life

I probably should talk about Valentine's Day.

It was lovely. Best Valentine's Day ever, though I think the fact this was the first Valentine's I ever had a date contributed to that. When Stephan came to pick me up, he brought me a rose and a nice card. I gave him his present: a framed picture of me. In the card I said that my gift was so he could see me everyday, since we only get to see each other on weekends at the moment. Remember, he lives in Pleasant Grove and I live in Provo. We also go

We went back to his house. His family had gone out for dinner and a movie. Don't worry, they knew I was coming over. He had made dinner for me--chicken parmesan, pasta, salad, and some garlic bread. He also made lemonade (and I do mean made!). There were roses on the table *smiles*. He also had my surprise for me. It was in a little velvet pouch of sorts. I opened it and it was a purple pen that he had MADE. Yes folks, Stephan made a pen for me. I should take a picture of it. The outside is purple (my favorite color). We ate dinner and then watched "You've Got Mail". It was his idea to watch it, not mine. I had never seen it before. He thinks the movie is appropriate for our relationship in some respects, mostly because we e-mail each other frequently. However, we actually know each other, unlike the characters in the movie. The movie was pretty good; the company was even better :)

Then his family came home. He and I had some sherbet for dessert. Then he took me home.

A good Valentine's Day indeed.

Oh yeah, Stephan's mom has become a fan of my blog. I saw it under her favorites on her computer *laughs*. Well, his family is friends with me on facebook. They seem to REALLY like me. Fancy that (ha ha).

8 things (Jacey tagged me)

8 Favorite TV Shows

• What Not to Wear
  
• Frasier
• Music and the Spoken Word
  
• CES Firesides
• Can't think of anymore...
  

8 Things I'm looking forward to

• Getting Married! (I am *not* announcing anything)
  
• Graduating in less than six months
  
• Seeing Stephan
  
• Having a clean room (work on it today!)
  
• Scott getting his mission call (he's starting his mission papers)
  
• Having babies (someday)
  
• Possibly going to the Draper Temple open house (if Stephan can get tickets)
  
• Being done with midterms.
  

8 Favorite Places to Eat

• Yapon (an amazing Japanese restaurant Stephan took me to on our third date)
  
• Don Carlos (amazing Mexican food restaurant in Houston)
  
• India's (Indian buffet, yum)
  
• Scoreboard Grill
  
• L&T
  
• SubZero (what could be better than custom made ice cream made right in front of you?)
  
• I suppose I should say Maddox
  
• Home. My mom's a great cook.
  

8 Things on my Wishlist

• See Stephan
  
• More time
  
• A car
  
• An editing internship (or even an editing job this summer)
  
• A guaranteed job when I graduate
  
• to find the USB cord for my camera
• No more snow (for more reasons than one)
  
• Warmer weather, so Stephan can ride his scooter again and come see me
  

8 People I Tag:

• Mom (on your facebook)
  
• Anika
• Emily
• Kristi
• Camille
• Rachel
• Shirley
  

what's going on

I haven't written in a few weeks it seems...whoops.

If you are still wondering, we are still dating, and it is going well. I brought him to a family gathering last night, and he made a favorable impression on the Slack relatives who were present. It's amazing because he was feeling pretty sick last night and he still made a good impression. We left when he started feeling really bad. He ended up calling his parents so they could come help him drive the car back to Pleasant Grove. I actually insisted on it because I didn't want him driving home alone in his condition! His mother told me to wash my hands...ha ha. I did, twice in a row. I've been taking preventative measures so I don't get sick. I have midterms this week and Stephan is planning a special Valentine's Day for us. All I know is that he's making me chicken parmesean for dinner (yum), we're watching a movie, and he's making a surprise for me. I don't want to be sick for that!!! Especially since this is the first Valentine's Day I've had a date for. Well, and I don't want to go two weeks without seeing Stephan :) How we used to go a month without seeing each other, I don't know. Well, we weren't officially dating then, so that might explain it.

I e-mailed him a get well card. It made him laugh. He's feeling a lot better today, if anyone is wondering.

Let's see, what else...

School is busy. Midterms are this week (yuck). I have to come up with instructions for Excel...definitely not looking forward to that because I have only used Excel maybe twice in my life. But I'm working with a guy in my Technical Editing class who knows how to use it.

I registered for spring/summer classes a few days ago. It turns out I have three classes left after this semester instead of the two I thought I had. Oh well. But thankfully, none of my classes should overlap, so that's good.

