Friday night Forest and I were cucumbers and watched Desperado. That's a really fun movie with Antonio Banderas that everyone should see for the sheer silliness of it, and to watch him move. Banderas has a way of using his body that's just, well, sexy.
On Saturday we had an early-morning breakfast with Forest's dad, and then I spent the morning becoming cabbage in the shower. I'm sure it was wasteful, but it was lovely. I came out feeling like a new woman. Then I was rather squash-like and watched the first half of the Spartans game on TV. It was atrocious, and I turned it off like I would turn my head away from a bomb going off to avoid being splattered.
Soon after that Forest, Kirstin and I hopped in the car and went to my sister Karen's 23rd birthday bash at my mom's house. When we got there my mom was stressed, so we sent her out for a walk with the dog, and Forest and I cooked dinner. I made a really great salad with romaine lettuce and grapes, and together we concocted a yummy chicken casserole. We also had squash, potatoes, fresh-baked rolls, and yummy green beans. I had to deal with a little guilt over eating my little veggie cousins, but I got over it in a hurry, because they were really tasty.
It was nice to see Karen and Jim again. Forest really likes Jim, and for part of the night the boys hung out together while Karen and I played piano together. I love that my sister likes to do these things with me. We had a fairly respectable Ravel piece after a few tries, and a nice "Jesu Joy of Man's Desiring," too.
It's funny to watch Forest with my family. My mom has determined that he is wonderful, so she keeps dropping not-so-subtle hints about the far-distant future. She likes him because he knows classical music, plays the violin, was raised as a United Methodist, wants to be a teacher, calls her "ma'am", and has nice blue eyes. Everything my mom ever wanted in a perspective son-in-law, and is she ever demonstrative of it! I guess it's nice in a way. At least I know if I decide to take things with Forest to the next level, my family will be behind me. I just won't tell my mom that Forest was raised down south, and calls practically everyone "ma'am" or "sir".
For Karen's birthday Jim and she went to pick out a puppy. I guess they chose a 2-week-old Golden Retriever. They get to pick her up the 11th of November, and what a day it will be! Karen is thrilled. I'm jealous, but I keep telling myself I don't have time to train a dog properly, and I'm not home nearly enough to make a puppy happy. Our gift to Karen was a whole bag of doggie stuff. It was kind of fun to shop for leashes, toys, collars and so on. Forest wanted to get her a rolled-up newspaper, but we settled on a bottle of pet stain remover. It feels really good to be able to afford to buy someone a birthday gift. No, I'm not a capitalist pig, and I essentially hate money, but it's awfully nice when you have it.
After the party we got back to the house, put Kirstin in bed, and became carrots, lolling about listening to music and generally being slothlike.
Then on Sunday I got to sleep in until 10 o'clock. I had planned to get up much earlier, but when Kirstin was making noise Forest dealt with her and closed my doors, and no one disturbed me for another two hours! It was positively heavenly. Then I spent the entire day lounging about, watching old movies, reading good books, and being a head of lettuce! I even ordered pizza for dinner instead of cooking. When Forest got home we stayed up really late and made brownies, listened to more music, and danced for a while. I guess that's not the true spirit of vegetation, but it's awfully close.
For Sweetest Day Forest got me a really pretty boquet of all different colored roses and daisies, and a bunch of chocolate-covered pretzels, which he knows I love. I was pleasantly suprised, because he hadn't even mentioned it, and in previous relationships I've never had a man do *anything* about any non-major holiday. It worked out nicely, because I had gotten him a couple of CD's I knew he would like. We were all sweet and gooey and chocolate-covered. I love that part of romance!
