A Weekend of Turkey and Gluttony

Everyone loves Thanksgiving! It's a holiday full of family, friends, giving thanks, and best of all: amazing food! I know my favorite food is hard to choose. But, every Thanksgiving, the following can always be found on my plate: stuffing, mashed potatoes, turkey, and green bean casserole. The first three items are all smothered in turkey gravy. I'm odd though and my food cannot be touching when on my plate. I know that it's all going to the same place, but I don't want to taste jello on my potatoes. The two just don't go together, and their tastes don't combine well. Call me weird! As a child, I must have had a hollow leg and a crazy metabolism (or so I hoped) because I could put away at least 3 plates of food! Alas, now I can only handle one. And this Thanksgiving, I was only halfway through my plate when I began to feel full. Perhaps that was because of the homemade Chex mix I ate? I don't think so.

In my family we rotate families to celebrate Thanksgiving with. This year it was my mom's family in Eugene. I was a tad disappointed because I enjoy my dad's side of the family very much, but I'll get to see them at Christmas, maybe. This holiday, however, was slightly different than usual. I had a boyfriend to consider. He wanted to spend the holiday with me and vice versa. The problem? We live an hour apart and our dinners were at the same time (3-3:30ish) and were an hour and a half apart. Big problem. Thankfully, Zach's mother (whom I now love more than ever) suggested that I come up a day early and spend time with the family and then we'd leave after Zach's extended family arrived, therefore, we both spent time with both families. So Zach and I left the booming town of Shaw at about 1:45 on Thursday and made our way down to Eugene and had dinner with my family. I swear that my grandparents must love him or something. Even more than my parents! My grandpa called him "Big Man" (something reserved for my father) and grandma gave him a hug, thanked him for coming, and even remembered his name! I'm pretty sure Zach was very flattered. If only my parents could return that same welcome and goodbye. I hope one day they do.

Little did Zach and I know, but our Black Friday shopping experience was going to start sooner than we realized. I'd planned on being ridiculously crazy, getting up at 3 and being in town by 4. Did that happen? Nope! I was in town by 11:45 Thursday night! Walmart opened up it's sale at 12:01, so you can bet that I was in line vying for deals along with the whole city of Eugene, I swear! From Walmart we proceeded to Kohls to wait in line with Debbie Kelson. Boy was it cold! Thank goodness I have a portable heater, aka Zachary Parker! My man is great at keeping me warm, and is a great snuggle buddy! Girls, I don't share, and yes, I do bite! Kohls was crazy once inside, the line wrapped around the whole store. I sent Zach ahead to wait in line at Target which opened at 4 am, an hour after Kohls. After making my purchases, I ran to Target, found him in line and we went inside. Both of us were on a mission, so we split up and met up again later. According to Zach, he witnessed two people fighting over a last video game. Shouting took place and poor frightened Zach dashed away to find me. Hopefully now he sees how insane people are when the really really want that "great" deal on an item that will be even cheaper in the Day After Christmas sale. Way to go folks! The line in Target was even worse! Thankfully, the employees were really efficient and we made it through the line in no time. From Target, our next stop was JCPenny. Unfortunately, the suit jacket I wanted to buy for Zach was nowhere to be found, it was depressing. So our next stop was Game Stop in the mall where my frugal boyfriend found an even greater deal than the one we'd just found at Target, so it was back to Target we went to return the game. Our final stop of the morning was Fred Meyers. As with JCPenny, this stop was also a fail as the jewlers did not have a watch band to replace the one that Zach had broken. So we left in defeat and journeyed home. I'd tell you all what I purchased at each stop, but then your presents wouldn't be a surprise, now would they?? I ended up going to sleep at 8 am and waking up at 10. It was a LONG day. An eventful and fun one, but long and exhausting!

So I've told you about the "turkey" part of my weekend, but where is the "gluttony" you might ask? Well you could say that shopping on Black Friday could be considered gluttony, but the part that I would define as gluttony would be the part where I never really left Zach's side. This is because next week is Dead week and the week after is Finals week. My policy is that the entire week of dead week and that weekend before finals is totally dedicated to studying. I lock myself in my room that weekend and study like crazy. It's how I do well on my finals (in general). So that means no boyfriend time for almost 2 weeks, because I have a final that Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday. It really sucks, but I have to keep my priorities straight. School is top priority right now, even though in my heart my Zachary always comes first. It really is hard, but one day I'll marry that man and I won't have to worry about not seeing him for large periods of time. But for now, I'll have to live with the separation. I view it as a good thing because our time together after the separation will be even more special! The next time I get to see him, he'll be a groomsman in his best friend's wedding. So I'm excited for that!

Well, I have to get up early tomorrow morning. I'm going to try to get Civil War tickets so I can see the top ranked Ducks beat the Beavs hardcore! And since I'm a student, I can get tickets for free! But I have to get in line early to do so. I have no idea what I'm going to do after waiting in line, since my first class doesn't start until 11. But I'll figure out something. So I better get to bed soon sice 5:30 will come sooner than I think!

Catching Up

Wow! Has it really been 3 weeks since I've written on here? Holy cow it's been awhile. I guess I've just gotten so busy in real life that I haven't had time to entertain you all with the thrilling tales of my day to day existence. In that case, I've got a lot of catching up to do....

