The last few weekends have been filled with various things to do.

On the weekend of the 7th, Eric and I attended the company holiday party at Venegas Prime Filet. It was a nice establishment set in Columbia, MD. I booked a room for us for the night so we would not have to worry about traveling across the bay bridge again for the evening, and to allow us both time to rest. Eric hunted that morning and wasn’t feeling well, so I ended up driving us to the hotel and arranging the taxi from the hotel to the restaurant and back for the party.

The restaurant was lovely, the food was fantastic, and the party was wonderful. It was a nice, relaxed atmosphere, and I think everyone had a good time. The raffled off three prizes, an iPad, a 42” TV and a trip to the Bahamas. Alas, I won neither of the prizes, but I have absolute certainty that those who did will greatly enjoy them.

Prior to the weekend, Eric had sent my engagement ring off to be sized. I got the ring back on Tuesday, and couldn’t be happier to have it back. It is a beautiful diamond, just the right size, with a nice simple band. I don’t like anything big, or too flashy, so he picked well. It’s a little snug on my finger, but not so much that it’s uncomfortable. We’ll see how it continues to fit as we move into the summer months (Have they come yet? How about now? No, really, now? I’m done with this cold stuff.)

This past weekend I attended the Bridal Extravaganza event that was hosted at the Tidewater Inn, in Easton, MD. There was one the weekend of the company party in Timonium, but I was nowhere near prepared to attend that one. It also would have been on a much larger scale. I went to this event with my sister, Susan. We met at a centralized location, and took a single care over because we figured parking would be limited. It was.

Once there, I was accosted (not literally) by the various vendors to sign up for various things, many of them boasting prizes and raffles in a cleverly disguised way to get my information so they can contact me later. I obliged with most of them. We also had the fortune of tasting various cakes and other snacks that the various venues provide with their services. There was much numminess.

We had the opportunity to go to a fashion show later in the day, as we missed the first one, but after attending so many booths and picking up information at nearly all of them, after a few hours I was already spent – and had much food for thought. So, we headed off, and I went to attend some other errands before returning home for the rest of day.

All in all it was a good trip, as it gave me more of an overall view of what things to expect for planning a wedding. It’s certainly a daunting task, but I’m certain in the end I’ll come up with something I know I’ll like and enjoy.

For anyone who knows me well, they would know that the holidays are a time that I love and enjoy, no matter the holiday. It’s a time that I get together with my family, and catch up with them. There may be a few that I dedicate to other tasks, like FiranCON on Memorial Day or New Years with friends, but otherwise they’re spent with my family. This Christmas was no different, with the small exception that this Christmas was a bit better and brighter than most. For, you see, Eric proposed, and I said yes. But, there’s more to the story than that. So, this post is a retelling, of sorts, of what’s come to pass not just on Christmas, but through part of the year.

Eric and I have been talking about the possibility of marriage off and on, and what our preferences might be. He was married once, and not eager to jump back into that situation, which I can understand – so it wasn’t something I was going to pressure him into. In May, he asked if we’d been dating long enough to get married. Having never been married before, I think my reply was – I’m not sure what the protocols are for how long a person should be dating to get married – but I’d be open to the idea, certainly, but he would have to ask me. He responded with he wasn’t sure about protocols either, but he’d been considering it. We left the conversation there.

In the beginning of June, my sister Loretta graduated from college (again). He and I attended, along with my dad, my sister Susan and her husband. Afterwards, we went out to dinner, and Susan kept pointing at her ring finger and Eric, and then looking at me pointedly. I did not have a ring, and she was asking when I was going to get one. She mentioned something about not waiting 11 years this time, as my college boyfriend and I had been together that long without him popping the question, and I replied that I wouldn’t be. We had a giggle over it, but Eric was pretty clueless about the conversation. I wouldn’t tell him at dinner, but I mentioned it in the car.

At the end of June, Eric and I traveled to his brother’s house in Virginia to have a cookout with his family. His nieces pulled me aside to have a very serious private discussion with me. They wanted to know if Eric and I were getting married. I told them no, because I hadn’t been asked, and then asked them why – and they both said they wanted us to get married. I also told them I’d be open to the idea, but that Eric would have to ask me. We went on to talk about other things, and later on, on the way home, I let Eric know about the conversation.

