Tuesday, December 30, 2008

The first date

Bobby arranged that he and his brother, Xax, would drive to Columbus on November 17 to go to the temple and we would meet afterwards. He needed a fail safe plan, you see...even if our date was an utter disaster, at least he would have gotten to go to the temple. Smart man. My fail safe was that at least I was going to get free dinner and if this didn't work out, at least I didn't drive 3 hours both ways for it.

We were going to meet at Easton in Barnes and Noble. Bobby and Xax got lost getting there (something that I would learn is not uncommon with Bobby) so I hung out awhile waiting. I was up on the 2nd floor reading and looking at books when he texted me that he was waiting for me by the customer service desk. I took the escalator down, looking for him and spotted him, grinning up at me like a goofball. First impression: nice looking (I have since found him to be oh-so-cute, and quite dashing), on the skinny side (he's gained a couple since we met, which I like) and balding (hmmm...nope, don't really care about that one, except I think balding men need to keep their hair SHORT).

Meeting someone you've only talked to on the phone before and have some kind of mutual attraction expectation can be a little awkward. I knew exactly how to email him and chit chat with him on the phone, but this whole in-person thing caught me off guard. We said hi and had some vague semblance of a conversation while drinking hot chocolate. We walked over to Crate & Barrel so he could see where I worked (and I had to show him anyway because he had never even heard of the place). Then we wandered around the mall for awhile. The setting was lovely...it was evening, all the holiday lights were up, the weather wasn't too cold. But it was weird. We were trying to have meaningful conversation, but it wasn't the same as it had been on the phone. Plus, he kept picking up change off the ground. For heaven's sake! It's a gross dirty penny, or maybe a dime if luck struck. Leave it alone!

We ate at a middle eastern restaurant, Cafe Istanbul, which I really like. Bobby was excited because he was stationed in Turkey when he was in the Air Force, so we thought it would be a fun place to eat. Bobby kept asking the staff if they had particular things he remembered from Turkey...he kept asking, over and over and over. I just wanted to order and eat. We talked for a bit, about life and anything we wanted to know about each other. We got our food and Bobby didn't like any of it. I loved the hummus and he kept saying that it wasn't that good. By that time I wanted to leave the restaurant.

We walked around for a little bit more and then met up with Xax. Bobby and Xax decided they needed to leave since they had a long drive home, so Bobby walked me to my car. I hoped the whole time that he wouldn't try to kiss me, because I don't like to kiss on the first date, and I really didn't want to kiss him on the first date. We hugged (I would later find out that he thought I wanted to kiss him, but he resisted) and I drove away.

Last thoughts? Cute guy, really nice and sweet, a little goofy, but NO WAY am I going out with him again.

Sunday, December 28, 2008

Before we met in person...

Yes, Bobby and I met online. I had been a member of LDS Mingle for several years, not of my own free will, mind you. I had a friend in Cleveland who kept bugging me to join because surely I would meet the love of my life on the internet. Now, I've always thought online dating to be a little bogus, nevermind the fact that literally thousands of people have had mega success with it. So I joined to appease my friend and promptly began to ignore anything involving the site. Oh, I'd check it now and then, because I was paying for the stupid thing, but I'd never contact anyone or respond to anything that was sent to me. Guys would send me emails all the time and I would look at them, say, "Oh, he's cute" and then delete them. I had this pessimistic idea that I would not find love here.

So, in the summer of 2007, this guy kept sending me emails. Which I would read. Then delete. I checked out his profile once. Nice looking. His name was "Toothman"? What does that mean? Tooth fetish? He has bad teeth? He only dates girls with good teeth? And where does he live? West Virginia? Hmmph...way too far away, even if I was going to email him back.

Finally in early October I get another email from "Toothman", which of course, I read, because if nothing else, I was a faithful email reader. He said something like, "Here's the deal, I've emailed you and you haven't responded. I think you're cute, you actually live within 300 miles of me and I think we'd have fun together. So quit wasting my time and let me know if you aren't interested."

