30th Birthday!

Well, if anyone thought that The Spinster Chronicles wasn't quite an appropriate title for my blog before, they couldn't deny it now because I just had my 30th birthday. And what a lovely birthday it was. I had a bunch of girls over - did I already tell you this? - and we DANCED. It was so much fun, and I was totally sore a couple of days later, which means I should probably do that more often. It was mostly a girl party, which is not like me, but it was great. A few, select boys came later, and they were very welcome. My roommate made my traditional German chocolate cake, which was delicious. Since then, my coworker brought in a red velvet cake for me, which was also scrumptious!
Then came the more planned part to my birthday - a cruise! A roommate suggested it several months back, we planned it, and four of us girls took off a week ago Saturday. We spent a couple of nights at my uncle's. He dropped us off at the Long Beach Pier on Monday, and after slowly making our way through the security line, we finally made it on the boat. We spent the week sleeping a lot (glorious!), eating a lot, dancing, watching the ocean, and just relaxing. We walked around Catalina Island, which was beautiful. We went to La Bufadora in Ensenada, Mexico, and spent money at the flea market. It was great! My aunt picked us up on Friday. Then we made our way to San Diego and Balboa Park, which is one of my most favorite places on earth. We spent the night with my parents and came back home on Saturday. It was a terrific week, and now it's back to reality - what a great opportunity to relax and celebrate, eh?

Communication Between the Sexes

First of all, the earth-shattering news is that I'm dating someone. I guess I have been, but I just didn't know it, which leads to the title of the post. A couple of Wednesdays ago, I met up with the boy for a little DTR. Boy tells me, "I'm just trying to get to know you right now," which was slightly exasperating because I felt like we'd been on enough dates to kind of figure out if we were going to date - and to continue to get to know each other - or not. However, I had been on the I-don't-want-to-date-him page only days before, so I figured it was fair and I would just have to be patient and wait for him to decide if he wanted to date me or not. Not only that, but not dating was kind of convenient because a good friend of mine had asked if he could take me on a real date sometime, and since Boy told me he might go out with this girl that some people are trying to set him up with, I was at total liberty to go out with my friend (which I did). Since that time, we've spent a ton of time with each other, and I feel like he's treated me like he's dating me. I mean, he bought me a tree for my birthday - doesn't that mean something?? :)
This evening I was talking to him on the phone, and something comes up about him not being able to invite girls over or something, and so I replied something like, "Why not? We're not dating." To which he replies that he thinks we are, or something. What?? So we had a fun conversation about how he's not dating anybody else, and he tells people we're dating. I don't know how I was supposed to get that out of what he had said before, but oh well. I know now. Communicating with boys - good times.

General Conference Weekend

General Conference is the best! I love it! I love that I can watch it at home - the only problem is that I seem to forget that my laptop will inevitably be unable to connect to the internet when I first try on Saturday morning, and thus I never give myself enough time to connect. This means that we missed Pres. Monson's opening address; I'm glad that I can still watch it online or read it in the Ensign. The other usual problem didn't happen this time, for which I am very grateful. My laptop usually overheats - at least, I think that's the problem. Therefore, we have learned to hook up Roommate's laptop to the t.v. and not mine. However, her laptop isn't working at the moment. So, I stuck an ice pack under my laptop, hoping it would keep it cool enough - I don't know if that's what did it, but lappy didn't fail, so we did get to watch the 7 hours and 45 minutes of Conference that it was connected for - YES!!

It's just great knowing that we have a prophet today who receives revelation from God. It's great knowing that God does not change. We can trust Him, as Elder Eyring discussed today. He is not who we create Him to be, rather He created us, and when we follow His plan for us we are blessed.

Sometimes You Just Need a Vacation from Your Vacation

Crazy weekend - I am so very tired. Friday night I packed and cleaned until it was well into Saturday because I'm a moron and didn't take care of things ahead of time. Saturday, Friend shows up just after 7:00, and awhile thereafter he, Roommate, and I took off for Vegas. Now, Las Vegas might be a place for lots of people, but I'm probably not one of them. I mean, I didn't mind going, I just didn't get all excited to be going there. The reason for the trip was to watch our friend's senior recital. She's one of the nicest/funnest girls ever. She is majoring in composition, and I'm excited for the day when I can tell people that I actually know her. The performance was cool, but I was so tired after it that while waiting in the choir room for directions on where we were going next, Friend told me to go sleep in the car. Which is what I did - glorious! And I slept well that night, only to have to get up early this morning to leave to head back home. We stopped in one city for church. Then we stopped in another to visit Lu and her husband. I've really been craving my Lu lately, so I'm so glad for the visit even though it was brief. It was a wonderful trip, but then I was supposed to make birthday cakes for a couple of students tonight, and I'm just too tired. Maybe tomorrow.

The Girl Called

Miss Montreal called me this week! Therefore, I took off after work on Thursday and drove up to the city she was staying in. It's one of those cities that you think should be right off the freeway, but it's not, so then it feels kind of long to get there. I was supposed to meet her at a church, where she was participating in a volleyball tournament, and that's what I did, only I didn't tell her I was there because she was on the court when I arrived. Instead, I sat on the stage and watched as she played 3 or so games. When I finally did tell her I was there, she scolded me because she had been looking for me, apparently, when she was off the court. Oops! Anyhow, we went to get dinner, but I didn't know my way around that city, so we actually ended up in a different city, and then my brother-in-law told me where to go to get food there, which we did. It was nice having that connection back to my mission, and I am glad I was able to get caught up on some of the Montreal news.

Longer than Planned

I finally saw Eclipse last Monday, and I liked it! Just got to throw that in there. Somehow, that fascination just lives on. Now I get to wait for Harry Potter and hope that the last two are better than #6 was.

Also, I stayed with my baby sister and her husband Friday night and Saturday. It was fun to visit them. I was planning on seeing a girl who was coming down from Montreal. I thought I would spend the night at my sister's, go hang out with my other sister and my niece the next morning, see this girl from my mission, and then go home. Unfortunately, the girl never called me, and I didn't have her number. I didn't want to leave in case she did call, so I imposed on my family all day. They definitely win the hospitality award. They were nice and laid back, even though they weren't planning on having a visitor all day. Thanks, guys!

Weekend

Date
Youth Conference / Dancing
Date / Gaslight Theater
Family
Church
Games
Sleeping In
Scriptures
Cleaning
Date / Tikka Masala / Eclipse

What a great weekend!