A Year In Review And Hopes For 07

At this time last year I was writing about all of the guys I dated in 05, how crazy they were, how they affected me, how it ended, etc. This year has been a bit different, it's not been as date heavy, it's been more dating heavy.

I started off the year by hitting up the social lifestyle as often as possible. My good friend, formally know as the "hurricane" and I were regulars at the River Market and other hot spots. Then I started seeing a guy I had been wanting to date for months, and things slowed down just a little. He had way to much going on in his life, and I just didn't fit, so after a couple of weeks I was back on the scene with the tornado.

A couple of weeks later I started seeing the C of C guy. He basically wanted to get married and become Catholic for me. He was way into LR society, always attending gala's and fundraisers, but he wanted way to much from me way to fast. So after a couple of weeks that too was over. Funny, that guy is getting married next weekend! Guess he got what he wanted!

Then I sorta bounced around for awhile. The hurricane and I were in full force, wreaking havoc on any guy that crossed our path. We had a lot of fun, made a lot of memories, and ate a lot of MidTown cheeseburgers.

She introduced me to a friend of hers, and for the next several months he occupied my time, my thoughts, basically everything. But, of course, it was fun while it lasted but it wasn't built to last. At this time a lot of things changed for me. I moved out of my cute bungalow (for safety reasons) and moved into an apartment. I wasn't into my wild partying lifestyle the tornado and I had been so good at back in the winter months. I wanted to keep things quite, slow, I wasn't ready to go out and mix things up. My MS Boy entered the picture. Just days after one relationship ended he entered the picture and was such a good friend to me. My feelings towards him changed and we became a couple. For now, we still are. We live over 1000 miles apart, but we take things a step at a time, for now. The hurricane is also in a serious relationship, so our friendship has shifted from vodka tonics and flirting with cute boys to discussing our relationship over the phone because we don't see each other as much as we used to.

It hasn't been a terrible year, but it hasn't been easy. I lost one of my very best friends in October, and I'm still trying to make sense of that. I've never hurt so much for so long for one person, it's been a great loss in my life.

There are so many things I want for this next year. I feel like I've missed out on so many opportunities, and I'm trying very hard to take control of certain situations and do things for myself. So, the year 2007 is going to be about doing things for myself, and getting me where I want to be.

I hope everyone has a very safe and happy New Year! See you all in 07!!!

I'll Be Home For Christmas

Louie V and I are headed to our small southern home town tomorrow morning. We will spend the next few days relaxing, visiting with family and friends, and hopefully spending some QT with the soon to be FL boyfriend.

I've been a little panicked lately. I think I need to get FL BF one more gift, I just got all of my bills in-yikes I'm going to be poor after Christmas, and on top of all of that I'm fighting strep throat. The FL BF was in Tampa in the hospital this week with it, and I just know my preventive med's won't be enough. I don't want to spend the holiday and my vacation days sick in bed.

I'm also a little stressed about my New Years plans, as we have yet to decide if we will be in FL or LR.

However, it will be nice to see brother chef, he's driving in from the East Coast tonight. I can't wait to help him prep food and catch up. I know mom and dad will be happy to have us both home, we haven't all been together since mid September.

I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas, see you next week lovlies!

Moving Back Instead Of Forward

I spent an extended weekend in Biloxi with the MS Boyfriend. I was so looking forward to it, and while I did have a great time, at the same time, we are both under so much stress that it was hard for us to relax.

My MS Boyfriend is soon to be my FL Boyfriend. And while I've known for several weeks that he might possibly move to Tampa, it happened so fast that I haven't really had time to adjust to the idea. The plan was for me to spend Thursday-Monday with him. Four whole days!!! We've never had that much time all at once, and we were both really excited. I drove there on Thursday, he worked on Friday, we were supposed to meet for lunch. When I didn't hear from him, I just figured he got busy. It turns out he was meeting with the boss, and he was going to have to go to Tampa on Sunday at noon. This cut our trip short, and forced us to make some very big decisions.

We went out to dinner on Saturday night and attempted to figure things out, but we didn't really get any where. When we first talked about Tampa, it was decided that I would stay in my job until May first, then move to FL to be with him. But a lot of things have changed, and I may be staying in LR longer than we thought. We've been moving forward for so long now, that moving back is not something I was prepared for.

He's in Tampa until Wednesday, the moving company shows up Friday to move him, and in a week he'll be on his way to Tampa to stay. Things just happened so fast, I feel like I may have gotten left behind.

Memories Of The Crescent City

For several years in a row I spent the first full week of December in New Orleans with my mom. I loved those trips. We would usually fly in on a Tuesday and stay until Sunday. We always stayed in a very nice hotel right by the river that had a huge shopping mall attached. By then all of the Christmas decorations were up, and the hotel was beautiful and festive.