Huh, am I really a meany because I'm not responding to anyone? Yes. Is his somewhat chastising tone appropriate because, like a perfect gentleman, he has sent me 5 or 6 emails which I have proceeded to ignore? Yes. Gosh, a guy who's actually going to call me out on something and not just tuck his tail and go on to the next cute girl online. Hmmm...maybe I should email him.

So, thus began our online relationship. We emailed back and forth for several weeks. We shared a lot with eachother and I really enjoyed getting to know him. Then one day he asked for my number. Uh oh, this could be headed into more serious territory. So I politely refused. Nope, not ready yet, give me another 2 years and maybe then I'll give you my number--because if I actually called him, then that would put this fantasy relationship in the realm of reality. I'm sure Bobby thought I was the biggest pansy in the world. Every email after that he would give me his number and ask me to call him. Finally, I thought, "Maggie, you're a great big dork. It's just a phone call you wuss." So I called him.

Our phone relationship went on for a couple more weeks before he popped the big question, "Do you want to meet in person?" Gulp. Meeting would mean that we actually knew eachother, what we really looked like, who we really were...there would be no turning back from that. I said yes...with just a little panic.

Saturday, December 27, 2008

Blog Hiatus

Well, the wedding is here and I have to let everyone know that I'm really not going to have time to post while I'm out of the country in some tropical paradise. Duh. That being said, I've worked up a little something for you to keep reading while we're gone having fun on our honeymoon in balmy sunshiney weather, while it's freezing and cold and snowy here in the good 'ol US of A. It's the chronicles of our early dating life, I hope you enjoy...

Saturday, December 20, 2008

Home Sweet Home

So, moving to Morgantown has been an effort of colossal proportions. I have a ton of stuff and Bobby has a ton of stuff...so making the merger has been a lot of work. I spent last week packing my apartment and cleaning, and it's funny how ugly the place looked when my stuff left it. It really is the people and the memories and the trinkets that make a house a home.



Bobby came on Thursday night to help finish and, poor guy, I only had a mixing bowl and mixing spoon to eat his cereal with.

We unpacked the moving truck on Saturday afternoon with a lot of help from Bobby's friends from the ward and school--they were great and I don't know what we would have done without all of them. Now, unpacking means that we just shoved it all into the house wherever it would fit since Bobby had been to busy with finals to prep the house for my move in. It was a little frustrating for the first couple of days trying to navigate around the mess, but we started digging in on Monday and began to make a dent.

I knew it was going to be a huge undertaking, but I think it just about did Bobby in. This was just like working floor moves for me, so I was fine...but Bobby only does delicate dainty work with his hands on a day to day basis, and the manual labor pooped him out every day.

So, now it's Saturday again, and the house is finally 95% done.

The living room:



The piano room:



The kitchen:


Our bedroom:


The guest bedroom (for friends and family who will need a place to lay their heads if they ever make it to Morgantown):


The office (still a work in progress...):


Whew! Am I ready to fly to Utah and take some time off!

Thursday, December 11, 2008

Merry Christmas!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Girls' Night Out


When it comes to wings I can really put them down...I enjoy eating and eating and eating. Much to the surprise of some of my friends who haven't seen me eat a lot. Every so often the girls from work go to Buffalo Wild Wings on Tuesday for cheap wings and we have a great time eating and talking and laughing.

We went this week and had fun at what was potentially the last wings night together. We ate lots of food (there always seems to be food involved in functions that involve Crate people) and laughed, told stories and enjoyed being together.

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Happy 34th!


Bobby's birthday was on Friday (he's now the ripe old age of 34, so make sure you wish him happy birthday!) In my family, whenever it's someone's birthday, they get to request what they want for dinner and what birthday cake they'd like...it's a tradition that equals yumminess and the birthday celebratee feeling uber special and other members of the family not necessarily liking what they're eating, which can be quite enjoyable for the celebratee.

