Saying goodbye for now to a friend as she moves to the west coast

Ontario has moved to step 3 of slowly getting out of lockdown. Indoor dining is now available. Yay!

On Saturday, I met up with two friends. One of them is heading to the west coast for graduate school. We decided to meet up before she moves over there.

The restaurant that we chose was by Lake Ontario. It also is one of my favourite eateries. The restaurant does not accept reservations for either indoor or outdoor dining.

We had 1 pm as a meetup time. I got there fifteen minutes early. The hostess was so great. There were many tables available. I went with indoor dining because it was raining outside.

The food was fabulous. I got our friend a parting gift. My other friend got me a belated birthday gift. I felt so bad that I didn't get her a gift for her birthday back in January. I hope to make it up to her by taking her out to dinner.

It was a lovely day. We managed to take photos by the water, with the Toronto skyline as our backdrop.

Birthday celebrations at a patio and at the beach

I had a great day celebrating our birthday with a good friend. Her birthday was last week. Mine is early by a week.

We spent time eating and drinking on a patio. We then drove down to the beach to chat and take in the relaxing vibes around us. We also exchanged gifts.

I got her half a dozen donuts from Toronto. She moved away a few years ago, so we meet midway.

It's a great start to my vacation. Happy weekend, everyone!

Belated birthday gifts for him and a sore butt for me

I finally gave my guy his birthday gifts last weekend. They consisted of the following items:

• A six-pack of socks
  He is getting into subtle patterns with his socks. He's conservative that way. So, half these pairs of socks have thin stripes. I got them in the States from one of his favourite stores.
• Storage with built-in lightning, USB, USB C, and micro USB ports
  The idea is to insert a micro SD card into this device. You can transfer your data by inserting the device into a USB port on your laptop. You can also transfer data to and from this device and your phone or tablet, depending on what cable you need.
• Bandless earmuffs
  The are called Earbags by a company called Sprigs. You flex them, scoop them over your ears, and then flex them back so they stay.
• Beverage tumbler
  It keeps hot drinks hot for eight hours and cold drinks cold for 24 hours. It fits nicely in your car cup holder and stores a ton of liquid goodness.
• Gooseneck clip for your phone
  You can clip this gadget to a desk or headboard. You then adjust the long gooseneck to the height that you need and look at your phone by attaching it to the other end.

My guy was so happy to get all these gifts.

"Where you do get these cools gifts? You're amazing," he said.
"You're sweet. Happy belated birthday," I wished him.

He kissed me. He was particularly excited about the bandless earmuffs. We both stood there and tried them out. I have a pair already.

"Wow, they stay put. These earmuffs are amazing!" he exclaimed with one on his left ear.
"I'm glad you love them. They also come with a pouch," I pointed out, with my trying out the right one.

Naturally, after being double-spanked, I felt the soreness.

"My butt is sore," I whined.
"You mean like this?" he said, and gave me a smack across my left buttock.

He's a sweet meanie. He rubbed my butt afterwards, which I love.

Belated birthday gift

My guy and I talked over the phone on Sunday for about forty minutes. He was out for a walk. I was eating dinner.

"I got you your replacement gift," he said, hinting at the fact that he gave me a nice bracelet, but it was too small.
"Nice! I can't wait to see you tomorrow," I replied.
"At least I'm giving it to you in the same month, which is a good sign," he noted.
"Yes. Last year, my birthday ended up being in late August. I didn't know whether to change my birth certificate," I joked.

He is thoughtful. He didn't have to get my a replacement gift, but he's sweet that way.

Belated birthday and great gifts

On Saturday, a dear friend and I got together to celebrate our belated birthdays. We live a couple of hours away from each other.

A while back, my guy first introduced me to a cell phone mounter for your car. The mount uses magnets. He bought me one as a gift and I have been using it ever since. As one of my gifts to my friend, I got her the same one. She recently bought a car and does not have one. She does now!

My guy does give great gifts. I told him about this one and he smiled when I told him that he's great at giving gifts, too.

Belated, thoughtful birthday gifts

I returned home early Monday evening. The longer weekend was nice, but I feel like I need another vacation!

Last week, my guy got me some nice birthday gifts. He felt bad that he was late. I understood, as he is a traveller. It was still the same birthday month.

