Weekend update 3/26

This weekend wasn't exactly what I thought it would be but it was still a good time. Dave, Pete and I drove to the Asbury Park area in New Jersey to stay at their friend TJ's house for the weekend. It was time for them to bottle what's left of their grenache and all of their pinot noir.

TJ's wife wasn't there until the last night because her mom was sick. So it was just me and the 3 boys. I thought it was going to be a huge group of people. But that's fine with me. I love hanging out with the boys.

Friday night Dave was really stressed and tired. Had a shitty day. So we just had some beer, pizza and the boys smoked pot and we went to bed early.

Saturday morning Pete made us breakfast and we sat around for a few hours and then the guys started sterilizing the wine bottles. I sat and watched/read the paper.

We played ping pong. I forgot how much I like playing. Must get a table whenever I have a house. Then we started siphoning the wine from the big jugs into the wine bottles. I helped with that. They even made labels...had the cork machine...foil wrappers...whole deal. So cute.

They made a GREAT meal Saturday night. Cornish hens that they deep fried...grilled veggies and twice baked potatoes. And tons of wine to drink of course. I swear it's magical wine because it tastes good, gets you drunk but none of us were hungover. FINALLY. The perfect drink.

Kristin - TJ's wife - was able to join us Saturday night. Dave said she's one of his favorite people and I can see why. She's so nice and we really got along. We played darts after dinner while the guys finished bottling the wine.

Then we all stayed up late drinking and talking and listening to music. It was fun but the last hour I was dying to get Dave in bed as the sexual tension had been building all day. I swear I feel like a 17-year old guy sometimes. But I wasn't going to be the one to end the evening. Finally Dave did :)

Sunday morning he made french toast (I'm so spoiled) and then we headed back home.

It's starting to unnerve me a bit that Dave's literally perfect. There's NOTHING wrong with this guy. He knows something about everything. He's so thoughtful. He's funny as hell. His personality reminds me of Ed Burns. The way he and his friends are with each other is a lot like that. Cracks me up. He treats me like a queen.

It may sound stupid but I'm having a hard time accepting it all. He gives SO much and I don't know how to give back. He won't let me pay for things. He can cook; I can't. I'll finish my breakfast and he'll grab my plate and clean it. I'm like, "I can DO it, babe!" This is what I've always wanted and DESERVE and now that I have it I don't know how to deal with it. Ha. Love it.

My Gym

I've finally accepted the fact that I'm going to be in a relationship with Bally's Gym for a really long time. I'm one of the idiots that signed a 3-year contract and then couldn't get out of it in the way they said I'd be able.

I'm sure I could just not pay the bill and have a small blemish on my credit report which really wouldn't matter to me, but I've actually gotten used to going to the gym so it's fine. They win.

What cracks me up are some of the regulars that go there.

You've got your married couple that wear lame-ass matching outfits. They wear those wrestling type jackets so that they'll sweat more. Both sport fanny packs, however I've never seen them access the contents.

You've got the girl that thinks she has a better body than she does so she flashes WAY too much flesh. Just wears a sports bra-type top and low-rider spandex pants so that her massive, pale-skinned gut hangs out.

You've got the tiny Asian chick that weighs about 80 lbs. and therefore can't do more than 5 minutes of cardio or she'll faint.

You've got the girl that can't stick to a machine. This girl drives me nuts. She'll do 10 minutes on one elliptical. Then switch to another one. Then go to the treadmill for 5 minutes. Then back to an elliptical. WTF? Just stay on a machine. They're allllll the same, babe.

You've got the Bally's trainers that don't have any clients because they haven't been able to con any members into paying $2,000 for shitty "customized" training. So they hang out and do breakdancing moves in the middle of the floor.

And lastly, you've got the poor, fat lady that walks for about 10 minutes on the treadmill at 2 mph...sweats up a storm...and then says, "Phew! Damn! I'm done!" Love her. You go girl. Gotta start somewhere.

There's more but I'll stop here. I love people watching at my gym.

