My Mom's birthday 2012

My mom turned 69 this year.. which means next year she will need a BIG party.. but that is NEXT year... and that is a LONG time away!

This year, my mom, my brother and I went to The Golden Corral in Manassas, VA. That was where my mom wanted to go..

They had a salad bar.
a seafood bar
steak and lots of other meat
an Asian area
a Mexican area
an "American" area
a LARGE dessert area which included a chocolate fountain.

The food was good..we had a great time and afterwards we went to the Best Buy in Manassas and I got two movies for my mom ..

I got her Brave.. which she enjoyed.. Spike did not like it so much because when the bear started growling he BURST into the room.. to see what was going on..

I also got her Magic Mike.. which she has still not watched.. I guess she is afraid that once she watches it she wont be able to stop watching it.. IDK...

Keli eats

Last night I went to Hops restaurant in Alexandria, VA. I had never been there and was a bit reluctant to try it because I thought that it's main focus was on beer... which I do not drink.. but.. I was delightfully wrong.
When you sat down at the table they gave us SIX of these croissant like scone type thins that were DELICIOUS.. and covered with some sort of creamy yummiess..and that is just for sitting down...

I ordered a raspberry lemonade.. which tasted like water with not a lot of flavoring in it.. more than lemonade..but then again their focus is beer.. so next time... I might just stick with water...

We ordered and got:

a wedge salad.. which I am really into right now..
you get a wedge of lettuce and that has diced tomatoes and bacon bits on it and bleu cheese crumbles and then that is saturated with bleu cheese dressing.. We shared the salad and it was GONE in a matter of minutes...

a side of mushrooms which I had to spit out because they were so gross!

and some pub chips with bleu cheese crumbles and some bleu cheese melted fondue on it.. they were like home made chips and they were SO GOOD!!!

our server George was super nice...

and now I am ready to go back and eat there some more. here is their website

http://www.hopsrestaurants.com/home/openmenu.asp

random Keli

I have a male co-worker at my retail job named Brenden he is 18 years old.
I decided to start telling customers he was my son...
Because, I wanted people to say:
"omgosh you look so young!"
or
" wow, you don't look old enough to be his mom"

Brenden said this was  silly because,
1. who cares about how old I am, his parents had him when they were in their 30s and they are now in their 50s..
2. I am obviously just fishing for compliments

...........well....yeah...

so when he would say things to customers I would be like "that is my son"
or when I was at the register and I rang people up and they were like " Brenden helped me" I would be like "that is my son"

I told Brenden.. when or IF I have kids.. I will never get to hear.. anything like
"wow you must have been YOUNG!"
or
" I thought that was  your BROTHER"

no in fact there is a chance people may think that I am my children's GRANDMA.... :(!

Brenden said it doesn't matter how old I am when I have kids ... or what people say.. and I don't need to hear those things..

so after me telling me IDK ... A LOT of customers " that is my son"  or " oh I am glad my son helped you..."

and every single time EVERY SINGLE TIME .. the customer just said

"oh" ...like "OK.. AND"... that is ALL...

I started realizing.. um... I guess I just need to face the facts I look OLD enough to have an 18 year old child....

and that Brenden is one wise 18 year old

...I hope I get to be a mom one day .. and I hope that when I have an 18 year old.. that I can say " that is my son and he will be smiling in a suit and tie with a name tag on as missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ Of Latter-Day Saints.

 

field trip

a couple of weeks ago my friend Dawn and I went to the MeadowLark Gardens Winter Wonderland walk of Lights in Vienna, VA..

It was the first year that they had it so it was not to crazy crowded like the experience I would have like a week later at The Bull Run Festival of Lights.

Dawn and I drove down and got there right after it opened, it cost us around $13 to go..

we paid to go in then we walked on a marked path path through the park looking at really beautiful light displays .. some of which were set to music..

at the end they had a bonfire and we bought some hot apple cider and sat and drank that.

Going to these things reminds me how some of our greatest blessings are often our greatest trials.. like I would love to have a husband... yet some men would complain about the cost and see this as a pointless boring activity and not see the beauty and wonder in it..

