Suggestions?

Okay, I know I've been gone for a while, but I'm still too tired to give an update and I promise to do that tomorrow. But, I have a question for everyone:

The Swimmer's birthday is in a couple of weeks and I still have no clue what to get him. He has plenty of clothes, cologne, movies, music, etc. Can't find a good concert to get him tickets to and he already gets football and basketball tickets from work. Any ideas? This is impossible! I don't want to spend too much money, not more than $150, since we already spend so much money flying to see each other. Every gift I can think of, when I think if he got me a similar gift, I would be pissed. Example: I can think of a book he would like, but if he got me a book for my birthday, I'd be so pissed.

I'm already planning on decorating his room with birthday decorations while he's at work on his actual birthday, but I need to think of a gift. HELP!

Questions. . .

Well, I had a delightful weekend playing the Wii and relaxing. I managed to restrain myself from playing too much, for fear that I would get "Wiiitis." Yes, that is a real thing.

Anyways, off to LA in just a couple of days to see The Swimmer and I can't wait. I just hope that my flare up of my stomach condition calms down before then because it would not be fun traveling on the stomach I have had for the past few days. Positive thinking though and hopefully I will be all better before Thursday. And. . . it looks like I will be meeting his family some time this weekend. His grandma and mother ask about me all the time and they want to meet me, so it will be happening. Luckily I don't think it will be a full-on sit down dinner with them, so that definitely alleviates a lot of the pressure. I'm sure I'll be nervous anyways just because I want to make a good impression since he is pretty close with them and I'm sure their opinion of me will mean a lot to him. SO.... that is just one of the things this weekend holds for me!

I will be seeing The Professional on Wednesday, so that will be good for before I go to LA. I'm sure The Professional will be happy to hear that when I told The Swimmer I had a panic attack last week and I called my Mom, he told me that I can also call him too if I wanted to. And, hearing that my stomach thing is flaring up, he told me that he wishes he were here so he could take care of me, snuggle me and make me tea and toast so I'll feel better. He's so sweet! I think he's a keeper! OH! AND! He also brought up the whole, "How many kids do you want" question today. I was shocked and pleased that I didn't have to bring that up. He asked it by saying if I would be able to deal with the morning sickness and all with pregnancy and when I laughed about it, he said something about having five children, I was like, "What?!" He said he was just kidding and asked how many kids I want. I told him one or two and asked him how many he wants and he said two or three. If he had been serious about five, that definitely would have warranted a serious discussion about how serious he is about that, because I am certainly not going to bear five children, no thank you! And trust me, even knowing he wants two or three, there will still be much discussion (not right now though) about how he plans on raising those kids, etc. Because I will certainly not be a little housewife spending all of my time with the kids, it MUST be 50/50 and a total partnership. Anyways, that's all for now, I'm exhausted!

Wii Mission Accomplished

So, I was successful in getting a Wii yesterday and I have to say that the hour and a half I waited was totally worth it. The first 15 minutes I was playing with it, I couldn't stop laughing because it is so different than any other video game I've ever played. And time really does fly when you're playing it, I think I played for over 3 hours yesterday and I have to say, no wrist weights or anything was needed. I am so sore today. Both biceps are sore and my whole right arm is sore. That boxing game is such a workout. I actually looked up online how many calories you burn playing it and found that it's about 500 calories per hour playing the boxing game if you really get into it, like I was. That's amazing! Some guy lost about 10 pounds in 6 weeks playing his Wii for a half hour each day! Crazy!

A Confession. . .

Okay, so, here it goes, I'm going to confess something. . .

I want a Wii.

