Vegas Vacation with Whitey Part 1

I figured I could do my recap in shifts because it was such a great/eventful trip. I dragged Whitey to Vegas this past weekend for my dad's retirement party and to meet my family. I am not a person who thinks the family is the end all, be all. Don't get me wrong it is big, but I think my family will chase people away more than it would ever help me. We are insane. Honestly insane. But I figured Whitey and I were up for the whole Vegas trip/meet the family event. And what an event it was!

Whitey and I hopped in his car after work on Thursday and drove to my lovely city. Easy drive, flowing conversation. I am still amazed how good him and I are together. We arrived and went to meet my sister at a local bar. She was plastered, so we just enjoyed watching her. Shortly after, we went to my favorite place in the world-Buffalo Wild Wings for some sweet bar-b-que wings. Boy do they need to build one of those in the OC. It is honestly the best wings EVER. I crave it. Friday morning was relaxing since Whitey and I slept in till noon. We headed out to lunch at the first place I ever worked, Sonios. I was a waitress in high school and worked this restaurant for the lunch rush till around four. So much fun! And my boss rocked back then. He still owns the joint and always hooks us up when we go there. We went home to get ready for my dad's retirement party. Whitey chilled on the couch and got to know my dad. My dad is pretty intimidating since he was in the military and was a cop his whole life. I thought Whitey did a great job. My dad really took to him too. We headed to my dad's retirement party that night and had a BLAST. All my friends were there, my sister and I gave a great speech and my dad looked really, really happy. I am so excited for him. During my sister's speech, she told the story of the drunken night she decided to steal my dad's cop car and pull her friends over. At the time, it was not good. My dad almost lost his job. Now, it is hilarious. Great cocktail story. Everyone got a kick out of it, and really enjoyed themselves. I was stoked for my dad.

After the retirement party, all the young chaps went out to party at KAHUNAVILLE in the Treasure Island. It is so fun. We picked up my coworker D from the airport on the way there. I was so excited she was coming. Gotta love the jager bombs...

Getting a little drunker and trying to stangle my little sister....
I/we all got a little too tipsy, somehow I left the bar with D, and we both ended up at JET nightclub in the Mirage by ourselves. I even danced on stage...Many, many hours later, around 6 in the morning, Deb and I jumped in a cab to go home. Whitey was passed out on the couch along with my friend Keith, and D and I stumbled upstairs and passed out on our broken futon. The center bar of the futon is not there and your butt sinks to the floor. We were so gone we didn't even notice till the morning. My sister stumbles in around 11 am and asks what the hell happened last night. Her and her flavor of the month left the bar at some point and ended up at ROBERTOS, this cheap Mexican joint in Vegas, and preceded to buy 13 breakfast burritos. In the morning, 12 breakfast burritos were sitting on the kitchen table. Outside of the house, her boyfriend's car door broke, he tried to slam it shut and he ended up shattering his window. Whitey stumbles in when he hears my voice and laughs about the crazy, Vegas night we had. He couldn't believe he ended up coming home alone with Keith. Hilarious. Funny thing is most couples would get in a blow out fight about one of them leaving and heading to a nightclub. Not us. Whitey was awesome, laughed about it and we moved on with our lives. We even joked about it all day. He is perfect. Story contined tomorrow...

Update

Whitey and I are alright. He showed up at my house last night and forced my stubborn ass to go to dinner with him last night. We talked about everything, he told me his side of the story and apologized about everything. I took Jill's advice and am going to make a point of letting him know when he should not open his mouth. He said he won't ever open his mouth without asking first again, but I just think it would be easier to reinforce the fact that he can't say something if it is important. He was pretty upset, to the point that he couldn't even eat yesterday. I felt so bad. I never want to make someone like that ever. Especially someone I am quite fond of. Angel might have had it right that I was trying to push him away a little. I am officially letting Whitey in without fear of getting hurt. I know he won't hurt me, but I have some damn good friends to help me back up if he does.

We are heading to Vegas tonight for my dad's retirement party. I can't believe my dad is retiring. He is only 59!! I will have a ton of pics and stories to share when I get back. MY dad's computer is pretty slow at home so I am not sure I will get time to blog. That makes me a little sad. Viva Las Vegas!!

Close Mouth. Insert Sock.

