Travis

About a month ago I met Travis for Sushi, it was our first date. But it wasn't the first time we met. We actually already know each other, kinda. We used to be neighbors on Ave. Monterey. He and the X used to surf all the time, a little strange, but still OK. We have several friends in common. Well, no one that either of us still communicate with. But still, it gave us both a good base of the kind of people we are.

Anyway, we've been pretty regular since then. Seeing each other twice a week. Exchange phone calls and texts each day. Usually a good night phone call too. I'd say I am smitten ... I know, that sounds corny. He's a super sweet guy. We have lots of fun together, but still really mellow. He keeps me smiling.

Did ya notice the graphic? Yep, that's a big 'ole 4th of July firework! It's all good :)

Skate

Today I Bought Jack his first Skateboard. He picked it out himself and he is stoked!

Oh and for the record, after this picture I made him put on his helmet and pads.

The Happiest Place On Earth

Like a good American I invested part of my ecomonic stimulus check back into the economy. Rather than pay off bills I purchased Annual Disneyland Passes for Jack and I (Luke is free). Kim, George, & Matthew have passes as well as some of our other friends. We met K,G, & M there on Friday night and got our passes, then hit a few rides. Want to know what the best part was?? Leaving after just a few rides!! NOT feeling like we had to stay ALL day just to get our money's worth. And even after just a few rides the kids were pooped. It was perfect!

Baby, Baby, Baby

There is nothing more peaceful or beautiful than a sleeping baby. He's so perfect laying there asleep. I can't help but give him kisses and caress his head when he's sleeping like this. I could watch him for hours, we'll if he'd actually sleep that long I could! HA. I used to sit and watch Jack while he was sleeping too.

You look at the picture then, just a few hours later, here's this one. He's hanging out at the pool. He's going to be walking with in a matter of weeks. He's pulling up and walking along all the furniture now. Building those muscles and learning balance. Sigh. My baby isn't going to be a baby for much longer.

Treasure Mapping

This is a process we were doing at my womens group. Bascially you plan out what you want to achieve in the year to come. Some people get real creative and make big posters with pictures, drawings, etc. I didn't have time for that, and I kept it simple. I jotted my thoughts/goals/wants down on a piece of paper. Anyway, the idea is that if you put it out there for the universe it will happen. Buddists say that if you chant your desires, they will be fulfilled. I have a seperate list I "chant" or read, mediate, focus on, about the kind of man I'd like to have share my life.

So here it is world, my treasure map for 2008. These are in no particular order:

love
peace
happy
health
food-cooking
organic - nutrition
money - finances
Jack
Luke
friendship
beach
divorce
safe
me-time
lose weight
excercise
smiles
garden
content
knit
passion
laughter
vacation
family
home - clean - laundry
ocean
job
happiness
fulfilled

LOVE is the center of my treasure map and around it I surrounded it with the qualities I am looking for in a partner
They are:
relaxed
tall
dark
handsome
financially stable
attractive
protector
caring
morals
loves children

We'll Just Call him $12.65

I thought this one had potential. We met for the first time on Friday night. Totally last minute, I almost didn't go, but I was glad I did. He is super cute in person, way better than his profile, so that was a plus. We enjoyed our first date. I actually felt bad during a lull in conversation when I was trying to think of something to say, but not pepper him with questions like he was on a job interview, I blurted out "don't first dates suck". Eek, oops, sorry. He said "you aren't having a good time??" and looked at me all hurt. The fact was I was having a good time. Anyway, I explained myself and we laughed, but yikes. Anyway, he walked me to my car, we had a very nice kiss. He said he'd call. I'd rate chemistry as a Fountain, so pretty good, eh. But still wasn't sure if I would hear from him. There were several times during our date when he mentioned this really great sushi restaurant in costa mesa, that I just had to try. Um ok, perfect opportunity for him to say, I should take you there ... but he didn't.

So I go pick up the boys, we get home. I'm nusring Luke to sleep, and I get a text that says I've got an email from him. I smile, feel anxious for Luke just to go to sleep so I can see what he has to say. I finally get to the computer and he's asking me out for Sushi during the week. Sweet. I make arrangements for a baby sitter, it's all good.