There, I said it. I know that I am in my mid-20s, so I shouldn't want to, but I want to buy a Nintendo Wii. It looks like it would be a ton of fun and something that I could quite possibly find myself playing at 3am in my underwear because I just can't stop. Here's the problem, unless I'm willing to pay the normal retail price, they are impossible to find. Yes, I have called 3 local Best Buys, 3 local Targets, the local Toys R Us and the only local Wal Mart and they are nowhere to be found. Toys R Us got some on Sunday, but sold out within an hour. Today, I called a local video game store and the guy told me they just got some in. He couldn't tell me how many, so I told him I was on my way. By the time I got there, just 10 minutes later, he was sold out. Craziness. He said that they are probably getting some in tomorrow, so I should call again tomorrow.

So, here's my plan. . . I have an oh-so-fun "women's doctor" appointment at 8:30am. The video game store opens at 10am and I plan on being there when it opens or shortly after. I will stand there until the shipment comes in at about 11am. If I do all of that waiting and there is no shipping, I will be pissed. That will be my one try and after that, I won't make another attempt to buy one until the shortage is over.

I know. I feel slightly ashamed that I will be going to those lengths to get a Wii. But just think of the hours of endless entertainment I could have not only alone, but with friends over! And, if I buy some wrist weights or use my exercise bands, I could get a great little workout playing the boxing game.

That's all about the Wii for now. . .

I'm off to LA next week to visit The Swimmer and I'm very excited about it. He wants me to meet his family and I feel good about it. I told him I'd be nervous, but he said I have no reason to worry, that they are going to love me. He also told me on the phone the other night that I'm his best friend. That was really sweet, I could feel myself blush and get a little jolt of adrenaline. He's so caring and open with me, it feels amazing. In addition to calling me on his lunch break, on his drive home from work and then before I go to sleep, he has started calling me on his drive in to work in the morning. He first did this yesterday and told me that he just wanted to hear my voice first thing in the morning and wishes I was there with him every morning and every evening. Sigh.....

Well, that's all for now, time for me to relax since I didn't finish work today until almost 9pm. . .

Step by step.... Oooohhh baby

I had to make a reference to New Kids on the Block there, couldn't resist it... I know, I'm such a dork, but I don't care!

I have to say I am a damn good cook! The Chilean Sea Bass I made on Sunday was phenomenal and I had enough for three days of leftovers! I really can kick some ass in the kitchen.

Steadman surprised me and worked with me on Tuesday, but the day went by surprisingly fast and he gave me a fantastic review.

I saw The Professional on Wednesday morning and she confirmed what Drama Queen and some others had told me about The Swimmer - that it absolutely was not a bad thing what happened when The Swimmer and I talked the Sunday he was here. That he is not freaked out in a bad way, only that he likes to think everything through very carefully, that it's okay to be scared about taking such a ginormous risk and that his being worried about me getting sick of him is totally about his own insecurities in himself and definitely not about being unsure of our relationship or anything. I really like going to The Professional, she really helps put everything into perspective and helps calm me down when I freak out about things or start overanalyzing. She's fantastic. I always feel fabulous when I leave The Professional's office - there's something about having a whole hour to talk about yourself without having to reciprocate and analyze anything and everything to pieces with someone who knows about people and the way they think. I don't know why therapists get such a bad rap a lot of the time. I'm sure there are some not-so-great ones out there, but I don't think that's too common, but I don't know. Maybe I just stumbled upon a really great one!

The Swimmer told me yesterday that at dinner at his mom's house the night before, his grandma was asking about me and told him to tell me she said hi. I thought that was absolutely adorable. I really like old ladies. I know that sounds random, but they are just fantastic - so wise with such a great perspective on life and relationships. So now he wants me to meet his grandma! Which, of course, I would be more than happy to. Big step!

Cooking. . .

