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This past Saturday David, the family, and myself went to Hershey Park. I’ve not been there in ages, probably six or so years, so it was kind of exciting in that weird “ooh, what has changed” sort of way.

I really like roller coasters, sort of one of those realizations that comes when least expected. I suppose I’ve been without that sort of g-force thrill for so long I’d totally forgotten how exiting and fun it can actually be. It turns out though that my dear boyfriend doesn’t particularly share that same level of excitement. He avoids, passionately, coasters made of metal and especially those with inversions — my favorite kinds, btw.

When we first arrived we spent a little time with the children’s rides so that my niece could get a little excitement. She’s just so tiny, being merely a year old, it’s pretty much impossible for her to ride anything just yet.

After that short period of time we came upon the “super duper looper” …a ride I’d always been so very fearful of, well… when it was the only coaster in the park that went upside down. It’s horribly lame now though, lol — well, not exactly, I’m still too terrified to scream on that initial drop. When we were deciding just who was going to ride that one is also when I learned of David’s coasterphobia.

I did manage to get him onto both the Wildcat and the Lightning Racer, which btw is a sham, lightning ALWAYS wins, poor thunder. I have come to learn that just those two wooden coasters should be viewed as quite the achivement. I have though decided to make it my life’s (roller coaster relating to him) work to get him onto the Great Bear, my goodness that thing is fun!

I believe we really hit the height of domesticity in regards to stepfordfagdom. It was later on in the day, we went to the zoo with my mother and niece, so it was the woman sort of wandering around off ahead of us, with the two of us pushing the baby occupying perambulator and showing the niece the little and big animals.

If that wasn’t enough, when the entire family was in line for the ferris wheel, we were immediately behind another group of people with a little boy. Of course, I was holding the baby, right next to the boyfriend, so it was clearly obvious to anyone looking that she was ours (haha), it was very amusing, particularly was that baby boy was trying the baby version of hitting on Mady. She would have none of that of course. ;)

Round out the day with my oh-so-romantic comment while the two of us were riding the skyview, about how we’re held up by just a little steel wire, and that if it would break we’d plummet to our deaths… it was a lovely day, repleat with funnel cakes, rootbeer floats, and iced chai beverages.

Seryozha came up this evening and we decorated our/the lounge’s ‘Charlie Brown’ tree, which was amusing and enjoyable. I really didn’t think that I’d need more than nine feet of this ribbon stuff, but, uhm, I needed more like thirty feet I think… d’oh. Like I said, I think it looks better in person, but really, it fits very well with the sort of ‘over the top’ room decor overall. The important thing is that we both like how it looks, right? ;)

We started out the evening with trip up to the smoke shoppe and getting some pizza. Following that with some SoCo & Gingerale, then some sherry & dark chocolate, and then we shared a hard cider while smoking a clove… finishing up with a Hennesy Sidecar each. It was rather an evening of indulgence in all the little things that we both very much enjoy; somewhat of a decompressing for the frenentic rush toward Christmas.

This morning, after coffee and showering, and all the other usual morning activities we set off on the frenetic shop-a-thon. We hit Bed Bath & Beyond in two cities, Circuit City, Walmart (oh, god… scary), Crate & Barrel, Pottery Barn, Williams Sonoma, Le Gourmet Chef, Kitchen Collection, Target in two states, Ikea (of course, hah), Carter’s, Harry & David, and the Fossil store. Yeah… in one day. That puts us visiting three states, btw. It also means the usage of five distinct interstate highways, one of which is toll, and three major routes, lol, lest we forget the Washington, D.C. beltway!

I followed that up with a little online shopping and now I’m finished with holiday mayhem! Well, not exactly finished, but pretty much everything else at this point is random and locally attainable.

I am utterly exhausted. Oh, and sorry Matthew, I didn’t go into Barney’s, Kenneth Cole, or Saks; maybe next time. ;)

I wrote in September about my little obsession with having a romantic dinner, one where I’d be cooking and otherwise hosting dinner for someone that I… right.

The other night this dream, if you will, came true. I never imagined I’d be making him dinner, particularly in that sort of setting, but in retrospect I cannot think of anyone I’d rather have done that for; someone that in a sense would deserve it, and more importantly someone that would appreciate it. The goal wasn’t to be snobishly impressive, but to do something elaborate and thoughtful. I achieved that.

He has cooked for me before, though not individually, so I did have a fairly good grasp of the sorts of flavors that he likes, but still, it was a bit of a learning experience and I did approach it with trepidation on certain aspects. I think, if anything, him appreciating that I took the time to come up with something I was fairly certain he’d like, in addition to the appreciation of ‘holding back’ in certain areas because of my uncertainty, is more satisfying in the ‘I did this right’ respect.

I suppose I’d been preparing for the last year for this, though I wasn’t able to put a point onto it until I’d met that stupid boy from near Baltimore at the end of summer. I know now, also, that my desire to obtain quality items in terms of both function and appearance while I can, versus when I absolutely need them, has been a very good course of action. I have a quality set of cookware, a quality set of flatware, and a quality set of china… granted the china is from IKEA, but it’s all about the price versus quality ratio, and while it isn’t “fine china” by any means, it isn’t stoneware, nor is it earthenware, it is procelain and it is white.

I took a certain level of pride in the fact that nearly everything used in preparation and during the meal was owned by me, with the exception of major kitchen appliances that are part of the house, of course. I also used a ‘family’ pyrex dish for roasting the potatoes, but I quickly remedied my lack of pyrex on Friday, yes, braving the holiday rush.

Overall, the experience was amazing. It’s the classic good food, good conversation, good company, but elevated even more, such that I can say excellent all around.