He normally asks me for a list of gifts that I'd like. He can then choose from that list. He doesn't need me to provide him with this list, but I do for suggestions.

He got me the following:

• A Beemo mug, a character from Adventure Time that I like
• A waffle maker, because I love to eat waffles

My guy surprised me by getting a gift that wasn't on my list, but I had mentioned a need for it in the past.

I got a new car earlier this year. It does not have heated seats. It's not a huge deal. However, when I have a sore back, it was always helpful to turn the heat on my seat, which would ease the pain.

My guy remembered my comment. He got me a plug-in heated seat in which the seat and back support both heat up. It plugs in to the car charger. I was thrilled.

"See, I told you that you're a great gift giver," I complimented him.
"Thanks, sweetie," he replied.

He's thoughtful and sweet.

Dinner, belated birthday gifts, and laughs

I didn't have a particularly enjoyable end to my workday on Tuesday. My new manager was having a bad day and it showed in an e-mail that he wrote to me. He literally demanded to see me in his office the following afternoon. I was good with that.

Well, he was much calmer. Perhaps he is the type of person who is a jerk when he writes e-mails. Talking to him in-person is completely different. He wants me to manage the other three writers. It looks as though I will be getting a promotion and a raise. The only thing is that I have to start being in the office longer, mainly because one idiot of a manager claims that he can't find anyone on the documentation team. Really? There are four of us.

Anyway, I am good with all that. My manager is okay with my increasing my office hours slowly, as I am still recovering from back surgery and am waiting for my nerves to regenerate.

So, I had back-to-back meetings this afternoon. My first was obviously with my boss. My second one was a team meeting. By the time I was done, my guy was, too. He asked me on Skype whether I was ready to head over to our usual Chinese restaurant. I told him that I needed ten minutes. He was good.

My guy came up to his cubicle, but we didn't say anything. The junior writer had to ask me a question. The other new writer was asking my guy a question. From the corner of my eye, I saw him wearing his favourite black blazer from Winners. He looked good. He is indeed my tall, dark, and handsome guy.

He left our desk area first. I followed suit. We met in the parking lot at the restaurant and immediately started talking.

We both ordered chicken dishes. I loved the lemon chicken so much on Monday that I ordered it again.

My guy surprised me. He gave me my belated birthday gifts. He had told me that he was waiting for a special order in the mail. All I knew was that it was purple. My guy didn't bother gift-wrapping it, so my goodies came in a Wal-mart plastic bag, with both of them protected by packaging. He felt bad about the presentation. As for me, it doesn't really matter. It just means less fussing for me!

He wrote the sweetest thing on the first gift's wrapping paper that I got.

It was a mirror with two different magnifications on the other side of the regular hand-held mirror. At first, I said that it felt like a mirror. Then, I thought that perhaps it may be a paddle. For a moment, I got excited, but I love the berry-coloured mirror. I can use it to see how red my butt is after he smacks it. I can also magnify the damage!

The second gift was awesome. He knows that I have an iPad. He got me a purple leather case for it, which also has a purple Bluetooth keyboard. I was so thrilled and happy. I looked like a little girl hugging a doll, except that I am a geeky girl hugging an iPad accessory.

We talked. My guy made my day even brighter by saying that he will likely be in New Jersey for one of the weeks where I am doing training there. We are both hoping that it works out. It'll give us some time to have some more quality time together.

We reminisced about our trip to Stockholm and how he playfully took a wooden cutting board that had a map of the city to smack my backside. Memories flooded back of being at the Turkish Airlines lounge at Istanbul Airport (it is swanky), my crashing my first car rental in Europe, and my first purchase in that continent was feminine products. Yay!

The funny part was both of us cracking our fortune cookies open. His fortune said that he was clever. I had to disagree because he is always making up fake words. I grabbed his fortune and crumpled it up, which made us both laugh.

At one point, I missed his touch that I reached for his hand and squeezed it from across the table. He liked that. We held hands for a very long time. We both agreed that it felt good.

We walked up to the counter and my guy paid for dinner. I thanked him for dinner and the gifts. He thanked me for the company and my sweetness. We looked at each other lovingly. He reached for my hand. I love when he does that. We walked out of the restaurant that way.

As for my scarlet fever rashes, they are slowly dissipating. My guy says that I'm doing fine. He has never been afraid of touching me when I am sick. He told me that on Monday and it showed today, too.