My technical editing teacher e-mailed our class with information about possible spring and/or summer technical editing internships. I e-mailed the woman in charge of them. I really hope I can get a summer internship--it would make it easier for me to get a job when I graduate in August.

Hoping, and praying...

Laura has a boyfriend...

It is true. Stephan and I are officially a couple.

While we were driving to the farewell, we had something resembling a DTR. I actually had to explain that acronym to him because he does not go to BYU. It was the least awkward DTR ever, I must say. I remember asking him how he was going to introduce me, because I didn't feel like "friend" was going to cut it. We didn't feel comfortable with "girlfriend", so I just instructed him to introduce me as just "Laura" and have the relatives connect the dots.

Initially, we weren't going to announce anything (or so I think) because we didn't want to take away his brother's spotlight, since it was his farewell. What was funny about this Sacrament meeting was that not only was Brent (the missionary brother) speaking, but Stephan's other brother Alex was the scheduled youth speaker, and their dad was the bishopric member conducting and he gave a few remarks. During his dad's remarks, Stephan put his hand on his leg, kind of indicating that he wanted to hold hands. I saw this signal, and moved my hand to a reachable proximity. After his dad finished his talk, Stephan offered his hand to me, and I took it. It was the first time that either of us had ever held hands with the opposite sex.

We didn't take away Brent's thunder, but relatives were curious about me. I made a very favorable impression, apparently. After the farewell was over, we played games. His family was very cruel to us in "Apples to Apples", for reasons I will not explain now. They were giving us a hard time.

So yeah, I have a boyfriend. It feels very natural, actually, and I'm happy about it. A little scared, but happy.

And now he's got facebook, ha ha!

weird nap dreams

I had to be somewhere at eight this morning, and when I got back, I decided to take a little nap. I fell asleep and dreamt the following:

The dream itself involves two guys I know; one that I have never dated and the other was the guy I dated for a few months last summer. The first guy, I dreamt that we were just talking and then suddenly he's holding my hand. I haven't held hands with Stephan (yet) and I was trying to tell him about Stephan, but I couldn't get my mouth open to tell him.

Then there's the ex. I dreamt that he took me to a nice restaurant for dinner, which he NEVER did. The only time he ever bought me dinner was fast food. He bought me lunch once at the Cannon Center. And then I had dinner a couple of times at his house (prepared by his mother). He was a cheapskate. Not only was it a nice restaurant, it was Japanese, which everyone knows is my favorite. Hang on, isn't this Stephan's territory? I guess he was trying to get me back or something. Ain't gonna happen.

I woke up from this feeling very dazed, grateful it was all a dream, and looking forward to seeing my tall friend this Sunday.

On another note...

Remember that birthday/Christmas card that my ex gave me? Well, on Monday night, I took that and a couple of pictures of him that he gave me and cut them up into small pieces. I would have burned them, but I don't think tenants are allowed to do that. I threw them away and I think they are now rotting in the dumpster as we speak. He doesn't remember even giving me the pictures in the first place and he has digital copies of them.

It was a liberating experience. I highly recommend it. I even took a picture of the little pile that I will post as soon as I upload the pictures from my camera.

Meet the parents, and then some

Okay, so I got a phone call from Stephan yesterday. For once he didn't get my voicemail when he called *laughs*. He called to extend an invitation to his younger brother's mission farewell that is going to be held next week. His brother is going to Prague and is reporting on February 4. Not only is his immediate family going to be at the farewell, but much of his extended family will be there as well.

*gulp*

So, in six days, I am going to be scrutinized by an entire clan. Or a large part of it.

Nervous?

Oh yes, very nervous indeed...

best date ever :)

So, I went out with Stephan tonight. Well, today and into tonight...yes I had that much fun. The Japanese puppet show was entertaining and interesting. Then we went to the woodblock exhibit at the MOA next door. We talked while we looked at art. It was great. Then, we went for Japanese food. He did his homework in selecting the restaurant. The reviews he read about the place we went to were the best and the prices were very reasonable. The food was GREAT. Some of the best Japanese food I have ever had, and that's saying a lot. And we had amazing conversation. After dinner, we got cheap soft serve ice cream at Macey's. The awkward doorstep scene? I hugged him. You're probably thinking...so what? Well, on the first two dates, we felt so awkward that we didn't even touch. I think this is progress.

He's interested. I'm getting to that point. It's just that I've never had a great guy be interested in me before. It's a whole new experience for me.

He's already reserved me for Valentine's ;)