things to do/done & two dilemmas...

What's new, what's new? Well last week and the week before were the weeks of birthdays, 8 birthdays in 9 days. We should have taken out stock in Hallmark.

Friday was my brother's, so we went up to my rent's place for that. Nice time, he loved his gift. Left around lunch time on Saturday and made great time home. Ended up in Media a half-hour before we needed to be to meet with the real estate agent. It's definitely a cute little town, and we enjoyed shopping at their big Trader Joe's, and looking thru their shops. (Stella, you would really like "Earth & State"... lots of fun earthy artsy house stuff.) Then headed to meet Jim, whos now, I suppose, our real estate agent. Nice guy, a little much at times... but nice. Showed us the houses we wanted to see... none of which we really liked... (either location wasn't good, or house wasn't good, or something). But at least we took that all important first step. And he helped us do a search in better areas, with hopefully better results. Ended up with a list of 11+ houses we would like to see, so hopefully will hear back from him soon on when we can actually meet to see them! Very exciting.

This weekend should be entertaining... Marti Gras party at my parents. My mom is thrilled to do this, she's been wanting to for years... so we will get lots of great food and drinks and entertainment. We all get to dress wild, and while my mom has banned my father from incouraging flashing for beads, there will be lots of beads to give out. Anyway, it should be a great time, as my parents friends are all a riot. Also, Trav and I finally have a set date for our trip to Arizona... we will be leaving the evening of the 19th, then returning on the 24th. I've never been to the west coast/ south west area (except for a three hour stop over in San Fran)... so I'm looking forward to the experience.

What else is new... hmm. Really house hunting and Arizona are the two biggies. Valentine's Day is just on the horizon, but won't include Trav's presents here... just in case. Looking forward (of course) to Ro's bridal shower. Currently working on her RSVP cards... which I must say are turning out pretty damn good. I'm impressed with myself. It's a bit time consuming, but hey, that's what a bridesmaid is there for. ;-) I got 6 done last night, and now that I know what I am doing, I can probably get another 10 done tonight. We shall see, we shall see.

On a completely unrelated side note, something that has been bothering me lately... Trav and I are living with Mike, a good friend from college. Mostly its been fine, but there have definitely been issues and problems, and since right before Christmas (some of you know that story), it has been a bit strained. In the overall, specific instances aside, not really anyone's fault... I think we just all came into this arrangement with slightly different ideas about what to expect. However, as Mike is seriously dating my former roommate and still good friend Megan, I have a concern. Whenever we get in a disagreement I have this feeling that he complains to her about us... she's never said anything to make me think this way, but it is just a feeling. Now I'm sure when Mike does something that bothers us he doesn't go and tell her, "we got in a fight today because i did this." No, I'm damn sure those times aren't mentioned. So now I'm concerned that it will end up (when we move in end of May, beginning of June) that maybe it will be hard for Trav and Mike to stay friends... and since Mike and Megan will most likely still be together, am I going to be losing Megan as a friend as well? Will she think that's I've changed, and that I'm some jerk for all that I've "done to" her boyfriend? We almost never see each other anymore, and the only time we talk on the phone is if I call. Perhaps the easy comradery that came from living together is already gone... but I have had hopes that it wasn't. Any thoughts?

Dilemma number two... I've been thinking about wedding stuff a lot (especially since working on Ro's stuff)... and I have come across a certain guest list issue. I have a friend from high school (Pal), whom I love and adore... who is dating another friend of mine (Buddy). Buddy has always been great, we would stay up late talking about the most random things and always have a good time together, but has recently been kind of weird. It's like Buddy has become so into Pal, that no one else deserves the time of day. Or if they do, its because Buddy needs them... but never the other way around. Well here is my dilemma: I had always thought that Pal would end up being in my wedding in some way... and originally had thought that Buddy would be as well. Except now I don't know if I want Buddy at my wedding, let alone in the wedding... and since Pal is always with Buddy, and we have been drifting apart because of it, I'm not sure that Pal should be in my party either. However I definitely want Pal to be AT my wedding. So what do I do? Ask Pal to be in the wedding party, but not invite Buddy; invite only Pal, knowing they might not come without Buddy; invite both and just deal with it; or invite neither and possibly end up losing both friends in the process?! I mean, obviously our guest list doesn't have to be finalized for a year or something, so I am really worrying about this way too early... anything could change in that time... but its just been bothering me lately, and I felt like I could use some imput.

Okay, well that is certainly enought blathering for today.