new year

Quite a bit of time has passed since my last blog.. I was busy with finals week for school, driving back and forth to Youngstown for the holidays with the family (not to mention working both Christmas eve and New Year's eve/day, which I haven't done in at least 7 years!) and spending time with my man. There have been some ups and downs, but mainly ups.

The relationship I'm in has begun to solidify into something even more real, and although I've had a rough patch over the past month or so (the details of which are unnecessary nor do they have any real basis in reality, therefore I will not take the time to divulge them), things have turned for the best and I've grown more as a person, ..maybe I should say as an adult. I've become less egotistical, a bit less worried about issues like trust, love, and committment.

Christmas went alright. I hate that holiday with a passion, and this year proved no different. My bf and I went out with some friends on Christmas Eve, since I worked and was not driving back to Youngstown to see my family at 11 o'clock at night. We ended up getting drunk at straight bars, then heading off on our own to a gay bar for karaoke. Since my bf is a karaoke maniac, he was immediately looking for someone to sing with at the bar. I ended up doing karaoke for the first time in my life!! It was my idea. I said, what the hell- do it. And do it I did. There were only like 10 people in the bar so I wasn't really scared to do it, but eh, its not really my cup of tea. We did two songs, one of his Tim McGraw favs which I only know because I've listened to him sing it at least 237 times, and we did Like a Prayer to hit on my love for Madonna (Like a Prayer also being in A's top 10 Maddie songs).

I also baked a Christmas morning casserole, I don't know what its called but it was damn good (side note: I took some home to my mother, who makes her own version every Christmas.. and she said it was better than hers!) I spent Christmas Eve daytime preparing it before work. It was a lot of fun, and I think I'm back into the swing of cooking and baking and trying new food ideas.

Christmas morning, A and I exchanged our presents. I bought him a few Brown's items that he absolutely loved. He bought me things that he liked. Oh well! Its not about receiving, its about giving and spending time with people.. and I wasn't upset or mad, because I thought it was sweet that he just wants me to like the same things as he does.... but that will not always be the case. For instance, he bought me a pair of Nike Shox (his favorite tennis shoes). My favorite colors, silver and blue- but I don't wear Nike-only Adidas and KSwiss. Its all good though. I'm definitely not complaining. I think he is still new to being with someone and its the first time he's ever bought anything for Christmas for someone he's in a relationship with. So I'm happy either way. I wear my Shox every few days.

Christmas, I went back to my parents' house. It was terrible. I wanted to be with A all day. I missed him. He was texting from his mom's house and he was miserable too. It was a decent day though, until some argument burst out between my sister and I over taking a picture together (she refused) and I left for Cleveland. The week before she had stayed with my niece at my place for the entire weekend. The four of us went to the Browns game (for 10 minutes, it was -24F outside!), out to eat at Hard Rock Cafe, walked around Tower City, played games, watched movies, and went to Disney on Ice the next day. So this argument seemed so retarded to me and I was really kinda pissed. I haven't talked to her since Christmas.

A and I got together that night and it was so nice to be with him. It's like this is is home, rather, our home together now, and it doesn't feel right when we're not together. We began shopping for holiday sales, namely, Christmas decorations for last year. We have gotten so much crap for next Christmas at bargain prices... the other day, we bought $140 worth of decorations for $14. We convinced the girl at the register to give us 90% off and she did it!

New Year's Eve was extremely low key. It was so cold out and it really is the most dangerous holiday to get in a car and drive around, even with one drink in ya. There was a deadly accident on my way home from work and I knew there was no way we were going anywhere. We bought a bottle of champagne and some other wine and cracked a bottle at midnight whilst watching episodes of "The Office" on Netflix. It was a nice night.

Last weekend we took a trip to Sandusky, home of Cedar Point. Of course, this is off season and the place is a ghost town right now, but we stayed in two different hotels for so cheap, and the rooms were big and had a hot tubs in them! So awesome.. We swam in the pool, hit up the sauna and jacuzzi, went to a little gay bar in downtown Sandusky by Lake Erie (we were 2 of 5 people there), had some good Mexican food, and went to a bar in Norwalk called "The Office" (we just HAD to visit!) and got drunk. It was a nice, albeit, expensive weekend getaway for us before school starts on the 12th. (Expensive because we tend to blow through money like water on stupid crap)

Tara, my BFF from Cleveland who now lives in California, was back in town day after Christmas. I really only got to see her like 3 times, and I was so tired from the holidays and I was with A so much that I didn't get much time to spend with her. I was hoping for a Boston Market lunch, one of our old pastimes, but it never happened. She has decided to move back to Cleveland in April, and that really makes me happy. My boo is coming home! Bout time..

So that brings us up to speed. I haven't been on the computer much in the past month, mostly because I haven't been in school- and my online classes allow me to sit and waste craploads of time in front of a monitor, thereby giving me time to write blogs. I have 5 classes this semester so I should be extremely busy. I can't wait to get back, I miss it! I'm crazy, I know.

Oh yea. Almost forgot. Since A is here so much, and because he gets either bored or irritated at his mom's house, I decided to..... give him a key. its been almost 4 months, and he spends every night here. With school starting up, I figured it would be easier for him to come here, get online, do homework in peace, whatever.. if I'm at work or not home. I gave him the key without warning last night, and his expression was priceless. He was so happy that I did this. I wanted to wait til Valentine's day (like Dwight and Angela in The Office) but I wanted to make his transition into the new semester with classes downtown as easy for him as possible.

I'm completely in love. We're looking at houses this Sunday, if that says anything.

=)