"The Eagles are gonna be a lot better than they were last week because they cannot be worse..."

So Joe.
And how we met...

Well it started in the summer before my last year of undergrad. I had had a falling out with my roommates/best friends and moved to a new place with a friend who left me with two roommates I didn't know. So I was developing my friendship with my bud Bridget. And spent a lot of time with her. And she had moved into a co-op on MSU's campus.



Side Bar: the definition of a coop.a

So one night I was coming over to meet her roomie's for the first time and everyone was out on the front porch of O-house drinking and playing darts. And I saw this one boy who I thought was very cute throwing darts and then drinking his beer. I was introduced to everyone and then a girl came out and the cute boy kissed her so I crossed him off the list as taken. That was Joe.



Well through out the course of the year I became good friends with most everyone in the co-op and pretty much lived there (rather than my apt. with my creep-star roommate Rick). I went on a few dates with some of the guys there. None of that panned out. And Joe's chica (they were never officially an item) ended up going down to Paraguay with the Peace Corps. And with all the time I had been spending with him I started to develop a crush. My friend LaFawnduh (really Christina but that was her uber sweet nickname) had a crush on one of the other coop boys so we would plot how to spend time with the boys and just be little girls about our crushes. Well eventually I confessed my crush to Joe (after numerous attempts to give him the hint and him not getting it I took the blunt approach). He didn't talk to me for about a week.




That weekend after was the co-op annual No Pants Party. It's held every February and you can wear anything but pants. Yes, I do mean anything. Wrestling unitards, underroos (aka underpants), a barrel, a skirt, cut-off shorts, etc. So I decide if Joe doesn't want to talk to me or date me then I will show him what he is missing. So I got all dolled up in my skirt from Paris with the slit up to my thigh and a top I bought in Chicago very similar to the halter part of Marilyn Monroe's famous white dress. And I showed up making my grand entrance.




Everyone was already a little tipsy. And the party was pretty packed already. I found LaFawnduh and Bridget. My other coop friends including Joe found me. Joe was a little tipsy too and put his arm around me. And that's when I knew he liked me back. So I said I would sell cups with Joe. We were down in the kitchen selling cups and doing pant checks. NO PANTS! And I leaned in and he got the hint and gave me our first kiss. I told him it took him long enough. He said sorry and kissed me again. It was cute and silly.




The rest of the party was just fun times and silliness and I asked Joe if we were gonna cuddle that night? He said yes and by the end of the party we went up to bed and snuggled all night. Okay and made out a lot. The next morning pretty much everyone in the house had hooked up with someone and all laughed about it. I spent the day hanging out with Joe and the rest of the coopers. The day after was Valentine's Day. I went to school and then over to the coop (as per usual) and was doing my homework when all of a sudden on the keyboard of the lap top I was typing on slid a red rose wrapped in pink tissue paper. I looked up and it was Joe smiling at me.




Isn't that the cutest thing ever?! I gave him a pack of skittles that I got for him. Turns out he wrapped it himself and gave every gal in the coop one too. He didn't want anyone to not have a Valentine. Then the whole coop watched The Notebook, Joe and I split two bottles of wine, and we snuggled, and Joe cried and when people teased him he said, and I quote: "You'd have to be a robot to not cry at this movie. Man fuck you guys!" Then I stayed over again because I was super tipsy and we snuggled all night. It was the start to us dating. And it was pretty perfect. We pretty much stayed the night together every other night. And stayed up until 5am talking and getting to know each other. And don't get the wrong idea, we didn't have sex until we had been dating for 6 months and the time was right. It was just a really sweet beginning to a soon to be four year relationship. February 12 is the big 4 years. Eek! So exciting. :)







So that is the story of Joe and I.

"Time to kill some terrists!" -Joe in reference to a super nintendo desert storm game

Oh my boyfriend! So silly! But I will not get ahead of myself, here is my update on my holiday season:

So Xmastime went a little something like this...