In July, the subject was broached once more. Eric informed me that he’s decided he definitely wanted to marry me. It was a declaration, but he hadn’t asked me. Not yet. I responded with my typical ‘Okay’, acknowledging his comment, and proceeded to ask him a few questions. Again, I didn’t want to push the subject. Especially, by that point, there were other people pushing on my behalf; my sister Susan, and her daughter namely.

Fast forward to a few days before Christmas:

E: Lisa, honey, we can’t get married. It’s too expensive!

L: Oh? Why do you say that?

And, Eric went on to explain that all the rings he’d been looking at were well out of his price range. Meanwhile, as you can imagine, my heart was going a flutter. I suggested the one store where he usually got my stuff, and he considered checking it out. But, in the meantime – he proposed that we consider getting engaged, instead, on my birthday which gave him more time to find a ring. This was fine by me, and though he didn’t ask yet, I knew he was planning on it.

Christmas Day.

The morning started with Eric rolling out of bed well before me. I slept in. Eventually, the morning light flickered just enough that I could no longer sleep in, so I grudgingly rolled out of bed and into the kitchen. We discussed our plans for the day, and I waited while he showered to get breakfast ready – since he proposed making it together. We had bacon and blueberry waffles. He made the bacon, I made the waffles. I also made him open the one gift that was in the fridge. Eric likes cheeses of all kinds, so I had bought him an assortment, along with a summer sausage and some mustard.

Once breakfast was over we were going to open gifts. Eric is a hard person to buy for, since he won’t give you a list. So, I was pretty excited to have him open the gifts I bought him this year. I tend to listen to things he wants all year, and then store that information away for his birthday and Christmas. So, I plucked his gifts up from under the tree, and placed them before him.

E: So, who should we do first, me or you?

L: You. I’ve been waiting for you to get to open them.

E: No, I think we’ll do you first.

He told me he had been planning to do it after dinner with the family, but because I had insisted on opening gifts in the morning, that he couldn’t resist. And, so, he presented me with a ring and proposed. I, of course, said yes – and we kissed (of course there was kissing!)

Eric was so excited that he went and called his brother and his mother right away, and texted his cousin Joe. His father lives nearby, so we finished getting ready and went to exchange gifts with them, and tell them. Afterwards, we went to my dad’s house for dinner.

It was my job to tell my family, since he told his. My plan was to wait until dinner to tell everyone, since that’s when we’d all be in the same room together. However, apparently before that time, Eric had already spilled the beans to my sister, Susan. Because, throughout the afternoon, she hinted about it. I’d like to think I did a pretty good job of not giving things away to her, but I’m pretty sure I also had a quirky smile on my face every time I said, ‘Huh? What? I don’t know what you’re talking about. Oh, can you – Oh! Look over there, see what – etc…’ Diverting the conversation away from the topic.

Eventually, everyone did sit down for dinner, and I broke the news. My sister Sandy was pretty funny. Her response was, ‘What? I thought you guys were already engaged!’. But overall, I’m pretty sure they were all happy for me.

And, that’s the story of how I got engaged on Christmas Day.

It occurs to me that I’ve not really posted a State of Me in quite some time. I’ve been lurking, in the background, mostly – and I’ve been making use of Facebook, but to me Facebook really isn’t the place where I dish well.

October marked the one year anniversary of when I moved in with Eric. It’s been an adjustment for me because my work is still on the Western Shore, and we live on the Eastern Shore. I would not consider leaving my job because the job market is so hard to break into right now, and the place where I’m working – except for a few flaws and foibles – is a great place to work. I enjoy the people, and they take good care of me for the most part. The drive is long and I wish I had more time during the day, but I can’t foresee finding anything as good as I have for the pay that I have over on the Eastern Shore.

Even though a year has passed, I’m still trying to find the right balance to things, between gaming, spending time with Eric and other things that we enjoy. October also marked when we got pets. I have two mischievous and adorable cats, Maggie and Fussy – torties – who claimed me right away when I was trying to decide what cats to get. We also got a puppy, a lovely chocolate lab, bred by my sister, who we named Duke. He’s been keeping us on our toes, but has quickly become a joy in both of our lives (even if he wakes us up at 4:30 in the morning because he wants to play sometimes.)

