comment!

It's Too Darn Hot!

God only knows what I was thinking today when I decided to come out to my parents' house in New Rochelle to do laundry. Actually, I know exactly what I was thinking: they were taking me out for dinner! What I failed to consider, though, is that my apartment is air conditioned. My parents' house is not.

When I mentioned this to someone a few weeks ago, they responded with something to the effect of "yeah, we don't have central air either." "No," I explained, "we don't have air conditioning." "You mean you just have window units?" "No, we actually don't have any air conditioning at all." (I thought this was pretty easy to comprehend, but maybe I was wrong.) "Then what do you use?" the friend asked. "We have fans." "Just fans?" "Yes, just fans."

So yes, I grew up in a house without AC. In fact, my first summer at TargetCast (2004) was the first time I had ever been exposed to this otherwise ubiquitous modern amenity for any continuous period of time that lasted longer than a trip to a mall or an occasional sleep-over. And I hated it. I hated getting head colds in the summer; keeping a fleece blanket over the back of my desk chair like all the other assistant planners in the icy cube block.

I sailed all summer long for 17 years growing up and enjoyed the warm air. If you got too warm, you simply scooped up some of the cool, refreshing Long Island Sound in your hat and put it right back on your head. Or better yet, you could jump in! (Maybe someday I'll discuss my reflexive eye-roll when someone pontificates about how disgusting the Sound is... I love it.)

Anyway, my Mom's car has AC, but why use that when you can just roll down a window? Or for that matter, why pay to have your house turned into a refrigerator when you can put screens on the windows and doors and turn on a fan? There were usually only 2 or 3 nights a year that it was too warm to get to sleep easily, and then you could always sleep on the back porch couch! Fresh air, people!

Now then. Okay, Lizzie, down off that old-fashioned, self-righteous soapbox and come to grips with the reality of the situation. It's really hot outside. Which means that, at least at our house, it's really hot inside. The kind of heat that makes you aware that even the backs of your knees can sweat.

So here I sit in my parents' kitchen, dreading the inevitable temperature climb that comes with climbing the stairs to my bedroom. All this for a cheeseburger and 2 loads of laundry. Ah well- the heat is bound to break soon, and when it does, I'll be back in my office with my fleece. Until then, I guess I'll just have to turn up the fan!