Elle and {November} Rain

The other night {The Boyfriend} and I are sitting down for a nice chat. I’m not good with {awkward} silence, so sometimes I like to quiz him. Secretly I am preparing for my Bachelorette party when I am sure to be asked questions about him and our relationship in some sort of raunchy hen night game. He doesn’t need to know that though. Bahahaha. {PS Chill out, I’m totes kidding.}

Anyway – I ask him what his favorite song is. He hems and haws for a few minutes and comes up with November Rain – and then queues it up on his iTunes.

Do any of you relate songs to specific moments in your life? I do.

Why oh why I thought it would be a good idea to listen to music on the day that me and {The X} broke up is beyond me, but I will tell you that it did ruin a handful of songs for me…forever.

Have you ever been through a break up? In the month of November? And listened to some tunes – to get you through a tough time? No. Seriously. I swear to Gawd. This song. Came on. That day. And regardless of what the song is about – it SOUNDS sad. Am I right?

Holy shit did that bring me back to a different time in my life. I feel bad. {The Boyfriend} is sitting there all happy to be sharing his favorite song to me and I’m holding back tears? I didn’t quite expect to react that way. To have to physically remove myself from the room to let it finish playing. It’s been a long time since that day my friends! But still. I relate music to specific events/times in my life. And if you do too, then you know just what I mean. Something can hit you when you least expect it. And music was a big part of me and {The X's}life - so any song that came out between 2005-2010 will prolly trigger some sort of physical reaction from me.

As you all know, I’ve moved on. It’s not that I’m holding on to the past and me and {The X} are friends! But the song triggered the feelings of devastation, failure, uncertainty, sadness – and relief. The roller coaster of emotions that I felt for several months following that milestone moment in my life.

Everybody needs some time, on their own.

The lyrics that stand out to me are “Nothing lasts forever, even cold November rain.” Those feelings {devastation, failure, uncertainty, sadness} didn’t last forever – thank Gawd. I learned that while I may have been feeling those feelings at the time, my relationship with {The X} didn't fail. We were just meant to be friends. It hurt at the time, but really it was a second chance, a new beginning - for both of us!

So, moving forward when this song starts bumping at {The Boyfriend’s} house – and you know it’s going to because it’s his favorite! -, I’m going to spin it in a positive light. Power of positive thinking my friends!

xoxo,

Elle

Elle and {The Boyfriends} First Birthday

So {The Boyfriend} and I had our first date at the beginning of April. I decided I didn't want to share his goodies with other girls towards the end of April. Next big date? My birthday...

What's more awkward then introducing your new BF to your friends? Introducing you new BF to your friends on your birthday week{end}. {The Boyfriend} and I are still just getting to know each other. He doesn't know yet that my birthday is a national week long holiday. I don't know how to tell him without sounding like a psycho crazy birthday celebrating bitch. How is he going to succeed if I'm not setting him up for success? How is this relationship going to succeed if he doesn't recognize the importance of my {birth}day/week?

I dropped some {subtle} hints that he should take charge of plans for my actual birthday. My instructions were simple - I just wanted to spend time with him.

Take charge, he did.

{The Boyfriend} planned a romantic evening for two at Teatro Zinzani. Complete with preferred seating, wine pairing, a kick ass show and even a slow dance for the birthday girl {me}.  We dressed all fancy and he even got into the spirit of things and sported bowler hat for the evening. A-dor-a-ble.

I gotta admit, it was one of my favorite birthdays of all time. I'm not sure how he's planning on topping it next year, but don't worry, I do have a couple of ideas.

Tropical Getaway?

And if that's expecting too much:

You can't go wrong with a gift
that comes in a little blue box.
Am I right?

What? My birthday a national holiday. And should be celebrated accordingly.

xoxo,
Elle

Elle and {Friends}

There comes a time in every relationship when the {new} boyfriend meets your friends. Why? Why oh why does this make me so nervous? I'm more nervous about {The Boyfriend} meeting my friends than my family.

I've met a handful of {The Boyfriends} friends already and knew it was time for him to meet mine. With my Birthday Week {yes, I said Birthday Week} right around the corner, I thought it would be the perfect time for introductions. Get 'em all done at one time.

Long ago, I decided that 28 was going to be 'my' year. Why? I love even numbers. 8 is my favorite number. 2 is my second favorite number. And I don't want 82 to be 'my' year. That's just too long to wait.

I decided I needed to start my 28th year off with a bang, so I reserved the top floor at Belltown Pub in Seattle. Shuffleboard, pool, foosball, friends, food, presents and good company. What more could a {girl} ask for?

After announcing to my friends that {The Boyfriend} was going to make an appearance at my party, it should come as no surprise to anyone when I tell you that this birthday was my most well attended birthday since my 21 run. {THAT was a good birthday...odd number and all.} Thanks friends...

It's really important to me that {The Boyfriend} like my friends and vice versa. My friends really liked {The X} a lot and he liked them back. We share a long history of making stupid decisions and sharing a lot laughs together. As much as they liked each other, we spent most of our time with {The X's} friends. Which made me miss my friends. And I'm not doing that this time around. My hope is that they'll like {The Boyfriend} just as much as they liked {The X}...{If not more}. And that he will like them back too.