Let's see, my last entry was on October 17th...what's happened since then?? Well, for starters, I've had 3 midterms: 1 math, 1 nutrition, and 1 organic chemistry. Let's start with math, since it came first. My math teacher is pretty much a featherbrained platinum blonde with a high voice and a lisp....kinda annoying! Anyway, she finally posted a midterm review like the Friday before our midterm (which are always on Tuesdays for that class). I got started on Sunday night and knew right away that I was screwed. It is usually not a good sign when you look at a practice midterm and have no idea what you are trying to solve for, or even how to solve the problem. Needless to say I was in a pickle and starting to panic. So what do I do? Call Zach! His brother is a math genius...he'll help me! Wes was a gigantic help and in no time at all I was done with the review and before I knew it, Tuesday had rolled around and my midterm was upon me. As soon as I sit down in my seat and await the start of the exam, the guy next to me turns and begins a conversation like I've known him forever. I've never seen this guy in my life! Yet he rattled on like we were old friends...I guess some people are just uber friendly or this was his subtle way of hitting on me. Either or, I was weirded out. But after finishing my test, I felt pretty damn good. And my score proved it: 90%. It is now apparent that I have multiple reasons to date Zach now. 1) his charm 2) his dashing looks 3) his loyalty, honor, kindness, and overall personality and 4) his brother Wes! Good reasons in my opinion!

My next midterm was my nutrition midterm the week after math. I spent the weekend before at Zach's. Zach and his dad went hunting that Saturday morning so I decided to utilize my time and study for nutrition by taking a butt load of notes. Now that's dedication! I felt very confident in my knowledge for that midterm...so I was a little disappointed when I only ended up getting like an 87-88%. It's nothing to sneeze at, but I was still frustrated with myself. Simple mistakes, I assume. I wish that could be said for my organic chemistry midterm. I went in feeling very good about this midterm too. But as soon as I saw that test, my heart sank, my mind shut down and I began to turn on panic mode. I left that exam room feeling absolutely awful! I stayed at Zach's that weekend too and had him look up my score for me: 79%...the class average, but not my usual par. Needless to say I was a little disappointed, but at least I didn't fail as I had feared.

After my chem midterm, I headed up to Western Oregon University for their Halloween Dance, a tradition of sorts. I attended last years' and had a blast. This time, I took a date with me: Zach. We both dressed up at vampires/pirates. I, in my corset, a ruffly black top, leggings, and boots and Zach in a ruffly white top, a vest, black pants, and long black boots. We made quite the stunning couple and I got tons of compliments on my outfit! I spent the night at my friend Kate's house and then went to school the next morning. After school, I picked up my unbiological sister Jenny and we both went to the Celtic Thunder concert! Oh my gosh! It was so much fun, and the music was amazing! Right after that, I drove straight up to Shaw, changed into my costume, and went to a Halloween party with Zach. The weekend was spent watching movies, carving pumpkins (which he made me gut...something I've hated since childhood), dinner out, and trick-or-treating. It also happened to be our 2 month anniversary on the 30th. Love you baby!

This past week has been a rough week. I haven't been sleeping well, I found out I have another math midterm this coming Tuesday, and my classes are all moving super fast with the material. This weekend was welcomed, even though Zach spent the weekend down here. It's always rough...but we made a pumpkin cheesecake, which turned out beautifully! We watched the Duck game, and today spent time with my second family. We even had a heart to heart talk and I got out some emotional baggage of my own. It's great to be able to trust him with that stuff. It's a nice and welcomed change from the past...

But, now it's time for me to get some sleep...I need to really get some good sleep for the coming weeks. They're gonna be long...

Weekend of All Weekends

Wow, what a weekend! I know people probably say that all the time, but my weekend was amazing! Not only did I finish all of my homework prior to it's beginning (someone write that on the calendar!) but Zach got to come down! Our one month anniversary was Thursday. I can't believe it's been a month already. It has flown by, yet it seems like we've been together for ages. That's probably because we've known each other for a year and were friends first. Something just feels so right with him, it sounds odd, but to me, our future looks bright.

Friday just seemed to pass by uber slowly. Doesn't time always do that when you are anticipating something big? Yeah, that happened to me. Zach was coming down after he was done with class at 2:20. I finish class at 1 on Fridays. So I went home and started on my math homework. That class makes me feel like a dunce. I haven't taken math since junior year, so I'm a tad rusty. And I don't like feeling stupid. But surprisingly, I finished my homework in record time, and found it quite simple! Perhaps Zach should come down more often, if not just to make me finish my homework more quickly! So after I finished math, I took notes for my nutrition class. Call me a nerd, but I don't mind doing this. Reading the textbook has never been so enjoyable! We haven't even started the chapter I'm taking notes on...overachiever much? Yeah, I think so. So this is what I did until Zach arrived. As soon as he pulled up the books went away and I ran and lept into his arms. To my surprise he brought me a rose and chocolate. What a sweetheart! We then went out to dinner for our anniversary, and he drove, in his SEXY car--a 1995 bright red convertible Chevy Camaro. Oh my gosh...that car is amazing! I love it!!!!!

After dinner, I drug him to my high school's football game where the poor guy had to sit through watching me play in the pep band. He's such a trooper! Of course, he got the privelage of warming me up after the game with a movie and some cuddling. In the morning, I made him breakfast and kicked his butt on the Wii! Following video games, I decided to go get my ears pierced. He held my hand the entire time, even though I felt like a wuss. But my ears look pretty! The day just seemed to speed by. We watched the Duck game with my family, which was actually one of my favorite parts of the whole weekend. It was great family time with the most important people in my life. We watched Avatar then it was time for him to leave: the hardest part of the weekend. It took all of my strength to let go and walk back up to the house. It hurt to hear him driving away, knowing it would be another week before I see him again. I still miss him like crazy and have all day today, but I know that it will be amazing when I get to see him again and I look forward to it as each day passes.

All sentiments aside, I think it may be time for me to turn in for the night. The sooner I go to bed, the sooner tomorrow gets here, and the sooner the weekend gets here when I get to see him again. So good night all!

Zach, if you're reading this, I miss you like crazy and I love you so much!