Coming back around

I just want to let you know that I am coming back to life. It was a lovely 60 degrees in Chicago today. The white puffy clouds are back! Flip flops! No heavy coats! Weeeeee! I feel like a different person and I'm stinkin' loving it.

Ok, back to the Sex and the City marathon.

Did I mention I'm making homemade oven fried chicken tonight for the boyfriend? Oh yeah, I'm a great girlfriend. ;)

Constantly refreshing the page..

Hello to my readers! (Maybe all of one or two of you. Mostly teeth whitening websites from Malaysia.),

I have an official announcement for you. I am MOOOVVVIINNG! Well, I am trying to get it all locked down. Man, I tell ya, it's pretty dern hard to find an apartment in Nashville while I am sitting on my hiney in Wine Country. I created an alternate email solely for craigslist. So now I find myself refreshing the page every 15 minutes or so. Yes, I am totally lame and impatient. But I want to move by the end of the month, and I need answers people!

This is one of those moments where I wish I had an awesome following and some Frogs (FRiends from blOGS). Has anyone made that up yet? I'm sure they have. Any of you one or two readers of my blog happen to know anything about apartment/house shopping in Nashville? Or just apartment/house shopping in general? Do any of you live in Nashville? I have a FEW friends there. Mainly acquaintances from college. I can tend to go against the norm when moving and choose a place that I am not all that familiar with. I had never been to wine country before I moved here. I've been to Nashville a handful of times. I like cities that have a ton of things to do but aren't too hectic.

Is it picture time yet? Sure! I'll stop the yapping. Just promise to cross your fingers for me! K, thanks.

Here are some things I will miss about California:

Pub crawls in SF and making friends with bouncers on Speak like a Pirate Day.

Oh! Oh! This one is easy. WINE!

...and wineries with fantastic views! (Artesa Winery)

Cute surfer boys...

Actually, come to think of it, I haven't met any of those up here in NoCal.

(Picture taken in Huntington Beach)

Awkward windy pictures. I have a bajillion of these in Cali.

P.S. THIS is the outfit Mr. Lifetime picked out for me to wear. (Refer to this post.)

He also took the picture...

Rolling hills.

Pretty positive they have those in Nashville.

Laughing at Mr. Lifetime play in the freezing cold water.

Hiking in Muir Woods and not getting lost.

(I got lost on this day.)

No more flying solo.

I always get excited when I see a blog post with a ton of pictures. I feel that I'm a pretty visual person. And as much as I love to read, adding pictures to a post makes the reader fully connect with your experience.  Sometimes I feel captions should just be omitted.
I will try to limit my captions for your picture snack tonight.
(But first, the background information.)

I just got back from a 4 day vacation in Redfish Lake, Idaho. I honestly have never really thought about visiting Idaho. Well maybe twice while watching Napoleon Dynamite. But who didn’t after watching that movie? My boyfriend invited me on this wedding excursion 3 days after I met him! I thought it was a little forward (ok, WAY forward) and I put it off for months because I didn't know where our relationship would go. Booking a trip 4 months into the future is a major risk no matter the situation. So I didn't. If I would have known how the trip turned out from the get-go I would have booked my flight that day. Idaho was an all American, au natural retreat for each one of us that attended. So much so, that in most of the pictures I am not showered, without makeup, and (gasp!) braless.

 And now I’ll let (most of) the pictures speak for themselves…



Meet my boyfriend, Mr. Lifetime!
Outfit details:
Dress: X-Generation in SF ($14 buckaroos!)
Belt: thrifted
Jewelry: vintage/gifted
Shoes: Coconuts

Bird poo in the middle of story telling.

Tony Chachere's
My boyfriend got me this for my birthday because I can't find it in California.
A HUGE hit with the Chicagoans.
If you haven't tried it yet, DO!

Spy the knife bf bought me? ha.

(Idaho native: Josh Ritter.)



A Reason..

Reason #1 my boyfriend's nickname is Mr. Lifetime:

We went hiking in Muir Woods on his recent trip to visit me. (Yes, we're long distance.) I was wearing my VERY cute, but not so nature friendly Minnetonka moccasins on our hike. (I own the darker brown pair. I want to add to my collection and get a pair of THESE! Maybe one day. le sigh) We came up to a large puddle of mud and he turned to the side and held out his arms. I hadn't said a word and almost walked right into him. In a bewildered tone, I asked, "Why are you holding your arms out like that!?" He simply said, "I am going to carry you across the puddle so you don't get your shoes dirty." I cheerfully obliged and thought to myself...I thought these types of guys didn't exist anymore? Does he watch Turner Classic Movies? Lifetime movies? Read Nora Roberts' books?

Officially Official

Mr. Lifetime Movie and I are officially dating. I am new to this long distance relationship thing. Does anyone have any advice for me?

He asked me a week ago today.
I woke up this morning with a VERY, very sweet surprise at my door.

2 dozen multi-colored roses!

This guy is Good. (With a capital "G")

Here are his official stats:
Mr. Lifetime
Sign: Cancer (Same sign as me. Is this a bad thing?)
Years Months Known: 2 1/2
Quick Facts: Lives in Chicago, is working towards his Masters in Social Work, and has an identical twin brother!