29 years young.
I'm 29 today! Craziness. If I'm lucky enough to live to 90, basically a THIRD of my life has passed. I definitely don't feel like I've been around THAT long lol.
And oh hey, I got engaged last Tuesday! :D Basically it all started with a funeral home viewing lol. Chris' great uncle passed away late the previous week and we went to the viewing this past Monday night. (Side note: I had never been to a viewing like that, where there's a receiving line you go through...his uncle had TEN brothers and sisters so there were probably around 40 people in the line to go by and offer condolences. I met a bunch of people I will never remember lol.) We came in separate cars since I came straight from work and then we were driving back home on I-95, me following him, and this big bag of...stuff...fell off the pick-up truck in front of Chris. From my view, it looked like the undercarriage of his car just imploded. So we pull off, deal with the police who said there was nothing they could do, and try to assess the damage in the dark. The gauges seemed okay but he was worried about the oil pan and line and a bunch of other stuff that I know nothing about lol. That next morning I wake up and he's already awake, laying in bed worrying about his car and the damaged and any deductible he may have to pay, etc. We start talking about what he'll need to do and I realize I really need to be there in case his car is hurt so he can do everything else he needs to do and go to work that night so I call in a personal day to work (my first EVER in five years!). We go out to IHOP for some breakfast and he's like, hey, it's such a nice day out, we should go down to the river, to the rapids, it's really nice down there. Me, I'm like, hello, we need to get your car looked at, it's important, if something's wrong we need to know! And he's all, but you have an unexpected day off and the river is really beautiful, come onnnnnn. So I give in lol. And we went to Pony Pastures and he told me how he and his dad used to come to the river and he'd see couples together and always want to be like them and then he dropped to one knee. I was totally surprised. I didn't cry like I thought I would, I was just really happy. :D And then the rest of the day we spend at his cousin's who's a mechanic and then making the rounds to our parents to tell them. And his car is thankfully fine btw. :)
Before all the proposing though we went through an...issue. See, he's technically allergic to cats. Of which I have two. And basically it came down to whether or not, if it was needed for his allergies and overall health, would I be willing to give them away (to my mom). Just about tore me UP. They're my babies. When I adopted them from the SPCA I made a commitment to take care of them for life. And they haven't done anything wrong to deserve having their lives turned upside down and have to become 100% outdoor kitties and live with two other cats and a dog. It was not good. Luckily for me, my mom did agree to take them in at all. And I did agree to it because I do love him and I want him to feel healthy and be able to breathe and all that stuff (lol) but I was in bad shape for a couple days and I sent him home to his parents so I could think (he was also really sick and got even sicker at his parents' and had to go to Patient First and I felt guilty I wasn't there with him but afterwards he told me it wouldn't have done me any good to be there anyways so that made me feel better). But just yesterday he told me that he'd wanted to try and keep them and just both of us work harder to keep the apartments clean (read: danderless) because he knew how much they meant to me and that, yes, he loved them too and would miss them. So yayyyyyyy! I did agree that if we ever got a house, they'd become outdoor kitties. Which I am okay with, especially since I would be there 24/7 to transition them into it. We're seriously thinking we will move into my mom's house, either when she decides to move into a condo (with less upkeep for her you know) or, God forbid, something happens to her. I never wanted to live in Ashland as a single person but for a family it is a nice place to live. She lives at the end of a caul-de-sac and the house is mostly hardwood floors (good for his allergies) with a screened in porch for Marisol and Avery and a fenced in backyard for Macy the pug, his dog.
ANYWAYS. On Friday we left for Lexington, VA where my aunt lives and has a cabin loft. It's so nice, I had never been there, but it's like a bed & breakfast suite! Full kitchen, full bath, satellite tv, we were in heaven lol. We actually weren't there a lot in the end. On Saturday we got up, talked with my aunt and uncle a bit, got lunch, shopped in town, visited my grandma, put flowers on my grandfather's grave, went to Natural Bridge Caverns, visited Natural Bridge and hiked some of the nature trail, grabbed dinner and saw the movie Lincoln at a drive-in movie theater (his first time at one). On Sunday we got up, said goodbye to my aunt and uncle, got some lunch and went to the Virginia Safari Park - I had heard of it but never been but he had read online about it and was really psyched about going. If you ever go to Western Virginia, definitely go! It's a lot of fun, lots of animals and they're literally RIGHT THERE. I petted a zebra, camel (one and two hump), buffalo, llama and a bunch of other animals. Ostriches are mean though! :( It reminded me of Jurassic Park lol, acre after acre of land and you drive a 3-mile path and the animals are just roaming free and come up to your car and stick their heads in, wanting some of the feed you can buy buckets of. I was leery of it at first, because I don't like locally-run "zoos" where the animals look depressed and dirty in little cages. But these guys were all over the place. The cheetahs and tigers were in fenced in areas (obvs lol) but they looked happy and clean so that seemed okay.
Not sure what I'll be doing for my birthday today besides not working (yay!). I'm off through Wednesday so I'm quite excited. :) For dinner tonight we're having 5 Guys...I have been no carb/very low carbing it for about a month now but I'm breaking loose for one meal today. Chris got me a gift card to Bed Bath & Beyond and two charms for my Pandora bracelet (plus all the stuff we did in Lexington) so we're just chilling today. Well technically he's sleeping since he just got off work at 7am today lol. I'm getting together with my mom in a bit, probably will have Mexican for lunch and then maybe do some window shopping or something. I am, without a doubt, the brokest I have ever been in my life right now. Like, I probably had some money when I was 11 years old lol.
