The Weekend... and Wicked Tonight!
On Saturday we started hanging rope lights on the house -- a project that was short-lived when we realized that we were going to need a bunch of connectors we didn't have to get the light configuration we want. So, right now our unlit rope lights are sort of halfway strung over our garage while we wait for the connectors we ordered online to arrive. The plan is to get the lights hung and pretty much just leave them up year round. They're pretty much unnoticeable when they're not lit... if we leave them up we can light up our house for holidays and parties year round, and since they're rope lights they ought to endure the weather pretty well.
We then stopped by Shasta's friend Terry's birthday party, where we mostly hung out in her kitchen, ate a little cake and some very spicy nacho cheese, drank some pink sparkly wine, and watched Terry play poker with her neighbors for about an hour before we decided to go home. Terry wanted us to go dancing but neither of us was really in the mood. Instead we went home, and Shasta's friend Johnny came over with his wife. We had beer and peanuts and played Apples to Apples for a couple hours -- Shasta made herself THREE Caramel Apple / Pomegranate martinis and I think she overdid it a bit, but we had a really good night. :3
Sunday was mostly spent down in Colorado Springs. We met my parents, my brother Christian, and my parents' out-of-town friends the Kunderts at Giuseppe's Depot, ironically enough; so we were able to sort of eye the place as it's where we're planning to hold our after-wedding luncheon. The restaurant itself is really pretty; definitely has the feel of an old train station, sort of elegant and antique. The food we ordered was just okay, though. My french fries were really dry and so was my turkey sandwich. My mom really enjoyed their salad bar, though; and Shasta was still a bit hung over from the night before so she just got a bowl of soup. I also picked up their banquet information package to go over the info again.
I also had to break the news to my dad that I bought a new car, which he sort of humphed about. He came out and looked at it, and said he liked it, thought it was a good buy, etc., but there was this distinct sort of awkward vibe of you-did-something-without-asking-me-and-I-disapprove. Shouldn't bother me as much as it does (for god's sake, I'm THIRTY YEARS OLD) but it was particularly tough because now that I've paid him all his money back I'm trying to figure out the best way to orchestrate breaking the Dad-I'm-gay-and-getting-married news to him. If he has this disapproving vibe about the CAR, I can only imagine what it's going to be like to hold the gay conversation. *sigh*
In other awkwardness, my mom's friend Dottie Kundert noticed my engagement ring. "Oh, you're engaged!!" I just sort of smiled, but didn't want to say anything. I didn't know if my mom had told Dottie about me, or if she'd be embarrassed if I just outed myself in front of her oldest friend. Fortunately my mom piped in quickly and said "Yes, she's engaged to Shasta," and Dottie didn't even bat an eye... I was able to throw in a few more comments about how close the Blue Skies Inn was and that we were planning on a reception at Giuseppe's, and that was nice. Still got the awkward vibe off my mom, though, as I always do when I try to talk to her about the wedding. She says she'll attend, but she doesn't really show any genuine enthusiasm, and there's this underlying self-pitying "I will be supportive because it's *my* fault you turned out gay" martyrdom attitude that just saps all the fun out of it. Shasta says I shouldn't let it bother me, and she's probably right. I'm hoping that maybe, when my mom's actually AT the wedding surrounded by our friends who are loving and accepting of our relationship, that maybe she'll be able to feel it a little more instead of always pretending. Maybe?
