The End?

Well, I sure hope so, anyway. Yesterday I got to spend a lovely day in beautiful Detroit at PPO court. A couple weeks ago, I initiated a petition for a PPO against someone who has harassed me for months now and the court date was yesterday.

Not too many people knew about this because unlike some people, I don’t have to involve everyone in my personal business and insist that everyone take sides. I don’t need to travel in packs in order to feel secure about myself. I don’t need to haul my friends downtown to sit in a court room for an entire day in hopes that the judge will allow me to bring them up as witnesses.

What I do know is that the truth prevails, and that I was justified in handling this matter in the way that I did.

FACT: The PPO wasn’t just simply dismissed as is (of course) probably the only story anyone involved with ”Respondent” is hearing. It was MY decision to dismiss it, one-hundred percent MINE. The judge did NOT want to hear Respondent’s witnesses and the judge said in front of the entire court room that YES, I certainly had just cause to ask for the PPO.

Simple dismissing suggests that maybe the court heard my case and decided that I had no real reason to file the petition. Simple dismissing suggests that the court felt maybe I had done something wrong to bring on this unwanted behavior. So no, the case was not simply dismissed in any sense of the concept.

In case I was not clear here, Respondent would have left the City County building served with a PPO had I not said I would dismiss it. Period. Maybe I was feeling nice yesterday, but I think I was just feeling as I always do and that’s called ADULT. Taking the higher road. ALL I needed to hear was that I had just cause to file this petition because I was indeed being harassed. I needed to hear that the nature of Respondent’s most recent text messages were most definitely a form of harassment. I heard that from the judge. Respondent heard it. Respondent’s little posse of witnesses heard it. Dan heard it.

In fact, Respondent was scolded for it in public court. Some people are suddenly not so bad ass when they are facing the eyes of the law. It’s ironic, yet amusing at the same time, how one can display such ugly behavior and talk a big game one moment, but suddenly appear docile and as sweet as a church choir boy when forced to deal with court officials.

I put up with a lot of poor treatment for a long time. This, to me, was a lesson to someone that they cannot just treat people however they want and get away with it. They cannot continue to harass someone without consequences. They cannot try to intimidate someone and instill fear in them without having to answer for it. 

I dealt with the problem how I should have, and allowed our lovely government to do the work they are hired and paid to do for us. It was a good feeling. Leaving the court, I felt satisfied and relieved.

I hope I did the right thing. And, I think someone out there needs to have himself a big yummy slice of humble pie.

Lovely

Public praise is neccessary, of course, for my Daniel for yesterday. I received some pretty flowers in a really neat vase late in the day at work. So pretty, they had little sweetheart roses, tulips, little carnations, and daisies. Men, use this as a lesson that there are more kinds of flowers out there than just the red rose. Roses are beautiful, don’t get me wrong…I LOVE LOVE LOVE the tiny little sweetheart roses in this vase…but don’t be a putz….explore the others….there are so many pretty flowers that exist beyond red roses . Take lessons from Dan, ha.

Later he gave me a card with a very sweet and nice poem he wrote himself. Gotta love an intelligent man who reads more than just an occasional magazine on the 5hitter, LOL. He also presented me with some chocolates, and even brought Sarah a box of chocolates too.

Last, but certainly not least, he gave me a beautiful silver bracelet and a bottle of Coach perfume that I have wanted for a while, but couldn’t really justify buying just yet. You did a lot, Daniel…I dont think I’ve ever felt this spoiled on any Valentine’s Day, ever!

Among some other small things, my main gift for him was a bangin’ red velour track suit. LMAO….inside joke between us. Buying for men on V-Day can be a tricky one. I had given him a certain gift earlier in the week “just because,” because he certainly deserved it and it just wasn’t a Valentine’s-type gift. Sigh….I am always looking around for gifts to buy for him. I like him to know how much I think of him (like, always!) and I like to show it.

