The One Where Kelly Spills the Beans

Note: See the exciting new Washington National Cathedral pictures, added a mere 7 hours after the original post!

Thanks to everyone for the birthday wishes! I know 29 isn’t old, really, it’s just when I think about where I envisioned I would be by now, it definitely wasn’t doing data entry temp work while waiting for Bar results. Whoa. Yeah, that’s weird to just put it right there in black and white. I can honestly say I never thought I’d be awaiting Bar results up until about 5 years ago when I took the LSAT because a JD seemed more practical than a PhD. Life is funny.

I worked a half day yesterday and had the afternoon off. On Friday the woman supervising me asked if I had any weekend plans. I told her a friend was coming into town for my birthday on Monday. She asked if I wanted to leave early or anything and I decided to take her up on it.

So about that friend who came to visit… I’ve decided to share something with you all that I’ve been kind of keeping under wraps, at least here on my blog. Several of you who I know in a non-blog context already know this. The thing is, I’m dating someone (thus the lack of “dating in the Mormon world” tirades over the past couple of months. Well, the boy is one reason, but also because I haven’t actually been to the singles ward here yet. Maybe I’d have some observational tirades on behalf on my fellow single LDS women if I went and made some friends. Friends who didn't date and/or had very awful experiences with the boys in the singles ward.)

The other thing is, the boy is in Boston. We met right before I moved (and I do mean RIGHT before). And thus you all learn why I’ve been mulling over the idea of moving back to Boston at some point and contacting the people I know there about job possibilities. For various reasons, it would probably be more feasible for me to move back there than for him to move here, you know, if we did decide to go through with a whole merger thing.

I’ve got a few reasons for bringing this all up now. For one, I’m generally feeling more secure in the relationship at this point. Granted, we haven’t known each other very long (7 ½ weeks), but it feels a lot longer than that. Yes, it’s apparently one of those crazy fast Mormon things.

Second, there are two major things going on in my life right now: the job search and this relationship. By leaving out the boy, I exclude you all from half of what occupies my mind. And I’m nothing if not honest – embarrassingly so at times – with you, my readers. Plus, the blog will probably get really boring and full of allusions to “friends” who I talk to every night on the phone and “friends” who I visit and who visit me. It’s just kind of silly.

Third, I had a really nice birthday and he was a big part of that and I wanted to tell you about it.

He came to visit this weekend. We were planning on going apple picking on Saturday but it rained determinedly all day long. I had plans for an apple-infused feast for Sunday night from my fall issue of Cooking Light from last year, so I was disappointed. However, we went to the grocery store and since it is apple season after all, they had cider and really yummy McIntosh apples so I went forward with the apple plans. We rented a couple of movies and just hung out and I prepped the brine for the cider-roasted chicken (Yum! I also made apple-cranberry cobbler and sweet potato fries).

Sunday we went to church and then went to a concert at Washington National Cathedral. As promised earlier, pictures:



The view of the Cathedral from The Bishop's Garden, a lovely English-style garden with stone paths through it.















A gazebo in The Bishop's Garden.


















The altar (I discovered it's really hard to replicate the majesty, even with my nice little camera. You all should go to the Cathedral and see it for yourselves).










Are they still flying buttresses if they're buttressing on the inside?












The Rose Window. I really think the Mormons need to put more thought into the extensive use of stained glass.

The boy and I discussed this on Sunday, but I've decided that we Mormons can be a little hypocritical. See, sometimes we get all up on our high horses about how we're not into iconography, we don't worship saints, we don't have graven or other images. But let's be honest. I could catch a little flack for this, but after the Joseph Smith Operetta at Conference a week ago, and the extensive singing of "Praise to the Man" that's been going on, I believe we've just about heightened Joseph Smith to the level of a saint. We don't pray to him, of course, and I do think he should be praised for his work. However, if we're going to focus so much of our worship on discussing the deeds and works of a man, then I don't think there's any call to begrudge the Catholics and Episcopals their saints. And we have pictures of Christ, the prophets, and the apostles all over our church buildings. Those are just my thoughts.

Yesterday, I worked the half day and then we went to The Cheesecake Factory. Surprisingly, I didn't get cheesecake, but the Black-Out Cake, half of which is still in my fridge. Afterwards, we walked around the shops, most notably Williams-Sonoma whose scents of pumpkin bread and spiced cider samples drew us in. I know I’ve said it before, but Autumn is my absolute favorite time of the year. I want all the cutesy pie Autumn things.

Then we went back to my apartment and I got presents and TOTALLY cleaned up. Here’s what he got me:

2 dozen roses
Printer (he got me that a few weeks ago because mine died just as I was needing one to print out resumes and references)
Really cute Halloween candle holder with an apple-scented candle (along with a pack of candle lighters. You know, the push button flame thrower things. Last time he was here I burnt my finger trying to light a really low candle, so he thought I needed them. These are some serious candle lighters that make a “Whoosh!” sound. I think I could caramelize some crème brulee with these suckers)
Russell Stovers dark chocolate assortment (because in my mind dark chocolate is really the only chocolate)
KitchenAid mini food processor (which matches the red stand mixer I’ve always wanted)
Sleeping bag (which I’ve been wanting for about 5 years in general, and could have used twice in the last couple of months in particular)
And, the piece de resistance, a Tivo box! It’s not actually a Tivo, but it does the same thing, it just doesn’t make the popping noise. Welcome to 2005, Kelly!

And then, you know, he’s just really sweet to me, so that’s good too. Seriously with the printer and him flying to see me, I didn’t really need anything else at all.

His birthday is coming up here pretty soon and while I have a couple of things for him, I’m feeling like I should really put a lot more thought into this and come up with some big extravaganza. I know it’s not about that, of course, but he made me feel so special and spoiled. That’s pretty nice and I want him to feel that way too.

So the gist is, I'm dating someone and he makes me have what Santa Cruz Jenn and I used to call DSS (Dorky Smile Syndrome). I'll try not to let it all drag my blog down into uninteresting sap.