I didn’t realize how much I missed the peace and quiet of the Eastern Shore, until I moved back. Of course, having that peace and quiet comes with some pitfalls. I’m once more away from civilization, which means to get any significant shopping done for – say – Christmas, most of it has to be done online, or I have to travel an hour somewhere to get there. But, at the same time, the Eastern Shore has a beauty and grandeur that living in civilization doesn’t have. I can look out the picture window in my bedroom or living room and see any number of critters passing us by; deer, fox, wild turkeys, squirrels, etc. They live in our habitat just as much as we live in theirs, and we – more or less – live in harmony. You don’t really get that living on the Western Shore. Not unless you’re in the farthest northern reaches. And, much like the locals (which I guess I am one again now that I’m back there), I get quite annoyed with the big development companies that want to come in and take that all away.

For now, I’m content to enjoy the things I have, for as long as I have it – for you never know what tomorrow will bring you.

1. MASQUES by Patricia Briggs
2. WOLFSBANE by Patricia Briggs
3. LILY OF THE NILE by Stephanie Dray
4. PERCY JACKSON: THE TITAN'S CURSE (BOOK 3) by Rick Riordan
5. BLACKVEIL - Book #4 of The Green Rider series by Kristen Britain
6. HARRY POTTER AND THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX by J.K. Rowling
7. HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE by J.K. Rowling
8. HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS by J.K. Rowling
9. SHIP OF MAGIC by Robin Hobb (The Liveship Trader Series)
10. RECKLESS by Cornelia Funke
11. RIVER MARKED by Patricia Briggs (The Mercy Thompson Series)
12. VAMPIRE DIARIES: THE RETURN: MIDNIGHT by L.J. Smith (The Vampire Diaries: The Return Series)
13. MAD SHIP by Robin Hobb (The Liveship Trader Series)
14. DRAGON KEEPER by Robin Hobb (The Rain Wilds Series)
15. DRAGON HAVEN by Robin Hobb (The Rain Wilds Series)
16. PERCY JACKSON: THE BATTLE OF THE LABYWRINTH (BOOK 4) by Rick Riordan
17. PERCY JACKSON: THE LAST OLYMPIAN (BOOK 5) by Rick Riordan
18. WITCH AND WIZARD by James Patterson
19. THE GIFT by James Patterson
20. THE LOST HERO by Rick Riordan
21. THE RED PYRAMID by Rick Riordan
22. THRONE OF FIRE by Rick Riordan
23. I'M JUST SAYIN': THREE DEATHS, SEVEN HUSBANDS, AND A CLONE! MY LIFE AS A DAY TIME DIVA by Kim Zimmer w/ Laura Morton
24. MIDNIGHT NEVER COME by Marie Brennan
25. A DISCOVERY OF WITCHES by Deborah Harkness
26. PERCHANCE TO DREAM by Lisa Mantchev
27. THE FOOL'S GIRL by Celia Rees
28. TO WISH OR NOT TO WISH by Mindy Klasky
29. SONG OF THE NILE by Stephanie Dray
30. DON'T KISS THEM GOOD-BYE by Allison Dubois
31. MERCY THOMPSON: HOMECOMING by Patricia Briggs
32. MASTIFF by Tamora Pierce
33. DARK SINS & DESERT SANDS by Stephanie Draven

This is a test of the LiveJournal - Facebook posting feature. I may decide to add Twitter &/Or Google to this as well. We'll see!