Weekend update 3/19

Friday night my work friend, Ramin, invited me to a poetry reading. A friend of his was involved somehow. I was looking forward to it as it would be something different to do but Friday was the wintery day from hell in NYC. It was sleeting ALL DAY LONG. I worked from home that day and just listened to it slamming against my window ALL DAY LONG.

Dave had agreed to go with me - I love how he's up for anything - but by the end of the day I wanted to bail on the poor poetry reading and just go to dinner. It didn't start until 10:30pm which is tough on a Friday night (how fucking old AM I?).

So we officially bailed and went to a great new restaurant called Trestle in Chelsea. Then he spent the night and had to leave at 8am the next morning to get work done so that he'd be able to hang out for St. Patty's Day.

We met up around 4pm and went to Bleecker Street Pub/Bar/whatever the third word is. His sister's boyfriend is the manager there. It was perfect because it wasn't too crowded and we didn't have to pay for many of the beers.

So I got to meet the sister, Sandy, and we got along famously. She's a cool chick. Grew up with brothers so we have the same attitude about how annoying most women are, etc. I caught Dave staring at me a couple of times when Sandy and I would be laughing about something and then we'd just stare at each other for a good 10 seconds and smile. Good times...

So we drank there for a couple hours and then went to a place called Schiller's to get some grub. The place looked familiar but I couldn't place it and then later realized that's where Idiot Notre Dame boy Dan took me after I spent the night at his place this one time. Haha....

After Schiller's (where I had the BEST freakin' cocktail... raspberry/mint/rum/somethingorother) we went back to the bar and it was packed by this point but the Bar Stool Gods were on our side because within 5 minutes the people right in front of us left and we got to sit at the bar. Perrrrrrfect.

Sandy told me that she thinks I look like Mandy Moore. Which was so funny because Dave's girl friends said the same thing to me. Then Dave said he thinks I look like a combination of Ellen Pompeo and Diane Lane. Which cracked me up because I didn't know that he had even thought about it. He doesn't watch TV or movies that much so he doesn't really know anyone. He didn't know who Mandy Moore was.

We kept drinking until about 11:30pm and Dave was about to pass out. Not from being drunk (I swear the boy never gets drunk) but just from being tired from working hard/playing hard.

We went back to my place and just spooned all night because the poor boy was exhausted. Fine with me...

Sunday he didn't have to work so we got brunch at Grey Dog's which for once wasn't crowded (thank you very much, St. Patty's Day hangovers)...ate there and then got the paper and came back to the apartment and read the Times for a few hours. Then we saw "Zodiac" which was good but so fucking long. I had no idea it was going to be that long. Then we grabbed dinner at a really good Greek restaurant across the street from my apartment.

We finally had the chat about ex-girlfriends/boyfriends so I had to come clean about how I basically HAVE no ex-boyfriends. When I was finished I said, "I hope that didn't freak you out" and he said, "No, it's hard to freak me out."

What's weird is that I didn't tell him about Joe but not because I didn't want to but he literally didn't even enter my thoughts. I didn't realize I left him out until I saw an email from a friend of mine this morning. Haven't talked with her in awhile and she asked about Joe. Then I thought, "God, I didn't even tell Dave about him."

Don't know what that says about me...that I can completely forget something like that. Whatever...

From Dave and I's conversation I wasn't quite clear on how ready he is to settle down. We've only been dating for a month so we're so not there yet but if he's the type that's not going to get married until he's 50 then that's something I need to know. He did comment on how he completely understands how women feel their biological clocks ticking and that's why the really start wanting to settle down when they're in their 30's. But I wasn't sure if he was saying he's not ready for that or not.

Whatever...I'm just going with it for now. He and I are going to New Jersey this coming weekend for the latest bottling of the wine that he and his friends make. Should be fun.

Hot Actor Boy Jeffrey Returns...

I feel like Carrie from "Sex & the City" when she was starting to get serious with Berger but was still having occasional phone sex with Big.

I'm getting serious with Dave and I just got an email from Hot Actor Boy Jeffrey that said:

You were in my dream last night. We weren't getting
it on, but we were about to...