For dinner we had planned on possibly doing fondue again, but then I suggested something a little more casual where I knew there wouldn’t be large crowds of people…crab legs! Brilliant! We went to a local bar that I knew had crab legs on Thursday nights. It was a really fun time; we were up to our elbows in “crab juice” and melted butter….delicious! And the side dish on the plate was none other than….corn! Yellow, buttery, beautiful CORN!! 

LOVE YOU FOREVER, DANIEL! YOU ARE THE MOST “AUSOME”….HEH!

Seriously, though, I know we’re on a great path to happiness. He treats me with so much respect. I am so very grateful to have a man who knows how to do that, all the time

Happy Valentine’s

Valentine’s Day has always been a holiday I’ve looked forward to. I don’t know why, but it has always been one of my most favorite holidays. I’ve always enjoyed celebrating it in some way…maybe it’s because of the hope of romance. Even as a kid, though, I loved making the giant construction paper envelope and decorating it. I loved picking out the Valentine cards for school and writing them out to all of my classmates, then later placing them inside their decorated paper envelopes.

Last night, I took Sarah to the mall to get A&W for dinner, and I wanted to stop in to Kohl’s. At Kohl’s, I had Sarah pick out a sterling silver necklace that she wanted as her Valentine’s Day gift. She picked out one with a small cat charm hanging from it and said she wanted the cat to remind her of Scooby (the cat we had to get rid of last April because of, well…..whatever).

I put the necklace on her later and also gave her one of those giant Hershey Kisses and some other candy I had gotten her. Well, she wore the necklace to bed and discovered this morning that she had snapped the chain while sleeping. She was so upset. She was in tears this morning after she told me about it, and I asked why. She said, “Because it’s the best Valentine’s present I ever got.” (Although I also know it’s because she thought I would be really mad at her, lol) I felt bad for her and couldn’t get mad, although I’ve told her so many times not to wear jewelry to bed.

Anyway, some may call this a “Hallmark holiday” or just an excuse for (insert reason here). To me, it’s a day to celebrate love and romance…and ALL of us girls know that there are a lot of men out there who NEED to be reminded to be romantic to their wives and girlfriends. If all couples did more things “just because” all throughout the year for each other, then there would be no need for these “Hallmark holidays”.

Have a nice Valentine’s Day, everyone.

Kid Rock Show

Friday Dan and I went to Kid Rock at Joe Louis Arena. I was SO glad it was there and not at Cobo; I hate shitty old Cobo! I am also glad it was downtown Detroit and not at The Palace. I like The Palace of Auburn Hills and especially PINE KNOB (DTE) in the summer, but I don’t like the longer drives out to those venues.

The Kid Rock show was really good! It was different than any other show I’ve seen him do in the past. I haven’t been to hundreds of Kid Rock shows, but I’ve been to enough of them to know and have certain expectations. Well, this one was different, but in a good way. There was no opening band. He came out early and full of energy as usual, in a white leisure suit but no giant fur coat. The lead singer of J. Giles Band came out with him a few times and did some familiar old tunes. Then later, some “Dickie” dude from Lynrd Skynrd. I am just not a Skynrd fan and probably never will be, LOL. There was even a 15 minute intermission. In the 2nd half, Reverend Run came out and they did a couple of older Run DMC songs, it was great. I love Kid Rock shows, they are always really entertaining and energetic. That guy covers so many different kinds of music, too, it’s crazy.

With the whole “Rock ‘n Roll Revival” theme, one thing was missing and that was the stripper poles on the stage. Hm. Maybe the girls came out at the end after we took off or maybe Kid Rock didn’t think the strippers went with the whole “Rock & Roll Jesus” theme thing. LOL, who knows. Two blonde stripper-esque chicks came out in the beginning, they were introduced, but that’s the only time I saw them.

I saw a couple people I knew at the show and there was a Brad sighting. BRAAAAD! Perfect timing, Dan.

After the concert, Dan and I stopped up to the bar and saw the last bit of Velkro. I talked with some friends, had a shot. I must say, I definitely had a lot to drink that night which caused me to sleep a lot on Saturday!

