My 2009 ended with on a wonderful note – HCFG and I are engaged!!! We are very excited and are looking forward to our future life together.

And a fa la la la la to you too!

Look for HCFG and I on the Great Lawn, we’ll be the ones having a really good time!

Hope to see you there!

“So Lisa B, what have you been doing during your rather ahem lengthy blog hiatus?”

“Thanks for asking oh-curious-unnamed-blogger! I suddenly looked up and months had gone by. How in the world did THAT happen???”

Anyway, here are a few of the highlights:

HCFG and I celebrated our one year anniversary. I truly can’t believe it, it’s almost hard for me to remember when he wasn’t a part of my life. And yes, we are still nauseatingly, blissfully, shmoopily happy.

We went to San Francisco on business and took an extra couple of days to celebrate. Lots of fun, but what’s with those darn hills everywhere?! Quite aerobic, anyway. We saw a couple of friends, including the lovely Kailyn. One of the highlights was a special anniversary supper at Boulevard. Quite chichi and absolutely delicious. We hung out all over the place including: Chinatown, North Beach, Union Square and San Jose. We were also complete tourists and went to Alcatraz. HCFG had been many years before with his son, but it was my first time. It’s quite something, all those old crumbling walls, along with the “to die for” view of San Francisco. The audio tour by the former inmates, guards, and families who used to live there was fascinating, and made it very easy to visualize what it was like back in the day. Next time we’re going to go on the presumably spooky as hell night tour!

We now have 8 bottles of SF’s most affordable finest wines sitting on my table. I had almost forgotten how much I like California wines! At the rate we drink we will still be enjoying them in time for next year’s trip.

We also went to Texas to celebrate our dear friend John’s birthday party. HCFG met the rest of my family, not to mention many of the Tea crowd. Of course everyone loved him and several of the older ladies whispered to me, “He’s so handsome!” I thought I was going to have to arm wrestle one of them cause she was definitely on the prowl. MEOW. One of the funnier moments was when I noticed all of my family was inside the house while all of John’s family was outside. I whispered to my Mom that it felt like “West Side Story.” MEOW IN STEREO. Hey, it’s me, remember? You know snarky remarks happen on my blog!

What else? Well, I got an iPhone. Which I love more than you should love any inanimate object. Best. Toy. Ever. All hail the mighty Apple!!!

Alrighty then.

I’m feeling creative again so you will probably be seeing a whole lot more of me ’round these parts. Hope to see you as well!

HCFG and I will be munching on girl scout cookies, watching reality tv, reading ourselves blind, and quaffing hot toddies, all the while continuing to be nauseatingly shmoopie.

Oh and we’ll also concentrating on secret projects, so secret that if I told you I’d have to… never mind.

I’ll be back!

Lisa: “You asked me to hide them so they wouldn’t tempt you, remember?”

HCFG is speaking slowly and carefully: “Right, I did. But that was last week. Now I’m requesting a few cookies so will you please bring me a handful?”

Lisa: “No.”

HCFG is shocked: “No?”

Lisa says firmly: “That’s right, no.”

HCFG is increasingly agitated: “What do you mean NO?!”

Lisa: “We agreed you would only eat sweets with lunch. Now it’s bedtime and I’m respecting your request not to give you any cookies at night.”

HCFG sounds pitiful: “But… I want some!”

Lisa is having way too much fun with this: “Them’s the breaks, Cowboy. Life is hard sometimes.”

HCFG changes tactics: “Pleaseeee? I just know my wonderful girlfriend who takes such great care of me wouldn’t mind giving me a few cookies.”

Lisa smirks: “Not happening, sorry.”

HCFG grumbles: “It’s really annoying when you’re being all supportive of my weight loss efforts.”

Lisa: “I hear ya.”

We had to be extra-careful not to forget anything, since we’d be gone for 10 days. Surprisingly, the packing list included even more cold-weather gear than we usually needed in New York. The Pacific Northwest was still reeling from a snowstorm (their worst in 20 years) that had hit five days before. They weren’t equipped to deal with digging out from snow and ice – the county where HCFG’s parents live had only a handful of plow trucks. Although the Seattle airport itself was (barely) open, the roads everywhere were a complete mess.

