Blackout Night: Mostly

I've had an interesting couple of days. Yesterday, I ran into two of the most random people I know. Both of them were at the park (where I had not intended to go, but had let Emma talk me into) and neither of them knew each other. But they were talking to each other just the same. One of them is a guy that works for the city doing random stuff, so he was actually working at the park. He's a musician and a swim coach too. And informed me that he's now going by his middle name. I can't imagine why a person would change their name like that once you pass 30-or-so years old, but it honestly doesn't surprise me that he would.
And he kinda looks like Jesus.
I'm just sayin'.
The other guy was an old boyfriend of mine - my first real boyfriend. He's also a musician. And an artist. And nothing at all like Jesus. But we keep in touch and run into each other here and there. He was at the park searching out some inspiration and I suppose that's what I was doing too. Otherwise, I'd never have let my daughter talk me into it.
We three had the most interesting conversations and Boyfriend Guy took a picture of Jesus Guy, having found his face inexplicably inspirational and I walked away, shaking my head at my funny life.

We pressed on with Blackout Night tonight, even though I didn't really feel like it. I had too many things on my to-do list. But I laid the fate of the evening in my steadfast husband's hands and was, as I always usually sometimes am, grateful for his "ability" to stick to a course of action once he's decided on it. I say "ability" because I do not always view this trait in such a positive light.

But enough about me.
We went on our walk and swung on the swings at the park and the guys tossed the football around a bit. We came home, turned off the lights (mostly) and had a fantastic sandwich, inspired by a recipe from this month's Better Homes & Gardens. Roast beef, olive tapenade, fresh tomatoes and spinach. Oh, and a little Dijon mustard with mayonnaise. Only, it was vegan mayonnaise, dangit. I'm allergic to eggs.
We read almost an entire chapter in The Hobbit. That takes forever when you're reading it aloud. Try it once. You'll see. Oh, and you have to try it with British accents and gruffy dwarf voices. Then you'll really see.
Then we flipped the lights back on and went about the businesses that we all had on our agendas, and I find that I'm really glad we went ahead and carved out those couple of hours.

PS - guess what came in the mail today?

My dress! The one I've been saving up for! And it's every bit as gorgeous as I expected. It's been kind of a fiasco, though. I've not told you all about it because I wanted to save it for the big reveal, which will have to wait, because I have no pictures of me in it yet. That will be remedied soon enough by my sister-in-law and her new camera. But I wanted to go ahead and tell you that I got it. Suffice it to say that I went to the website to drool over it one day, before I'd finished saving up for it, and it was sold out! In the end, my lovely Anthropologie store in Tampa tracked one down for me and had it sent...all the way from Seattle! And I love it ever so much. I. Have. Never. bought myself something like that. So, there's a nice pinch of guilt stirred in with my pleasure.

DAILY BLISS: gorgeous weather and orange blossoms