Well, not much to report on, a pretty uneventful weekend for me. Saw "Knocked Up" on Friday night with some friends, that movie is absolutely hilarious! Yesterday I went and saw "Spiderman 3" alone which wasn't bad but it wasn't great. I went alone because I really wanted to be gross and eat movie theater popcorn with a lot of butter as well as a cherry icee and plus, no one I know, besides The Swimmer was interested in seeing that movie. Last night, my neighbor, the one who has a problem with drinking and some drugs, we were supposed to go out to sushi, but she cancelled on me saying that she had a lot of stuff to do before her trip to Europe with her family and she also really wanted to go out at night, so she wanted to do that instead of going to dinner. She seriously has a problem with partying if she will cancel on a true friend who is doing her a huge favor by watering all of her plants while she's gone for 2 weeks. So, she'll be hearing from me about that. That just ticks me off, it doesn't surprise me, but it really ticks me off when someone can't see that they have a problem.

The Swimmer was really sweet last night. He called a few times while he was at an old friend's house watching the basketball game. When he got home, he called and told me how much he misses me and how much he wishes I lived in LA so we could always be together. I told him to remember that next time I bring up the whole moving things and he gets freaked out. He said once again that I didn't freak him out and that I had just caught him off guard. And I will admit that him bringing it up this time totally caught me off guard and I was speechless for a minute. I'm glad I brought all of that up because now I know he's thinking about all of it too and I know that I have nothing to feel insecure about.

Today I ran a bunch of errands so I could make roasted Chilean Sea Bass for dinner. We'll see how this turns out, I've never made it before, I've just had it in restaurants and it's been amazing. I'll be really pissed if it's bad because just the fish itself cost me $16. I can usually cook a few dinners with $16, so we'll see if it was worth it or not. It would definitely only be a once in a while thing if it's good. Well, the timer just went off, so we'll see!!

How the weekend flies. . .

It took me so long this morning to get out of bed. I was just still sad that The Swimmer went back to LA last night. I woke up a few times during the night sleeping on my left side (I usually sleep on my right side), the side I sleep on when I'm with The Swimmer, and I got so sad because he wasn't there. We had another fantastic weekend together and will have to wait another 3 weeks to be together again. Long distance relationships really are hard, but both The Swimmer and I think what we have is worth it.

I brought up the idea of me moving out to LA again and he acted a little freaked out which made me feel insecure. I told him that he was acting all freaked out and he apologized and told me that I caught him off-guard. I just told him that for both of our sake's (if that makes sense, but you get the picture) we both need an endpoint to the long-distance part of our relationship and I just wanted to talk about what that would entail. I told him how back in February, he brought this up and said he didn't want to be long-distance for more than a year and I had agreed. He just said how he agrees and sees my point and wanted time to really think about it in detail. I told him how the way he was acting made me feel insecure. This made him really sad and he told me that I have nothing to worry about, that he cares about me so much and doesn't want me to ever feel insecure about the way he feels about me and that he wants to make sure that we do everything right. He said that it's a big risk for me to move out to LA and he's worried that I'll be sick of him after a month. I told him that there is a risk in everything and you can't live life always worrying about the risk and that we know each other better than a lot of couples given that we've known each other for 5 years and we've been in a relationship for almost 5 months and we talk on the phone at least 3 or 4 times a day as well as e-mail throughout the day. He agreed and apologized for being caught off guard and making me feel insecure.

That was the "scary" part of the weekend for me and probably for him too. Yesterday morning, I woke up sad that he was leaving and couldn't stop crying. He was really sad too and promised to lay in bed with me and hold me for as long as I wanted and that he loves being with me and didn't want to leave either, but he had to. It was another teary parting at the airport last night, but he has text messaged me several times today and e-mailed me a few times today about how much he misses me.

Besides the scary part and the sad morning, we had a lot of fun together going out to dinner, going to the movies, watching basketball on tv, watching more movies and just relaxing together.

So, any input from other people who have been in successful long-distance relationships? How did you make the transition from long-distance to same city? Did you move in with your significant other right away or have your own place? Who moved and why? How did you know you wouldn't get sick of each other once you lived in the same city? Is it something you just knew or was it a risk?

Obviously, The Professional and I will have much to discuss during my next appointment!

After the final. . .

