The Spirit of Giving: and what that looks like at the US Post Office

Never go to the Post Office a week before Christmas. The lines look like this:

I had one of the more annoying postal experiences I've ever had the other day when I ended up standing in front of two women mailing packages in a long line of people who made it in half an hour before the post office closed at 5pm. 

The women commented constantly about the gluttony and selfishness of Christmas and how they could not understand why anyone needed any of the stuff in there. They talked about how they were better people than anyone because they choose to be kind and give things to the poor or homeless people (like poems they wrote). They criticized a teenage girl with a "My Heart Belongs to Him" shirt asking whether she meant the pope. When she responded that she just got it with her boyfriend they reminded her that "him's come and go but there's one Him that will always stick around". 

Yuck. I think part of being kind and courteous to other people is not bombarding them with your views. I think that the nicest thing that you could do in a post office is assume that about everyone there has good intentions. I was feeling quite a bit of Christmas spirit until I spent 45 uncomfortable minutes at the Vancouver Post Office. I decided that if I need to send any more packages that they can certainly wait until after Christmas. 

Christmas Time and Travel

Christmas time is largely about relaxing and enjoying loved family and friends. Seems every year there is a bit of a mad dash to purchase presents for everybody and get them wrapped, try to please everybody's wishes for what the holiday should look like, and get things done but overall the spirit of it all is that we get to spend quality time together. It's often that I get sick over the Christmas break. I think my body is finally able to take a break so it crashes a bit.

This year I get to relax quite a bit and will spend most of my holiday break in Spokane with my parents. What I wish, is that I could afford the time and money to take my own little trip wherever I want sometime. Lately, all of my travelling is usually to satisfy someone else's wishes about where they want to go, who is getting married, etc.

Maybe my Christmas wish this year is that in the coming year, I will get the opportunity again to travel somewhere I really want to go and enjoy a relaxing vacation and interesting experience outside of America. Maybe that ought to be my New Year's resolution. To go somewhere new and exciting to take a real vacation.

Meeting the Parents

I have never been so relaxed about bringing a guy to meet my parents in my life. After only dating for 2 months, I am going to bring my boyfriend down to Thanksgiving in Arizona to celebrate with just my parents and me. They will all be meeting each other for the first time ever.

But I think that we're all in a good place. I'm ready for love and truly believe I've found it in an excellent partner, I think my boyfriend fully believes in us and is confident in where the relationship is headed, and I think my parents are just happy for me that I've finally found someone who cherishes me so much and makes me feel so supported and secure.

In fact, I think the 4 days that we are together are going to go really well. In my ideal world, my parents will love him as much as I do and he'll love them as much as I do. I mean, I'm aware that this is not really possible. But I really think they could enjoy each other's company quite a bit.

Here's the players:

My dad: can come across as quiet and intimidating
My mom: asks a lot of probing questions
My boyfriend: loves to make puns

Yet, somehow, I think this mixture is totally going to work.

Disease and Getting Old

Hate it. Enough said. I've been very fortunate to be healthy in my lifetime and to have parents that haven't had to deal with anything to major. Within the matter of a week, however, my parents have each had a cancer scare and we've dealt with hearing about terrible illnesses in two very close family friends.

My dad expressed to me that it is weird and different when it's you and your own friends that are the ones getting ill and dying. I can't even imagine how hard that is. I'm just dealing with the fact that it's my parents and their friends rather than my grandparents and that feels hard enough.

Yuck.

I'm trying to hold onto the positive things in my life right now. I have a good job at the moment, I have a man who truly loves me, I have both of my awesome parents, have great friends, have a great living situation with an awesome cat, and tonight... I get to go to San Francisco with some of my dearest friends to celebrate the fact that we are turning 30 this year.

I keep thinking that this is really going to be a great decade for me. 20's were hard but I feel like I'm just getting into my stride now. I think it's going to be awesome. I even have pretty high hopes about this year in particular. If only I can stave off all of the sickness from the people I care about.

When You Love Somebody

Truly, my life has not really changed. It's just gotten way better. I wake up every day thinking that life is pretty good. I still often wake up alone, and that's ok. Sometimes I still go out alone. But overall I have this overwhelming sense of security that I haven't had in awhile. Because I have somebody who loves me. It's nice to have someone who thinks you're awesome. Somebody who, even when they aren't around you, you know that they are undeniably yours. Pretty cool feeling.

Brad told me that the first time he drove away from my house, he listened to this in the car because he felt like that's the song he needed to hear. Great song. Have I mentioned how awesome it is to share of love of music with someone?

Food in PDX and Beyond

I love good food. So when my friend, Tracie, asked if I wanted to join her for a culinary event where some professional chefs would cook a four-course meal plus drink pairing at someone's house in Portland, I was in. The event was called "Cellar Door" and is something this couple does often in San Diego. The whole event was delicious, warmed my heart, introduced me to some great people, and helped me remember how cool it is when a group of people can gather together around food for discussion and commonality.

Recently, Tracie and I had decided that we both enjoyed the experience so much that we wanted to start to have a supper club where we met every once in while at someone's house to cook and eat together. The first planning meeting took place (of all places) way out in Hillsboro at a tiny little Japanese place that blew my mind called Syun Izakaya. 

If you go, YOU MUST GET THE STUFFED CHICKEN WINGS. No joke, these were delicious. One of the best culinary things I've been lucky enough to put in my mouth. The food here mostly consisted of what they called "Japanese style pub food" which was amazing. We also got this chef selected sushi plate to split so that we could try several different kinds of fish. I was very happy that we did. I also ordered a beef dish that was lightly seared beef with ginger and Brad picked out some clams in sake broth that were amazing. 

We spent all night talking food, planning our next outing and get together. We talked about our favorite donuts, where the best Indian food is, our feeling on ramen, cooking ideas and blogs. Was nice to be out with people that are excited about and appreciate good food. There's so much out there that this made me really excited to get out and find some of the best food that the Portland area has to offer. I drank my sake from the little clay cup I got to choose from a basket and felt excited about all of the possibilities Portland seems to keep throwing my way. 

The Final Rose

Here's another dating post. Be warned.

I finally found two guys recently that I felt like were interesting and wanted to get to know more. Was doing the dating thing and having a hard time figuring out who I might choose for awhile because they both seemed so great (I know, a good problem to have). Everyone kept telling me to go with my gut and that I really couldn't make a wrong decision but I was kinda terrified I'd make a bad choice and regret what I'd done and not be able to undo it. I was afraid that after waiting so long to finally find someone I was interested in that I would be the one to mess it up.

I sat on the decision for a good two days. And all of a sudden, it's like I realized that I was clearly missing seeing one person, thinking of them more, and felt far more secure when I was with them. My dad always tells me, "the only thing that matters to me is that they think you are wonderful and cherish you". Seems like not a hard thing to ask for and also really complicated at the same time.

But I chose the guy who truly cherished me. He never missed an opportunity to see me. He never forgot to tell me how much he enjoyed himself around me. We danced in his kitchen, we played darts, we ate delicious food and cooked together, we smiled and joked, we listened to music, we sang... and at the end of the day today, I think to myself, "how could I not have chosen him?"

He brought me pho for lunch today even though he only had just under an hour to spare. And I just keep thinking to myself how I think I actually made the right choice. How I feel so truly lucky now. Phew.