bring to life in 2013-2014

Sunday night, Aaron called me at about 11pm. “You. Me. Waffle House. 10 minutes.”

He met me at my place. He walked in, grabbed me, and apologized for being a dick. Then we went to Waffle House in the rain to eat waffles and grits at midnight, because we’re classy. On the way home, we decided that Friday night, we’re going to sit down and deliberately work through some things. So that’s how last weekend ended.

Yeah, we didn’t do that. We went to a concert downtown instead. Totally worth it. Probably.

Monday began my training program, with 3 runs and 2 strength training days a week. It’s about 10.5 miles a week, which… probably won’t kill me. I need my tennis ball for my foot. But my legs feel good so far! My period hit mid-week, so I did miss a run and a strength training.

Thursday night we fed the missionaries and talked a bit, and by that I mean Aaron gave them our entire life story.

I really can’t remember what else happened all week, but I was barely home. I felt more like a pet-sitter than a pet-owner, and I refuse to go out this coming week. I just want to stay home. I know Wednesday was dinner prepping, but the other days… don’t remember. The commute home was pretty bad twice, taking an hour instead of 30-40 minutes. Blah. Not so good for the gas mileage.

I did get my first pay check in the mail today. It’s… a lot more than I’m used to getting. It might even be more than I calculated. I’m not even sure what to do with this. That I can pay for all of my utilities in half a week’s pay is mind-boggling.

Lot of bill talk going around. Like who’s merging onto whose accounts when we get married, so who needs short-term insurance policies where and whose bank accounts we’re keeping and whose cars are paid off when. It’s… astonishingly boring adult-talk, but that it’s happening and it’s a thing is probably the cool part, and necessary for budgeting up to the wedding. We need to start putting things down as concrete and paying, so all those numbers need to be planned out. I’m hoping–tentatively hoping–to have rings and dresses picked out and getting made by Halloween. Eeeee(k). (We talked about rings a little more. We both like the big cathedral ring for me. omg I’m getting a big wedding ring omg.)

(I just looked at it again online. Yeah. That’s my ring. OH MY GOD.)

Last night we went to a concert. It’s a band that I checked out and loved, and Aaron never got around to listening to. His sister Aimee jumped on board with us at the last minute. The first band, Madam Adam, was pretty cute. I didn’t know their songs, but they’re all from the area and it was fun to support them as they bounced around. We As Human started good and ended great. The crowd was small, in a small venue, but knew the songs, and the singer ended up trying to do the hardcore-yelling-badassery, but he kept smiling so big that his eyes shone and crow’s feet appeared. It was so much fun. Aimee got hit in the cleavage with a guitar pick that landed in my pants (cuff), and I have better pick-finding-reflexes so it’s MINE. I also justified this later by I found the concert, I bought the tickets early, I know the songs, the pick is mine. Yay!

I did give her my ticket stub to get signed by Madam Adam, so there’s that. And she had her hands full with a guy who popped up behind her and was a frantic beta male trying to act alpha. In the line, Aaron and I had a couples-argument that meant exactly nothing, and by the time we finished an extremely underwhelming Waffle House trip, I was falling asleep in the car and it was 1am.

We had another fussy morning that was somehow resolved in the afternoon by french toast and Extreme Cuddles, which in hindsight, was kind of funny. Clearly the intimacy quota was not reached this week.

On… Friday, I think, I looked more into the Bridge Run. 10k, over the massive freaking bridge, $40 until mid-October, 40,000 participants. Yes. 40,000. It’s capped at 40,000. Aaron doesn’t want to do it, but he’s enlisted to carry me back to the car and feed me beverages, sugar, and salt on command.

Con: It’s exactly a week after we get back from the honeymoon.

Pro: Training for it will give me a goal over the winter and keep me in shape through dress-fitting and dress-wearing; the 3 weeks or so when I’m too busy to train will be a really, really nice break before the actual run; it’s motivation and an excuse to drive 3.5 hours upstate to hike around in the mountains for hill work. Winter hiking is the best. Better views and no bugs.

“What is the slope?
Most of the Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge is limited to a 4.1% slope. On the [way down] Charleston side of the main span, the long approach is a 1.8% slope. On the [way up] Mount Pleasant side, there is a section three tenths of a mile long that has a 5.6% slope.

What’s so special about the Ravenel Bridge?
The Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge is 2.5 miles long and 200 feet high (about 30 feet higher than the old bridges). The slope is 4%. The towers are 550 feet tall…“

I fully expect to want to die about four times a mile.

I leave you with this quote I saw on FB. Not sure who said it.

“At the end of the day, love is love. And it’s not an incredibly interesting thing. It’s more of a Friday-night-in-front-of-the-couch thing. It’s more of a lounging-around-in-sweatpants thing. It’s an opportunity where you can be yourself completely—without the fancy outfit or funny lines—and another person still chooses you every time.”