I hate when you start getting past that great honeymoon stage in a relationship and you start seeing really small things you don't like in a person. Normally, if they are any big things, you end things without having to learn how to deal with them. The small things are the hardest for me though. Yesterday I encountered one of Whitey's small faults which escalated into our first fight. Newport Beach is having a restaurant week this week where you can go to really nice restaurants and have a three-course meal for a fraction of the price. My coworkers and I decided to head to lunch at Sam and Harry's in The Marriot yesterday and I invited Whitey along. All my coworkers that have met him so far really like the guy. Honestly, two of the girls think he is the greatest thing since sliced bread. Earlier that day, my coworker D got flowers from my best friend from Vegas Carlos. He really likes her and they kind of hit it off this weekend. She was really excited, but was laughing because she just got flowers from a different guy yesterday. I know, lucky girl. Anyways, Whitey asked her about the flowers at lunch, after I sent him an email earlier telling him all about it. She told him about it, and my other coworker joking laughed about getting the two sets of flowers in two days. Whitey could not believe it and asked her about that whole situation. D quickly changed the subject and I thought that was that.

Not so lucky though. Whitey preceded to leave the lunch, call Carlos and tell him about the fact that D got flowers from someone yesterday too. (Yeah, he is still stuck in fifth grade). I called Carlos after work, he seemed really upset and out of it and kind of got off the phone with me as fast as he could. I knew right away. I called Whitey and asked him if he said something. He admitted he did but he was just trying to help out a friend. Thing is, Carlos is MY friend. I would have told him about how D feels after I got more info on the other guy and what she thought of Carlos. It was none of Carlos' business that she got flowers from another guy the day before. She even admitted she did not see the other guy as someone she is even interested in.

In Jen style, I yelled at Whitey about opening his mouth, and just did not understand why he would do something like that. I called D and talked to her about it. She was mad at Whitey for opening his mouth and feels totally bad about the Carlos situation. I was just glad she was not that mad at me for having such an immature boyfriend. I got a text from Whitey shortly thereafter that said "Thanks for making me feel like shit for helping out a friend." I sent him one back that said "thanks for adding to all my fucking stress lately." Immaturity breeds immaturely. I am seriously so mad. We did not talk for the rest of the night last night, and have not talked yet this morning. I am just so mad he poked his head into something that had nothing to do with him. I feel a little betrayed, like I have to watch what I say around him.

At The Getty, something similar but not as big happened, and I talked to Whitey about it right after it happened. My coworker E and her boyfriend got into a major blowout the night before the museum. They decided to come anyway to get out of the house and be around friends, but they both looked miserable the whole time. E pulled me aside and told me they were going to leave early. I talked to her and they left right after. When Whitey and I were walking around, I mentioned they had gotten in a huge fight the night before and are in the process of breaking up. About 30 minutes later while standing outside with the whole group we went with, Whitey opened his mouth after Brother asked where E had went and said they were fighting and asked me if they had officially broken up. I was a little mad, changed the subject and asked him not to bring up other people's business in front of a group of mixed friends. I thought he got the hint. Guess not.

What is your take? I am not sure I can deal with this.

In A Zone

My life has been a crazy roller coaster lately. My weekend was great. On Friday night, we picked up my friend Carlos from Vegas and Whitey and I took him to Long Beach to party at this place called Tantalum. It was really fun. We met Brother and his girl from Chicago. I love her. Seriously, she is perfect for him. He is slowly falling head over heels. It was really cute to watch them. For some weird reason, I was in a quiet mood that night. I decided to drink a little, since when I drink I get loud. I was hoping no one would notice. Whitey asked me if I was alright, I told him yes and he seemed satisfied. I knew I was lying but I figured I could play it off for the night. We drank plenty, everyone had a really good dinner and I just moved the food around on my plate. Weird thing is, I am an eater. I eat everything. I eat fast too. Really fast. Whitey has tried to get me to slow down and enjoy my food. It is really hard for me cause I really enjoy eating. That is about the time Whitey began to know that something was wrong. I was being weird. I didn't eat. I was really quiet. These two qualities are the opposite of my normal self. Funny how some guys just know you too well.

After the dinner, we went out in Huntington. I decided it would be a good idea to drink more. I ended up pretty hilarious by the end of the night. In his normal self, Whitey was amazing. He enjoys partying with me, takes GREAT care of me and makes sure I enjoy my night. He drove us around while I went and met up with a group of my friends for a birthday party. We had a really good time. Please see Carlos and I partying it up....
We went home to Whitey's and just hung out. We woke up early on Saturday morning to head to THE GETTY MUSEUM. We got a big group of couples together to enjoy each other's company and have a big picnic on the grass that overlooks LA. I suggest everyone who ever visits LA should visit and see The Getty. They have some amazing art, a beautiful cactus garden and a great view. What a day! Check out this view over the cactus garden....
I was really quiet and contemplative again on Saturday. Whitey tried everything in the book to cheer me up and make me smile, but I kept reverting back to my grumpy self shortly afterward. Not fun. After The Getty, we headed home and to my new coworkers house for some wine, movies and friend time. I had a really great night. We relaxed and just really enjoyed each other's company.

Sunday we headed to church and then off to watch the playoffs at a local bar with Brother. We had a really good day. I am SO SO excited DA BEARS won. We headed to Whitey's house to relax, watch the Colts game and enjoy the rest of the afternoon. Overall, it was a pretty good weekend but I was just in a zone.

