Thursday's Trip Down Memory Lane

First of all, I promise to have a wedding recap sometime next week. At this point, I'm waiting to get all of the pictures back and I just haven't had the energy to give the subject justice. I'll chalk it up to having seven nights off in a row which always seems to bring out my inner sloth!!

In honor of "wedding week" why don't we travel back about a year to a magical time in Jenn's life, a momentous occasion, an event that changed two people's lives for better (at least we're hoping) ... the first date of Jenn and BJ.

I didn't post effusively about the date because I had learned in the recent past that sometimes it can bite you in the ass if you gush about a blossoming relationship. I think I played it coy and just said "it went well" or some other nonsense .... but now you'll get the full story.

BJ and I (or should I say hogshtrbug and GennX) were introduced on match.com in February '07. He winked at me (matchspeak for "hey you look kinda cool") and sent me a message, but by that time I was embroiled in a blossoming relationship with Bachelor #1 (henceforth to be known as "He Who Dumped Me By Never Calling Me Again"). Since I'm an honorable woman ... seriously I really am ... I let hogshtrbug know that I was currently dating someone but thank you for the interest.

Fast forward about 6 weeks and I put my profile back up on match. Pretty quickly I got a message from BJ to the effect of "Hey you're back!" We ended up talking on the phone, getting along quite well, and planning to meet for lunch. After he cancelled on me THREE TIMES, I was getting the feeling he wasn't really interested. It was no skin off my bones because I was leaving for an assignment in Colorado in 5 weeks - a fact that I told him of upfront. I sent him a text (don't you love this new high tech courting?!?) and said, "if you don't want to meet me, that's fine." Apparently that lit a fire under his ass, because he scheduled another lunch date for Friday, April 5th at 11:30 a.m. at Vino's - a local brewpub/pizzeria. Of course in the back of my mind, I was waiting for a 10:00 text cancelling because of "work" or some other rubbish.

We met at Vino's and I WAS ON TIME (just for the record) and my first thought was that BJ reminded me of my friend Spooky's younger brother. We got our pizza and beer and commenced to talk about everything under the sun. We quickly found that we had similar tastes in movies and TV, were both fans of Star Wars and Buffy (something I normally reserve for later dates) we hit on politics, religion ... basically all taboo subjects. The hours flew by, the beer continued to flow, BJ called his office and took off the rest of the afternoon and we stayed at that lunch for FIVE hours.

At this point he suggested that we just change clothes and go out to dinner ... but I actually had another dinner date already planned (remember BJ had cancelled on me numerous times so I wasn't planning on it really working out) so I said, "I'd love to but I have other plans." BJ replied, "Well if your other date doesn't' work out, I'll be out at Sticky Fingerz ( a local restaurant/live music joint) with friends and you should join us."

Long story short, I did end up at Sticky Fingerz later that night. The local paper was shooting pics of the crowd and we actually have a photo to commemorate the first day we met (near the top of the page) .... I like to call it Date 1B since BJ refuses to allow it to be Date 2. I got home at an ungodly hour but still managed to get up early and run a 10K race the next morning. Obviously things went marvelously from there!!! It was the best first date I ever had.

Thursday's Trip Down Memory Lane

This will be one of those sentimental posts - you are forewarned!

For today's trip down memory lane, I started thumbing through my photos which are all crammed in boxes in chronological order (there are a LOT of them hence the need for a serious scrapbooking offensive this year). I saw this one and it made me smile so I thought I'd use it.

Most of us are lucky enough to have grandparents, and I was lucky enough as a child to have both sets of grandparents and even two sets of great-grandparents. This is me and my Grandma D. He was one of those fun grandpas because he was very active and always up to something, working in the yard or garden, fiddling in the garage or burning leaves which was my FAVORITE chore to help with. Just like gramps I loved to burn things! I remember that when he quit smoking he started chewing tobacco, Red Man in a pouch to be specific. After seeing him put that in his mouth time and time again, I finally asked it I could try some. He let me take a pinch of that nasty looking stuff and try it ... needless to say I am NOT a tobacco chewer to this day.