Saturday night, we went to Velkro again. Lori had her portable DVD player and showed me the old Velkro video for the song “Perfect”. Oh my GOD was that funny, I was even in the video. That must have been 5-6 years ago at least, maybe more. I remember the night they taped parts of it at Bullfrog…singing the song over and over and over again. It brought back some fond memories!

Velkro shows are always fun though. It’s nice to see everyone and have some drinks and laughs.

Sunday was definitely a day of rest. I didn’t even want to leave my place with all this freezing cold and wind. YUCK!!

I had another great weekend with you, Daniel, thank you for EVERYTHING! You’re so good to me!

Chicago Trip

What an absolutely fun weekend! It really went too quick!

On Friday we headed off to the airport to catch our flight to Chicago. We sat on the plane for an extra 45 minutes or so for them to de-ice the plane…..zzzz!

When we finally got to Chicago, I think it was close to 10 Chicago time. We took the subway from the aiport…it was interesting; all sorts of “different” people. The subway makes Detroit’s People Mover look like a giant hilarious joke though!

We checked in to our hotel and sought out a place to eat: DUE Chicago-style pizza. We weren’t being too picky; we were just hungry and it was late but the pizza was SO good.

On Saturday we headed out on foot to go to the Museum of Art. The weather was really nippy and a little windy, and the ground had a lot of messy slush from the snow the day before. It was sloppy walking conditions. I really wish I’d have taken some more photos, but it was just a little cold for my taste and so I got too lazy to take out the camera. My top priority was warmth!

The museum was great. My favorite parts were the photography and the miniature rooms. Unfortunately the area Dan wanted to check out most (American Contemporary?) was closed for some construction.

After that, we headed back towards all the shopping on Michigan Ave. First stop was, I think, the Louis Vuitton boutique. Beautiful! I don’t really think there is a good LV store anywhere in Michigan so it was awesome to see everything up close and in person. For those of you who haven’t noticed, I am a purse addict! We went in to Bloomingdale’s and walked around…Gucci….Coach…LOVE! LOL. I know there is a Hermes store around there, too, but I didn’t make any huge efforts to find it. I was afraid they might run a credit check at the door just to enter or something, LOL.  

Thankfully for my bank account, I did not buy anything. I just fondled things.

On the travel down Michigan, we also stopped at the Hershey Store and Ghirardelli, and got some popcorn at Garrett. Much to our dismay, they announced that there was NO nut popcorn….I was thinking of getting the cashew caramel corn and Dan wanted the macadamia. I settled for plain caramel and Dan got butter. It was really good, nice and warm….but would have been SO delicious with nuts!

We then munched our way over to Billy Goat Tavern to get a “cheeborger”. I always loved the cheeborger-cheeborger skit on SNL as a kid. However, Billy Goat’s door said, “No Pepsi…COKE!” What’s up with that?  I didn’t care though; I prefer Coke anyway! The “friendly” guy at the counter insisted Dan get a “DOBLE” (this is even how “double” and “cheeborger” were spelled on the menu) so he agreed.

After our chee-borgers we went back to the hotel to rest up a bit before the evening. All the walking had made us really tired!

Dan made reservations at the John Hancock building restaurant for that night, it is on the 95th floor. The view was spectacular and the food and wine were excellent! I had salmon and Dan had oysters, and then duck for dinner. I ate one oyster but the taste reminds me too much of how the ocean smells. Not bad, not good - no opinion really, I’m just neutral on the oyster subject!

After dinner, we went back to the hotel and changed, and met up with my brother and his friend Jay in the lobby of our hotel. We got in a cab and headed to this place a bit outside the touristy area of the city that they wanted to try to get in to called The Violet Hour. My brother got testy with the cab driver about the route he was taking and the turns he was making, and at that point Dan definitely knew we were related.