Bobby requested lamb chops with some scalloped potatoes that I make that he's crazy for. The lamb was delicious and he immediately requested that it make the cut and be put in my recipe binder. I have to admit, this man is pretty easy...all I have to do is cook a good meal for him and I can get away with just about anything. Well, maybe not that much, but it sure softens him up.

He requested carrot cake for dessert, and we enjoyed gorging ourselves on the sweet goodness.

Happy birthday, baby! I love you and look forward to lots more birthdays with you!

Sunday, December 7, 2008

All bundled up


So Bobby's back has been hurting him lately, so, like the kind, loving woman that I am, I offered to massage it for him. Apparently he enjoyed it so much that he became a big ball of goo and couldn't get up, so I wrapped him up and left him there. I love my silly man.

Friday, December 5, 2008

Cleaning House

So, in the process of merging households, I've been getting rid of stuff...a lot of stuff. I've purged and donated, thrown away, given away and I love to do it. I get great satisfaction in seeing a clean, organized home. Now, Bobby on the other hand hasn't done any of this. He is a pack rat to the core, and odds and ends seem to gravitate to him--his home is a big black hole for...stuff.

So, I told him we needed to go through the storage room in his basement and sort through everything and figure out what he wanted to keep, toss and donate/sell. His basement was a death trap. Boxes piled high and the only way to get to the other side was to take everything out of it. We emptied out the entire store room, and it looked like a disaster area.


When we had almost finished emptying it out I saw three pretty large boxes stacked on top of each other and I asked him what they were. And now comes a story that epitomizes the kind of man that Bobby is. While he still lived in Utah he went to a Lowes that was closing and was selling everything off for super cheap. Now, Bobby isn't the kind of man to pass up a deal, so when he saw three $200 toilets for $1.50, he couldn't resist. Three toilets?! "What on earth were you going to do with three toilets?" He shrugged, "Sell them or something." Now, here's the kicker: These three toilets include just the bowl! They're half toilets! And, they were discontinued so we'll never be able to find the other half! If we're lugging these things around for the rest of our lives, I'm going to be slightly disgruntled.

Anyway, by the time we finished the basement looked beautiful, organized, and *gasp* you can actually walk through it.

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Crate & Barrel


My last day of work at Crate was on Tuesday. It was a rough day...tears were shed, lots of laughter, good food to eat. I've loved working at this place and the hardest part of the move to WV is leaving this behind. I've become good friends with everyone and it's a second family for me. We've shared so many memories, some good, some bad and we've laughed and cried together.






This is the only job I've had where there hasn't been a morning when I didn't want to come to work.

I love these people and want to give a shout out to all my friends at Crate & Barrel: Anita, Kelley, Angela, Leah, Nita, Miles, Marcia, Jack, Sarah, Libby, Lindy, Mandy, Tim, Chris, Dan, Nancy, Marcus and everyone else, you guys are the best!

Monday, December 1, 2008

Thanksgiving


Bobby and I had a wonderful Thanksgiving together. It was the first one that I was in charge of and his mom was going to be there, so needless to say, there was some pressure to make it the best Thanksgiving ever. And since I love a good challenge and I love to cook, it was a lot of fun. Bobby and I were in charge of the turkey, yams and apples, stuffing and creamed corn. And it turns out that Bobby can make some mean creamed corn (if given the proper recipe and a little lovin' to keep him going....creamed corn can wear a man out!)


This was the first turkey I've ever done and I have to pat myself on the back a little, because, man, it turned out good! According to a couple of the eaters it was "the best turkey I've ever had" and "the juiciest turkey I've ever tasted". Pretty good, no?


And of course there were laughs and lots of memories made, and we enjoyed having Bobby's friend Chad there to have fun with us.


And here's the Berry family (well, as of December 27th I'll be a Berry, and Shannon will join the ranks in March).