The last day of Thanksgiving break :( *

Despite the sleeping pills, I was up about 1am. Sigh. And it was apparent that Stomach wasn't going to let me go back to sleep without more food. Fuck. So I got up and ate something, and turned on the computer for a bit. I had a couple of really interesting emails. One long one from H, which I decided I needed to answer right then; and one from a really cool guy on the coast I've been talking to that I met on Match.com. He is the coolest guy I have met on there. Most of them seem to be either hopelessly suburban or horribly conflicted. Anyway, the coast guy, Brad, had sent me a really nice and interesting email, and I couldn't resist returning it. He was stroking my ego, telling me how great my blog is, which I just can't resist. I gotta send this man my phone number. I ended up being up until 4:30 or so, when I finally felt sleepy again. I went on back to bed and slept until 8:30am, so I got a good nine hours or so in. It was nice to get a little sleep back in the sleep bank.

Robert texted me again this morning, so I called him and talked to him while I had coffee. Thank goodness I went outside, because I saw Frankie, my next door neighbor on the porch, and I remembered that I was having Lance (her s.o.) take my pictures today. I can't believe that had completely slipped my mind.

I came back in, determined to straighten up the house and be ready when he got here about noon. But then I wanted to work on my blog, and I had another cool email from Brad, and one thing led to another. I had budgeted some time to spend on the computer this morning, but I ended up being on longer than I should have. The house looked decent, but I wasn't ready when Lance knocked on the door.

Fortunately he was really laid back about the whole thing, and I just ran through the shower while he set up his equipment. I absolutely love the fact that he doesn't have a studio, and told me he would make the pictures here. He is incredibly nice, and I felt really comfortable with him. The cats got in the pictures, which was really cool - I'm going to have one of those "author" pictures to put up on my blog :) (You know how writers always have the home pictures of them at home with their pets.) I even had some pics made in my jammies so my friends would recognize me :) I am famous for entertaining and showing up at my friends' houses either in jammies, or just taking my pants off when I get there. I figure I wear boxers that cover as much as, or more than, a lot of bathing suits. (I just pretty much wouldn't ever wear clothes if I didn't have to.) Anyway, I loved the pics of me at home, in my jammies, curled up on the sofa with the cats. He was really patient about working with them, and even got some shots of the three of us all looking at the camera. It was a lot more work than he really signed on for, but he was lovely about the whole thing. It was the most relaxed photography session I have ever had, plus he got some really great shots.

After we finished up, I offered to feed him lunch, since I have tons of food here, and he graciously accepted. He was very complimentary of my cooking, which as we all know by now is the shortcut to my heart. While I put the lunch away, he uploaded the pictures to him computer and we went through them. He is a super-nice and really secure guy. He didn't bat an eye about the gay thing, asked me about Michael, and told me he used to work with a bunch of gay guys in retail and never thought a thing about it. We found more common ground in that we both have difficult relationships with our fathers.

So my photos should be ready for order on Wednesday, and it was a pretty fucking painless process. I was just thrilled with the whole thing. The sitting fee was a song too, since he's just starting out. I was prepared to pay much more than he charged me.

Petalware 11" salver in Cremax with pastel stripe by MacBeth-Evans Glass Company, circa 1930-1950

After he left, I was thinking I might get a little blogging done, but then my friend Travis called me from TR. He has been after me to come see his house, so I rode over there today, not really having any other plans. It is gorgeous. It was a nice house when it was built in 1925, and is in great shape. There is more actual wood in that house than in five new houses. Many of the walls are paneled in birch planks that are gorgeously finished. He has a great eye for furniture too, and has many beautiful antiques. When he bought the house, the lady that moved out left a lot of stuff in it - good stuff he hasn't finished going through yet. He just handed me a depression platter today, and said "Here take this home - I don't collect and I know you do." I thought that was pretty cool. He let me look through the dining room china closet too. I didn't know what any of it was, but there were some really neat old things in there. We went up to see the beautiful dormer room, totally paneled in birch, and with tons of lovely little nooks and a window seat. It is a beautiful place all around. Plus he has 5 acres in downtown TR - right off Main Street. He's already been offered twice what he paid for the place, and I can well believe it. It's absolutely charming.

On the way back, I remembered that I needed to go to the library, so I ran through there and picked up the books I had on hold. Just whodunnits and chick lit (sorry Brad, but hey, I'm honest about it) - light reading for the lunch hour. Then I ran through the grocery store for fresh fruit before I headed home. I'm glad to be out of this damp chilly weather, and back in my soft bear lounge pants....