I was dog-sitting for my friends' German Shepherd like I previously stated and working. Then I found out I got off more time from work than expected and tried to go home early but couldn't due to how much money it would cost to switch my ticket. BUT THEN an ice storm warning came into effect and I called the airlines and got my ticket bumped up from Xmas Eve night to Xmas Eve morning for FREE! Can we say awesome?! So the I got on a direct flight from LAX to Detroit and finished a book on the plane ride. My honey Joe picked me up and we drove from Detroit up to my home town. Enjoyed some dinner with my family and went to sleep snuggled up with my parent's puppy Petey!



Christmas morning we woke up early and hung about waiting for everyone to show up at my folk's place. We ate a big breakfast, starting drinking mimosas (at 10am), and passed out presents. Joe got a beautiful hand-carved wooden Polish chess set that he admired on our last trip to Hamtramck with my folks, a Barnes & Noble gift certificate, starbucks iced coffee mug with coffee beans, & some cigars. I got a gift certificate to Victoria's Secret (I got three bras because of the semi-annual sale going on now!), a gift cert to American Eagle (I got a grey long john shirt, a white long sleeve shirt and a green & navy blue scarf), a bath & body works bath set, $500 from my folks for whatever, and a promise to buy me a new digital camera. We both made out pretty well I'd say. Plus everything was light so we didn't have extra weight to add to our luggage.







We then proceeded to continue drinking all day and plyed the new wii my folks got my younger siblings. We had dinner. Now by this time I was pretty drunk. I don't really drink a lot out here because it's so expensive so this marathon drinking day took it's toll and I was pretty tipsy. I had invited some friends over for a get together that night. Well what I didn't know was that a friend's fiancee pushed my sister, a friend barrelled over my Pops to get beer, and another friend was rude to my other sister. So my family was pretty peeved with me (though at the time I didn't know all this and thought they were being ridiculous). So everyone went home and I went to bed angry.







The next morning I got balled out pretty good by my Pops, this is when all the info about the pushing and rudeness came out. So I apologized for that. But really it came down to this: my parents don't like it when I one: drink and two: have more than one friend over. They don't enjoy my personality when I'm not sober so I've decided to not drink or have friends over at their home. I will go elsewhere. I think that will prevent anymore lectures on those issues. What can I say? Every year one of us kids gets balled out about something so it was my turn this year. Last year my older brother got it and the year before my oldest brother. We just keep rotating it amongst the six of us so I should be good for five years. :)

We escaped to the mall for awhile. Then picked up wine to replace that which was drunk by my friends, and got some groceries. Joe and I made a spicy tuna tartar like that at the restaurant I work at out here. It was SO good!! My parents were so impressed I think that they stopped being mad. And then that night I went out with my bf, my little sister and her bf, my older brother and his gf, and my two cousins and their dad. We went to a local dive bar but had the best time. My bf's sister came out. My cousins got wasted with my uncle and sang karaoke. It was a riot. And made up for the not so awesome morning. Good times were had by all.







The next few days we just hung out with some friends of mine from high school and my family and my bf's sister. I got a lecture on my career choice of being an actor and how I need to find a job that will give my health benefits due to my crap back. It's just a bit frustrating to have the same conversation over and over again with my family about how I want to be a working actor. They don't quite get it. It's hard to explain to people who aren't into the creative arts as jobs. They don't understand it. I tried to explain again though. I guess I'll just have to keep on trying to explain until they get it or give-up on trying to change my mind.



I also did a girls day with my mom, two sisters, and my brother's gf Heather, whom we call Taco. We did some spa treatments and had a really great lunch at Cafe Zinc at The H hotel in my hometown. It was just nice to relax, get a pedi, and eat some delicious food and sip mimosas. Good times. Plus all the girls wore the headbands I made them for Xmas! :D




Joe and I left my folks on the 30th to go down to my bf's hometown and the college town where we both went to school. We hung with his family, a friend of mine I hadn't seen in 7 years came up for a visit we had to unfortuantely cut short, and then later went out with more friends for a hookah night at the mediterranean restaurant and bar near MSU's campus. It was such a great day/night. We went back to a friend's place where I slept for 3 hours and Joe played video games all night. Our buddies drove us to Detroit at 4am to catch a 7am flight. We flew all day back to LA.