So as per our routine, I'm supposed to retort with something sexual. Since our emails are so infrequent I'll probably just send him a "quickie" and then I won't hear from him for a couple months.

Men.

I'm Done

I just had dinner with Dave and.....I'm done. He's the one. I'm in love with him. Signed, sealed, delivered. He's it.

It's nothing specific that I can site, but just an overall feeling. An accumulation of everything he represents. I want to be with him all the time and when I'm not I'm counting the minutes until I will see him again. I just got home and I'm doing it already. Won't see him again until Friday night and I can't wait.

And now I'm freaked out. What if he doesn't feel the same way? That's my initial freakout moment, but I'm good at calming myself the fuck down and realizing that all I can do is be myself and hope that's enough. He might not be at the same place but hopefully he will be someday.

I made sure to mention tonight that it bothered me that he was self-deprecating this past Sunday night when I said I was really excited about us and he said something like, "Eh, be careful. This is me you're talking about."

I said that I wanted to make sure he knew that I thought he's wonderful. That he's great. And he acted like he didn't remember it going down exactly like that (defense mechanism) and accepted my compliment and said that he thinks I'm great as well.

I'm just glowing....

Weekend update 3/12

I can't believe it's March 12th, 2007.

But anyway.

Dave, and I are progressing nicely. I'm SO excited about him! We had a really great weekend. Friday night we ate dinner at a tapas place right near my house. Got into more intimate-type conversation. Instead of dismissively saying, "I have a fucked up sibling" or whatever we actually revealed specifics, etc. He looked so good that night. He came home with me and spent the night and we had our coffee/couch talk in the morning. He told me funny stories about this guy he was partnered with when he was steamfitting (laying pipes). He's met the most interesting people...

Saturday night he had to work so I went to a couple of birthday parties. One for Stevie Nix and then one for my roommate's friend at a bar called Lava Gina. Gotta love it.

Sunday Dave and I had a PERFECT day. Went to the Met and wandered around for a couple hours until they closed. He and I have the same taste in art. And of course he worked on the renovation of the Met so he had some cool stuff to tell me about the building. He so damn interesting I sometimes wonder why he's not bored with me yet.

We're good at holding hands and looking at stuff and then separating and going our own way for awhile and then reconnecting. There would be times that we'd be separated and say I was standing there by myself...he would come up behind me and walk by me, grazing me, hand trailing on my butt and then would just keep walking and we wouldn't even look at each other. Then I'd find him later and do it back to him. So hot!

Then he took me to this great Italian restaurant, Baraonda. We feasted because neither of us had eaten all day. Salad, gnocci, sea bass, tirimisu, great wine (he hasn't picked a bad wine yet). More good conversation.

Then he took me to The Campbell Apartment which is the most amazing bar/lounge I've ever seen in my life. It's in Grand Central Station. It was so romantic and you just feel the history sitting there. More good conversation. Tasted some fun cocktails. He came back to my place again and left this morning. He "slept in" until 6am. The boy has to get up so early for work. Crazy.

At The Campbell Apartment he asked me "what do I think of all this?" After a second I realized he was asking what I thought about he and I. I said I think he's amazing and I haven't been this excited about someone in a long time and then he was self-deprecating and said something like, "Nah, be careful. This is me you're talking about." I wish he hadn't done that. Not the time to be self-deprecating. It's the time to take the damn compliment. I was nervous and didn't pick up on it like I should have so I let it go and basically said that I was having a really good time with him and he said the same.

We're in a great place. Really enjoying each other and are taking it as it comes. Not putting pressure on it. It's so easy with him. No games.

My mom asked me today if I had taken my Match.com profile off yet. I hadn't yet but am going to right now. Sign of faith in he and I...

Not this weekend but next weekend we're driving to south Jersey to spend the weekend with all of his friends because they're bottling the latest wine that they've made. He said it's really fun. They make big meals, drink the wine and just hang out and have fun. It sounds great.

Ahhhhhhhh...this feels so good! To be in a healthy, adult relationship for once. They actually exist people!

