Love Stories

(Read from the beginning here, here, and here.)

“I’m not supposed to say anything to you, but Magic wants to ask you out.”
“What?!”
“Yeah, my brother asked me if you were dating anyone. I told him no and he said Magic is planning on asking you out.”
“Oh my gosh. Are you serious?”
“Yeah. He’s going to call you.”

I couldn’t wipe the smile off my face. I didn’t know Magic that well, but I was beyond excited for him to ask me out.

My phone rang. It was him. I looked at Kristi and said, “Oh my gosh, he’s calling me.” I darted upstairs to my room and nonchalantly answered the phone.

“Hello?”
“Hey, is this Whitney?”
“Yeah.”
“Hey it’s Magic.”
“Oh hey! How are you?”
“I’m good. I wanted to see if you had plans this Thursday.”
“Ummm no I don’t think so.”
“Cool. Do you like miniature golf?”
“No. Not really.”

facepalm

“Oh.”
“Oh. No. I mean. I’d love to go miniature golfing.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah. I’d love to go.”
“Ok. I have a softball game on Thursday at 6. If you want, you can come to that and then we’ll go miniature golfing afterwards.”
“Yeah that sounds great.”

Thursday rolled around and I headed to Magic's game with my friends. I watched his team win the intramural softball championship and congratulated him afterward. I was all set to hop in his car and get our first date started when he told me he was going home to shower and that he'd call me when he was leaving to pick me up.

I was a little embarrassed. I had come to his game all glammed up (well, appropriately glammed for a softball game and miniature golf) thinking we'd be leaving straight from his game to go on a date. The walk back to my apartment with my friends was a little awkward. I left my apartment with them not expecting to see them until after this date. Now I was walking back home with them feeling like the date was ruined before it had even started.

We stopped at a friend's apartment on the way home and Magic called me.

"Hey I'm heading to your place."
"Oh I'm not there."
"Oh. Do you still want to go miniature golfing."
"Umm ya. Just pick me up at my friend's apartment."

Something about not being at my apartment when he was coming to pick me up made me feel better. I could change things up on him just like he had changed things up on me. If our little date didn't go as planned I could easily make other plans. I had plenty of people who would want to see me on a Thursday night. I didn't need to go miniature golfing. 

I hopped in his car and we drove to Trafalga.

"So why don't you like miniature golf?"
"I don't know. I've just had some bad experiences."
"Bad experiences with miniature golf?"
"Well, I somehow end up going with people who take it way too seriously. And I'm kind of terrible at it so I always end up being the loser who needs ten strokes to get it in the hole."
"Haha well I won't take it too seriously."

We arrived and paid for our game. We played one round and decided to skip the last hole so we could play again. It was raining a little so there weren't many people playing on the course outside. We laughed and flirted. And he didn't take it too seriously at all.

"You know, my mom and dad's first date was miniature golf and she won."
"Are you saying I should let you win?"
"No, I was just pointing out a coincidence."
"Riiiiiiiiiight."

I did end up winning. Magic drove me home and walked me to my door. He said he had fun and that we should hang out again. Then he left.

I entered my apartment to find all of his friends hanging out with my roommates. I stopped, smiled, and promptly ran upstairs.

Snow

"Blake! Come look outside! What do you see?"
(gasp) "It's snowing!"
"Should we go play in it after Trevor wakes up?"
"Sure!"

Sidewalk snow angel. That's right. He's sporting snow bibs with less than an inch of snow on the ground.

Trevor getting in on the action (while strapped to my chest and covered with a blanket).

I know you're dying to know where I got my outfit. Here ya go:
Beanie: gift from brother-in-law's wife
Coat: this is Evan's coat...from our closet
large brown mass coming out of top of coat: Trevor wrapped in a blanket

I know I look absolutely ridiculous. And if I didn't know that, the people who stared at me as they passed us on the sidewalk sure confirmed it. In my defense, Evan's coat is the only one I can wear that will zip around Trevor. And, frankly, I'm not trying to look decent when I take my children outside for 15 minutes to play in the snow.

Love Stories

(Read how it started here and here.)

The week leading up to “The BBQ” was one filled with excitement and anticipation. I had to continually remind myself that Magic, you’ll recall I still didn’t know his real name, may not even like me. I did think it highly unlikely that Magic or Jex didn’t like at least one of my roommates. Prior experience would have me believe that I was not the roommate that was being sought after. But I let myself indulge the idea that Magic might be interested in little ol’ me.

Saturday finally arrived and I spent most of the day pretending to study, but really daydreaming
about how the evening would go. After a quick trip to the store we returned to our apartment to have our roommate tell us our toilet had backed up into our shower. 3 girls and no shower. We frantically called some girls in our ward to ask if we could use their shower. When they obliged, we all gathered the things we needed and ran 2 blocks to their house.

We finished getting ready at our apartment and the doorbell rang. Magic and Jex had arrived, ready to bbq. We headed to the courtyard at our small apartment complex and started cooking. Music was playing, conversations were flowing. We were all having a good time.

This song came on the radio and Magic asked, “Who sings this song?” I still couldn’t really tell if Magic was interested in me. He seemed to be talking to my friends and Jex as much as he was talking to me. I knew who sang that song. I piped up and without trying to seem too eager said, “Everlast.” He was impressed.

Truth be told, I wasn’t 100% sure that Everlast sang that song. It was between the band Everclear and Everlast. I just happened to blurt out the right answer. Looking back I think he would’ve been just as impressed with me if I had answered incorrectly. He was already interested in asking me out. I just didn’t know it yet.

unexpected inspiration

Preface: As I was looking through my drafts that have never been published, I found this little gem. It was written in September of 2011. I'm not sure why I never published it. 