As for me and the army hat?? Apparently that had been my older brother's, but it became my favorite thing to wear. There are MANY pictures of me as a toddler in the army helmet , but sadly most of them would be considered kiddie porn as I'm only wearing my underwear (hey we lived on a farm and had no air conditioning!) The best are of me with the army hat and giving the black power salute - my Mom still can't explain those.

Grandpa D passed away three years ago and until he went downhill with his Alzheimer's, he still had all of his hair styled almost exactly like this picture, was in great shape, and still let us help with burning things!! We all still miss him but have great memories!

And though I don't think that Alzheimer's or dementia are any thing to laugh about, I think sometimes you have no choice but to find some humor in a situation. Now Grandpa was one to say what he thought and he was a big believer in staying fit and active, for example while in a crowd of people and seeing a heavier woman.... "Maaaan, look at that heifer over there!" Bearing this in mind, I'll never forget when we were at a family gathering and he stared at me and said "you know you've got a mustache there" and pointed to my upper lip. I immediately went to the bathroom and confirmed that like all mammals I do in fact have a slight fuzzy covering on all of my face including my upper lip, but thankfully no mustache!

Thursday's Trip Down Memory Lane - Band Chics are Cool!

Back by popular demand - I bring you another Thursday trip down memory lane!!

I asked BJ for an idea and he quickly stated, "I believe the internet zeitgeist demands to see you in a band uniform." I knew right away that this might be troublesome, because even though I was in the marching band in junior high and all through high school (the first two years in the flag corps and the last two years as a player) I don't really have any pictures. I think the reason is because I never really wanted my Mom to show up (seriously how uncool is that?!?!) and my awesome polyester band uniform had a great hat and cape, but was sadly devoid of pockets for a camera.

The best that I can come up with is this parade picture from 7th grade (I'm the red head with the cheesy grin because I'm pretty sure my Mom was yelling something like "Hey Jennifer, look over here!")
and me in the band room with my clarinet and my friend Spooky. She played the trombone and I was always jealous because I think brass players got more action ... just an unscientific observation on my part.
So yes, I was in the band, AND I went to band camp, but I refuse to classify myself as a band geek. Mainly because I was a cool band chic. My friends and I were the ones who freshman looked up to - OK maybe they were band freshman, but they were still freshman!! I picked up the clarinet towards the end of 6th grade and played through junior high, then when I moved for high school I put it in the back of my closet. I was in marching band my freshman and sophomore years as a member of the flag corps, and when marching season ended - the band director heard the rumor that i had played the clarinet. After much coaxing he encouraged me to just sit in and play one day since I had study hall that period after marching season ended. I protested that it had been too long, I wouldn't remember anything yada yada, but I agreed to sit and play 3rd part (traditionally the easier part for a clarinet technically). I was shocked at how quickly it came back to me and by the next semester I was first chair (the first player) - though to be truthful there were only three clarinetists so it's not THAT impressive.

I loved my time playing in the band and it was a nice respite from my day of college prep courses of physics, chemistry, pre-calculus and the like. When I graduated high school, I left my clarinet playing behind. I still have it in my closet and one of these days maybe I'll pick it up again and find some community band group to play with for fun. Who knows??

For now, this cool band chic is in retirement.

Thursday's Trip Down Memory Lane

Today we're closing on our house and I'm more excited than I can say! The thought of having our own walls, our own yard, our own mortgage interest deduction, fills me with joy!! I was trying to think of a parallel from the past and I immediately recalled the first time I left home and moved into my "own place."

It was Fall 1993 and after spending two years at home going to community college, I was moving into an apartment at Illinois State University. I escaped the dorms (which in retrospect might not have been the best idea, I think I would have become connected with the school a lot quicker had I done the dorm thing) and I moved in with Spooky who was my best friend from high school and another girl I didn't know. We had a two bedroom apartment furnished with the most ridiculously cheap furniture you can imagine ... cheap wood with stained cushions, a rickety table and chairs and bunk beds. I'm thinking that between the three of us we were paying about $800 a month or so which was sheer highway robbery. Of course at the time I didn't care, I was so excited about being on my own. I could come home drunk, or not at all, sleep in as late as I wanted, shop for my own groceries and have my own address. It was incredibly liberating!!

