Weekend Update

Hello, Monday! Ugh, you came so quickly. I knew you would, though, because I had a very busy weekend planned.

On Saturday, Cappy and I headed out very early in the morning (okay, we were on the road by 9am) for Portland, OR. Such a fun day!! Oh my, I do enjoy hanging out with him, although we are practically siblings now, we're so platonic. I would fall over in shock if he made a move on me, which I am quite sure he will not. And that's all good, because I don't want him to do so. We have an awfully good time together and I am very happy to just to spend time with him.

We went to a bazillion and one places. That is the fun of Cappy - he likes to go, go, go. We went to the Button Emporium (emporium is such a strong word, as I would really just call it a button and yarn store in downtown Portland, haha). I got great buttons for my vintage coat that Cappy had bought me some time ago...uh oh, I feel a picture coming on!

My son says this coat makes me look rich.
This painting is in my office and I love it to death, so don't dis on it, Kim haters.

He bought it at some vintage shop, but it didn't have buttons. We went to Portland on a quest for perfect buttons. I'm sure they sell buttons in Seattle, but both Cappy and I enjoy both a challenge and a road trip. Besides the button store, we went to several other vintage shops. Uhh, Cappy dresses vintage, I do not. Although Cappy, it seems, likes to dress *me* vintage, so in addition to the pink and red coat, above, I now also have a blue and green one he found on Saturday, and a(nother) pair of Doc Marten's. I now have four pairs. :)

Later, we went to McMenamin's Edgefield. We've been sort of working our way through a bunch of these McMenamin's places, having stumbled on one in downtown Portland on our last trip. Edgefield was very cool, and it had a sort of Jerry Garcia/Grateful Dead thing going...and wouldn't you be so surprised to hear that Cappy is a big Grateful Dead man? So he was in heaven, which was very fun to see.

Afterward, we found ourselves in the Hawthorne neighborhood, which was just fun, fun, fun. Tons of cute little shops and restaurants, and very neighborhoody vibe. I would go broke living there, trying to support all the local businesses.

Finally, we met my friend Vicki and her husband for drinks at Beulahland. I struggled to think what Cappy and my friends would have in common, but I needn't have worried. We all had a great time, and the boys bonded over their love of alcohol, haha. Vicki was on her way to work after we met, so she got to sit and drink coffee while the rest of us got drunk. ;) Lucky girl!

Whew - we were on our way home awhile later, but decided to stop at another McMenamins in Centralia, WA. Because it was there, you know. This was small-town-bar-at-its-finest, and Cappy, who dresses, uhhh, very individualistically, was the focus of all eyes in the bar. He had really pulled out all the stops with his Portland outfit: knee high Doc Marten boots, black shorts with suspenders hanging down, a cap and his normal goatee. Small town ain't seen nothing like this!

I'll say here, I am very mainstream vanilla. :) I dress normal, and really, I am only very recently out of my jeans and t-shirt every day phase, which lasted probably 20 years, haha. I adore Cappy and love being with him, but when the whole bar is staring at him/us, it is not my favorite time to be with him. Sometimes I want to scream at him, "You're 41, for God's sake, put on some Dockers!!" But I do not. He definitely marches to his own drum, and it is a very fun one, so I just keep my mouth shut. ;)

Oops, I feel another picture coming on...

My Catholic, Republican, Gunsmithing Krav Maga Friends and My Beatnik Atheist Mushroom-Taking Friend. I Pull from All Walks of Life to Surround Myself with Super Cool People I Love with My All My Heart, Regardless if They're All Wrong. :)

Such a fun day! Yesterday, I volunteered all day with my good friend and it was nice. OMG it was the most boring shift in the world, but the company was splendid and it is really bad karma to complain that there wasn't enough domestic violence in the city that day to keep me occupied, haha.

LAST NIGHT...I went on another first date. I have not even told you about the one from last week, but that warrants (pun intended, as you'll see when I write it) its own post. Last night was a seemingly great guy. We'll call him Sparky. He is an electrician - a line worker, actually. Right off the bat, that's a good thing, because that means a) job stability and b) a good, solid income.

I have become quite jaded with the dating, and was actually contemplating giving it up. Let's just say I ran a few little background checks of my own on this one after recent experiences. And he seems like the real deal: gainfully employed, truly divorced, two kids in their early/mid teens.

Totally nice guy. More handsome than his pictures. Of all things I *have* encountered online, I have not yet encountered someone who didn't match his pictures, thankfully. And for some reason, I just knew this guy was going to be better looking than his pictures, and wah-lah! he was. Score one for me. He was a cutie: very kind eyes and a nice smile. Tall - which I love, even though I am only 5'3", so I try not to be greedy and take the tall men.

I will miss him when he turns out to be a complete freak, or when he reveals the giant secret he was saving about himself for our second date. We are going out on Wednesday: I wonder if it will be cross-dressing or baby sacrifices?

Seriously - online dating is a hard world. :) But Sparky seems great, and he has sent me a nice couple of texts today without going over the top. He paid me all sorts of nice compliments last night, picked up the tab, held doors open, walked me to the car, etc. No red flags or eyebrows raised...yet, anyway. (Can you see how jaded I'm getting??)

Oh - and he gave me a kiss at my car...sparks flew. Pun intended, haha. We'll see. I hope he doesn't bring his mother along this week. I tell ya, something's got to be wrong. ;)