I would also love to have children, children would LOVE to go to something like this...but sometimes kids are a handful at these things..

As for 2012 when I don't have either of those things.. I am happy that I have good friend like Dawn who took some amazing pictures and posted them on FB and tagged me in them for anyone to see..

 

dating Keli

I love to take kids to pumpkin patches. So in October 2012 I took Julian to one in Great Falls, VA..

Julian was with me and I was wearing a University of Chicago long sleeve t-shirt.. and a pair of old jeans I had on no make up and my hair was pulled back in a ponytail...

remember when I got asked out at the Reston Library.. I was wearing a Utah State shirt and old jeans and almost no make up and my hair was in a ponytail and Julian was with me...

what have I learned from this? that wearing a college tshirt with my hair in a ponytail and no or very little make-up is a good look for me..

So back to this story ... Julian and I are exploring the pumpkin patch and this guy that worked there kept on talking to me.. He said he was not married and not dating anyone.. I said " well we should hang out sometime" He said "I would like that.. I could take you out to dinner"

this is what I learned when I was at the pumpkin patch
1. His name is Bill ( but his mom that was there called him Billy)
that was ALMOST a dealbreaker.. who wants to date someone with a name like BILL .. or BILLY .. that is MY DAD's NAME and my dad is like seventy NINE...
...ok in reality.. I am not going to give up true love because of a name...

2. He said he had no FB.... great.. now how am I supposed to stalk him or find out anything...

3. He lives at his parents but he has a bachelor pad all to himself in the basement

4. He works for UPS and has a rt. in Fairfax and Fairfax City..

5. He is glad that he does not have the rt. that goes to the outlet mall or for that reason any mall because his buddy  told him " those stores at the mall get a lot of boxes and some are way heavy"
He asked me if I had got to know or ever talked to the UPS guy that works the outlet mall... I said um... no...because a manager opens the door and scans all that stuff in .. I am not a manager .. I just an associate...

6. That he is Republican and he is voting for Mitt Romney... or well he DID...him and his mom went on and on about what an amazing man Mitt Romney was .. and how he was going to win since the night before he had won the debate... so well yeah.. as history has often proves just because you win the battle .. you don't ALWAYS win the war...

7. that he was TWENTY-EIGHT which is at least TEN years younger than me.. depending on when his bday is.. he was like how old are you like thirty.. um yeah.. like thirty EIGHT.. but anyway...

8. that he was just " hanging out with his mom while she worked at the pumpkin patch... he must lead an exciting life

so he asked for my number and I gave it to him and I said I need to charge my phone it is dead.. of course it was my phone dies all the time.. but yeah it will be charged and then feel free to call...

He did not call.. I thought oh well... so a few DAYS later he texts me

Hi
and I said
oh hey what is up? how are you how is work?

you know to start a conversation...

he texted me back for the rest of the day.. and what I mean by that was it would take him anywhere between a HALF HOUR - THREE HOURS to text back and never an explanation to explain..like oh I am at work.. or whatever..

and he did not really make conversation.. like I still did not know anything about him...

so he said he wanted to go to Famous Dave's ... oh no.. I am sorry but I can not do Famous Dave's we had that all the time for free when I worked at Qwest and I have bad memories of that mediocre, messy food... I said can we PLEASE go somewhere else? He said sure how about Carabba's I said sure..

so he does not say a time or anything.. and then he text me a FEW DAYS later and was like " well I am broke, because I have not got paid yet.. so can you pay for your own meal" .... OH NO!!!!!!

your financial situation is NOT something to discuss.. when you barely know someone... I said no, we can wait until you get paid.. or we can go somewhere else that you CAN afford... he said OK.. how about Chipotle.. in Reston.. I said that was fine..