When we arrived, we found the line was too long as my brother thought it would probably be, so we walked around the corner to this bar called Estelle’s. Eric met up with us there and we had a few drinks. My brother, Jay and I were out having a cigarette (NO smoking in businesses Illinois now!) and had an in-depth conversation with a bum who also gave me a pen necklace. LOL, it was interesting.

After Estelle’s, we hopped another cab and went to a good beer bar that Eric suggested called Hop Leaf. I am not a beer snob by any means of the word. I mean, I drink Mich Ultra! There was certainly no Mich Ultra to be found at Hop Leaf. I asked Dan to ask for it when he ordered his beer so that they didn’t laugh at ME. LOL! (Sorry sweetie!) Instead, they laughed at Dan. Just the meer mention of Mich Ultra had Eric bursting in to laughter also.

The place was really packed but the boys were all satisfied with the vast selection of fancy and different beers. I tried a couple beers but then settled on Captain ‘N Diet Coke after a while.

We had fun and laughed a lot! It was so nice to see Eric again and catch up. He is one of those people that can hold a great conversation and there is never an uncomfortable silence. It was nice to have both him and my brother to kind of guide us around a bit since they live in the city. 

The bar closed at 3 a.m. and that’s when we left and got a cab. The cab dropped Eric off at one point and then we headed back to where we were staying. I swear, the cab driver stopped at like THREE different hotels after we had told him a few times where we were staying. WTF? We didn’t get to bed until almost 5 a.m….whew!

This made us very tired the following day! Dan and I were both a bit out of it come morning. Time to come home!

I’m sure I missed something, but it was a really great time. I can’t wait until the next excursion. Thank you Daniel, for making this trip memorable for years to come. I love you!

1-31-08 Life Is Too Short

My friend Jenny called me yesterday with bad news about a friend (and she also was my roommate at one time) we’ve known since high school. I guess she’s in a coma and the prognosis is bleak…liver is shot, internal bleeding, organs shutting down, etc. The coma is a result of years of alcohol abuse.

I won’t go in to full detail because I received the information second-hand, but it’s just a little disturbing. She’s only about my age, 32 or so. Too young to die.

I also won’t go in to this giant schpiel about how we were super-duper-great-close friends and act like we spoke and hung out all the time because we did not. I have not spoken to her in years actually. Jenny always gave me updates on her; she and Jenny were best friends for a long time. But, in recent years, even Jenny seemed to lose touch with her. She was local, but seemed to have disappeared off the face of the earth and in to a sea of DUI’s, random waitressing jobs, problems.

What I will do is re-hash some memories….

This girl is the sole reason why I cannot stand the smell of any fake cinnamon ANYthing to this day. It turns my stomach. At a party once, she drank Hot Damn out of a coffee cup as if it were water, and proceeded to throw it up all over the bathroom. I went to help her, but she had fake cinnamon-smelling barf ALL over the bathroom…toilet, walls, etc.

She ate sardines on crackers and I hated her leaving those rotten stinking empty sardine cans laying around. And, her room was a certified pig sty.

We once had one gallon-size empty bottle (that once held pink wine we all drank up) to sit on each stair to the basement.

She carried a flask of JD in her waitress uniform at Andoni’s. We all thought it was funny at the time.

We would get drunk and dance in the middle of Dartmouth street (in front of the house we rented). She would often remove her shirt, wearing only her bra. This is another thing we were amused by when we would recount it the next morning.

She always left candles burning and it drove me nuts because she would pass out and forget about them. I was paranoid that she would burn the house down.

I once fell asleep in the bathroom at her house after a party. She, Jenny, and I would often take a bottle of whatever and we’d all sit in the tub with our legs hanging out, drinking and laughing and surprising people who came in to pee.

At Jenny’s wedding she got really drunk and fell on the floor and popped out of the top of her dress. She was later out in the back alley, doing who knows what.

She had a small bonfire once at her house in Romulus and we ran out of wood so she brought out boxes and boxes of old clothes and threw those in to the fire. She also wanted to burn her boyfriend’s old Grateful Dead shirt. He protested and I put in a good argument for his case and so the shirt was saved.

