My favorite time of year

The brisk cool air against my skin. The spicy warm sweetness of apple cider. The beauty of warm reds, oranges, yellows and browns that take over the trees. The football season is well under way. Those are just a few of the reasons why fall is my favorite season of the year.

Taking my love for the season into consideration, The Thinker and I took a drive down the GW Parkway earlier this month. The canopy of vibrant leaves covering the road was amazing.

Before making it too far down the Parkway, The Thinker was on a mission to add to the tourist sites visited in our own back yard. We stopped off at Teddy Roosevelt Island. This particular Saturday didn’t provide the best weather, so we didn’t thoroughly explore the island.

The Thinker even indulged me further by stopping at the scenic overlooks so I could snap a few pictures. The drive took us up to Bethesda to meet up with one of his friends for time then devoted to watching college football.

In short, it was the perfect way to spend a fall Saturday.

At least, it's clean

I know I promised to fill you in on life from the last couple of weeks. And I’m certain it would make more sense to do so chronologically. However, this is just too damn funny. Whenever, I think about it I start to laugh and undoubtedly I’ll start giggling as I type. Without further adieu...

Yesterday, Miss Virginia and I decided that we should probably take advantage of the Living Social Deal that LivitLuvit introduced us to. As I headed out the door to the 4:00 pm class, The Thinker was set on surprising me with his ability to assist around the house. Considering I’m quite particular, I limited the laundry assistance to towels and bedding, which he obliged.

After the last couple of weeks at work, yoga was the perfect plan for yesterday afternoon. Miss Virginia and I were able to catch up all while stretching and strengthening the body. As an aside, I recommend the 4 pm power yoga class at Vida at Gallery Place. I’m sore this morning, but don’t worry it’s a good sore.

Anyways, when I walked through the door last night, I heard sounds that were quite alarming given the plan The Thinker presented before I left. I was welcomed home by the sounds of water sloshing around and The Thinker huffing and puffing. I was almost certain that the washer was overflowing all over the closet and my beautiful shoes were ruined.

Before freaking out too much more, I hear The Thinker yelling, “I’m in here.” I walked into the bathroom to find him struggling with the soaking wet comforter. My only concern was “don’t get water all over the place.” Without paying it much more attention, I left to start dinner.

A few minutes later, The Thinker is walking through the living room buck naked and back to the bathroom. (Yes, I’m laughing now and struggling to type.) He explained that he was doing battle with a heavy beast and he didn’t want to be in dripping wet clothes that would add further dead weight.

Let me tell you this was a situation in which I could not leave well enough alone. I had to see this with my own eyes. I made my way into the bathroom to find that the soaking wet queen-sized comforter was resting in the bath tub. Not only did the washer not wring it out, it didn’t thoroughly rinse it. When I came home, he was in the rinsing phase. Lucky me, I got to witness the “spin” cycle.

I tried to assist suggesting he take one end and I the other so that we could twist until we met in the middle. It was too heavy and the bathtub just wasn’t large enough. Seeing him standing there completely naked trying to deal with this, I lost it. I was laughing so hard there were tears in my eyes.

Rather than waste more time, I left him to his own devices to only return a few minutes later. This time I found him laying on top of the comforter in the tub in an effort to squeeze more water out. I’m not sure how he managed to finish it, but the comforter is clean and dry.

As we were sitting on the couch watching Sunday Night Football, I warned him that I would be sharing this little story. I then explained that it would be even funnier, if I had video to share. His response, “I cannot unleash this [as he runs his hands from head to toe] on the world, especially if I’m nekkid.”

Can we touch base next week?

Don’t worry. I have not forgotten about you. Seriously, how could I when you are so amazing?

Work is taking up more time than I care for. Once my head is back above water, I’ll fill you in on all my stories starting next week. I mean…I need to share pictures from the little trip with The Thinker to admire the beautiful fall foliage along the GW Parkway, my birthday and all those other little details.

Chat with you soon!

Firsts

Last night, as I laid next to The Thinker with his hand enclosing mine, I was reminded of when we first started dating and having sleepovers. Despite it being in the middle of the winter, The Thinker would complain of being too hot and that he was going to roast if I cuddled up too close to him. As a compromise, he would reach over and grab my hand. We would then proceed to talk for hours about everything from our favorite childhood stories to our deepest secrets.

Now after being in cohabitating bliss for six months now, I’ve noticed those sweet little moments fade away. That you grow comfortable with that person. And even more simply, you fall into a daily routine where a good night’s sleep is essential.

Given my tendency to worry, I brought it up with The Thinker. “Are we done with all the firsts,” I asked. With a completely straight face, he looked at me and replied, “We still have to experience the first time I drop my pants in public.”

Once I managed to control the giggles, he pulled me close and calmed my nerves with a simple no. With my head nestled into his that special nook where his arm meets with his shoulder, I began to contemplate all of the firsts that remain. Right now, some might seem as monumental as the first kiss or the first night of sex. However, there will be firsts that neither of us shared with anyone else that will truly be “our” firsts. And with that, I drifted off to sleep.

Well, isn't that nice

It’s rare to have one positive experience with the DMV, but to have two in one year. Well, that’s just unheard of. And yet, I found myself quite pleased with the service of the DC DMV this morning. Perhaps, it was because I handled my entire transaction online rather than dealing with one of the angry women behind the counter onsite.

A few weeks ago I received an email notice from DMV reminding me to renew by driver’s license before it expires in November. I was even more surprised to see a follow-up reminder just last week. Seeing as the deadline is less than 2 weeks away and the new license will now be mailed to me, I figured I better just deal with it and cross it off the to-do list.

In less than 15 minutes I went through the entire online process and was sent an email confirming “Your driver's license was successfully renewed on 10/27/2009.”

Now how sweet is that? Unfortunately, I’ll have to actually make an appearance the next time I renew. At least that isn’t until November 2017…something about getting a current picture and an eye exam.

When I shared my good fortune with The Thinker via email, he did not quite share in the excitement. Instead, he replies with “Well isn't that nice. If you average our shared time at the DMV, we are still over 4 hours.”