1. MASQUES by Patricia Briggs
2. WOLFSBANE by Patricia Briggs
3. LILY OF THE NILE by Stephanie Dray
4. PERCY JACKSON: THE TITAN'S CURSE (BOOK 3) by Rick Riordan
5. BLACKVEIL - Book #4 of The Green Rider series by Kristen Britain
6. HARRY POTTER AND THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX by J.K. Rowling
7. HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE by J.K. Rowling
8. HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS by J.K. Rowling
9. SHIP OF MAGIC by Robin Hobb (The Liveship Trader Series)
10. RECKLESS by Cornelia Funke
11. RIVER MARKED by Patricia Briggs (The Mercy Thompson Series)
12. VAMPIRE DIARIES: THE RETURN: MIDNIGHT by L.J. Smith (The Vampire Diaries: The Return Series)
13. MAD SHIP by Robin Hobb (The Liveship Trader Series)
14. DRAGON KEEPER by Robin Hobb (The Rain Wilds Series)
15. DRAGON HAVEN by Robin Hobb (The Rain Wilds Series)
16. PERCY JACKSON: THE BATTLE OF THE LABYWRINTH (BOOK 4) by Rick Riordan
17. PERCY JACKSON: THE LAST OLYMPIAN (BOOK 5) by Rick Riordan
18. WITCH AND WIZARD by James Patterson
19. THE GIFT by James Patterson
20. THE LOST HERO by Rick Riordan
21. THE RED PYRAMID by Rick Riordan
22. THRONE OF FIRE by Rick Riordan
23. I'M JUST SAYIN': THREE DEATHS, SEVEN HUSBANDS, AND A CLONE! MY LIFE AS A DAY TIME DIVA by Kim Zimmer w/ Laura Morton
24. MIDNIGHT NEVER COME by Marie Brennan
25. A DISCOVERY OF WITCHES by Deborah Harkness
26. PERCHANCE TO DREAM by Lisa Mantchev
27. THE FOOL'S GIRL by Celia Rees
28. TO WISH OR NOT TO WISH by Mindy Klasky
29. SONG OF THE NILE by Stephanie Dray

1. MASQUES by Patricia Briggs
2. WOLFSBANE by Patricia Briggs
3. LILY OF THE NILE by Stephanie Dray
4. PERCY JACKSON: THE TITAN'S CURSE (BOOK 3) by Rick Riordan
5. BLACKVEIL - Book #4 of The Green Rider series by Kristen Britain
6. HARRY POTTER AND THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX by J.K. Rowling
7. HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE by J.K. Rowling
8. HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS by J.K. Rowling
9. SHIP OF MAGIC by Robin Hobb (The Liveship Trader Series)
10. RECKLESS by Cornelia Funke
11. RIVER MARKED by Patricia Briggs (The Mercy Thompson Series)
12. VAMPIRE DIARIES: THE RETURN: MIDNIGHT by L.J. Smith (The Vampire Diaries: The Return Series)
13. MAD SHIP by Robin Hobb (The Liveship Trader Series)
14. DRAGON KEEPER by Robin Hobb (The Rain Wilds Series)
15. DRAGON HAVEN by Robin Hobb (The Rain Wilds Series)
16. PERCY JACKSON: THE BATTLE OF THE LABYWRINTH (BOOK 4) by Rick Riordan
17. PERCY JACKSON: THE LAST OLYMPIAN (BOOK 5) by Rick Riordan
18. WITCH AND WIZARD by James Patterson
19. THE GIFT by James Patterson
20. THE LOST HERO by Rick Riordan
21. THE RED PYRAMID by Rick Riordan
22. THRONE OF FIRE by Rick Riordan
23. I'M JUST SAYIN': THREE DEATHS, SEVEN HUSBANDS, AND A CLONE! MY LIFE AS A DAY TIME DIVA by Kim Zimmer w/ Laura Morton
24. MIDNIGHT NEVER COME by Marie Brennan
25. A DISCOVERY OF WITCHES by Deborah Harkness
26. PERCHANCE TO DREAM by Lisa Mantchev
27. THE FOOL'S GIRL by Celia Rees

Every year, I generally take July 21st off of work so that I can privately slip into hiding and away from the world. This is the day that my mother passed away, circa 1996. This year, I sacrificed today, and went to work, because I attended my great niece’s 8th Grade Graduation, so I did not have the extra time to take off, like I normally do. But, the graduation was well worth the time I took off for it.

That doesn’t mean that my mother is any less from thoughts than any other year. She’s not. I pass by the graveyard where she’s buried on the way to work every morning, and I silently say hello to her every morning as I pass it. Today, on her death day, I even had a little conversation with her as I passed by the graveyard, explaining why I didn’t take today off, and promised to stop by on the way home from work. I know that sounds a bit strange. But, every person mourns in their own way.