Wow. I am REALLY impressed with how well Bevin is composing herself on "After the Final Rose." Good for her! She seems very mature and level-headed about the situation. I don't know how I would react if I were in her situation, but I could only hope to be as mature and solid as she is being. Yay Bevin!

Anyways, I'm really hoping that Andy and Tessa make it, they seem like a very sweet couple. They also seem very realistic about the situation and that they need to get to know each other all over again without all of the tv show fake romance stuff. Can't wait to see what happens with them!

The Bachelor and the visit

Okay, so I'm totally excited for the season finale of The Bachelor tonight. I'm rooting for Tessa who I've been rooting for since the first episode. Now, I'm not a devout Bachelor watcher. I have watched only a few seasons, but started again last season and continued watching this season.

First, let's discuss The Bachelor himself, Andy. What to say about Andy. Well, he seems to be a very nice guy, very well-rounded, smart and dorky in a good way. But Andy, poor Andy, doesn't seem to have taken very good care of his skin. Though he is only about 30 or 31, his skin looks leathery and he has a lot of deep wrinkles in his forehead as well as crow's feet and marionette lines. Is it just me or do his teeth look funny too? I know, I know, don't be so superficial Not-So-Single Girl. These are just things I'm pointing out, I'm not saying no girl should like him because he has leathery skin and funny teeth. Like I said before, he seems to be a really good guy and not sleazy like some of the previous Bachelors have been.

On to the girls. I hope he picks Tessa although I think he'd be happy with Bevin too. I like both of the girls but feel he has a more "real" (if that's possible in a reality dating show) connection with Tessa. I think his connection with Bevin is more physical, but there is an emotional connection there too. I just feel like Tessa was more guarded than Bevin and didn't hurry to open up to Andy.

Okay, here I go sounding superficial again, but whatever: I hope he doesn't propose with the ring they show on the preview. It's just not my taste - a very plain, round cut diamond in a plain setting. It's nice, but just not my preference. I prefer princess or emerald or jubilee cut diamonds, either in a plain setting or with some baguettes on the band. My Mom already knows what I would like, so whoever the guy is that decides he wants to marry me should be smart enough to seek my Mom's help in picking a ring. Anyways, I'm excited to see what happens on tonight's 2 hour episode!

On to other things... Nothing too exciting to report, I had a very relaxing weekend on my fantastic new sheets. They are Hotel Collection sheets from Macy's, 500 thread count pima cotton and they are so fabulous. I really did not want to get out of bed all weekend because the sheets were so soft and comfortable.

The Swimmer comes to visit me this weekend! YAY! I'm so excited and can't wait until he's here with me. It will be nice to not be the one traveling this time. I just can't wait to be with him again and be together. I've been checking ticket prices to go visit him in LA in June and they haven't gone down at all since I started checking on them in March. Grrrr.... And there aren't any award tickets available so I can use my award miles to get a ticket, so annoying. Anyways, The Bachelor is about to start!

One more thing, they really need to not play that "love lift us up where we belong" song in the cheesy orchestral version. I know it's called The Bachelor: An Officer and a Gentleman, but seriously, it's too corny.

UPDATE:

Ugh, I have this bad feeling he's going to pick Bevin and not Tessa. I guess I'll have to wait and see. . .

UPDATE 2:

Okay, I really think he's going to pick Bevin. She told him she loves him and then they were hugging and he whispered to her that he loves her too.

UPDATE 3:

Okay, how can a guy tell a girl he loves her and then the next day, be making out and having strong feelings for another? How can someone be capable of that? Is it truly possible to be in love with two people at the same time? I just don't think so. I know it's a tv show and all, but still, that's a pretty crappy thing to do. I don't understand guys.

UPDATE 4:

He just told Tessa he loves her after she told him she loves him. I just don't know about him.