My boss Will was like AWKWARD!!!! and said that if that happened to him he would just SUGGEST another restaurant.. and not say why.. I said same here.. like maybe it is OK at 28 to tell a woman you are broke.. but NOT at 38... (even if you are broke)

so then the whole day that were supposed to go to Chipotle it was just awkward.. and did not flow and I just kept on not feeling good about it.. Like I can't do this to this man.. I can't meet him at Chipotle when I am not interested in him and I felt like I was not going to be nice to him..Like I was just so annoyed that every time that he contacted me it was like HOURS in between and then when he did he had NOTHING to say.. like we had not really had a conversation.. like sometimes I am just not in the mood to keep the whole conversation going.. and to be witty and entertaining the whole night...

and he kept changing the time because he did not know when his route ended.. and blah blah blah and I did not want to hang out in Reston or drive back to Chantilly then come BACK to Reston and on and on and on...

So I felt HORRIBLE about this BUT... I just text him and said " tonight is not a good night for me.. and he text me back IMMEDIATELY and said OK....
Immediately when all the other times took HOURS....

then nothing so I thought that was over then like two weeks later I checked my phone on my break at Guess and I saw that he had texted me, I opened the text and it said

Hi.. I thought no, I can't do this again.. I can't go through all of this again.. where I text him back and we have NO CONVERSATION and I wait for HOURS for a text back.. and then that text says basically nothing.. and yeah... I just did not text back and I felt soooo bad... but I think that I would have felt worse if I had led him on

dating Keli

So I wrote about this guy in August and I thought that would be the end of the story ...BUT NO... I got MORE!!!

so to refresh your memory http://imobykeli.blogspot.com/2012/08/dating-keli_29.html


go there and read that and then you will be like OH YEAH !!!... him...so that story is from like JULY...( or maybe August)

so I thought I would never hear from him again.. and I barely ever go to anything at the Potomac Ward so yeah...

then Labor Day Saturday I am on the phone with one of my friends when I see that he is calling me....

WHAT?????

I told my friend.. I have GOT to answer THIS...

so he was like " Hi Keli, so um do you want to go out in my boat." .................................................................... Like he just had to keep that commitment.. he HAD to take me on his boat because by now summer was ALMOST over.. and well .. I felt like, he felt like if he did not take me then I MIGHT talk trash about him..( it was too late for that.. if you read the above blogpost)

So I said " can we go to Tim's?"  Tim's is this place that you BOAT in and eat dinner... I have this goal in life that at some point in time I want to BOAT in to somewhere and eat dinner.. because I think that would just be SO COOL!!!

He said " TIm's riverfront? sure"

So I had to go ..because one of my life's goals is to boat in somewhere and eat..

So he was like can you go right now.. ( I was not even out of bed, and I live an hour from where you launch the boat) I said no..

He said that he had another date during the afternoon but he could then take me when he was done with that date in the evening...
 

Like well.. um I hope your afternoon date is not a success because it would suck to have to leave that and take me out on your boat...

So evening comes and I start driving to the place and he text me and said he would be late.. I said that was fine because I would be late also.. he was like yeah.. my date is going longer than I thought it would...

So I meet him at the Marina and I said how was your date? and he said "well we were on a double date and we went kayaking and well I really hated it.. and it was lame .. and I am not really into that.". I said then well then why did you go? or why didn't you say is there anything else we could do...

He said that he thought " he might as well give kayaking a try but it is really lame"  well it was good you gave it a try at least..

He said he was sorry that he was late but they were trying to convince him to go out to dinner with them ( it was a double date) .. and he wished that I could have met earlier because it was hard for him to get done with kayaking and then go to the marina... I thought BUT if I had came earlier.. than it would have been hard to quit boating and go kayaking .. whatever...

so we walk over to the dock and he has his boat stored there and they have to get it out and then they put it in the water.. ... all the guys that worked there knew him and knew which boat was his... none of those guys even LOOKED at me or spoke to me.. and they were all friendly and had good customer service... I personally think that they did not look at me or speak to me because well dude has brought SO MANY WOMEN there that.. well ...um ...yeah.. and they don't know he is LDS.. they don't know what he is doing out there on the boat...

so we get on the boat.. and it is a MESS... like wet towels, wet life jackets that were starting to MOLD... all over the place.. and there was trash everywhere.. like water bottles and chip bags and food wrappers.. and there was a girls tank top on the seat beside his.. I said "who does this belong to?" you might want to give it back to her.." he said he had no idea.. because.. He has had so many girls on his boat.. I opened up this compartment to put it away and there were GIRLS sunglasses in there... I said there are also a pair of sunglasses in here .. he said yeah .. those belong to someone else.. I have no idea who.. there was no where for me to put my stuff because there were wet towels and wet life jackets and TRASH all over and in every available spot that there could be.. ..

