Hot Summer Days

Man, is blogger not working again?

During the summer, every weekend should be 3 days long. There's just too much to do! :)

Saturday was a mellow day. My patio received a long-needed sweeping. I went to Anthropologie in hopes of buying a couple things on sale which I saw online. Alas, the sizes just weren't available for me (and paying for shipping often defeats the point of buying on sale).

Then, I headed over to Macy's to find a wedding gift. Towels seem like a rather boring gift. There was one cooking item left that I asked the sales person to check for using her register. The computer showed one in stock. The pause in her voice prompted me to ask if this was likely a display piece and she nodded. I thought about it and asked her if I could look at it anyway. I was pleasantly surprised to see it was in a box! I expressed my doubt it was the correct item, but comparing bar codes, it matched the registry list. The amazing thing was that it was originally $120 (but how often do you pay full price), marked down to $59.99 on the bridal registry, and rang up at $29.99. Score!

But to be fair, I purchased a couple small utensils she requested to bring the total amount above $50. Part of me wants to be cheap and just let her think I spent the $60 on the pan, but that wouldn't be right. I always have this conflict about how much to spend on gifts versus what they are perceived to be worth since I buy **everything** on sale. I wonder how much couples think about what their friends spent on gifts. I probably don't think about what people spend unless I think they're being cheap.

Next, I went home and waited for my Craigslist buyer to come. I decided on Friday to sell my beloved digital piano. I bought it over a year ago thinking I would practice piano once a week. Well, I've touched it maybe three times in the last year. I need to unclutter my office space and decided that I didn't deserve to keep it. I can't tell you how much I enjoyed playing it in the last hours I owned it Saturday. I was almost wishing the guy would flake. On the other hand, I'm glad it will now be appreciated by someone who will play it regularly.

Other than that, it was a quiet night. I sat home and read my travel book and a magazine.

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Sunday was a long day. I went fruit picking some 80+ miles from home with friends. Yum! I can finally say I've picked fresh cherries off a tree. So fun! The peaches were so ripe they'd start dripping with juice the second you ripped them from the tree. I have almost 5 pounds of Rainier and Bing cherries in the refrigerator along with 7 pounds of white peaches and nectarines and a large tray of ollalaberries. (I'm so fruit sugared right now that I had to buy Cheetos from the vending machine.)

After a speed nap, I went out with Chi to her brother's party. He rents a bedroom from a married couple who just bought a house with a pool. (I think he was roommates with the guy at least a year before the couple married and they're all good friends.) There was a pool and a grill. Another group sat inside watching the NBA playoffs. In the garage, they were playing Guitar Hero and karaoke. There were many kids around and a ton of food (they'll be eating into next week). It was a slightly younger crowd, but it was good for me to observe a different crowd of people.

Blown up copies of the couplt's wedding invitations were the most awesome thing in the house. Their theme was movies, so they created eight different versions of their wedding invitation based on various famous movies. They copied the exact poses from movies such as "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," "Top Gun," "Casablanca," "Lord of the Rings," etc. and altered the titles to hint at the wedding. The larger versions of the unique invitations were framed and hung on the walls. I was really impressed by their creativity. I don't have many art-related friends, and I liked stepping into this other world. Photography and art have a strong appeal for me but it's something I've never made any effort to pursue.

I didn't meet anyone per se, but I enjoyed watching people. It reminded me that there are many interesting people in the world to meet. I love my friends, but we all seem so similar. I also looked at the men in the room. I admit there were many guys there whom I wouldn't have given a second thought based on initial looks, but seeing some of them interact made me think that I'm too judgmental and need to work on being more open-minded. There are so many intricacies to relationships that I fear I don't understand nor know how to handle. Am I really ready? Would the man I think I want truly be a good partner in life?