Once we arrived we had to pay $85 for the LAX parking lot!!!! Never doing that again. Drove home to our apartment. Unpacked. I showered, we ate a little lunch, and I drove out to Malibu to work. I wore one of my little hat creations and so many cistomers asked about it I handed out about 5 business cards! It was great. I got out of there around 10:15 and hauled butt home to find Joe asleep! Haha, poor thing was so tired from travelling and not sleeping but a little on the plane that day. So we had some champagne and spaghetti-o's, watched the ball drop, shared our first midnight smooch in our entire almost 4 year relationship, and went to bed! It was a pretty crazy but fun trip.







So for those interested the reason it was our first midnight smooch was because I always seem to get stuck working New Years Eve, it's a pretty big holiday for restaurants and bars and as an actor working as a server for the flexibility of that job normally you are required to work NYE. So last year I was supposed to make home in time but some girl cried about how I had Christmas off so I got stuck opening and closing, thus missed midnight. The year before that I worked at a theatre in Chicago and Joe was stuck in MI. The year before that I worked and we weren't officially together yet so it didn't happen. So it was great to finally get a midnight smooch!

I hope everyone else's New Year and holiday went amazingly and I can't wait to hear all your stories! :D

P.S. Erin, my next post will be how Joe and I met. :)

It's a me, Mario!

Happy New Year to you and yours! Here's to hoping 2010 rocks our faces off (since 2009 kinda sucked butt)!

It's started off pretty great for me since Joe and I got to spend our very first New Year's Midnight Kiss together (only took us almost 4 years)! YAY!



Hope yours went just as well :D All about my holiday break later this week! Cheers!

Adventures in Dog-sitting and other ramblings...

So as most people who know me discover, I am in love with dogs. It's true. I love them. I'm super allergic to cats and they're usually just too bratty for me. Whereas a drool-machine, hyper-active,snuggle puppy is the way to win my heart over in a second...

So we begin with my adventures. I volunteer straight away to any friend with a dog that I will dog-sit for them anytime (if I'm available). Because I love dogs and can't get enough. And I don't require pay I just do it because I love to. Now the friends I do dog-sit for are super generous and pay me anyway but I do it because I just love getting to spend time with a dog/dogs since I can't afford to care for one myself right now.



So I am sitting for two friends' german shepherd this week. They just got engaged and are visiting her family in Ohio and I jumped at some quality puppy time. He is a 1.5 years old GS who thinks he is still a puppy and has loads of energy and is an attention whore. Which I love. Seriously I really do. But this week has just been really hard on me. Every time I walk him, long walks with a hiking pack (as they're trying to train him to carry water for when they go hiking/camping) he still wants to go kick the soccer ball around for an hour or so. And this is before, and two to three times after I get done with, a 6 hour work day. It's just been very intense. And for some reason he has taken to whining all the time. I mean all the time. He's fed, peed, pooped, walked, played, is exhausted and laying on the floor to cool down, and he still wont stop whining. I'm giving him an all-out gusto belly-rub & still whining. I am just at my wit's end this week. I feel bad for not having more energy and patience but...I dunno. And I've NEVER said this about dog-sitting before, but I'm glad it'll be done tomorrow. I just need some quiet me time. And some rest! :) Although I have to say I have been loving all his puppy dreaming where he barks and runs whilst asleep, so freaking cute every single time!



In other news for some weird reason work gave me extra days off so I am going to try to get home on an earlier flight! How amazing that I might get an extra 1.5 days with my family and friends! I'm so excited to see everyone and spend some quality time. It is much needed. I just hope the prices aren't too high for switching!



