Vivtoberfest

It's been a big, birthday weekend for vivacious Vivian, who turned 28 last Thursday. I was up in Omaha to celebrate with her and spent some quality time over the weekend, which was wonderful.

On Thursday, we went out to the Outback Steakhouse with her parents to have a bloomin' onion, which was a sort of birthday tradition for Viv. Afterwards, we went back to her parents place so Vivian could open presents from her folks, which included Italian dried salami imported from San Francisco, new clothes, and some black and pink suede shoes that Vivian spent more time petting than wearing. Afterwards, we got to have some of the amazing Birthday Cake that her mom had made for her. It featured a little fondant sculpture of Vivian, dressed as a swing dancing angel holding a guitar.

On Friday, Vivian and I had both taken the day off, so we got to spend some quality time together doing as little as possible. We went down to a little Diner (simply called "The Diner") next to the Old Market downtown to have some hamburgers. We'd wanted to eat there for ages, but they're closed after four and on Sundays, so we were never around when it was open. Afterwards, we took a walk in a gorgeous little neighborhood I had discovered completely by accident off the NW Radial Highway. It had beautiful little brick houses and towering trees with leaves that were just starting to change color. It was the perfect weather for a long afternoon walk.

That evening, we went out with friends to Old Chicago and then went to the Eagle's Lodge for Vivian's birthday dance. The photo comes courtesy of Cliff, who has gotten picture of all three of Viv's birthday dances so far.

On Saturday, we finally had our big party for Vivian with all of her friends down at the Lazy Onion Ranch, an event Eric quickly dubbed "Vivtoberfest." I had my work cut out for me preparing for the event, baking my very first cake ever with a couple heart-shaped pans I borrowed from Viv's mom. I also rounded up some baked potatoes for a dress-your-own potato bar for the gang when they arrived. We played badminton and fenced with a couple foam scimitars I was able to procure, and then I frosted up the cake so Viv could blow out her candles and open presents. We got her a number of fun presents, including board games and a new digital camera. I also gave her a little present I'd found on eBay months ago and have struggled to hide from her ever since in my apartment: a Punky Brewster doll in her original unopened box. Vivian had had a doll just like it when she was little but had to leave it behind when her family moved, so I hoped she would enjoy seeing it again.

Sunday came, and Vivian and I went to church together before dropping by the last Lindy in the Park for the season. We all got to bring food for a pot-luck style cookout with our friends for one last dance together on the Gene Leahy mall. We couldn't have asked for better weather: sunny, warm, and very windy. Afterwards, we dropped by Maggie Moo's one last time with Eric and Micah, and then Viv and I went back to her parents' place to have cobbler and play with Diggy.

Vivian and I crashed at last at her place and watched The Last Mimzy together. Viv wanted to put all of her presents on the table to get a picture of all the loot her generous friends had given her this weekend. She also took down a list to send out Thank-You cards, something that's going to be keeping her busy for a while, I'm sure!

Happy Birthday, Vivian!

Happy Birthday, Vivian!

Today, our vivacious Vivian turns 28 years old! Congratulations, lil' angel!
Keep on smilin', 'cause today is YOUR day!

Changing Seasons

The seasons are beginning to change at last. The leaves are changing colors and the cool, sweet smell of autumn is in the air once again. It's the perfect weather now for walking, bike rides, or spending entire days in Omaha with Vivian and friends.

On Wednesday, the Friendship Program had their open house. The Friendship Program Is a non-profit adult day program and center for people with disabilities, and it's where Vivian works every day. I've been there a couple times to demonstrate swing dancing for their participants and it was great to be there again. They had a bake sale, a raffle, and a talent show for their participants, which was great fun. Viv's mom also stopped by and had time to French-braid her hair, something I'm learning how to do now.

The weekend provided some great weather for enjoying the great outdoors, taking long walks and Lindy in the Park. The little yellow leaves looked so pretty as they tumbled from the overhanging trees like confetti.

After the dance, I wet to Vivian's parents' house for a barbecue with their friend Keith. This week, Vivian, Keith, and Vivian's dad all have birthdays, so we had a cookout to celebrate them all together. Vivian's mom made a delicious hot tub cake for Keith, who apparently can't get enough of his bubbling wonder. Afterwards, Viv's mom gave me a much needed haircut so I could look somewhat professional again on the job.

Another great weekend all around. This week I'll be gearing up for not one, not two, but three nights of Vivian's birthday! You can be sure pictures and news will follow.

