with Impulsive Addict and Seriously Shawn.

• After a week of battling with the home warranty people over our broken AC, having an HVAC tech come out only to tell me it was the breaker, not the AC, we finally got an electrician to come out. He turned out to be a total hottie, and I was secretly glad that I had the wherewithal to wear a halfway decent outfit and put my hair into a ponytail instead of its usual hot mess. I don’t get out much, so don’t you judge me as IA would say! We also got our AC fixed and I’m no longer sweltering!
• Double Date Night this past Saturday with my long time friend (we’ve went through school K-12, literally growing up together) Mrs. Makeup (she sells Mary Kay and does permanent makeup for a living). We only live a few hours from each other, and Sacramento is a nice halfway spot for us.
• She’s the one with the adorable little girl who I cuddled with for most of our 10 year reunion. It was so nice getting out of the house and visiting with her and her fiance, and their little girl Cuddlebug. Makeup has been so supportive this past month. She’s always available for chats and I’m so grateful for her long term friendship. We don’t see each other that often, but it’s always as if no time has passed. When we got to dinner, she gave me a sweet magnet about angels, and this garden stone. Isn’t it perfect?

• We went to the Capitol Building in Sacramento after dinner. I had no idea the grounds were so beautiful.

• When we were ready to say goodbye, Cuddlebug wouldn’t stop hugging us. She kept giving me little pats on the back. I was in danger of bawling my eyes out.

• When she reached for Match, I nearly lost it. Look at how she cuddled him. I swear she knew we needed some baby cuddles.

•  I warned Mrs. Makeup that I just might take her home with us if she wasn’t careful. She cried when we left, and I cried a little too. I can’t wait to see them again!
• On the ride home Match just squeezed my hand and said, “someday”.
• Sunday I received a lot of sweet messages about Mother’s Day, and I thought about Roo many times. Match made sure I had a fun day. We bbq’d, went for a nice walk, and cuddled on the couch.
• I’ve started working out again. I have to admit, it feels damn good having strength and energy again. I’m loving the endorphin kick too.

What have you been up to lately?

My eyes aren’t glistening with the ghosts of my past! -Harry Potter

Saturday afternoon I met up with a few of my friends from college for a mini reunion. Moose and I have kept in touch all these years, but the other two guys I hadn’t seen in at least 8 years. It was so surreal to all be hanging out together again. The day started out with me third wheeling it with Moose and his lady. We went wine tasting in Sonoma and Napa and it was actually a lot of fun even though I wished Match could have been there. The weather was perfect and it was an absolutely gorgeous day for wine tasting.

We drank a lot of tasty sparkling wine and I got to know Moose’s fiancee.

He’s actually been engaged three times, and so far she’s my favorite. I tease him a lot about being proposal happy and I told him he better be sure that this one stuck. It was great to spend some quality time with Moose before hanging out with everyone else. He’s always felt like an older brother and I’m so happy we’ve stayed friends all these years.

After we drank and had fun in true Napa County style, we headed back to their place in Napa. Napa holds a lot of bad memories for me, but a few good ones. It was in Napa that I first lived with a boy and it ended badly. I think a part of me always worries that I’ll run into that ex, Flame Boy. I’m not really sure what I’m so afraid of because I have never been happier with my life. I guess it’s just a scary thought to run into ghosts from our past.

Speaking of ghosts, when the other two guys showed up for the BBQ at Moose’s, I was forced to remember a lot of other ghosts from my past as “Oregon”, the wild party girl. Moose loves to bring up awkward party stories and he loves to see me turn red. You can bet my face was scarlet for most of the evening. Luckily it was all in good fun, but the story telling portion of the night made me grateful Match was at work. I’m most definitely not the girl I once was!

After eating an amazing BBQ dinner and birthday cake (celebrating our September birthdays early) I had sobered up enough to drive downtown with the guys. We piled into my little car and headed down to the local pub. We hung out and the boys drank and we all visited and did some people watching.

It’s nice when you can hang out with friends you haven’t seen in almost a decade and still feel comfortable. I think I actually felt more comfortable now because I’m grown up and I know who I am. I’m no longer that awkward 18 year old trying to figure out life. My buddies are all a lot more mature now too and all seemed to be happy with their places in life. It was great to reconnect and I hope we do it again soon! Hopefully next time I’ll be able to bring my better half to the party.

Peg, I don’t wanna go to our high school reunion. Can’t we just forget the good times and get on with our lives? -Al, Married…With Children

Last weekend I drove the 9.5 hour drive (made it in 8.5!) to my hometown in Oregon for my high school’s 10 year reunion. I hail from a very small town where the graduating class was 60 people, and almost all of us grew up together. Our 10 year high school reunion wasn’t some stuffy party at the high school gym. Instead it was a weekend event, starting with drinks on Friday night, then a potluck for families on Saturday, followed by a softball game, and then ending with a bonfire on the beach that night.

The first night was drinks at the local bars in our small town. Our bars aren’t exactly classy, and the locals made for some laughs. It was so surreal to party with these people I grew up with. I didn’t party much in high school and when we did hang out we didn’t drink. So it was weird being all grown up together.

I painted a sign for our class that we brought to all the weekends events. It was cute how everyone got such a kick out of it.

