Saturday, December 20, 2008

Life Always Surprises Me

This past Thursday I made plans to go to tea with a co-worker of my husbands who is becoming a friend. I was excited to get out of the house and enjoy some girl time. I arrive at the tea room, it's all decorated for Christmas with garland strung up with white lights, ribbon-wrapped cinnamon sticks and slices of dried oranges. It's a tiny little place so the wonderful smells always fill the entire place. I really must get a few pictures of the place while it's decorated so prettily. So we sat for 2 hours chatting until it was time to close the place up. And somewher during this time she said, "Well I'm really glad we got more time to get to know each other so I can ask you to go on the cruise with me." On a previous occassion she had been telling me and Garret that she had booked a cruise to go on with her best friend from back home, but not too long ago, the best friend had to cancel. Neither her mother or her sister could make it, but she was trying to figure it out. I was actually quite shocked. Me? She was asking me?

But then I got excited. A 12 day cruise that hits up places like Rome, Greece, and Alexandria? Where do I sign up? Beforehand Garret and I had discussed that we would grill her about how she liked the cruise, since it is one we would be interested in taking later. Now, I will be the test run. We leave in a couple of weeks! I'm actually rather excited......if she and I don't kill each other in the 12 day period, I figure we have a good chance of becoming good friends. I just need to book a flight and pay to have the name switched to mine (a very minor fee), everything else she's already paid for and says she is covering. Basically, it's an amazing oppurtunity that came out of left field. Have I mentioned I'm excited?

So last night Garret got off work a few hours early, we hit up dinner at a packed Cafe Rouge. I wasn't really sure I was going to get a table but when the manager asked if we had reservations I looked at him and point blank explained that no, we did not, but that we had tried calling and had let the phone ring for nearly 10 minutes each of the 3 times we called. It seems to be the one negative thing I can say about the restaurant is that on several occassions, we have tried calling for reservations, only to decide we are going to have to drive the 30 minutes there and hope we get a table because no one ever picks up. The only phone is in the office, which door is closed off to the restaurant, and the manager is generally out helping in the main area. But on one occassion, Garret got a busy signal, kept trying and eventually the busy signal went away, but no one answered.

Anyways, after dinner we decided to call his co-worker to see if she wanted to meet up for drinks. We ended up going out to a bar and sitting on little couches and ottomans to drink some Strongbow. There was a younger guy (maybe 20, at best, but I would guess 18) who was a very enthusiastic dancer, so we watched him most of the time, as he happily made a fool of himself for entertainment. To get to the bar and back involved quite a bit of walking uphill on cobblestone, and in my high heels it was a wonderful workout. My poor feet are ready to scream mutiny, but I have a lovely husband who gives great massages.

So these next few weeks really will be crazy. This week the friend and I are planning to go shopping for some new clothes for the cruise. Then it's Christmas Eve, Christmas, Garret's birthday weekend. The week after that is New Year's Eve and Day, and I leave that weekend. Anytime I begin to think my life is becoming boring, another adventure in my whirlwind of a life comes up. Someday I will have to slow down, but for now, I am enjoying the ride.

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