{The Boyfriend} arrived fashionably late. Not because he's hip...but because he was celebrating his father's 70th birthday. The problem with him being late was that I only got more nervous {I didn't know when he was going to show} and it allowed me plenty of time to get my drink on.

I don't date hip dudes.

I don't always make smart decisions when I'm drinking. I'm human after all. And while my memory is hazy of the evenings events, it seems as though the introduction went off without a hitch. Hooray!

Shit. That means next up is meeting the parents. Maybe I am more nervous about that then I thought...

xoxo,
Elle

Elle and {his} Ex

I returned to Seattle after spending the week with my family in Bellingham. {The Boyfriend} and I spent the day in the sunshine at Golden Gardens.

Aren't our feet cute?

He packed the cutest little picnic of oranges, goldfish and sandwiches. He doesn't know that I don't like sandwich meat. I ate the sandwich. Meat and all. Now he thinks I like sandwich meat. {Shit.} This could mean a lifetime of gagging silently while eating sandwiches. Somehow, some way, I'll have to steer him away from making meat sandwiches in the future. This doesn't look promising for me. {Side Note: The sandwich was bearable. Maybe I need to give sandwich meat another try?}

The next day was his neighbor’s birthday party. They were celebrating with cupcakes and wine. Did I want to go? Hell yeah. I love me some cupcakes. Oh. And I like {The Boyfriend} and wine too.

So we head on over to the neighbor’s house. And I'm reminded how much I hate love meeting new people. Luckily his neighbors seem like a great group of people. And I like that he is friends with them. It's like a cute little {secret} community.

{The Boyfriend} made sure to introduce me to people. And more importantly he made sure my wine glass was always full {he's so sweet}. Then {this} girl stomps in. Other than the fact that she had way too much mousse in her hair {it's not 1990 anymore my friends}, I thought nothing of her. And since {The Boyfriend} had a blank look on his face, I figured he didn't know her. So I continued on my merry way, socializing up a storm. {And by socializing, I mean clinging to {The Boyfriends} side. Love, love meeting new people.}

Do people still use this?

A few minutes later {The Boyfriend} pulls me aside and says, 'oh, hey. that's my x. you know. the one that lived with me for the greater part of her adult life. that's why i didn't introduce you to her.' Say what?! I slap him.

No, no. Don't worry, I only mentally slapped him.

Seriously. Gentlemen. Take note. They're called "details." And they're important. If you're taking me to a party where your {x} might show up. It might be a good idea to give me a heads up. Why you ask? It just is. And really, that's all you need to know.

Write that down. That was your {free} lesson for today.

What did I learn you ask? If {The Boyfriend} has a blank look on his face, he's actually thinking 'oh, shit.'

xoxo,
Elle

Elle's First Guest Post from {The General}

Happy Friday to All! Today you are in for a special treat. A friend of mine, we'll call her {The General}, has a true story to share about dating {a 25 year-old} in the 21st century.

The {Back Story}:
{The General} has been seeing this guy, we'll call him {The Soldier} for a few months. He's 25, she's 32. She's quick to point out that that's a seven year age gap. Her philosophy is that all relationships teach you something {true} - and they might just be good for one thing {sex?}.

As told by {The General}:

I got a {mere} four hours of sleep the night before last because {The Soldier} snored all night...well  and we had s*x three times.  So yesterday, I was really looking forward to going home to an empty house and spending the night being mellow {catching up on sleep}.  HOWEVER…

Before I left for work, {The Soldier} asked if he could stay a little later and do one load of laundry. I said sure so, when I left for work he was still at my house.  I told him to be nice to my dog and to text me when he was done his laundry and leaving my house.  I never received {that text}. Why? Don't worry. I soon found out. When I walked through my door at 5pm {HE WAS STILL THERE}.  Did he ask me if he could stay all day?  No.  Did he actually do {that} one load of laundry?  No.  He played video games and watched TV…all day. I was so irritated, tired and cranky - I just wanted to be alone.  Instead I had to have a {fun}  conversation with {The Soldier} about BOUNDARIES and why staying at my house all day {while I am AT WORK} is not appropriate. I was as {kind} as I could possibly be given my lack of sleep and {complete} exhaustion.  After we had that {fun} conversation he was completely mortified which of course made me feel like a jerk.  So I made some dinner {nachos}, poured some wine {red} and we had s*x {twice}. We watched a little TV {CSI} and ate ice cream straight from the containers {yum}.

End of story?  Nope.

He actually {DID} do something beyond watching tv and playing video games all day.  Are you ready for this?  Prepare yourselves… I am {dead} serious.  Get ready...

{He.  Shaved.  His.  B*lls.  In my bathroom…In my shower to be more specific.} GROSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So, on top of being exhausted, I had to pretend to like his completely {bald} makeover.  “Wow, your p*nis looks really big now, babe.  And your b*lls are so big!  I love your new look.”  Yes, those words actually came out of my mouth. As I said earlier, I felt bad about our {talk} on boundaries so I was trying my hardest to be {The NICE General}.

This is what dating a 25-year-old entails.  Great s*x...but this crap as well.

L.O.L

xoxoxo,
{The General}