Now you might ask why I was so quiet. I am stressed. Honestly, Whitey and my relationship is going really good. I am scared shitless though. I keep going back and forth and wondering if I am ready for this. He is perfect. The problem is I keep pushing him away. For some reason, every time we start getting close, I freak out. Is this normal? He is perfect. He is a great catch, treats me amazing, my friends love him and he is totally into me. I don't understand why I am trying to jeopardize it so bad.

I have also been going through hell at my job. It is honestly so mentally draining to be working there. I guess I am hitting a low. I have been really tired from working out so much lately and surviving on no sleep. I honestly feel like I am dragging through life a little right now. Guess you guys just got a mini bitch sesh.

Throwing in the Towel

Pushing. Harder. For the first time ever, it isn't working. I normally don't push guys away. I let them in. I give them all of me. I give them my all. This time I am holding back. I was hurt. My heart broken. I repaired it, but it still feels different. I am scared to give it away again. You want it. You want it bad.

Da Bears!!

This weekend was amazing! Honestly, things are really falling into place for me. Friday night I went with Brother and Whitey to take Brother's kids to Disney on Ice. It was so much fun! Brother has the most well behaved children ever. They sat through the whole show so quietly, and the only time his two year old talked was when she was expressing her fear over the kidnapped Minnie Mouse. She kept turning around and asking "Where's Minnie." It is hard to explain to a two year old that the bad guy from The Incredibles kidnapped Minnie for the entire ice show. She seemed so worried about Minnie. When Minnie finally came back on the ice, both her and I were highly relieved.

Saturday, I had a TON of errands to run, so Whitey joined me for the day. We took my car to get fixed at Ford, picked up my Nintendo 64 that I accidentally sold on craigslist in my shelving unit, shopped at Ikea, bought baby clothes for my friend at Wal-Mart, among other small errands. We also met up with brother and worked out at the gym and went for a two mile run on the boardwalk in Huntington. Whitey and I were like machines. We also found the time to watch both football games. I LOVE football season. The playoffs are my favorite part. I was actually amazed how much fun it was to run errands with him. We had the best time together.

Sunday was church day. Yes, I have finally committed to going back to church, and I love how it makes me feel. Whitey likes to join me, which is a huge plus for both of us. He is amazing. Amazing I tell ya! We then met Brother at the bar to watch the two playoff games that afternoon. My Bears won so I was stoked. I am a die-hard Raider fan, but since the Raiders don't even get a chance to look at the Playoffs, I have adopted the Bears.
Reason - the following conversation with my father.

Dad: I don't understand how you could be a Raider fan. Both your parents were born and raised in Chicago, you lived there every summer since you were a baby and your grandpa is a die-hard Bears fan. Where did I go wrong?

Me: Dad, I understand you may not agree with my NFL affiliations, but I will gladly wear Orange to support you and grandpa's efforts once I know the Raiders have no playoffs chances in sight.

This was in November. Hense me now wearing Orange. The Raiders barely won a game, let alone even had a chance to be playoff contenders. Go Bears! I secretly like Bears fans better (you can actually attend a game without risk of getting hit in the head by a flying black and silver helmet or punched by a big guy with his face painted black cause you had a blue coat on at the stadium instead of Black.) but I will still always love my Raiders.

Whitey and I finally discussed committing to each other. I have really enjoyed being single, and I feel like our relationship is so grown up and mature that not a ton will be changing. He is not jealous or possessive, and he is even encouraging me to have a girl's night out with the girls at work on Tuesday night. We finally made it solid. He is officially my boyfriend, and I have never been so happy.

Hanging By A Lego

This pic makes me smile. My photographer friend took it of me at Downtown Disney. The pic looks so realistic, even though my feet are only a foot off the ground. One of my favs...

Wanna Connect?

I have been doing a lot of thinking lately about connections. We have so many different connections with so many people, but there are a limited number that are actually really meaningful and make an impact on your life. I have been struggling with these connections lately, although not in a bad way. I have connected with more people in the past six months than I ever have with people before. I have really gotten to know a circle of people who I just enjoy really talking to and have a ton to talk to them about. Problem is, I don't have enough time to spend with each and every one of them, and I would love to be able to devote more time and effort to these wonderful connections. It is so hard to really connect with people, and I crave these kind of relationships. I always go to bed with a smile on my face after I have a really great conversation with someone I truly respect about all different kinds of topics.