Mom and I would walk down Magazine Street and eat at Mystic Pizza. We would walk around the French Quarter and shop in Jackson Square. We would spend countless hours wondering in and out of antique stores, looking for great finds and things we just couldn't live without. I always wanted to look at local art, and mom would always humor me and help me find galleries.

We always stopped at the New Orleans Candy Company for Pralines, and we had Bloody Mary's in the hotel bar. We ate amazing food while we were there; going to Acme Oyster Bar, waiting forever for a table at Mr. B's, stopping by Café Du Mondet for coffee and beignets, and eating at the local places along the quarter. I would have to say that is still my favorite kind of cuisine.

The first year we went I took all of my cute high heals, not realizing that my feet would suffer the more we walked. After two days I couldn't take it anymore. Mom bought me a pair of stylish black leather wedge heel boots. They were cute and comfortable, and they saved my feet during that trip. The next year I took my Wallabies, I was prepared!

I haven't been back since Hurricane Katrina. I hear it's getting better, but it's still not the New Orleans I remember from two years ago, the final year mom and I took our trip. We've talked about going back, but my schedule just hasn't worked out, I don't get as much time off as I'd like. When I do, I try to see the Mississippi Boyfriend.

Spending those weeks with mom in The Crescent City will always be some of my favorite memories. We always had such a good time, and I was always sad when we had to come home. I would go back to school or Little Rock, and mom would drive back to my small southern hometown.

There is just something about that city that has always mesmerized me. I don't know if it's the architecture, the history, the food, or just the vibe, but for some reason I've always been drawn to it. I think that's another reason why I find myself missing our trip so much this year. *Sigh* I miss The Crescent City with my mom.

Partying Like A Grown Up

Friday for my birthday, I had dinner with three of my best girlfriends. We went to Cheers in the Heights. It's one of my favorite places, and the atmosphere is great for a casual dinner with delicious food. Now back in our party like a rock star days, there would have been no dinner, we would have drank our dinner at the bar. But not this year!

After dinner three of us went out, my other good friend just found out she's going to have a baby, so she took dinner home to her husband and called it a night. It was just like old times, sort of. The three of us went to two of our favorite downtown bars. We drank, talked, laughed, took a shot and lot's of pictures, it was so much fun. But it was so different from our party like a rock star days. None of us talked to any cute boys, we didn't take more than one shot all night, no one lost their purse, wallet, or a shoe, and at the end of the night we all went home alone. Not to say we used to be wild or anything, but we used to really hit it hard when we went out partying. Things are different now. My Mississippi boyfriend couldn't make it into town this weekend, he was working, M's boyfriend was out of town, and E's boyfriend was told to stay home and be our DD when we needed to go home. So he showed up around 1am and took us all home.

Don't get me wrong, I had a blast, I even sat on the piano and let them sing to me. It was wonderful to be out with my girlfriends! But, I wasn't looking at guys, I don't think I even noticed one all night. I knew my Mississippi boyfriend was out with his buddies in Biloxi, and I wasn't the least bit bothered by that. We called each other a couple of times throughout the night, and I talked to him for about an hour when I got home. I didn't let any guys buy me a drink, I didn't get any guys phone numbers, and still I had the best time.

Used to, when the girls went out we would party like a rock star. Is this what it's like to hang up my rock star ways and party like a grown up? Maybe it is, if so, I like being a grown up.

Middle Aged?

Brother Chef called me today and ask me how it felt, and if it was all down hill from here. The little smart ass was referring to the fact that today is my birthday. He thinks I’m now considered middle age. Apparently he has given me a life expectancy of 52, because today I am 26 years old.

When I was little, 26 was my old age limit. I remember when I was probably 12 or so thinking that by the time I was 26 I was going to be married, drive a white Corvette (just like Barbie) and be married to a doctor who was a lawyer and architect in his spare time. I remember thinking I want to have the first of two kids when I'm 26 because I don't want to be an "old un-cool" mom, and I will probably have a horse and a big white house. Twenty-six seemed like forever from then. But now 26 is here, and I'm not married to a doctor architect lawyer, my white Corvette is a four door car that's seven years old and approaching 100,000 miles. I don't have any children and my big white house is a two bedroom apartment I share with my little Chihuahua. But I couldn't be happier.

At this time last year I was living in a great two bedroom house next door to the sweetest woman, who remains one of my closest friends. I had the same job last year, the same car, and the same dog. But something was missing that's not missing now that I'm twenty six. Now I'm in love, and I'm really happy. I won't be spending my 26th birthday with him, he's working in Mississippi, but I will be out with several of my best girlfriends tonight, and I'm really excited about that.

Just because I've reached my old age limit, doesn't mean I feel old or I have to act old. I'm still young, and I'm very happy!