My then boyfriend helped me move in before he was off to college far away in Cincinnati. Despite being "so in love" ... of course it barely lasted until Christmas break. But that first day when I moved in, ready to start my life in college away from home - I felt on top of the world!!

Thursday's Trip Down Memory Lane

I can recall the exact moment when I first decided that I needed to lose weight and start to work out, it was after I saw this picture from my 32nd birthday and realized that my jeans hadn't shrunk, my ass had just gotten larger :)
Of course that was September and it took me two months to actually take action, hire a trainer, meet with a dietician and get at it, but this was when I finally realized that what I saw in the mirror was not reality.

Yes, blog readers, I love you so much as to reveal my most unflattering picture. Don't say I never gave you anything.

Thursday's Trip Down Memory Lane

This trip takes us to a time not so long ago .... me and BJ's first date part 2. (There was some controversy as to whether we had one or two dates the first time that we met, I still firmly believe that there were two separate and distinct dates). There is no photographic evidence from our true first date which was a lunch that ended up lasting SIX hours!! Later on that evening, I met up with BJ and two of his friends at Sticky Fingerz to hear an all girl's band that does a lot of 80s covers. There was a photographer there from a local "social" website that took our picture so now for all time we will have a picture of the first day that we met.
This was of course before BJ nearly got us killed by taking me to a gangsta' bar where my presence was most definitely not wanted! But that's another story for another time.

In other news, the home inspection went well so it's full speed ahead to mortgage land!

Thursday's Trip Down Memory Lane

I missed last week and almost missed this week because let's be honest, if I forget to blog my "regular feature" then it's not very regular is it??

This week's trip involves sports since I am being forced into .... ahem happily going to a Razorback football game this weekend. Despite my recent adult onset athleticism regarding running and triathlon, I've never really cared for sports and as a child I participated in the requisite team sports because it was a small town and everybody did. Of course I wasn't particularly good at anything and I spent more than my share of time on the bench, but there was ONE time where I shined!!

When my Dad built our second machine shed one half of it was paved and a regulation basketball goal was installed for my older brother who played. We have a free throw mark and everything. I decided to start shooting free throws (it was the country, there wasn't much to do) so I would spend several hours in there lobbing up balls granny style through the legs since I didn't have the arm strength to shoot "normal" style. This trophy was when I won first place in my age group (and yes that included boys as well) at a local free throw contest. I don't remember how old I was ... 10 or so??? But I was quite proud of my trophy. Of course by the next year I had long since moved on to some other obsession as is common with my short attention span, so it was the last free throw contest I ever participated in!

Thursday's Trip Down Memory Lane

Now that I have ALL of my pictures out of storage and in my possession - the good, the bad, and the flat out embarrassing - I will start a new feature that I like to call Thursday's Trip Down Memory Lane.

Today's trip takes us to a magical time in a young girl's life, the Senior Prom. As an adult, I've always found it fascinating that when people talk about their high school prom it's a total love/hate thing. Either it was the most horrible evening ever spent with another person involving boutonnieres and corsages or it was a lot of fun. I fall into the category of it was an AWESOME night!!

The theme was U2's "All I Want is U" which I was so stoked about given that I was a crazed fan of their music even back then. My prom date (sticker across the face to protect the innocent who has not consented to general blog distribution) was the boyfriend I had met at my after school job at K's Merchandise. I sold housewares, he sold electronics - it was a match made in retail heaven. He was very sweet and romantic, you know the cheesy type that sends you flowers and mushy cards that looking back makes you gag. The year was 1991 and while some girls went with the short, tight sequined look, for some reason I was thinking Scarlett O'Hara, debutante ball, bridesmaid dress. Either way, I looked pretty hot despite the overwhelming amount of eye makeup and scary post-80s bangs. The evening happened to coincide with our 6 month anniversary and aforementioned cheesy boy sent 6 lavender roses to school that day to symbolize our time together [pause to allow readers to throw up just a little bit] .

It's a shame you can't actually see the skinny size 5 body I've been desperate to reclaim for over a decade beneath all of the crinoline and metallic taffeta!

I challenge any of my blog readers to share their prom horrors .... ahem memories :)