One reason for my lack of time is Whitey. We have been becoming really close lately. He has been running to my house on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 6 am, and then we head to the gym together to work out. We even worked out on Wednesday morning for fun. We both feel great, and are enjoying getting in really good shape. The "old guy" is almost in better shape than me! I committed to a half marathon in SF this year, and I really want to make sure I can finish the whole thing. My best friend Los from Vegas and Whitey also really want to run a half marathon with me, so I might have committed to participating in two half marathons in one year. A little crazy for some who HATES running, but at least I have a goal in sight. Does anyone have any good tips for someone who is having trouble finding the motivation/drive to run? Is there any easy way to become a "runner"?

We have also been hanging out in the evenings together. He made me this amazing dinner the other night and I passed out on his couch. Who would have thought I would be so exhausted from working out two times in one day? Whitey and I saw BLOOD DIAMOND last night. It was really really good, but really really gory. I was even able to ignore Leonard's horribel African accent for the whole movie without it driving me crazy too much. It makes me so sad if the truth behind the movie is realistic. People in Africa are dying due to the diamond purchases being made here in America. Everyone should make sure their diamond is "conflict-free" before they purchase them in the future. Hopefully it will help save more and more lives in war-ridden Africa.

Lips Like Angelina

My mouth hurts. My lip is annoying me. On Friday, I got lip surgery to remove a cyst in my lip. I was scared as sh*t but everything went really smooth. I hung out in bed all day Friday with Whitey watching movies and really just vegging out. It was so so nice. I miss having a day off without doing anything. It was definitely needed. Saturday and Sunday were pretty much the same story. Movies, reading and relaxing. I wish every weekend would be a little more like that. I worked out a lot before the surgery so I would not feel so bad vegging out and because I really wanted to show up proud for my first week with the Blog Workout with DATING DUMMY. I kind of failed though cause I forgot to send him my workouts before the surgery, but sent them to him finally this morning. I have not really gone on the computer or moved out of my comfy bed. He was still supportive though and I can't wait to show up strong this week.

My lips were swollen like Angelina's all weekend, and everyone kept staring at them. They looked funny. I am not sure I could constantly have big lips like Angelina's. They are so over powering for the face. Things are moving along nicely with Whitey. He was AMAZING this weekend. He bought me tons of soup and mushy things to eat, brought over an arsenal of movies, and really cheered me up and kept me happy. He even watched a Lindsay Lohan movie. I know, unheard of. We went to see PURSUIT OF HAPPYNESS on Saturday night. It was so so good, but also very sad. What a great, empowering story about struggle and the love a parent has for their child. I will keep you updated but for now, I head to the kitchen to make my 15th bowl of CHICKEN AND STARS.

Pink Boas on NYE

New Years Eve Rocked. Seriously rocked. I had one of the best and most memorable new years eves ever!! This greatness stems from me not planning a damn thing. We decided on the sushi restaurant two hours before we went to eat. We didn't even bother to make reservations. My best friends Carlos from Vegas, Deb, Sean and our friend Pat all went to Zen at the Triangle Square. Whitey and Brother headed to a party in Laguna, so we ended up splitting up for most of the night. We ended up having a great dinner, tons of sake bombs and great sushi..................
After dinner, we decided to go bar hopping in Newport on the peninsula. After starting at the Beach Ball, we headed over to Shag Bar, then off to Malarkeys. Sometime during the night, I found this awesome hot pink boa.....What a great night!! We drank, partied and I even got a great new years kiss. I got a little intoxicated, but for all you wondering, I did not slut it out or go home with any strangers. I know it would make for a better post, but I only post the truth. We drunken stumbled to a local joint that sells the BEST Ham and Cheese Croissants in the world. They are so so tasty when you are drinking. I am obsessed. I figured start my new years off with the worst thing I could possibly eat and it could not get any worse than that. After eating ham and cheese croissants and frolicking on the beach, we headed to Whitey's for a little after partying. I was too drunk and tired to even think of after partying so I passed out as soon as I hit the couch. I woke up with a smile. What a great memory!

On New Years Day, Brother dragged me out of bed at 9:00 in the freaking morning and took me surfing. I got clobbered. Not a great surf day and it was way too rough for me. I actually hit my head on the bottom and almost knocked myself out. Not fun! The rest of the day was spent relaxing and figuring out what I am doing with my life. I saw THE GOOD SHEPARD that night. It was honestly the longest and slowest movie I have ever seen. I love CIA/detective movies, but this one needed a little more action or something. It was a good movie, but was missing something that would make me ever watch it again. Oh well.

The Whitey situation is definitely going really well. We went wine tasting in Santa Ynez on Saturday and had a great time together. We got in a great talk about us, and we decided to just take it one day at a time. We are just so good together that every day I spend with him, I just fall for him more. Problem is that stupid voice in the back of my head going "remember his age, remember his age."

I also met someone else who caught my attention, but he doesn't even live close to this state and is boarding a plane to go back to school as I write this. He is wonderful, fun and we had a great time together. Whitey met him and even liked him a ton. I am just taking all this one day at a time.