So we met at his place in Irvine. He lives in this massive apartment complex in Irvine, nice community. His apartment is very much the bachelor pad. Clean, in bachelor terms. ...Which is OK in my book, since I'm not the best housekeeper in the world, nice to see that he isn't completely anal. We sat and chatted for a bit, then he excused himself to get his laundry. Not a biggie ... but you knew we were having a date tonight. So he comes back we chat a little more, then talk about dinner. He said he doesn't usually do much on week nights (umm as if I'm out on the town??) and would I mind getting some take out and bringing it back to his place and just hang out. This actually sounded fine to me, since I really am not used to doing much on a week night myself. But at the same time, it still seems a little odd. Anyway, we went and picked up dinner at Pei Wei, it was good. The rest of the evening we talked more, and watched a little tv.

But the more I think about it, I'm bugged. He's quickly become a sparkler. I mean, doing your laundry, chinese take out? I'm not a high maintnence girl, but come one ... he put out a whopping $12.65 for dinner on our 2nd date. Underwhelming...

How I Score Chemistry

So I kinda came up with this scale with my sister. It started out because all men I've been on dates with get compared to GQ. The chemistry with him is like the 4th of July fireworks. So one day, Steph and I were talking about a recent date I'd had, she asked what the connection was like. And I respond with a "ehh, ok". Then Steph says, what like a Sparkler, Pickalo Pete, Fountain, etc?

So that's it, that's how I rate men. It's become quite commical, but I'll start adding their ratings as I review my dates. I'll see if I can find some graphics on the web to add.

Happy Easter

Mobile

It's official, Luke is on the move, and we can't stop him.

I need to patten an idea ... some kind of a onsie made out of Swiffer material or a way to affix a Swiffer to his tummy.

Have I mentioned how much I hate my wood floors ... that's for another post.

First Dates

I had another one on Friday night. It went pretty good. One of the better first dates I've had. But I'm still skeptical. I mean, we're on our best behavior on a first date. LJ's another one that seems too good to be true. But I'm going to go with the flow here and see what happens.

Did you know that country club life really exists? I honestly thought it was something that they did in soap opera's. Had no idea people actually went to "the club" for dinners, dancing, parties, etc. Who knew? LJ might be another one that is out of my league! At the very least it will be a fun ride :)

I Spoke to Soon

Well back to Match I go.

SIGH.

I'm not sure why it's so hard for men to be honest. I mean, why did you tell me you were off match for good if you weren't going to stay off? And why when I saw you on there did you lie about it, twice? And why didn't you just tell me you wanted to keep dating a little when I asked you if you were SURE you wanted to take your profile off? Bad news Soundman.

BZZZZZZZZ

NEXT

And just cause I'm feeling a little mean and bitchy, I'm going to share the song that has been playing in my head for a few days. 'nough said.

Nipple Biting

So is this post about dating or babies?? Hard to tell with a title like that! Sadly for me it's about babies. Tooth #2 has come in and Luke thinks its real cute to bite down on my nipple and play around when he's not real hungry. I'm lucky that he doesn't bite has hard as he can, but it still HURTS like a #$%. I yell OUCH, NO! and look down to see him grinning at me. WTF, it's not funny little man. If your not careful you'll loose all boob privileges, and I know you don't want to do THAT.

Sit Up

Yes that's right, Luke is sitting up now. He can't quite get himself into a sitting position just yet, but he can hold himself up pretty well now and can even kinda catch himself when he starts to go over.

....crawling is just around the corner. EEK!!!

Go BRAVES!!

T-Ball has begun. Jack is in heaven. I felt so bad for him on his first day, he whispered in my ear that he was Nervous and didn't want to go. As a mom, my heart swelled. That anxious feeling when you are starting something new. I thought to myself...Baby, you got a lifetime ahead of this kinda feeling, sorry. So I said, ok, how about we just go watch, you don't need to do anything at first. He agreed, and off we went. Of course we were late. But I think this was kinda good, because it wasn't so intimidating. We found the bucket lid with his name on it and I tried to catch him up. Then one of the dads came over and asked if he could help, and just took over. Jack went along. Then they moved onto the next drill, batting. I walked him over to the batting T's and asked him if he wanted me to stay there or go sit next to Katie. He told me to go sit next to Katie. Ahhhhh my boy IS growing up.

Saturday we had a scrimmage game. It was pretty cute to watch them all attempt to play baseball. The cool thing about T-ball is everyone bats, and everyone runs all the bases.

Happy Valentine's Day

So I did a little searching on the web for the history of St. Valentine's Day, and well, I was surprised. Surprised to find that there doesn't seem to be just one story. It looks like there were several St. Valentine's to which this holiday is a tribute. And none of them have much to do with LOVE. Interesting.

I've never been a big Valentine's day fan. I mean it's nice to acknowledge and remember the one you love. X wasn't a real romanitic, so maybe my expectations are low. I always did a little something for X. And Jack too. But rarely would I get more than a card in return. Which was ok, I was never heart broken by it ... like I said, low expectations.

