La-la-laaaaaaaagoon

Have I told you about Date Night yet? Yes? Maybe? Oh, look! I did here: March Maddness. Good, that saves me a lot of explaining.

This was my month to plan and I chose ... Lagoon! It is where fun is!! I haven't been there since I was about 19 and Boyfriend, not from Utah, has never ever been.

I found a promotion for it on KSL, Date Night. Two for one; a Wicked awesome deal. I actually had a different date night planned before I found this, but I can push it back to August until it is my turn again. When I found this coupon, I was beyond excited. Just thinking about going took me back to being 12, when going to Lagoon was cool. I imagined things going so well, Boyfriend and I were going to have so much fun riding rides and walking around eating junk food! We were going to relive the funnest parts of being a teenager (because there weren't that many).

Well... I was wrong. Because when you grow up, Lagoon makes you sick. Boyfriend got queasy after one ride, started sweating after the second and was completely hopeless after the third. Some of the lines were so short that I went on the Colossus a few times without him to see if he would start to feel better, but it was a fruitless endeavor. I was pretty bummed when we went home early and were in bed at a disgustingly respectable 10:45. Though to be fair about the overall trip, we did have a couple of good hours at Lagoon a Beach doing the slides and lazy river before starting on the roller coasters.

Colossus: The Fire Dragon,
Boyfriend could not handle the heat 

I want to go again this summer and ride all of the rides we didn't get a chance to go on, though I figure this time around I'll be riding solo*.

*Literally. I will be riding the rides alone.

Virginia Beach

Boyfriend and I are back from Virginia Beach! I'm happy to report that after one month of dedicated dieting, I blew all of my progress in four gluttonous days. I'm going to restart my diet in a few days. I was going to start right away, but Boyfriend reminded me that I promised to eat a whole pizza at the Pie with him when we were done with our diet in May. 

 

We had a really nice trip overall and it is definitely a place I would go again. The weather was hit and miss, but the water was warm enough that even on the chilly days that we got to head out on the nature trails or boogie board for a little bit.

I'm glad to be back home, though I wish I had a little more time off fro work to settle back in. I have a lot to think about. I've officially met all of Boyfriend's immediate family and, spent 4 days at a beach house with them.

Our trip started off fairly uneventful. We found a lovely person in our apartment complex to take care of Kitty and made it to the airport without issue. Unfortunately, our luck ended there. We had an awful layover in Philly, a city I have decided I hate, and our flight ended up being rerouted. Originally we were going to land in Norfolk, but instead had to land in Newport News, a tiny airport, because the fog limited visibility in Norfolk so badly. We then had to take a taxi back up to Norfolk, adding about 1 1/2 hours total to our travel time.

After a night of not sleeping on the plane and being run for loops at the airport Boyfriend, surprisingly, was in a very bad mood (usually I am the one in the bad mood). Boyfriend's bad mood made me even more nervous to go spend a week-ish with his family.

White leg ...  

Luckily, his brother was late to pick us up. So, in the additional 20 – 30 minutes we spent waiting, I was able to karate chop Boyfriend into behaving a little bit better.

The week overall went pretty well. Boyfriend's siblings are really nice and his niece (1) and nephew (2 1/2) are great. I got along the best with them – even though I don't have a special affinity for children, I feel better with them than adults that I don't know.

The best part about the trip, were the days we got to boogie board. We couldn't one of the days because the undertow was apparently so bad the lifeguards were not letting anyone out past their knees. The next day we were allowed to go in up to our thighs, but weren't supposed to boogie board. without flippers

... brown leg

In a rouge move, (that I DO NOT recommend or endorse for safety reasons) Boyfriend and I took our boogie boards and ran out to the water when the lifeguard wasn't looking. We got in a good 30 – 45 minutes before the supervisor came out and made the lifeguards kick everyone on boogie boards out again. It was totally worth it.

I want a house by an ocean, next to the mountains. If I could magically make Yellowstone ocean front property I would be happy. And, rich. Because I think a lot of other people would want to live there too and I would sell the land for a lot of money.

Forced Announcement

I can't believe it is already June. I say that every time I write a post at the beginning of the month. I'm going to try to stop, but from now on it is implied. Cool?

Boyfriend and I are getting ready to go to Virginia Beach. We are going to be spending massive amounts of time in a beach house with his whole family. Nervous. Anxious! Wine? Wine will help.

So, lately I haven't been the greatest vegan. My "friend" Kent is annoyed that everyone doesn't know this. Apparently, the choices I make and what I choose to consume/put in my body is not a personal choice -- it is his business and everyone's business.

I've been eating eggs, from my friend Val's chickens and some cheese. It started as a small amount of farmers market cheese and has expanded from there. I would like to say that this slow descent was preceded by a thought process involving my values and code of ethics. Rather, it was preceded by a general apathy. I'm tired, I'm swapping my own convenience at the expense of other sentient beings. I realize that. I think there are a lot of things contributing to this lapse, but apathy is the most pertinent or maybe what the reasons all boil down to. And, I don't mind right now. I don't feel any worse for taking a step back for awhile. I don't often go easy on myself, but for once I'm not beating myself up about it.

On the positive side, it has been pretty wonderful. Boyfriend and I have a standing date every week where we go to Harmons and buy fancy cheeses on Fridays, after catching a matinee at Station Park. Small things in life. Plus, cheese goes great with wine.

Our date night spread, on a terrible Penn State plate.

I'm still vegetarian. I don't see myself changing that. But, honestly, anything could happen. Maybe I lied about not thinking about things, I'm probably just trying not to think about things right now while I get through the next few months. Or, maybe I'll push stuff off until I come to a breaking point or a realization. Or, maybe ... I'll just keep heading down this road until I decide to get back on track with veganism or vegetarianism. I'm enjoying life, trying to get through grad school and work. I have enough on my plate (HA! A pun!).

I'm thinking about redoing my blog. No matter I'm doing I don't feel like vegan is a big piece of who I am right now. It isn't a label that feels like "me" and blogging under the title just feels ... off. It isn't what I want to talk about, and I haven't been. I can't remember the last time I put up a recipe or restaurant review.

A really, really awful picture. Taken by said Kent Dunn.
Designed to show the lovely cheeseburger t-shirt that Boyfriend picked.

I'm open to suggestions for new name ideas, ideally things that involve raptors. Or, maybe I'll just continue to be lackadaisically hypocritical and blog as a non-vegan vegan.