UPDATE 5:

Okay, I think he's not picking Bevin. He's picking Tessa. Didn't see that coming! I totally thought he was going to pick her, he was wearing the watch she gave him. I hope he takes the watch off before he proposes to Tessa. That's pretty tacky if he doesn't. Bevin has nothing to say. Damn girl, don't you know you're going to regret not saying anything to him? You have to say something. Can't wait to hear him propose to Tessa. Now Bevin is saying how wrong she was and how she took a chance and put herself on the line - well, yeah, you have to put yourself on the line, that's how love is. You have to take risks. Okay, I think he took the watch off. Man, I do feel bad for Bevin. Getting your heart broken sucks. It really does feel like your heart is breaking. It's just an awful, painful feeling that sucks and once you feel it, you never want to feel it again. But that's the tricky part - risking getting your heart broken after feeling it happen once before.

UPDATE 6:

The proposal was pretty good. But ABC just ruined it by playing the orchestral version of the "love lift us up where we belong" song and it's so corny. I'm curious to see if these two last since not many of the other couples have made it.

Grey's Running Commentary...

Okay, so let me say something about Grey's Anatomy. I can't stand the character of Meredith Grey. She is so whiny. So what you have family issues. Doesn't everybody?! As far as tonight's episode, Derek should dump her too-skinny, whiny ass. Last week when she was having all that drama, she totally left Derek out of the loop. If you love him so much and he has told you that he wants to be there for you, why did you ignore him and not let him in? I really wish she weren't the main character. The show would be much better if it revolved around Christina or Izzy, they are much more relatable and actually deal with their issues rather than just sit around and whine about them all the time. I don't like the route the writers went as far as having Izzy get with George, but whatever. I love Izzy as a character and Christina is just hilarious with her ambition and distaste for typical "girly" things. I don't understand why everyone calls Sloan "McSteamy," but that's just my taste. He does nothing for me. But I'm not one of those girls who goes after the bad guy, I much prefer the less dramatic good guys. And the writers should bring on the annoying resident girl full-time (can't remember her character's name, but I know the actress in Kali Rocha or something, she played the flight attendant in "Meet the Parents.")

Okay - WOW. How amazing were Burke's vows to Christina?! I got all teary-eyed. So freaking sweet. And WOW. What a HUGE mistake George is making by having a baby with Callie. And I don't feel one bit sorry for Alex liking Eva/Rebecca and her husband coming to find her. If you like someone, tell them. Don't hide it you jackass!

How hilarious are Christina's eyebrows?! Or shall I say, lack of eyebrows! That is such a fear of mine when getting my eyebrows waxed by someone new - they'll pull off the strip of wax and along with that strip goes all of my eyebrows.

How the flip did Bailey not get chief resident?! And on top of that, Callie got it?! The only person besides Bailey I could stand being chief resident would be Sydney Heron (the hilarious one I was talking about above, the really annoying resident). At least she's funny, but she also seems like she knows her stuff.

Okay, here is what I said when Meredith decided to run off to Christina's wedding after Derek opened his heart to her:
"You stupid f**king skinny bitch!" She is such an emotional disaster that she can't open up and reciprocate to the man that loves her unconditionally. She so does not deserve a guy like him.

Yeah, I figured George didn't pass his exam. Poor Bailey for thinking she failed him. So, does this mean TR Knight is not returning to the show? Good luck to him if that's what this means. He's a good actor, but not as good as a lot of the people on this show to where he could do other things with as much success.

Wow. Burke left. So does that mean he's off the show? Wow. Poor Christina but also not poor Christina. I can understand what Burke said about him trying to make her into a person she isn't, but at the same time, she was still her own person, but she was becoming less stubborn by doing some things just for him. Maybe I'm not understanding this right now because I'm blonde and sometimes it takes me a little more time to "get" things, but why was Christina crying and then saying that she was free? Hmmm... Something to ponder.

Once again, Meredith is such an idiot for acting the way she's acting with Derek. Idiot. I.D.I.O.T. I don't feel bad for Alex. Eva gave him a chance to open up to her and he blew it. You snooze, you lose. You don't always get a second chance.