Belt loop

Had dinner last night with Dave at my new favorite restaurant, Zoe, in Soho. I went there for Thanksgiving with my parents and we loved it. Have been wanting to go back ever since to see what their regular food is like. SO good!

It was a great night. We needed it. Just the two of us. His omnipresent friends......not present.

Good food, good wine, good conversation. We moved to the bar after we finished our long dinner so that we could soak up every minute we had together before he had to go back to work. As we sat next to each other he put his hand around my waist and he tugged at my belt loop and that small gesture sent shivers throughout my body. He just does it for me.

His company is rebuilding the infrastructure of Macy's Herald Square and all the construction guys are working nights since the store's still open during the day so he has to go there to make sure they're on the ball. We were cursing the fact that he had to go to work.

We're going to hang out again tonight but he doesn't have to go back to work.

Sweeeeeet.... [insert emoticon of devil-ish face]

Crappy Picture of Dave

Here's the picture I had to go on in Dave's match.com profile. Can barely tell what he looks like but it's something...

"Dave and Stacey"

Had my 5th date with Dave this weekend. It lasted 24 hours :)

At one point mid-Sunday his friend Pete was on the phone with another of their friends who had asked who he was hanging out with. Pete replied, "It's Chrissy and I and Dave and Stacey." It just hit me that we're already "Dave and Stacey" and that didn't freak me out.

Sat. night we went to dinner with 3 other couples. Met at his friends Aaron & Beth's who have an apartment at Grammercy Park. They're so cute. Married. Have all the perfect Crate & Barrell cheese knifes, wine carafe's, etc. Had a nice cheese/oyster spread for us. Went to dinner at this french restaurant that was annoying/hysterical. Annoying because we had a reservation but apparently that didn't matter. Hysterical because our waiter was high on something and was bouncing around the restaurant yelling strange things. Jumped ON TOP OF OUR TABLE when he was seating us and shouted something inaudible. At least my sea bass was good.

When we were waiting for a table Aaron and Beth were talking Dave up to me. Saying he was one of their favorite people and he's the greatest guy, etc. I love that.

Went to Fanelli's cafe in Soho afterwards after the line at Merck Bar was too long for us. Then he came back to my place. He said, "There's no place I'd rather be right now." Awwwwwwwww........ Then he pinned me against the wall. Yeah, baby!

Sunday morning we sat on the couch and he was telling me a little bit about the different places he's travelled. In the Navy he had to go to Yemen where there was a revolution/coup happening. Crazy stuff. He's so interesting to talk to.

We got brunch at Spotted Pig with Pete & Chrissy and ended up moving to the bar after our meal was done and stayed there from 11am - 5pm. It was really fun. Then we thought it would be a good idea to crash Aaron and Beth's place all buzzed and giggly and hung out there for a little bit and then went back to Pete's apartment to order food and I finally got home around 8:30pm.

He's...just...GREAT! He's strangely perfect for me. He makes me feel wonderful. But he doesn't overdo it. I'm not starving for his affection nor am I wanting him to back off a little. It's like he knows exactly what I need/want. He keeps my ego in check. He finds my quirkiness amusing. He can handle my little sassy comments without getting sensitive. I love that his family and friends are really important to him. He babysits his nephew all the time.

We're at this fun point where we can't stop touching each other whether it's holding hands or him petting my hair or rubbing my back or whatever. If we're hanging out with other people we're both secretly wanting them to leave so we can sneak a kiss or two in. Then when it happens we get caught and made fun of - as we should.

I asked him about his match.com profile that's no longer active and he said he took it off. I asked him how long he was on there and he said a week and a half. He was drunk with friends when he put it up there and I was the only person he emailed and met. Of course my smart ass replied, "Well, you lucked out." His friends were talking about an upcoming trip in July and he said, "If you're still talking to me in July you're coming."

I'm just so excited about him! This is something big for me...

Oh, and Friday night I finally watched "March of the Penguins" despite my extremely irrational fear/hatred of the creatures in the hopes it would cure me.

I didn't. I'm sorry but they're just fuckin' freaky.