I don't know if Soundman has anything planned, we are going to see eachother. I don't know if we are going out or staying in, either way is fine. But he absolutely made my day today with a text first thing this morning that said "Happy Valentine's day!" Ahhhhhh, so sweet. YAY. I'm easy to please, aren't I??

Swallows Inn

Soundman did it ... what no man has ever gotten me to do before ... go two steppin' at the Swallows. HA. Now it's not like many men have tried, but lets just say I'm NOT a dancer. I was born with two left feet and the only dancing I've done is drunken club dancing in a mass of people ... so you can't really tell how bad I am. Or the mosh pit at a concert ... though I don't think that is really considered dancing. The Swallows used to be a pretty rough place. You didn't just hang out there. But it is in Orange County, so the crowd has changed. I actually had so much fun, still not a dancer. I'm sure Soundman's toes were sore on Saturday. Oh and I got to meet a few people that he used to go to high school with. That was pretty interesting, they were very nice, and all had VERY nice things to say about him.

Done with Match

So there was a little stress with Soundman before our date last week. I logged on to Match to see when we first met so I could get the blog updated, and was shocked and sad to see that his profile was active. Now I wouldn't normally expect someone to not be active at this point except that he had pulled it down before we even went out the first time, and he told me on our first date that I was his last hope for match, that he was done. So yeah, that sucked. I debated what to do about it all afternoon. We were still on for dinner, so I decided I'd wait for the right moment broach the subject.

He must have been able to tell there was something on my mind. Because he asked a couple times what I was thinking about before we even got to dinner. So the second he asked, while we were finishing our cocktails, I decided to go for it. I thought I'd throw up for a minute, I was scared that I was going to be rejected. Instead, I was suprised at how shaken Soundman was over the confrontation. I mean visibily shaken. He said he didn't want to talk about it at the bar, so we went outside to discuss while we walked to the restaurant where we would have dinner. His strong reaction had me worried, I assured him that I wasn't mad, but I was dissappointed. So we talked it out, he says he could see my profile and it said I was active in the last 24 hours, which should have been impossible because, #1 my profile was hidden, and #2 I hadn't had computer access in the week prior. But he said he could see me, and was immediately as disturbed about it as I was and thought I was back on the prowl, so he was going to go back too. Geez, that sucked. I assured him that I hadn't been on and that I didn't want to be. He said he didn't either. At the end of it all we both agreed to remove our profiles and be done with Match.

A good outcome, I think. I have to say that it is still hard for me to trust, just because I've been so burned in the past. But his reaction and feelings seemed genuine, so I'm going to put the past aside and just try to trust. To be honest I still think it's a little fishy, but he insisted that he doesn't want to be on there. So we'll see.

Oh and just an update, GQ and I have not gone out since he's been in town. Funny how things work out. I had really thought things would go somewhere with GQ, I guess the did ... they went no where! Ha, no that really isn't very funny. But strange. He called again on Saturday night, saying how much he misses me. I just gave it back to him, told him he had a funny way of showing me how much he liked me. And I told him I was dating someone else. So I guess that is another chapter I closed this weekend.

From the Beach to the Mountains

The move is complete. Well the physical act of moving is. I still have to unpack and organize my entire condo. Uncle R was able to hook me up with this really nice condo in Portola Hills. I live in the fricken mountains again ... or atleast it feels like it. I think the elevation is only about 1400 feet, but that's pretty significant since I was literally at sea level. It's really pretty out here, nestled at the base of Saddleback, there should be plenty of wild life around. Jack gave it the ok too, so that is cool. 2 pools in the community, and a great park just around the corner. I think this place is going to work out just fine. A fresh start, and one more chapter into my new life.

Lost

I should have been packing, but instead I wanted to play with Soundman. Went over to his place and watched Lost while we did lots 'o cuddling and kissing. I like him more everytime I'm around him. Oh and he worked on Lost for 3 seasons, so during the season opener where I got caught up on the show, he also gave me all the dirt on the different actors. So cool.

We've got a date next Friday. I can't wait to see him again.

First Tooth

Luke's firth tooth broke through today. He's such a good baby, he's hardly fussed at all with this tooth. I can't believe he's got a tooth already. Seems like yesterday when I held him in my arms for the first time.

Today was also Jack's dental cleaning. So we had teeth on the brain! When we schedule Jack's next cleaning we also scheduled Luke's first dental appointment. They like to start early. LOVE Jack's dentist, they are the BEST.