Anyway, after about two hours of sleep (the car service picked us at 4:00 a.m.) we arrived bleary-eyed at La Guardia, cautiously optimistic that all was well. We were concerned, however, since it had snowed again the night before in Seattle, and because our former nonstop flight had changed into one with a connection through Cleveland.

We boarded the plane and sat on the runway. And sat some more. It ended up being two hours before we took off. HCFG remained relaxed while I sat there with smoke pouring out my ears. Keep in mind we had 55 minutes to make our connection. Cleveland Airport was apparently closed due to fog. I was freaking out, but HCFG stayed calm. He reassured me that the plane we were going to change to would probably be delayed getting into Cleveland by the very same fog, so it wouldn’t leave without us. Not content to leave well enough alone, he then lectured me about how much money the airlines lose when they strand people. You can just imagine how much I loved that conversation. I tapped my foot, gritted my teeth, and became even more stressed. HCFG went to sleep. Men!

Our plane finally took off for Cleveland and it was a smooth flight. The flight attendants couldn’t give us any information about our connection though so we had to ask when we deplaned. The perky agent said our connecting flight was leaving in 10 minutes. We were at Gate 5, our flight was at Gate 22. I thrust my very heavy carry-on bag at HCFG.

Lisa: “I’m going to run for it and see if we can make it. You gonna be ok?”

HCFG: “Go! I’ll be right behind you.”

I ran like OJ Simpson minus the bloody glove through the Cleveland airport. I was wearing a very heavy wool sweater, jeans and snow boots, so even without the carry-ons, I was still pretty out of breath as I reached the area. I got very near the gate and saw they were about to shut the doors.

My adrenaline was going like crazy, I felt like my heart is going to pound out of my chest.

Lisa: “Wait, please, we’re booked on that plane! Don’t leave! We’re here!

I ran up to the agent waving my boarding pass.

Flight Agent says reassuringly: “Don’t worry, you just made it. Is there someone else with you?”

Lisa: “My boyfriend is right behind me. His name is…”

HCFG: “I’m here!” He is weighed down with our carry-on bags, his computer and his heavy down coat.

Flight Agent: “You folks just made it. The pilot held the flight as long as he could waiting for all the connections. We’ve been on the ground for 50 minutes. Most of the other people aren’t going to make it. We are missing over 45 passengers.”

Lisa: “OMG, thank you so much!”

Flight Agent smiled at us both. “You two are lucky; we have to leave in about two minutes.”

We boarded the plane and collapsed in our seats. Only 3 other people got on behind us. Keep in mind about 40 people missed their connection. On Christmas Eve. The good news (for us anyway) is that we got to stretch out with an extra seat between us.

HCFG said smugly, “I told you we’d make it. See you were all worried for nothing.”

Lisa: “Oh please, you were as worried as I was. If either of us stopped for a minute to go to the bathroom like we wanted, we would have been stuck in Cleveland for Christmas.”

HCFG: “Nope, I knew it would all be fine.”

Luckily for HCFG I was too wiped out to tear him limb from limb but I certainly wanted to!

The rest of the flight was smooth and painless. We even made up the time we lost.

Stay tuned for Part 3, meeting the parents after a trip from hell with very little sleep.

(This post originally appeared on Kizmeet)

We get back home and I have a message from an unknown caller too. I call my voicemail and hear a computer generated voice.

“Hello, this is ruin-your-long-awaited-holiday-plans-airlines. We have just cancelled your flight. Please call this number as soon as possible to reschedule your travel.”

“Sh*t! Honey, our flight just got cancelled.”

“What? It’s two days after the storm, I didn’t think the snow was still that bad!”

“I’m calling the number they gave me right now… Wonderful! They say at least a 30 minute wait.”