But...life is good. Chris is always telling me to keep things in perspective because I have a tendency to panic about, well, everything lol. But after seeing everything in Boston and Texas go down, we're together, we have all our limbs, a place to live, pets to love and everything else will just work itself out. Somehow. Probably. :)
And oh hey, I got engaged last Tuesday! :D Basically it all started with a funeral home viewing lol. Chris' great uncle passed away late the previous week and we went to the viewing this past Monday night. (Side note: I had never been to a viewing like that, where there's a receiving line you go through...his uncle had TEN brothers and sisters so there were probably around 40 people in the line to go by and offer condolences. I met a bunch of people I will never remember lol.) We came in separate cars since I came straight from work and then we were driving back home on I-95, me following him, and this big bag of...stuff...fell off the pick-up truck in front of Chris. From my view, it looked like the undercarriage of his car just imploded. So we pull off, deal with the police who said there was nothing they could do, and try to assess the damage in the dark. The gauges seemed okay but he was worried about the oil pan and line and a bunch of other stuff that I know nothing about lol. That next morning I wake up and he's already awake, laying in bed worrying about his car and the damaged and any deductible he may have to pay, etc. We start talking about what he'll need to do and I realize I really need to be there in case his car is hurt so he can do everything else he needs to do and go to work that night so I call in a personal day to work (my first EVER in five years!). We go out to IHOP for some breakfast and he's like, hey, it's such a nice day out, we should go down to the river, to the rapids, it's really nice down there. Me, I'm like, hello, we need to get your car looked at, it's important, if something's wrong we need to know! And he's all, but you have an unexpected day off and the river is really beautiful, come onnnnnn. So I give in lol. And we went to Pony Pastures and he told me how he and his dad used to come to the river and he'd see couples together and always want to be like them and then he dropped to one knee. I was totally surprised. I didn't cry like I thought I would, I was just really happy. :D And then the rest of the day we spend at his cousin's who's a mechanic and then making the rounds to our parents to tell them. And his car is thankfully fine btw. :)
Before all the proposing though we went through an...issue. See, he's technically allergic to cats. Of which I have two. And basically it came down to whether or not, if it was needed for his allergies and overall health, would I be willing to give them away (to my mom). Just about tore me UP. They're my babies. When I adopted them from the SPCA I made a commitment to take care of them for life. And they haven't done anything wrong to deserve having their lives turned upside down and have to become 100% outdoor kitties and live with two other cats and a dog. It was not good. Luckily for me, my mom did agree to take them in at all. And I did agree to it because I do love him and I want him to feel healthy and be able to breathe and all that stuff (lol) but I was in bad shape for a couple days and I sent him home to his parents so I could think (he was also really sick and got even sicker at his parents' and had to go to Patient First and I felt guilty I wasn't there with him but afterwards he told me it wouldn't have done me any good to be there anyways so that made me feel better). But just yesterday he told me that he'd wanted to try and keep them and just both of us work harder to keep the apartments clean (read: danderless) because he knew how much they meant to me and that, yes, he loved them too and would miss them. So yayyyyyyy! I did agree that if we ever got a house, they'd become outdoor kitties. Which I am okay with, especially since I would be there 24/7 to transition them into it. We're seriously thinking we will move into my mom's house, either when she decides to move into a condo (with less upkeep for her you know) or, God forbid, something happens to her. I never wanted to live in Ashland as a single person but for a family it is a nice place to live. She lives at the end of a caul-de-sac and the house is mostly hardwood floors (good for his allergies) with a screened in porch for Marisol and Avery and a fenced in backyard for Macy the pug, his dog.
ANYWAYS. On Friday we left for Lexington, VA where my aunt lives and has a cabin loft. It's so nice, I had never been there, but it's like a bed & breakfast suite! Full kitchen, full bath, satellite tv, we were in heaven lol. We actually weren't there a lot in the end. On Saturday we got up, talked with my aunt and uncle a bit, got lunch, shopped in town, visited my grandma, put flowers on my grandfather's grave, went to Natural Bridge Caverns, visited Natural Bridge and hiked some of the nature trail, grabbed dinner and saw the movie Lincoln at a drive-in movie theater (his first time at one). On Sunday we got up, said goodbye to my aunt and uncle, got some lunch and went to the Virginia Safari Park - I had heard of it but never been but he had read online about it and was really psyched about going. If you ever go to Western Virginia, definitely go! It's a lot of fun, lots of animals and they're literally RIGHT THERE. I petted a zebra, camel (one and two hump), buffalo, llama and a bunch of other animals. Ostriches are mean though! :( It reminded me of Jurassic Park lol, acre after acre of land and you drive a 3-mile path and the animals are just roaming free and come up to your car and stick their heads in, wanting some of the feed you can buy buckets of. I was leery of it at first, because I don't like locally-run "zoos" where the animals look depressed and dirty in little cages. But these guys were all over the place. The cheetahs and tigers were in fenced in areas (obvs lol) but they looked happy and clean so that seemed okay.
Not sure what I'll be doing for my birthday today besides not working (yay!). I'm off through Wednesday so I'm quite excited. :) For dinner tonight we're having 5 Guys...I have been no carb/very low carbing it for about a month now but I'm breaking loose for one meal today. Chris got me a gift card to Bed Bath & Beyond and two charms for my Pandora bracelet (plus all the stuff we did in Lexington) so we're just chilling today. Well technically he's sleeping since he just got off work at 7am today lol. I'm getting together with my mom in a bit, probably will have Mexican for lunch and then maybe do some window shopping or something. I am, without a doubt, the brokest I have ever been in my life right now. Like, I probably had some money when I was 11 years old lol.
But...life is good. Chris is always telling me to keep things in perspective because I have a tendency to panic about, well, everything lol. But after seeing everything in Boston and Texas go down, we're together, we have all our limbs, a place to live, pets to love and everything else will just work itself out. Somehow. Probably. :)