...a new year begins.

A year ago today, after weeks of pressuring, I got her to come out to go see a movie with me. The stipulation, it had to be Avatar... in 3D. This was at the END of the first run for Avatar and there was only one theater still playing it. I had tried to get her to come out on multiple occasions, only to be turned down each time. I didn't give up. I kept at it, asking when would be a good time to meet. Finally, I just told her we're doing this movie thing. Meet me there, I dont care how tired you are. It's just a movie.

Just a movie became talking in the car for what seemed like hours afterwards. Text messages and emails flew afterwards. A second date came and went. Then for the oddest of all dates, I experienced Greek Easter with her family and a huge family gathering they do at Easter and Thanksgiving. The summer was one where we got to know each other better. We grew as people and as a couple, finally making it "official" to everyone even though they pretty much saw this first date as the start of something awesome.

I did something with her I've never done before. I took a vacation. We flew off to Tampa. I met some wonderful people that will always make me feel comfortable whenever I am there. I went to the theater for the first time in years. I got back in to going to ball games, hockey games, concerts, movies, and so much more. I dressed up for Halloween for the first time since I was a kid.... and I found someone I can talk to about anything, at any time of the day, for any reason. I'm not going to say all of our conversations have been good ones. But we have this way of being able to talk to each other that is nothing I have ever experienced before. I dont ever have to pull any punches, and she sure as hell doesn't either. That's what is making this work with the two of us. Just being able to communicate on such a regular basis about anything.

So, yesterday marked the end of "year one".  Now we move on to "year two" of many more.

S'agapo, prinkipissa mou.

...I'm here with all of my people.

I have this mix of music I listen to when I want to be in a better mood. One of my favorit tracks is My People by The Presets. It's just got a vibe that makes me happy when I hear it.

Music does that to me. I get really emotional about it. Sometimes it is happy, other times it is sad, angry, or even frustrated. Seeing as I play guitar, I think I just get in to the music. The latest track we got back from the might Dan Clark for the next am.psych album just had be in total disbelief that we wrote something so mind blowing.

If you have kids, do like I do (or don't, I don't tell people how to parent)... turn off the TV for a bit, turn on the radio or pandora/last.fm and give the kids some culture. Have them sit and listen to it. My son now can pick up and recognize melody on just about any song we listen to. My daughter is always bouncing around.
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I'm probably going to take it to the next step and have them close their eyes and then draw what it makes them see... but then I might get called a tree hugging hippie.

oh, and if you get a chance, check out the band I'm in. We have a few shows coming up in April.... one of which we open for our friends @16volt .

http://www.vampirefreaks.com/ampsych

...I don't feel like I did yesterday.

Aside from all the running around I was doing, I ended up having a huge asthma and allergy attack. Haven't had one of those in a while. But, today is a lot better. Maybe the rain has something to do with that too. Keeps the allergens down. But, hooray, I can breathe and sleep so much better. I'm plugging all sorts of vitamins in me and other things to help as well. Having a face feel like someone filled it with cement is no fun. I am glad I don't feel like that today.

...it was arts and crafts time with the kids.

I totally almost forgot to do this today. The kids and I found these things at Target. They are little action figures (not mugz, but like them) that you get to color any way you want. So, tonight after dinner, that's exactly what we did. It was a nice thing to be able to do while watching Iron Man 2.

The little figures are pretty cool. I had fun with mine. It's been a while since I got to be creative like that in front of the kids. I keep forgetting they like to do things like that.

We spent all day together. A trip to IKEA, a little more shopping at Target. They only complained while we were waiting in line to check out, and I would too. They only had a few checkout lanes open. But it was an opportunity to spend more time with them and talk, so at least I got that out of it.

...I got to share an awesome sunset with the lady.

So, I picked up my girlfriend on the way out to get my kids tonight. Prior to leaving, she gave me my anniversary gift a few days early (Tuesday will be one year since our first date). She got me a very nice pair of sunglasses I have been looking at for a while. They are awesome. So, we hit the road, got some food and drove out to get the littles. Thanks to daylight savings time shifting the clock by an hour last weekend, I got to drive in to the sunset.

It was amazing. A giant orange ball of light that you wanted to reach out and hold just disappearing in to the trees on the horizon leaving a bloody trail of red and dark purple against a pristine clear blue sky. One would think that would be the end of it. The red and purple went away, no clouds in the sky, nothing to make the night really seem all that eventful. Then as we rounded the corner of the highway, the moon rise started. It's not too often you get to see a great sunset and then an almost full moon rise within minutes of each other.

It was a nice ride out tonight.