As you can imagine we were less than thrilled. After 45 minutes on hold, someone picked up. HCFG handled it while I sat nearby. He travels a lot on business so he stayed very calm. After a fairly long discussion, our flight was rescheduled to leave 3 days later, on Christmas Eve. There was literally so much chaos due to the storm that that was the earliest we could get out. With very little choice, he booked the flight. He then had to call his family and give them the bad news we were not arriving the next day. They were disappointed but understood. Meanwhile I was on my cell phone, cancelling our ride to the airport, calling the pet sitter to tell her we were picking Ally back up tomorrow, and letting various people who needed to know that our plans had changed.

After we finished our phone calls we were exhausted. And numb. It was such a letdown. We had gotten everything accomplished and we were already in “vacation mode.” As much as we love New York, we were ready to get out of town. It was especially hard on HCFG since he hadn’t seen his family in a while, and was really looking forward to being with them. Not to mention introducing me! His parents had planned a big welcome for us into their home and now it was postponed.

We were drained. And quite bummed as well.

“You know what Honey? Let’s just play hooky the next few days until we leave. We both need a pick-me-up. Let’s go see some of the new movies, relax and do exactly what we want. I don’t want to work until we have to, ok?”

“That sounds perfect.”

So that’s what we did.

And yes, we finally got away. We almost missed our flight connection in scenic Cleveland but that’s another story!

(This post originally appeared on Kizmeet)

“Babe, look at that.”

“That is so beautiful.”

“It’s absolutely magical, I feel like it was created just for us.”

Several hours earlier…

My building is endowed with an over-efficient boiler. It’s only a few years old and really does its job. Translation? My building is always hot. Africa hot. We all complain about it, and there is absolutely nothing that can be done except turn the whole damn thing off. Which would be fine for my ilk, but all the little old ladies living here would have a fit. Trust me on that one. My radiators have been closed since I’ve lived here. Despite that, there is still a lot of heat rising from the floors below me, and my windows are always open in the winter. Ally da Pup sleeps next to the fan to cool off. HCFG who is warm-blooded (yummy!) has been known to ask that the air conditioning be turned on when it’s 30 degrees outside.

Tonight was another one of those nights. HCFG requested the air conditioner but I resisted. He opened the bedroom window instead. My apartment faces another building and everything was dark. We were half asleep when some lights came on.

My neighbor had turned on the lights on her Christmas tree. And there were no other lights anywhere. Her small tree was lined up just perfectly, to shine through her window and into ours, so it lit up our room like a magical fairy tale.

It was absolutely enchanting. What a gift to realize that such a small thing could bring so much pleasure.

Hope your holidays are just as special and bright!

Happy Hanukkah, Merry Christmas, and Kwanzaa greetings from Lisa B., HCFG, and Ally da Pup.

(This post originally appeared on Kizmeet)

That particular airline has a deal where you can request your travel companion gets upgraded when you do. It’s an all-or-nothing situation, either both of you get upgraded or neither of you do. HCFG told me about this, and then casually mentioned he had asked for us both to be bumped up to First Class on the ride back. I was thrilled!

You can guess what happened next…

He got upgraded and I didn’t.

The *#&^% Bastids!

HCFG received a “congratulations you have been upgraded” text message. Given his suspicious nature, he immediately called the airline and reminded them of his prior request. They said sorry but only he received the upgrade. Adding insult to injury, they added not only could they not upgrade me, but they couldn’t even give him his original seat back as it had already given away to one of the 85 people, (no exaggeration) traveling standby.

I was pissed that we weren’t going to be sitting together. HCFG felt terrible. Being the gracious guy that he is, he offered me his First Class seat. I have to admit I considered it. For a minute anyway, (a very long minute) those free drinks and extra legroom were really tempting! And then I remembered how HCFG spent a large part of the weekend helping my Mother set up her new computer. He transferred all her software, installed programs, showed her shortcuts, and debugged problems.

Sigh.

I bit the bullet and graciously sent him up front to the good seats. I even smiled at him when he brought me his warm nuts from First Class. I decided not to make a fuss because there was nothing we could do about it. Besides I scored MAJOR girlfriend brownie points.

And the best part of all? He’s gonna owe me big for this. For a long time. A VERY long time…

(This post originally appeared on Kizmeet)