Packs(es) and relaxes

For those wondering just what's up... Well, I'm on vacation.

It's not exactly vacation in the sense of "Oh, look, another Diarii!"

But it was a week off from work. It was actually supposed to be the week I took off to move Marisa in, but it ended up being the week we started packing to move out.

After all, I've now completed what I've lovingly dubbed the, pardon my French, "What the fuck was I thinking???" hat trick:

• I got promoted. Added job stress.
• I (we) got engaged. Added wedding-planning stress.
• I (we) bought a house. Added moving/selling stress.

So never fear, I've got some posts in mind to entertain and delight. But I haven't had time to write them, yet. Don't feel bad; I completely blew off my Weight Watchers tracking this week, too. And it shows.

Meanwhile, a brief summary of where I've been since I last left work on Friday the 6th:

Saturday: Packed and cleaned and stuff to get ready for the first open house at my (current) home. Toted boxes up and down two flights of stairs all day. Fun for all. We did cap the evening with a return trip to Makeda, the Ethiopian restaurant where we had our first date. It was our first time back in a while, but the food was as great as ever.

Sunday: Spent the day with M's family - partly to get out of the house for said open house - partly because it was just a nice family event, capped by a nice dinner with M, her Mom & Dad, her Grandma, her brother and his wife, and her sister and her boyfriend.

Monday: Went to the American Museum of Natural History in New York, one of my favorite places, to see the special exhibits on frogs (yay!) and mythical creatures (yay!) plus my favorites like the dinosaurs (yay!) and the Hall of Ocean Life (double-yay!). Then we went to Candle Cafe, this vegan restaurant my co-workers Ally and Rob told me about. M loved it and I found the food to be incredibly delicious, too. Then we capped off the evening by watching "Night at the Museum."Much better than I thought it would be, I must say. Call it a 3.5 out of 5.

Tuesday: Tuesday involved canceling my cleaning service and getting an estimate from the movers I've used twice before. Then it was off to meet M for some lunch and to do some registering (at Fortunoff, if you're curious; we're also registered at Williams-Sonoma and Bed Bath & Beyond if you're curious or want to send gifts in exchange for a Mookie J. Monkey endorsement of your product). We fought over the registering, as usual, but made up, of course. More overzealous scanning might be too blame. Then we met with our photographer, a very cool dude. Then we had dinner (Indian) with M's friend Dave, a fellow horror movie fan, not to be confused with my friend Dave, a fellow Flyers fan.

Wednesday: Wednesday began with Norton getting sick. That was fun. Poor doggie had it coming out both ends, so we spent most of the day home, doing stuff around the house and minding him (and dodging Realtors, who of course picked sick-dog day to flock to the house). Then at night, we went down to the Electric Factory in Philadelphia for a concert by Travis, a rocking Scottish band I've mentioned before. The concert was great - the downside was, the Electric Factory is general admission, and I was having flashbacks to a Neville Bros. concert I saw down in New Orleans right after I hurt my left calf, where I literally couldn't stand any longer and had to leave. Calf still hurts, so my honey was sweet enough to let us go upstairs to the spot where we (read: "I") could sit at the bar, rather than standing through the whole show down on the main floor. Of course, Travis came in by running through the crowd on the main floor, so I felt guilty as hell for a while, but she was really sweet about it and then got caught up in the show, which absolutely rocked. I think we're now leaning towards Travis' one song for our wedding song.

Thursday: We had our day at the museum, my fun thing for the week, and this was our day down the Shore, her fun thing. M got a terrific sunburn on the beach, then we went to the Jenkinson's Boardwalk at Point Pleasant, where we ate so much I got sick and we converted my (our) fine Skee-Ball skills into a sizable, smelly (er... sweet-smelling?) candle. Meanwhile, the dog was getting better, so that was good news. Plus, I stayed up late to watch the first three episodes of "Burn Notice," which I'm really digging.

Friday: Today, we spent part of the day at the Somerville Center Antiques, which was M's idea, and my trade for seeing the "Transformers" movie later. Of course, I bought more stuff than her, but that's not my fault. One guy had a dozen media guides amid the assorted candlesticks/plates/used crap. At $5 each or less! An absolute steal! And the dog seems to be all better, too. Wins all around. Speaking of media guides, time to get packing some more boxes...

Still to come: Saturday should be spent playing Dungeons & Dragons with my buds, and then watching the Arturo Gatti-Alfonso Gomez fight. Sunday is my Mom's birthday, so we're going to (hopefully) drop some boxes by my buddy Dave's house - my basement's just about full - and then head off to Skytop Lodge to spend the day with my folks and some friends.

So, yes, moving sucks, but we've tried to make it a week to both get things done and enjoy a little downtime together. I think we're succeeding so far.

As they say in the business, further bulletins as events warrant.