Come to think of it, except for the sardine thing and other general roommate annoyances, all the memories I have of her involved alcohol. What’s more is that I’d be willing to bet that she herself probably did not even remember most of these things because she was too drunk to. Unfortunate

It is also unfortunate how some people can include alcohol in their lives on occasion and still live a normal life, while others become alcoholics. Back then, we were in our late teens/early 20’s and thought we were invincible. We had no real responsibilities except to pay our bills….no kids, no husbands….Just party time! No one saw it as much of a problem because everyone was having fun and amused by her antics. Besides that, we all drank, too.

It’s disheartening to think of someone that was once so full of life is now on, quite possibly, the brink of death. Why did no one help her?

Hang in there, girl…

27 Dresses and a Whiskey ’Fest

The weekend was really fun, despite the freezing-ass cold! I am not a real big fan of this weather!

 

 

Friday night Christine and I went to see 27 Dresses. It was a cute movie, though predicable, and definitely a “chick flick” but that’s OK. There was one part in the very beginning where one of the brides told her bridesmaids (regarding the dresses), “You can always cut it short and wear it again…” I laughed out loud at that one because SO many brides say that to their bridesmaids when it is absolutely not true. I think they only say that to try to make you feel better after spending $200 on a pastel pink dress. I’ve got a pink one, a light blue one, light purple, and peach – and I have NEVER cut a single one of them short and worn them again. The peach one did get a second wearing, though. I loaned it to the girl who was playing the Sorceress of the North (AKA “Glinda the Good Witch” in the movie) in our high school production of The Wizard of OZ. There is a photo of her in it in my “old photos” album.

 

Cut it short and wear it again…that is one of the funniest things I have ever heard!

 

On Saturday, Dan and I went to his friend Rob’s house. They put a new bar in their house and it was a very nice dark wood bar with a matching mirror in the back, and even a flat-screen TV installed on the wall. Very cool! We had such a great time! Everyone is really cool and normal; It’s nice to have a real conversations with good people, adult people….ahhhhh! No drama. No immature antics. I felt at ease and comfortable and I can’t wait ’til next time!

 

Sunday was a day of recovery for sure! I woke up and realized there were 95 photos on my camera, LOL!

 

Life is good! I can’t remember ever being this happy, it’s really nice! I never really realized how much just one great guy can change your life. He is everything I’ve ever wanted and needed in another human being, a partner, a friend. I told him this months ago but it still holds true: no one can hold a candle.

 

This, to me, is proof that one should not settle for any less than you think you deserve. It may take you a little longer to find that right person, but it’s so worth the wait!

1-18-08 Windy City

So excited!

Dan and I had been tossing around a plan to go away together for a weekend one of these days soon. I just thought we could do something fairly simple and low-key, anything to escape if only just for a couple of days.

Well, today he booked us a trip to Chicago! So very cool!

I have not been to Chicago since I was a kid. My mom took my brother and I there for a weekend. I have vague memories of visiting the Sears Tower and eating at Trader Vic’s and Gino’s Pizza, and staying at the Holiday Inn, watching Flashdance on HBO in the hotel room…crazy cab drivers and Mom making me put leftover chicken livers from dinner in my purse to take them home for the dog. LOL. My little red Jordache purse stunk for a long time after.

I can’t wait though. We may even be able to meet up with my brother for a little bit. He’s lived in Chicago for a while now and would probably never move back to this dump-hole Michigan.

Looking so forward to this. It may not seem like that big a deal to some who travel often…but I don’t travel too often at ALL. I can’t remember when the last time I had a real vacation was. I guess it was 3 summers ago when I went on the houseboat trip in KY.

TGIF too! Spending the weekend with good friends and having a bit of fun. Tomorrow we’re going to a party at Dan’s friend’s house and tonight Christine and I plan to do some female bonding. Sarah has this electrical project thing due at school next week so Dan is going to work with her on it this weekend too.

