Valentine's

Husband got the traditional flowers and chocolates, from my two favorite places.

It's always a surprise with the flowers, because he'll pick a card for that year, and then get creative about making a themed bouquet with our favorite local florist. She literally has him on file to call three times a year, and goes off the premise that we love fluffy bouquets, hate roses, and that I'm obsessed with star/lilly flowers.

If there's one way to my heart, it's definitely See's Truffles Mix. I will swoon, without fail.

We usually go out for Mexican for Valentine's, because most people don't, and we hate crowds. However, we opted to stay in this year because I couldn't stand the idea of being clothed for the public, and, well, that was enough reason.

Another surprise came, when my nephew gifted me (and I suspect all the aunts) with an adorable magnet. I love children's crafts, and it was a nice insight into the future of having nieces and nephews. It's on the fridge now, in my dedicated "Awesome Things From Little People" section.

Black Sabbath

I managed to keep a secret.
What? You didn't know I suck at secrets?

Anyway, it's true. I managed to keep from Husband, for an entire three months, that I had bought tickets to Black Sabbath as his Christmas present.

SFX screen they did some neat stuff with

Considering he grew up with Ozzy, and basically reveres him as a mentor, I knew he'd love it. This is what made it hard to hide from him. He kept saying how this tour is probably their last, and trying to figure how we could afford to go.All I could say was, "Let's see where our finances are after Christmas."

I am a badass, and managed to hit a pre-sale in September that I could stack a savings code on, which got us tickets that cost what we would spend on a nice restaurant dinner. All that was left was to keep my mouth shut, and try to figure out a good metal look for when we'd go.
Christmas came, and I successfully blew Husband's mind. I don't know if he was more surprised at the idea of the concert, or that I had managed to not spill the beans the second the tickets arrived in the mail.

This is my winning face

We ended up having a blast. I enjoyed the show much more than I expected, and definitely enjoyed seeing Husband so thrilled to be there. Everyone there was really cool and friendly, which made for some pleasant encounters at the bar, in the bathrooms, after the show, and even in the parking lot.

I don't really know how to put everything else into words, so here's some decent shots I got with my phone.

And Then A Funeral

Not a day later, we were up bright and early to honor the life of an aunt whom had lost her battle to cancer.
I don't feel comfortable telling her story, or too many details, as she is from extended family, and I'd hate to violate her, or her children's privacy.

The important thing is, she had a little time to love and say goodbye, making a beautiful, positive impact on everyone she encountered. We weren't super close, but her absence is marked, and I needed the catharsis of acknowledging it.

Husband and I went to the wake, and helped lighten the mood with Southern traditions of really celebrating life. We cracked jokes, and shared stories, but unfortunately driving to the valley two days in a row caught up with both of us having leg problems, and we disappeared into the sunset.

Bulletins, Billiards, and Bob

There I was, cruising Facebook as I often do, when this comes across my newsfeed.

I followed the link to a flyer, which detailed the time and location of a job fair for multiple facilities. Mind you, this event was happening not 12 hours from when I saw this post, but Husband was game.
We got squared away, making sure his truck wouldn't die on the drive to Covina, and I put on my best "reliable and worthy of your team" look.

By this point, I had never been to a job fair, so I was wracked with nervous energy. We get to the facility, I go inside, and this is what I see.

Not pictured is the dozens of people seated or standing around the other three walls of the lobby, already signed in and waiting to be interviewed. I nearly peed myself.
I was expecting a job fair, with booths and prospective bosses taking resumes and making conversation, not a full-on job interview!

I played it cool though, and just rehearsed some questions in my head before they called me in.
There I was, prepared as I could have been, and they start me off with, "What makes you want to work in Pasadena?"
No joke, I blanked out for a minute, then promptly recovered with, "I'm sorry, the flyer I read said this was a job fair for multiple facilities in this area, as well as the Antelope Valley. Of course I have no problem working in Pasadena, but I was under the impression this was an application for multiple opportunities."

I was proud of myself, and carried on with light jokes and useful answers after that. The two people I met with seemed at a minimum tickled by me, if not interested, so I left with my head held high.
Husband has always been much more optimistic for me than I ever am, so he insisted we head towards home and have a nice dinner somewhere to unwind. Inevitably, we hit traffic on the 405 and opted to chill in Burbank for a bit until things died down. We found ourselves at a pool hall, playing hockey nonetheless, and had a good time there, followed by Husband's first time with Japanese cuisine.

If that wasn't interesting enough, we came across a Ben & Jerry's on our way back to the truck, and decided to pop in. Little did we know, Bob Clendenin had the same idea.

I basically panicked for a minute, because I had completely forgotten his name, and kept thinking it was Tom, since I had last seen him in CougarTown. He was super sweet and bashful at my introduction, which just made me bashful, which made him even more awed that I was getting starstruck.

He was incredibly cool, and seriously wanted to hang out and talk Louisiana with us once he knew Husband's hometown. We were sorely tempted, but his boys seemed bummed by the stranger attention, and our dogs needed us anyway, so we thanked him and went on our way.
I shot him a message on Facebook the next day, and again he was crazy friendly, thanked us for saying hi, and then offered to network.

He's definitely the kind of guy I wouldn't mind kicking it with, and when I find myself in Burbank again, will definitely keep an eye out for.