It was the best of times. It was the worst of times. It was somewhere in the middle.

I feel like over the past few months I've been experiencing something in the middle of life's ups and downs. Most days are good. Some days are bad. Today was half good, half bad.

This morning I took Blake to a park we don't usually go to. It's usually crowded so I prefer another park. With all the rain we've been having I was hoping there wouldn't be a ton of kids around. And I was right. It was a wonderful hour spent at the park. Blake ran through puddles, went down a few slides, and I threw away all the trash he picked up and handed to me. All with the Manhattan skyline in the background. As I looked at our beautiful backdrop I thought, "See, I don't hate everything about this place. What a unique experience I get to have right now. I never would have imagined that I would be playing at a park with my 1 year old son with Manhattan in the background."

source

I thought maybe I was rising out of this slump I've been feeling lately. The sun was shining for the first time in days. The cool breeze felt nice as I watched Blake play. 

Fast forward to this afternoon.

After making a trip to Costco, and let's be honest, that right there can ruin a perfectly good day, I was still in need of one ingredient: poppy seeds. Apparently New York doesn't believe in poppy seeds. Against my better judgment but out of desire to provide a great lunch for the women that make my life easier on Sundays, I decided that I'd walk a few blocks from Costco to see if any smaller supermarkets carried them. 2 stores and 19 blocks later, still no poppy seeds. And that's where my good day turned bad.

I know it seems so ridiculous. How could a little thing like poppy seeds ruin a perfectly good day? Well it's not just the poppy seeds. It's the fact that I feel like life in Brooklyn is so much harder than I'm used to. Nothing is ever simple. Everything has to be difficult to do. And time consuming. 

When we got home, I slammed the door and broke down. I stood there sweaty from huffin' it 19 blocks with tears streaming down my face. Blake just stared at me. I held out his sippy cup and said, "I'm sorry. I just hate this place. Everything is just so hard." He took his sippy cup and ran off to play. I drank a glass of water and composed myself. 

Fast forward to tonight. 

A few friends posted this article on facebook. I was intrigued because it was written by this guy, and I thought, "I'd like to read what he thinks about 9/11 and the years after." As I read, this brief sentence hit me like a ton of bricks, "But we are forgetful." And the flood gates opened. 

Why has it been so easy to forget all the wonderful things I have been blessed with and only focus on the difficult, trying times in my life? Why has it been so easy to forget my commitment to God and just go through the motions? When did that become who I am?

The article goes on to talk about our commitment to God. And his commitment to us. His unfailing commitment to us. As I continued reading I had a very clear image in my mind of how my Father in Heaven sees me:

I confidently choose a path and embark only to meet a few stumbling blocks. Maybe I fall off that path as my commitment to Him wanes. I trip and stumble and stop to sit on a rock and wonder, "Why me? Why do things have to be so hard for me?" All the while my Heavenly Father is there, watching over me. And He thinks, "Nope, not that way. That's not the way you need to go. But I'll let you go that way because I know you're trying. And you're forgetful. But when you remember, you'll dust yourself off and get back to where you need to be."

So in the midst of reading this article, an article meant to be about spirituality after 9/11 and how ten years later many have forgotten how they turned to God in those difficult times, I realized something not related to September 11th at all.

I have forgotten how good my life really is. How blessed I am to have the things that I have. And how without commitment, going through the motions is just a waste of time.

And while this realization doesn't make me want to run into the streets and profess my love for NYC or make day to day life here any easier, it does allow me to step back for a moment and just take it all in. These "afflictions shall be but a small moment."  So I should probably stop letting them feel bigger than they really are. 

Now if only I could find some poppy seeds...

Christmas in Pictures

This Christmas was by far the most fun because of Blake's age. And he had so much attention, he didn't know what to do with himself!

"Chritmas" morning

Reading the note Santa left.

Presents galore!

Uncle Jordan setting up the train track

Trevor and Papa

Squints

Post-Christmas day fun

A boy and his Papa.

The cutest little tricycle...

He closed his eyes whenever he started picking up speed!

Taking a break to be a male model.

It was back-breaking work to push that kid. So I heard.

Best and Worst of 2012

Lindsay gave me this idea when she posted her best and worst of 2012. And because imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, I'm doing one of my own.

Worst:
1. My rather rough pregnancy with Trevor. I didn't really blog much about it because I don't really want to remember it right now.
2. My hospital stay after delivering Trevor. I tried to recount my experiences. Those posts still don't do it justice.
3. Jerk-face old neighbor. So glad to be done with him.
4. Blake getting hand, foot, and mouth disease.

Best:
1. Having pretty much the easiest time ever potty training Blake. The only thing that would've made it better was if he trained himself. (This is not me gloating. I know 98% of our success is because he was excited to be out of diapers.)
2. Evan getting 2 promotions. He works hard for the money!
3. Having baby #2. If there's a second baby to have, it is definitely Trevor. He is incredibly agreeable and lets me sleep most nights.
4. A speedy c-section recovery. 
5. Blake's first time trick-or-treating.
6. Spending Christmas with my family. It gets harder to leave them each time we visit!
7. Seeing Wicked with Evan's family.
8. Going to fashion week. (Mostly because now I can say I've been.)
9. Conversations with Blake and his budding vocabulary.
10. The baby shower to end all baby showers.

2012 seemed like a rough year until I made this list. Overall it looks like it was a pretty good one. I wouldn't mind 2013 being even better!