I went to California!

The Nicest Guy in the World and I went to San Francisco a few weeks ago to visit an old friend of mine from high school (come to think of it, we've known each other since sixth grade!). Neither of us had ever been to California before, and it was so much fun! We walked through Muir Woods, went to some wine-tastings, ate at delicious restaurants, went to more wine-tastings, took a tour of Alcatraz (factoid: the Birdman of Alcatraz never actually kept birds at Alcatraz, only at Leavenworth), and did I mention the wine-tastings? ;) Although we mostly stayed with my friend, on our last night we stayed at this great hotel in the Union Square section of San Francisco called the Hotel Monaco, which we found through Hotwire.com. How great was it, you ask? So great, they lend you a "companion goldfish" for the night, if you know to ask for one -- which, thanks to my Fodor's guidebook, I did. I'm probably biased, but I thought my fish was extremely cute. I called him/her Blinky, after the fish on "The Simpsons" (even though thankfully s/he didn't have three eyes like the 'real' Blinky).

Spring break is over. *sob*

I had off from all my tutoring/teaching jobs last week for spring break. It was so lovely. I didn't miss working one bit. Is that a bad sign?? :/ I'm dreading going back to work tomorrow -- well, it's mostly working with the pre-schooler that I don't look forward to, partially because I still don't feel like I know what I'm doing with her. She's the first pre-schooler I've ever "taught." And partially because she's the only job I have to get up early for, and I really don't like getting up early. Also, she's routinely absent a couple of times a week, so every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday I drag myself out of bed, knowing there's a 40% chance she won't show up, so I will have gotten up early for nothing and not get paid. I live so far out in Brooklyn that it doesn't make sense to go all the way home, just to turn around and go to my job at the high school, so I end up having to just hang around Manhattan for a couple of hours. There are certainly worse places to hang around than Manhattan, but most days I would've appreciated being able to sleep in.

But at least I will have this summer completely off (except for job interviews). Wonderful. :) The Nicest Guy in the World and I took a quick 2-day trip to Washington, D.C. on Thursday and Friday, which was a lot of fun. We went to most of the memorials, and saw the original Declaration of Independence and Constitution at the National Archives. The weather was beautiful for walking around, so we really lucked out!

Lent

Watch out, world -- I have given up chocolate for Lent.

One day down....

45 more to go.

*sob*

The Nicest Guy in the World said, "I may have to force-feed you chocolate if things become too difficult." ;) But then he decided he would also give up chocolate in solidarity with me! Isn't that amazing?

A happy heart day

I've rarely had a boyfriend during Valentine's Day, but I finally did this year. I must say, it sure made the day much better! The Nicest Guy in the World came over in the afternoon with the DVD of the classic movie "It Happened One Night." It was really good! Then he took me out for a "surprise" dinner (I knew we were going to eat but didn't know where) at my favorite Ethiopian restaurant, where we had only eaten together once back in 2007, when we were just friends. Luckily he never deletes any e-mails, so he still had the e-mail from two years ago with the restaurant name and directions. It was sooooooo delicious! Afterwards we came back to my place and he gave me a great card, Dove milk chocolate hearts, not one but TWO Dove chocolate roses, 24 boxes of Spearmint Tic-Tacs, a box of Sweet-Tarts, and best of all, a mix CD he had made himself of all these great love songs -- and on the cover he'd printed a photo of the two of us! Here are three of my favorite songs on it so far: "If Not For You" by George Harrison (originally by Bob Dylan); "If I Should Fall Behind" by Bruce Springsteen; and "Someone Like You" by Van Morrison.

The funny thing is, one of my gifts to HIM was a mix CD of love songs, and I'd put a few of the same songs on his CD as he'd put on mine! Unfortunately, I have no idea how to burn CDs, so what I actually gave him was the list of songs, the lyrics to each song, and $15 to buy the songs from iTunes. (Nothing like a do-it-yourself Valentine's Day gift.)

His mom even sent along a present for me: a heart-shaped box of Whitman's chocolates -- so sweet! Growing up, I always received a box of Whitman's for Valentine's Day (it was my little tradition to save the chocolate with the little man on it to eat last).

Anyway, it was such a wonderful day, not to mention infinitely better than looking at endless profiles on Match.com or eHarmony of men who would never respond, or who'd e-mail me back and then flake out on me, or meet me for one date and turn out to be weirdos -- which is probably what I otherwise would've been doing on Valentine's Day. ;O

Though I shouldn't say anything too negative about Match.com. That's how the Nicest Guy in the World and I met. :)

Hope you all had a very happy Valentine's Day!!