Nini's Visit & Kim's Apartment

Sunday we went to Ni's BBQ & then I went to Kim's to see her pad. Nini's party was nice; like any Asian get together we were asked to eat every 15 minutes, but it was nice to see her and meet her new beau. His name is Thai and he's actually nice. If I seem surprised in any way it's because the guys that Ni has dated in the past haven't exactly been the kind you'd bring home to mama. Clearly this guy is literally good enough to bring home to show off to her family. I'm happy for her though, he seems like the kind of person who really wants to make her happy and seems very genuine. Given the many late nights that she and I spent in college lamenting about our inability to find anyone to like us let alone date us I'm proud that everything came together in the end.

My fiance had a man-date (say it with me fast...mandate!) with some pals to play WoW so I sent him off with Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies in tow for him and the boys to snack on. I had baked earlier that morning so I'd rather share than try and convince Trevor to single-handedly eat a dozen cookies. I hate staying at home alone so I hung out with Kim. I was supposed to take a tour of her apartment but she was half starved so we went to Carabbas (Ryan's restaurant) for a bite to eat.

I was sooooo full after Nini constantly prodding me to eat something all day I couldn't imagine actually eating dinner, so I had ice cream. And Ryan asked for them to give me some cake too. Since he's manager it's within his ability to boss around waitstaff. The cake was okay; coolwhip and yellow cake isn't going to knock anyone's socks off, but it was good to balance out the vanilla ice cream. I don't think dessert should be too heavy if you've already polished off the main meal. I had the tiramisu when Kim brought us some leftovers to try, but it was missing something for me. I think it needed some more sweetness. It was really really creamy, but it was like eating just whipped cream. It's good, but it just didn't hit the spot.

The problem with being an avid chef is that sometimes your expectation of food is higher than you intend for it to be. Not every meal has to be a culinary masterpiece to be good. Sometimes I feel like a food snob, and my penchance for watching the Food Network all the time certainly doesn't help. I think this is only exacerbated by the fact that I eat like a bird all week long and then when the weekends hit I feel like every calorie I consume better be worth it. lol

I should really get back to the gym. I've let it slip ever since Trevor got back into WoW, but I should really be more motivated to go on my own. My ankle hasn't been acting up the way it used to when I would skip going to the gym. Kind of like my own little built in alarm clock, it told me when I needed to get moving. I think it might actually have healed from the Mechanical Bull incident of February 2007.

So anyway, after dinner with Kim, Ryan and Ryan's sister Dawn we split off. Ryan still had to work and Dawn was tired. So Kim and I went grocery shopping at like...9:30 p.m. The store closes at 10 so we are hauling ass trying to fill up her cart. This is no mean feat since I decided to wear my 5" Guess? shoes and I was trying not to topple over. But we did completely fill Kim's cart and get out in about 20 minutes. I'm sure the other patrons thought we were big weirdos, but we had fun and were giggling the whole time.

I helped Kim put away her groceries. I mostly just took my best guess at where the groceries would most reasonably be placed as Kim had a smoke break. Yeah, for those of you not in the know Kim's fallen off the proverbial smoking wagon. It's kind of sad for me because every one of her new friends are smokers so I'm left in a giant cloud of eye-itching stinky smoke but I'm not her mother. If she wants to smoke it's her prerogative and I refuse to treat her like a little kid. I wouldn't even really mind the smoke so much if it didn't make my eyes go bonkers. I hate driving after hanging out with smokers; I feel like I'm going to inadvertently cause an accident.

Kim's apartment in E. Windsor is nice. It's a pretty generously sized 2 bedroom apartment but considering that both she and Ryan came from homes they're both bringing a ton of stuff with them. Right now everything fits fine, but I'm left slightly confused at how they'll fit Kim's computer desk, Mary Kay inventory and eventually a sleighbed-frame in there. Eh, it's their apartment. I'm sure they'll figure it out. The living room is still very sparse so furniture may find its way out in the common space. If I could fit practically my whole life in a dorm room, well half a dorm room since Emily needed space too, I'm sure Kim will find a way.

She intends to throw a housewarming eventually once her, Ryan and Anya all have a free evening. Considering each of them is a workaholic it may be some time before that eventually comes to fruition. I think between the three of them they have like 6 or 7 jobs. I worked 2 jobs at one time once in my life, and I was really burned out. I can't imagine working as much as they do.

In unfortunate news, Kim's given up her cat now that she's moved into this new place. Kim's former cat, Salem has the kitty equivalent of irritable bowel syndrome. Kim didn't want him to inadvertently poop his pungent kitty innards out on the wall-to-wall carpeting (a truly graphic description...I know) so she decided to give him back to the humane society so they could place him in a home better suited to his medical needs. She actually tried to pawn him off on friends or willing family members first, but no one we know is really in a good place for pets/already has pets/hates cats. Salem is a sweetie, so I'm ultimately sad Kim couldn't place him in a loving home but considering the pace of her life and juggling 3 jobs right now it's probably all for the best that he have a family that can give him more time and love. She actually asked if I wanted to take him, but considering Trevor's unusual hatred of cats I feel as though Salem is much better off at a shelter.

Plus considering my overall issues with allergies I don't know if it's a good idea to add a small furry pet into the mix. I'd probably make poor Trevor vacuum everyday.

It's sad...summer's coming to it's end. I like it much better when it's cool outside, though I guess it's just that feeling like when you're a little kid and you realize it's time for school again and you get the slightest twinge of sadness even though you're happy to be able to see all your friends and you have so much more to do. I'm a nerd...I admit that I really liked school. I know that when you're in school it's cool to be a rebel and say you hate it, but I'm actually so lame that I liked school. I liked it so much I had perfect attendance 3 out of my 4 years of high school. The only reason I missed school that one time was because I was on a college tour and got a headcold because the tour was rained out and we were sloshing around campus for a whole day. So really, I missed school because of my pursuit for more schooling. The lameness knows no bounds!