An Appley Sweet Weekend

Vivian and I have been having a lot of fun together this week, and we were able to see each other every day for the first time since we started dating, which was a special milestone.

On Friday night, we celebrated our friend Venche's birthday at P.F. Chang's, a restaurant I've been meaning to try for a while now. They served some very nice Chinese food and served it family-style, so we all got to share dishes and try a little bit of everything. They did the same with the desserts, and Venche had some of the most heart-stoppingly sweet chocolate I've ever tasted. It was a great time, though we had to watch out for Jim and some of his bizarre mixed drinks. Those special bottles on the table apparently weren't meant for beverages.

On Saturday, Nebraska City was holding its annual Applejack Festival, so Vivian and I got to drive down to participate in the festivities. We started off with the Waffle Feed at the firehouse, getting a couple tasty waffles with syrup and whipped cream on top. After stuffing ourselves, we took a walk around town, stopping by a pet shop and a used book sale put on by the library.

At one o'clock came the parade. Vivian hadn't seen a parade since she'd moved to Nebraska (though she did get to march in a couple), and I hadn't seen one since the Wayne Chicken Show a few years ago. We joined Jenny and some of her family who enjoyed beating her sister with inflatable Windstream promotional balloons.

The parade was quite nice, though 90% of it seemed to be marching bands and Shriners tooting around in miniature cars. There was a marching band competition going on, so that would explain why we got to see several bands from all sorts of schools from around the area. The most impressive was Blair, naturally, marching in lockstep like the armies of Mordor down central Avenue. Since we stood at the end of the parade, we didn't get to have quite as much candy tossed our way as we would have liked.

After the parade, Vivian, Jenny, Hugh, and I went down to the Arbor Day Farm to get some appley-sweet treats such as apple butter, carmel apples, and even such odd creations as Cheesecake in a Jar. The place was packed, as expected, and there were plenty of things to look at while we were there, including some of the old machinery they used to sort and process the apples grown there. I'd heard an early freeze had killed all the apple blossoms, so the apples they actually had available here were imported from Missouri.

We took a walk around the grounds afterwards, looking at the beautifully manicured gardens outside the Arbor Day Lodge, former home of J. Sterling Morton, the founder of Arbor Day. Now it's something of a museum, showcasing such things as old carriages, one of which was driven by Buffalo Bill Cody. Vendors with hot dogs, funnel cakes, and kettle corn lined every street, of course, so we were never in want for unhealthful snacks. We did have to watch out for some of the hawks lurking overheard, ready to swoop down on any field mouse who might be tempted to grab a fallen roasted almond.

On Sunday, Dori, my friend from high school, got to celebrate her 30th birthday with her family and friends at the Upper Room church in Lincoln. I hadn't seen her or a few of the others there since our 10 year reunion last year, so it was definitely good to see them again. They had a few band leaders play happy birthday for them with guitars and bongos, and I got to meet a few of Dori's five adorable children for the first time.

All Greek to me

This weekend, Omaha hosted a Greek festival down on the riverfront, where they had Greek folk dancing and lots of food to enjoy. On Friday I went down there with Viv and joined a number of our friends as we watched kids dressed up in festive costumes doing a variety of elaborate line-dances. We ate gyros and a tiropita before jumping into the mix ourselves to dance with the rest of them before heading on over to JNO.

Viv and I did some clothes shopping Saturday and them spent some quality time hanging out in my apartment in Lincoln, where I got to ruin some laundry by leaving an inkpen in one of my pockets. Viv got a laundry tip from her mom: using hairspray to get the ink out. We're trying that now and keeping our fingers crossed. I took Viv downtown for a late dinner at Lazlo's as a cold front started blowing in.

On Sunday, we also stopped by for a beautiful day for Lindy in the Park. It was cool and cloudy, and I was able to dance for an hour or two without even breaking a sweat for once. Greg and Lindsey stopped by with their adorable new baby. A cute squirrel also skittered by collecting nuts for the winter, trying in vain to get my Chris, who wouldn't be moved from his spot on the concrete steps for a rodent.

Viv and I wound up returning to the Greek festival with Dan Wondra, where I got to try souvlaki and baklava. Afterwards, we got to try dancing to some of the Greek music ourselves and some of the rocking Jazz out by Rick's cafe afterwards. Dan tried out a few moves with Vivian and then showed them to me before we headed home.

Labor Day Weekend

There's nothing quite like a nice, long labor day weekend to make you appreciate just how much you hate going back to work on Tuesday.

