Raising the Dates

Joe invited me to go to a Halloween concert/dance. I decided to dress up goth--black turtleneck, black pants, lots of eyeliner, a pale foundation, and then I blackened my lips with the eyeliner. I wrote in my journal, "I looked pretty scary, if I do say so myself." Later, Joe informed me that I did not look one bit scary, but that he actually thought it looked "hot" (his words, not mine--I seriously thought I looked scary). The other memorable part of this evening is that as we walked outside after the concert, Joe tried to kiss me. I pulled my head away and I think I said, "sorry, I'm not ready for that." I'm sure he was embarrassed (and probably not real happy I'm including this!), but I think it's pretty awesome that I stood up for myself--and that he kept dating me anyway. (Joe, you know you'd want Madison to do the same thing, so don't be embarrassed!)

(Joe's secretary scanned some of these pictures, and I can't figure out how to get rid of all the extra spaces. Also, this is the only goth picture I could find.)

The fall is always busy with holiday preparation and celebration; our holiday season is especially busy because of birthdays. Joe was turning 22 on November 4, and we decided we needed to throw him a Texas birthday party. (Side note, three of the guys in Joe's apartment were from Texas, and I think they adopted the one from California, so he was almost Texan. They had Texas flags and blankets and cutting boards. They were crazy. And now I live in Texas. Agh!) 

I found a recipe for Texas Hash (basically stuffed peppers with the peppers cut up in the rice) and Texas Sheet cake. We made decorations out of paper grocery sacks, construction paper, and tinfoil. We girls dressed up like cowgirls with checkered button-down shirts tucked into our bluejeans. Boots weren't in fashion back then, neither were big earrings--I remember because I had some big hoops I that I wore that night and everyone laughed. I don't know what the boys thought when they came over. We weren't used to cooking for big crowds, so at the last minute we decided to make some macaroni and cheese for a filler. I don't know if we had a salad or not--I think it was a very starch-heavy meal.

The boys laughed and gave us a hard time, telling us that they had never eaten "Texas Hash" in Texas--but it was good, nonetheless. Joe later told me that he thought to himself that he would have to get used to my "Yankee Cooking." (Did you see his facebook post about liking my Yankee butternut squash soup? I guess he's gotten used to it. And my cooking has gotten a lot better. :) 

(One of the place mats, a Texas decoration, and Joe's Sheriff badge. I don't know how to turn it on here.)

And then it was Thanksgiving! We didn't eat together--I stayed at Kathleen's grandmother's house and he went with some friends to a giant family party. The next day we drove down to Salt Lake, visited temple square, went to the conference center, went to Park City (where they were getting ready for the Olympics), and went ice-skating. We took many pictures--including in front of the Salt Lake temple, which makes me think that Joe was already trying to send me marriage hints. Hah! The most memorable thing to me is that we went to this Vietnamese restaurant, where Joe introduced me to Pho. I  was a little weirded out when they put the raw meat in my soup, but I might've agreed to marry him right then if he had promised me Pho once a week. His roommate, Jeff, was with us, though, and he was really unhappy with our food choice--I found that extremely humorous for some reason.

(Joe's favorite picture from that Thanksgiving trip. He framed it and gave it to me at the beginning of the new year.)

After Thanksgiving break it was time to start thinking about finals and going home to PA for Christmas. I was feeling homesick and confused and was looking forward to some time to think. It was also a stressful time in our newly formed relationship, because many of the friends back at home were guys that I planned on hanging out with over Christmas break. I had dated someone the previous summer, and though he and I had agreed that it was ok to date other people--and  I had told him that I was hanging out with a guy at college--I hadn't quite explained that Joe and I were quickly becoming more than friends. My experience had been that once guys knew you were taken--they didn't want to be your friend anymore. This was a worry for me and a sore spot with Joe and me.