I said before, you take a girl out on your boat.. you MIGHT want to make sure that other stuff that girls leave on your boat is all put away...

He said "oh yeah that might be good.. "

I said what is going on here .. like why is this so messy?? He said that he had a whole bunch of people from the Potomac ward on his boat and that it started to rain and well they did not want to be out in the rain so they just jumped off the boat and did not clean up.. wow...I am sure they had NO WARNING.. I bet it just started raining...

so I had to wear a damp life jacket that smelled HORRENDOUS... then I was like nope can't do this.. I will just do with out...

He said " well I take everyone that comes on my boat to Georgetown and we see the monuments and stuff like that.. but IDK if I will be able to get there and back before it gets dark" I said well... I don't want to go to Georgetown.. I have already been to Georgetown on a boat.. I have even driven a boat to Georgetown.. I REALLY want to go to Tim's..."

He said " how do you even KNOW about Tim's" I said because I am FROM Northern, VA and I have dated other guys that have boats.. and I actually go places and do things.. I know about things..

He said " do you really want to go there" because all the other girls want to go to Georgetown.." I said well I am not the other girls.. and I would really like to go to Tim's"

so we started off and he was like see all those... those are crab pots.. I hope I don't hit any with my boat because that would be really bad and it is hard to navigate this way because I don't know where all the crab pots ARE.. and what if I hit some it is getting dark...

then we got to Tim's that place was ROCKING.. and it was like15 minutes or less from where we got in the boat.. I was like YAY..

and he said well there is Tim's.. and he DROVE RIGHT PAST IT AND TURNED AROUND......................................... I said WAIT arn't we going to STOP...

He said oh you actually wanted to eat there????

O M GOSH ... I said well yeah... he said that he would call them so he did and he said that they had a hour wait.. and he was NOT going to wait that long for a "greasy hamburger" and that place was too crowded and that we needed to go somewhere else... he had no idea I wanted to actually EAT there he thought I just wanted to see it... wow... just wow...He said he had to get back because WHaT IF HE HIT A CRAB POT!!!!!!!!????

So we left and once again I have gone on a date with a guy in a boat and we did not boat in and eat!!

So he was like " where should we eat around here?" and I said " I have no idea but I can google it" he said " why don't you know? I said because I am not from this area.. I live like an HOUR from here..

I googled restaurants and I said jokingly " there is a taco bell" he said " OK" I said NO I am NOT going to Taco Bell... I thought I just drove an HOUR out here wasting gas that I have put in my car to go to my family reunion tomorrow.. so um no we are not going to taco bell plus I already went on a date with that one guy to Taco Bell this year...remember that?? so no....so he said.. well I don't want to go to Taco Bell either I would rather eat my shoe than Taco Bell" I said then why did you say OK"... why didn't you just SAY you would rather eat your shoe"

so I said this is a very populated area we can just drive around and find somewhere..

so we drove to this one shopping center and it looked so shady .. it was all pawn shops and gun shops and places where you can get payday loans and laundromats and stuff.. and there was one place there that MIGHT have been a restaurant .. all I saw were pool tables.. and a bunch of Hispanic men outside smoking cigarettes and a bunch inside drinking beer..I said NO I am not going there.. he said why not.. I am said " I am all for dives but that is just TOO MUCH FOR ME... " I mean I am sorry but that and THIS WHOLE SHOPPING CENTER LOOK SHADY SO NO.....

so we drove down the street to another place all lit up in blue.. and it said was a "lounge" which we all know is another word for bar..and it looked so rundown.. I said NO..