My mother was a wonderful woman; strong, confident, stubborn, supportive, and a myriad of other wonderful descriptive words I could give her. When I decided that I wanted to try my hand at acting, and made that my dream, she was the first person supporting me. She went to every single play that I was in. When I was 17, she took me to Baltimore for an audition with a talent agency. She made sure I could go to college, and supported my decision to become a Drama major in college, even though my father was against Drama as a major. I would have taken things further, and apprenticed at a theatre, but just before my senior year in college she got sick. So, I opted not to pursue an apprenticeship, and instead stayed at college to finish out the year close to home. My college was only 20 minutes away from our home.

It always stings me to the core when I hear others say they don’t have a great relationship with their mother. My fondest memories in life include my mother in them, almost always. She and I would always go shopping together. We’d go to the movies together. I’d steal her clothes for school; and even sometimes her hats. We’d play games together; particularly dice game Yahtzee, or the card game Rummy. We’d talk about things going on in my life; even some of the stranger things I’d been interested in, like Wicca, or the Ouija Board. And, in spite of some of those stranger interests, she’d never condemn me. She might have questioned my decisions sometimes, but she would never condemn them. She always supported me, and was interested in what I was doing, no matter what.

Over the years she taught me many things. How to knit. How to crochet. How to sew. How to make decorative little flowers out of a tiny piece of cardboard, a little bit of glue, a pipe cleaner, and various seeds and beans. How to paint little ceramics. How to do paint by numbers. How to cook. How to love. How to have fun. And, most importantly, how to live; with pride and dignity.

The thing that I remember her for most, at least in the last year of my time with her, was right before my final year in college. She’d already been diagnosed, and was battling the cancer. I was due to be in my, then, best friend’s wedding within 2 weeks, and I wanted a change for my hair. It was summer, and my hair was long and hot. So, I took a pair of scissors, lifted my hair, and just snipped a little more than half of it off. It was an absolute wreck. I had many mis-matched, multi-sized pieces of hair. Think about the worst hair cut you’ve ever had, and then quadruple that experience, it was that bad.

When my mother saw what I had done, she near about had a heart attack right then and there. The conversation went something like this:

Mom: Lisa, what have you done? Your hair!

Me: (non-chalantly): Mom, it’s fine. It’ll grow back.

Mom: Get your butt in the kitchen and sit down. We’re going to fix it right now.

Me: (laughing): Mom, it’s okay. Really. It’s just hair. It’s a weed. It’ll grow back.

Mom: LISA! SIT DOWN NOW! Oh. That wedding is next weekend. How are we going to fix this in time?

Me: (laughing more): I’ll go to a hairdresser. It’ll be fine.

Mom: (who finally gets me to sit): You’ve ruined your hair. Your beautiful hair! Your friend is going to be really mad at you, that you ruined your hair before her wedding! I don’t know if I can fix this or not.

Me: Mom. Relax. It’s okay.

I was actually /in/ the wedding party, as the Maid of Honor. *coughs*

Mom did her best to fix it. We did eventually go to a hair salon to get the rest if it cut and evened out. But, I think she also forbid me from ever cutting my own hair again after that. And, in the end she did actually laugh about it – after she got over the shock and fright of it; which was good, because she needed to laugh. Badly. After finding out the worst news of her life.

I love her, and still miss her very much. But, with time, the pain dulls, but the memories never fade away.

The weather the past two weekends was absolutely beautiful and amazing. We have windows all around our house, so we were able to partake in the wonderful sunshine, much to Eric's chagrin. He's a clouds and overcast person, and I'm a bright and clear person, which means we've got issues with the light in the house too - his dark and gloomy to my bright and cheerful. I need light to function. Too much dark and I have difficulty seeing things, and I become somewhat depressed. But, this weekend was absolutely wonderful. Bright sunshine, wonderful breezes, everything. Unfortunately, I stayed most of the weekend inside - but what bits I did get to experience were good.