I'm a little saddened, however, by the fact that I might not get to see my extended family on my father's side after desperately trying to work it out so we could go down to see them because my oldest brother is choosing, rather than come up and see me for Christmas (and I haven't seen him in about a year and a half), to stay down in Indiana with his crazy on-again-off-again girlfriend who attacked my sister about 2 years ago when she was wasted. I really just don't understand that. I'm trying to see it from his perspective but I'm a bit hurt. And bummed about possibly missing another opportunity to try to connect to my Polish side of the fam after only discovering they all existed two years ago. And as usual my mother's side of the family hasn't even tried to get in touch. It's been literally 17 years since I had a relationship with any of them (other than my mom's sister and her family). I just thought maybe this year would be different. I guess I just need to be the one to make it happen,or try anyway.



Also another big weird thing is this will be my first Christmas without a certain friend I've known for about 18 years. Due to a huge falling out caused be her rumor/lie-spreading about me and hurting my mother, and pissing off me, my sisters, and my father she is no longer welcome in our home or lives. Which is just weird and sad. I mean she was "part of the family" and now she's just gone. It's the right thing because what she did was horrible with a capital H but still it feels sort of off not planning things with her or talking to her, etc. I guess I just still have to learn to let go of people who are toxic. I always want to give people a million chances, especially when they don't deserve them. *sigh* Whatever, I'm trying to let it all go.



I think I'm just a little blue. I had a really intense acupuncture experience on Friday where he put a needle in and I just started crying, like hard sobbing crying, and it burned in my chest. It was so intense and crazy. And my acupuncturist just asked "What are you so sad about and you're holding in?" I just sobbed "I don't know but make it stop!" It was the strangest and weirdest experience I've ever had while trying this bit of pain management therapy. It has helped so much with the pain from my back but this was just so crazy and I think it released some sort of blue-ness in me that I'm working through. Maybe from all this old extended family stuff, and losing my friend of 18 years, and another friend just recently moved away...I don't know but I guess I need to work through it all.



Here's hoping that maybe getting home sooner for the holidays will brighten up my spirits. This time of year is my favorite! Really all of December is. The First is my birthday, then Christmahakwanzakkuh, then New Years. It's just the best! Hope all your holidays are amazing too :D

"What did they hit you with? Whatever it was it was hard"

I had a pretty good day at work today. Mandy kept me positive and we projected making money and I did. Even though it was chilly and rainy I still made over $100. I'm very pleased.



Also, I am watching (again) Michael Collins and it is remining me again why I love this movie so much and why I CANNOT wait until we go to Ireland this summer. My dreams of visiting my heritage is finally coming true: Joe and I are going to go to Poland and Ireland! I am SO excited. Now to just save up a bajillion dollars so I can go. Oh and get on getting a new passport. So much to do!



Also I want to go to New Orleans for Mardi Gras (another dream trip) this year so I can visit my dear lil Georgia Peach who just moved back there. What an amazing trip that will be as well, again, if I can save up a bajillion dollars :)



I am also too excited to go home for Christmas this year! First of all SNOW!!! I know I am a "weirdo" according to most, but I love snow and cold and winter. I cannot wait to play in the snow, wear scarves, snuggle up with my puppy, get cold chills in the wind, and enjoy the true wintery weather! Also I am dying to see my family (as always) but this year we get to also see my Pops' big ol' Polish side. And from my Ma's side my Aunt and Cousin are coming down for a gals' day on Monday the 28th! I'm just excited to be surrounded by those I love and who love me. What a wonderful holiday this is going to be. I hope yours is just as lovely and full of family, food, booze, and fun. :)



I am in the best mood despite the earlier part of this weekend starting with drama. It has progressed into a pretty lovely few days of work and fun. I saw Disney's The Princess and the frog, hung with my friend Kari (laundry night and the afore-mentioned movie), spent time with my honey, and actually got quite a bit of sleep. Work was good like I said, so all in all, pretty great!



I hope all is well in your worlds dear friends. I hope all your grey skies turn blue. And I hope you are having a spectacular holiday season!