Here are some of my classmates dancing in the street with the sign on our way to the next bar. Our town goes to sleep at about 8pm so there wasn’t a car in sight.
I ran into my original birthday twin, and as mentioned in Friday’s confessional, I spent a lot of time inappropriately hugging him. What he smelled good! Plus I’m pretty sure he’s gay. Oh, and he kind of looks like Ryan Reynolds, so I had to get a hug. You would have too, don’t lie.

On Saturday we had our potluck. The organizer of the event went all out. She had a projector set up and we watched a slideshow another classmate put together. I won’t lie, it totally made me tear up a few times. It was so surreal to see my classmates and their kids.

I have to say I was impressed that all the kids were so well behaved. Not one toddler meltdown, and there were a LOT of children. One girl had a great quote for the day when I mentioned how many kids our class had as a whole. “Well we all know what our favorite pastime is in this group don’t we?” Hehehe.

After the potluck we walked to the softball fields where I mostly took pictures. I did share a beer with a classmate, and she just said, “Wow, it took us 10 years to share a beer. About damn time!” I also apparently have really good reflexes. A couple of times the ball went over the fence and I instinctively dove over my friends and covered their faces. Everyone laughed and then said I’m going to make a great mom someday. It was kind of funny, I didn’t even realize I was doing it. Luckily the balls missed and no one was hurt.

Saturday night was the bonfire, and definitely my favorite night. I got picked up by two of my old classmates, Miss PHD and Mrs Vet (just graduated from vet school). We all hung out a lot in high school, so it was like no time had passed. We were laughing in the car the whole way to the beach.

This is the gorgeous beach. I really miss being so close to it. It’s about a 5 minute drive from my parents’ house.

We had a huge turnout again for the bonfire. We took pictures, I kept it classy with the champag-nay and wine, and of course as I mentioned, squatted like a champ. I had a great time visiting with all my old friends. It was crazy to see how much we’ve changed, and yet how much we haven’t in many ways.

Oh and did I mention one of my classmates lives in Hawaii now and she learned fire dancing? Her and her fiance entertained us with some kick ass fire dances. It was pretty cool to watch.

I visited with one friend who it turns out lives just two hours from me, and we have a town that’s halfway for both of us to meet up in. We are definitely going to try to get together more and keep that friendship going. I think it’s a sign of true friendships when you can let years pass but you can pick up right where you left off. That’s the way it was for us. She has an adorable daughter too that I spent the day cuddling. I’m looking forward to seeing them soon. All and all, it was a great night and we all agreed we have to do one every 5 years instead of 10.

I’m so lucky to have gone to school with such a great group of people and I’m so proud of the way we’ve all grown up. We weren’t that cliquey of a group, and those that were snarky didn’t come to the reunion, which was just fine with the rest of us. I’m so happy that I was part of the class of 2001 and I am really looking forward to the next visit.

Joey: These past couple of years, it’s been one big soap opera. I wouldn’t take it back. I wouldn’t… take any of it back, but… I’m glad that it’s over. ‘Cause I like the way things are now. My life being the cruel joke that it is, now that things are so nice… you’re leaving.

Dawson: Jo… if I thought for one second it was the right thing to do, I would stay, but it’s time to go. It’s time for me to get out of this room, and it’s time for you to discover who you are without us. This chapter’s over, Jo. I can feel it.                                                                    -Dawson’s Creek

Yesterday was the long awaited Beerfest, followed by a party at Old Married Couple’s house. It was an anticipated event for me for two reasons: 1. It’s a super fun festival where drink lots of beer and socialize with friends, and 2. Match was going to meet Best Friend for the first time. If you’re a new reader, read here for the whole Best Friend saga, and you’ll see why this was such a big deal for me. (more…)

Lem: Do you think wildly erratic emotions could be a residual effect of the energy patch?
Phil: Hard to tell. This is the problem when the company will only pay for testing on drunk frat guys.                                                                                                                        - Better off Ted

Tonight Match and I are going to hang out with some of Match’s old college friends, most of whom I’ve never met. Neither of us are huge fans of the bar scene, mostly because we’re just plain over it. Loud, smelly drunk people looking to hook up, who bump into me because they can’t see my towering 5ft frame can get old fast. At least California bars don’t allow smoking. At the bars in Oregon, I felt like I had mesothelioma lung cancer after being inside a bar for five minutes! So at least we don’t have that.

Hopefully Match’s friends will be fun, and not grouped into that obnoxious drunkard category. These friends of Match’s are old friends, some he hasn’t seen in years. It’ll be interesting to see how he reacts to that. I’ve always found the experience of seeing old college friends slightly strange. I was such a different person when I was in school than I am today. Sometimes I run into old acquaintances that are still stuck in the college mindset, with messy apartments and ramen in the cupboards. Others have grown up and have jobs and responsibilities. I can’t help but wonder too, when he does hang out with the friends that aren’t in committed “grown up relationships” will he be envious? Will he wish he was still in college and not quite so settled down? I know Match is happy with me and our little life, but I’m a girl, so of course I have my insecurities. I’m planning on glamming up tonight and bringing my A game, just to help remind him of how good we’ve got it.  You know, just in case.