I saw one movie every day this weekend. On Friday night, I took Vivian out to see the Wizard of Oz at the Holland Performing Arts Center in Omaha. They had a big screen set up in their courtyard, complete with a live Jazz band before the show and picnic baskets to make it a cozy dinner-and-a-movie event.

On Saturday, we had a nice long breakfast at Perkins before spending much of the afternoon catching up on freelance work. I had planned to spend this Saturday at home, but thanks to my laptop and a wireless connection at Panera, I was able to get a great deal of work done right around the corner from Viv's apartment. The evening was spent swimming, reading the bible together, and then driving down to the Dundee Theater for a midnight showing of The Princess Bride, one of Viv's favorite movies and one I hadn't seen in its entirety for years. I'd seen bits and pieces on TV at the gym, but hadn't actually watched the movie from start to finish since I was in elementary school.

On Sunday, Vivian and I went to church together and then joined the rest of our Jitterbug friends for Lindy in the Park. Somebody forgot to bring the water cooler, so I had to walk up to the Little King and bring back a couple bottles of Aquafina for the gang. After the dance (and a change of clothes), Vivian and I went to see the Transformers movie. It was quite impressive to see the robots in disguise on the big screen, and I was surprisingly happy with the remodeled designs of the characters, but the movie itself was very light on plot and character development and quite heavy on CGI battle scenes. After the movie, we went down to Eric's place to play the Order of the Stick game until 1 AM. It wouldn't have lasted so long if we'd spent our time trying to work our way down the dungeon instead of screwing each other throughout the game, but it was all fun nonetheless.

On Monday, I took Vivian to breakfast at Panera and then I spent the afternoon at her parents' place working on a comic for Legostar and a Cortland comic for that day. After a romantic walk around the shady, tree-lined neighborhood, I headed back to Lincoln to watch Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix with my brother. It was easily one of my favorites in the series so far, and it was especially cool to see some of the intense wizard battle sequences at the end. It can hardly believe how much of the original cast is still putting together these movies after all these years. It's almost endearing to watch Daniel Ratcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson all growing up.

It's a short workweek this week, but I'm hanging on tight until the weekend catching up on everything and then some at the office. On Wednesday, I got to have dinner at Mike and Bekah's place, watching Drew dance around on the floor and Alexa suddenly able to walk and talk for the first time in her life. I also got to chat all about the joys of Inn-n-Out Burger with Mike and their new roomie Daniel, right before he started a drum solo on Drew's plastic drum and then watched a couple episodes of The Office together.

I still can't wait for the weekend. I'm missing you, Viv!

Joining Club 29

On Wednesday, I turned 29 years old and had the best birthday of my entire life. Throughout the day, I got little birthday greetings from people like Sarah, a bunch of my fellow Cornstalkers, and Vivian, of course. For lunch, I had pizza with my brother and opened a couple presents (Sliders Season 3 and Brazil on DVD! Woot!) He actually bought two pizzas, but we could barely finish one, so I took the second back to work and let the girls at the office enjoy it. They deserved some pizza this week.

After work, I drove to Omaha to have a party at Vivian's place. She went all out, serving up salad with all my favorite ingredients, cornbread muffins, and barbecued meatballs for dinner. I also got a special Cortland cake from Viv's mom, which was absolutely amazing! She did such an amazing job turning Cortland into a cake, I couldn't believe it!

After the cake, it was time to open presents. I have some darn generous friends, and I made out like a bandit: I got an iPod car adapter, a case for a cell-phone, a t-shirt and a cute little wooden sculpture from Viv. I got a $20 gift card to the Apple store from Ben (How did he know?) and an amazing caricature of myself from the ever-talented Dan Wondra. Viv's mom also brought by a bag full of all kinds of food items, from asparagus to plums to some licorice candies. In addition to the cards I got, I could barely haul it all out to my car when I was done.

After presents, we all went off to Dave and Busters to finish the day off right my playing games and collecting a couple hundred tickets. I left them on my card to redeem some other time when we drop by. They didn't have karaoke tonight, so I know I'll be back.

Today, I got the rest of my presents in the mail from Mom and Dad. I got audio book versions of Getting Things Done by David Allen and It's All Too Much by Peter Walsh. I've been getting on a serious organization kick recently, and these things will make for wonderful listening for my iPod. I also got a hardback copy of the 4-Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferriss, a book that was highly-recommended to me as a partially self-employed graphic designer. I can't wait to read it and see how far down I can whittle this work week of mine.

This was the best birthday ever! Thank you guys SO much for making me feel so special, especially you, Vivian. You make me feel special 365 days a year. All I need now is a sticker.