I love the weekends!

1-15-08 I Love…

Posting a few blogs I wrote but didn’t post here yet…there are a couple more below too from the past few days.

I love…

 

 

That look on your face that shows me you are happy to see me. Always.

 

Our list.

 

Loving you. You don’t take it for granted.

 

The porcelain hippo plate you found.

 

Knowing you’re not going anywhere, even if I don’t fully believe it yet.

 

Our inside jokes.

 

Your cooking.

 

Laughing with you about the very same things.

 

Thinking the same way at the same time. (Shorn)

 

Waking up warm with you next to me.

 

Looking forward to seeing you.

 

Being with you.

 

Your back. (And your front)

 

Your first text every morning.

 

Talking about all our plans.

 

When you tell me I am beautiful and special.

 

Telling you that you are also beautiful and special.

 

Those little quotes you send to me.

 

Our own special brand of hot, buttered corn.

 

Laughing when it makes everyone else think we are sappy.

 

And most of all, I love knowing that I have definitely found the love of my life, someone I truly do want to spend the rest of my life with. I knew this from the start and won’t let that slip from my grasp ever again.

1-17-08 More “Ausome-Ness”

My ex’s friend Angie wrote another blog directed at me. So I posted this. I don’t want to hear any criticism for stooping to their level either…I have the worst trouble allowing fools like this to continue their crap. That’s just how I am. And besides, I had fun making the corrections.

___________ 

I am the subject of someone’s blog - “AUSOME!!!!” It IS all about meeeee! I won’t comment much more except to correct the grammar and spelling (see below in red). Where did I find these people? Honestly!

Did I miss anything? Thanks Angie for making me your subject, LOL, you’re only making things worse for your buddy. I’m not the one going out of my way to dedicate entire babbling blogs to someone when it is not really your business in the first place.

So…I made my blog un-private again so the lovelies can read this. Don’t point fingers about me reading anything because if you didn’t read mine too, then some big, tough man-boy would not be running around crying like a baby. I haven’t said a damn thing that was not true and EVERYone knows this, even those of you who run around kissing his ass for reasons unknown. Please don’t try to match wits with me (or spelling or grammar or punctuation LOL) because it’s useless.

Hugs ‘n Kisses to all!!

FOR RACHEL

I SEE HOW YOU DELETE ALL THE PEOPLE THAT ARE FRIENDS WITH ALEX. THATS REALLY GAY AND IMATURE. YOU NEED TO FACE THE FACTS THAT NOT EVERYONE IS PLANNING THERE LIFE AROUND RACHEL. I KNOW YOUR BLOG HAPPY AND LOVE TO THRASH PEOPLE IN ALL YOUR BLOGS. BUT SOME PROPLE (what the f*ck is “PROPLE?!”) ARE NOT AS IMATURE AS YOU. YEAH MAYBE YOU HAVE YOUR OPION OF PEOPLE AND THAT YOUR BUISNESS. BUT YEAH GUESS WHAT, I AM IN THE OLD GROUP AGAIN. DOUSE THAT BOTHER YOU, I GUESS SO. SEE, I WAS BEFORE YOU AND IM GONNA BE AFTER YOU. HAHAHA. BECAUSE I DONT DOG PEOPLE OUT.(space missing) IM SORRY IT UPSETS YOU THAT I AM FRIENDS WITH ALEX AT(space missing) LEAST HE CALLS. YOU NEVER CALL ME ONLY TO BITCH (I never call only to bitch? Well do I call or don’t I? LOL). THE LAST TIME YOU CALLED ME WAS TO BITCH ABOUT FUZZY…. SOME FRIEND YOU ARE. SO I KNOW YOU WILL READ THIS SO THAT WHY I PUT IT INA BLOG beCAUSE WE ALL KNOW YOU DIG AROUND LOOKING FOR SHIT TO USE AGAINST ALEX. SO HERE YA GO. HAVE A NICE LIFE WITH YOUR IMATURE BABY GAMES!!!!