Anyway, the weather was gorgeous, so after lunch Shasta and I decided to visit the Cliff Dwellings in Manitou, since she's never been there and I haven't been since I was a kid. I definitely have a much greater appreciation for them now that I'm a little older. Hard to imagine 3 to 5 people living together in tiny, stacked rooms no more than about four feet high, four feet wide and five or six feet deep -- that you had to climb a ladder, then climb through a 2x1 foot hole to get into! I guess it would keep you alive in the winter, though, that many bodies in a small space like that, since they couldn't have fires in there due to no ventilation. Still, it was pretty amazing to realize what a person's life would have been like back then. O.o Anyway, at the gift shop I bought a pair of sandals, and Shasta bought a feather-shaped pocket knife and also some earrings for me made out of butterfly wings. ♥
Tonight we're going to see Wicked!!!!! I'm really excited, we've been lucky enough to go to the two shows this year that I've always wanted to see -- first Phantom and now Wicked. So it will be a date night, but something of a cheap date since we're both out of money and will just go to the show & come home. I can't wait, though. ^^
We then stopped by Shasta's friend Terry's birthday party, where we mostly hung out in her kitchen, ate a little cake and some very spicy nacho cheese, drank some pink sparkly wine, and watched Terry play poker with her neighbors for about an hour before we decided to go home. Terry wanted us to go dancing but neither of us was really in the mood. Instead we went home, and Shasta's friend Johnny came over with his wife. We had beer and peanuts and played Apples to Apples for a couple hours -- Shasta made herself THREE Caramel Apple / Pomegranate martinis and I think she overdid it a bit, but we had a really good night. :3
Sunday was mostly spent down in Colorado Springs. We met my parents, my brother Christian, and my parents' out-of-town friends the Kunderts at Giuseppe's Depot, ironically enough; so we were able to sort of eye the place as it's where we're planning to hold our after-wedding luncheon. The restaurant itself is really pretty; definitely has the feel of an old train station, sort of elegant and antique. The food we ordered was just okay, though. My french fries were really dry and so was my turkey sandwich. My mom really enjoyed their salad bar, though; and Shasta was still a bit hung over from the night before so she just got a bowl of soup. I also picked up their banquet information package to go over the info again.
I also had to break the news to my dad that I bought a new car, which he sort of humphed about. He came out and looked at it, and said he liked it, thought it was a good buy, etc., but there was this distinct sort of awkward vibe of you-did-something-without-asking-me-and-I-disapprove. Shouldn't bother me as much as it does (for god's sake, I'm THIRTY YEARS OLD) but it was particularly tough because now that I've paid him all his money back I'm trying to figure out the best way to orchestrate breaking the Dad-I'm-gay-and-getting-married news to him. If he has this disapproving vibe about the CAR, I can only imagine what it's going to be like to hold the gay conversation. *sigh*
In other awkwardness, my mom's friend Dottie Kundert noticed my engagement ring. "Oh, you're engaged!!" I just sort of smiled, but didn't want to say anything. I didn't know if my mom had told Dottie about me, or if she'd be embarrassed if I just outed myself in front of her oldest friend. Fortunately my mom piped in quickly and said "Yes, she's engaged to Shasta," and Dottie didn't even bat an eye... I was able to throw in a few more comments about how close the Blue Skies Inn was and that we were planning on a reception at Giuseppe's, and that was nice. Still got the awkward vibe off my mom, though, as I always do when I try to talk to her about the wedding. She says she'll attend, but she doesn't really show any genuine enthusiasm, and there's this underlying self-pitying "I will be supportive because it's *my* fault you turned out gay" martyrdom attitude that just saps all the fun out of it. Shasta says I shouldn't let it bother me, and she's probably right. I'm hoping that maybe, when my mom's actually AT the wedding surrounded by our friends who are loving and accepting of our relationship, that maybe she'll be able to feel it a little more instead of always pretending. Maybe?
Anyway, the weather was gorgeous, so after lunch Shasta and I decided to visit the Cliff Dwellings in Manitou, since she's never been there and I haven't been since I was a kid. I definitely have a much greater appreciation for them now that I'm a little older. Hard to imagine 3 to 5 people living together in tiny, stacked rooms no more than about four feet high, four feet wide and five or six feet deep -- that you had to climb a ladder, then climb through a 2x1 foot hole to get into! I guess it would keep you alive in the winter, though, that many bodies in a small space like that, since they couldn't have fires in there due to no ventilation. Still, it was pretty amazing to realize what a person's life would have been like back then. O.o Anyway, at the gift shop I bought a pair of sandals, and Shasta bought a feather-shaped pocket knife and also some earrings for me made out of butterfly wings. ♥
Tonight we're going to see Wicked!!!!! I'm really excited, we've been lucky enough to go to the two shows this year that I've always wanted to see -- first Phantom and now Wicked. So it will be a date night, but something of a cheap date since we're both out of money and will just go to the show & come home. I can't wait, though. ^^