Then he tried to take me to Popeyes....no

. and I said..Listen I don't think that we are in a good part of town.. but we can't be in the bad part of town for that long.. we just need to drive a few more minutes and we will find SOMETHING

and we did we found this Hibatchi buffet place.. it was really cool... like a Golden Corral but Asian food...I got a whole plate full of different sushi to try... just writing this kinda makes me want to go back...

he got a whole plate of filling food..and then he started to talk about his ex-wives.. he said IDK how much this place is but it can't cost me more than my ex-wife cost me... I said NO.. we are not going to talk about your ex-wives.. so then he did not know what to talk about and I asked him about his family and that was not the most happy story and then I felt kinda bad...

so after he had two whole plates of filling food .. and dessert..AND got a fortune that said " your future is sitting across from you"...........................................

He said " well you can just grab some dessert on the way out.. because we have got to go..."  I was not even full I had been getting little things to try them... but I did not say anything...

when we got back in his truck he said he had to get home because he had a date in the morning to take someone ELSE out on his boat.... ahahhahahahahahahah

I said " are you just like calling all the people that you have met and told them you would take them out on your boat.. and taking them out on your boat..."

He said "yes" that he thought he could get all the people in before he needed to put his boat up for the winter..." He said he thought that he might sell his boat though.. because well it is just too much trouble and he only bought it because he had spent so much time paying other womens bills that he was ready to buy something for himself..He also said he might move because his job was annoying him and was a bunch of BS... so he might move...

I said " when we went out the last time you chatted with me for several hours and then when I saw you at institute you totally ignored me to talk to that one woman... why did you totally ignore me..he said " oh well I don't like that woman.. and I don't want to date her because we have too much in common.." I said I did not ask that .. and I don't care if you if you want to date her or not" .. I asked why did you ignore me...after talking to me for three hours a few nights previously.. He said he did not "see me" I said HOW COULD YOU NOT SEE ME...?? YOU SAID HI TO ME...."

He said he did not realize that was me.. but it did not really matter because he did not want to date that other woman because they had to much in commen... ANYWAY.....

Then he said he had to get home to get some sleep before his date in the morning.. I said OK... I mean he could not keep me talking because I already said I was not going to listen to another word about his ex-wives.

I told my friend about this and she said that she knows of like FOUR other girls he has taken out on his boat to Georgetown... and that is that we KNOW of...

so I never heard from him again..my friend asked me once did he ever call again? I said " why would he ever call ME again...
he has taken me out on his boat...
I told him I did not want to hear about his ex-wives..
and we did not make out.. or even come CLOSE..
so what incentive is there to call me....

I have also not even SEEN him and neither has my friend.. no idea if he MOVED.. or if he sold the boat..or anything..




 

field trip

I went to the Bull Run Festival of Lights in Centreville, VA with my friends Michelle and Kellie on Saturday night.. so did a LOT and I mean a LOT of other people..
we went to Cafe Rio for dinner at seven PM and the lights festival closed at ten PM we never thought it would be an issue getting in to the lights festival on time...
we barely made it on time..

We drove to Centreville and then sat in a long and I mean LONG line of traffic and I think that we waited almost TWO HOURS.. to go through the it took forever.. I seriously thought we were never going to get through that line.. and I don't know what they can do to make that situation ANY BETTER in the future.. the line was just SO LONG..

It cost $20 per car to go through...we split the cost ..

and we finally, FINALLY got through.. they did only let a few cars in at once and they spaced it so you had time to look at the lights.. and were able to see them on BOTH sides of the car..

I don't have any pictures because we were not able to stop or slow down..

The lights were pretty cool...so I am glad I went.. all though I think I will probably skip it next year..

at the end of the lights festival there was a carnival and apparently Santa's enchanted workshop...

we did not get out for either of those things because it was cold.. and they were winding down if not closed .. because we got through the lights so late..

We then drove around Centreville and South Riding, VA and looked at the lights..

I am grateful that I have good friends.. because all in all it was a good evening and I am glad that we were all together to laugh and joke around :)