This weekend Eric and I spent some time discussing and planning our summer party. What started as a small get together for close friends, has turned into a full blown event for us, as we each decided to start inviting family members and additional friends. As a result, it looks like we'll easily have 50 people invited - though how many will show is another story entirely. And a count at my side of the guest list shows at least 27 from me alone.

To that end, since I already promised people lawn games, I took some time online to search out the various games we wanted. I had gift cards from Christmas left over from Cabela's, so I started my search there; however they were looking pretty pricey there, so I decided to look at other sources. Finally, Amazon.com offered merchandise from the same brand I was reviewing on the Cabela's website, and I was able to purchase not only the Volleyball/Badmitton set, but also Horseshoes and Croquet for less than half the price of those three items combined at the first site I looked at. So, now not only do I have lawn games - which I know that I can tote over to my father's house for our summer picnics and parties too - but I also have the satisfaction of having a good bargain for them.

Additionally, Eric and I have been discussing upgrading and adding decoration to our home. This is an ongoing project, as we've discussed doing this several times in the past. The summer party appears to be the impetus for us to get this done. So, our first project is adding curtains to our home. We have big, beautiful picturesque windows in the living room and bedrooms that overlook the woods and outdoors; these windows take up all of the outside wall space - so there's lots of open space. We're looking at adding dark/hunter/forest green curtains to the three windows (91" W x 71" L) and the back window (102" W x 71" L).

The issue with covering the back window is that it overlooks the back woods and the fields. We see all sorts of critters out there, so it would be a shame to cover it too much. By critters I mean, deer, fox, turkeys, ducks, geese. We see all of these animals, and more, on nearly a daily basis - so we don't truly want to cover the window entirely. So, we're still discussing what to do there.

For the curtain rods, we're getting the dows made custom - since the windows are at such an odd length, and we're adding spear heads to the end – so the dowels will need to fit the spear heads and butts.

This past weekend Eric and I spent time in Dover, DE shopping for curtains. We hit Kohl’s first, but their selection was very small, and they did not have the window sconces we wanted to hold the rods. Next, we hit JC Penneys – which is a much larger store than the one in Easton. Jackpot.

The store in Dover has a whole section devoted to just curtains. There had to have been 20 – 30 displays there, with varying shades, sizes, colors and lengths that you could look at. And, it was easier to see the curtains, and the colors there, than it would have been at the JCP.com website – where I had looked previously. We ended up with heavy sage green drapes from the front of the living room, and the back of the living room, with a set of sheers for the back of the living room as well. We’ll combine the heavy and shears together for the back window, so we can still pull them aside and see the things we really didn’t want to cover up.

All in all, it’s been a productive two weeks – but we’ve still got some stuff to do before the party. We’ll work on that this week and next, and then get all our shopping done. A couple of people have asked for what they can bring, so we’ve assigned a few things like chips and salads and soda to people. We’re really looking forward to the party, and hope the weather holds out for us.

1. MASQUES by Patricia Briggs
2. WOLFSBANE by Patricia Briggs
3. LILY OF THE NILE by Stephanie Dray
4. PERCY JACKSON: THE TITAN'S CURSE (BOOK 3) by Rick Riordan
5. BLACKVEIL - Book #4 of The Green Rider series by Kristen Britain
6. HARRY POTTER AND THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX by J.K. Rowling
7. HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE by J.K. Rowling
8. HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS by J.K. Rowling
9. SHIP OF MAGIC by Robin Hobb (The Liveship Trader Series)
10. RECKLESS by Cornelia Funke
11. RIVER MARKED by Patricia Briggs (The Mercy Thompson Series)
12. VAMPIRE DIARIES: THE RETURN: MIDNIGHT by L.J. Smith (The Vampire Diaries: The Return Series)
13. MAD SHIP by Robin Hobb (The Liveship Trader Series)
14. DRAGON KEEPER by Robin Hobb (The Rain Wilds Series)
15. DRAGON HAVEN by Robin Hobb (The Rain Wilds Series)
16. PERCY JACKSON: THE BATTLE OF THE LABYWRINTH (BOOK 4) by Rick Riordan
17. PERCY JACKSON: THE LAST OLYMPIAN (BOOK 5) by Rick Riordan
18. WITCH AND WIZARD by James Patterson