Day off with my lady...

So, what kind of day did Vicky and I have yesterday?

Yesterday was the day we decided I would take one day each week and not work. (More on that over at the Ken La Salle blog.) But what do you do with a whole day not working? Well, Vicky was able to help me with that.

In the morning, we went down to the OC Swap Meet. We stopped for a little breakfast at Mimi’s first and I got the Pain Perdu breakfast, which is really the way God (if there was one and I was his/her/it’s spokesman) would do french toast. We sat and enjoyed coffee together and discussed our careers and Vicky’s forthcoming niece and it was completely relaxing long before we even got the food. When we got the food, Vicky got the Florentine crepes with a little potatoes and I got the pain perdu… and the eggs… and the potatoes… and the sausage… and the bran muffin… I was a pig.

Anyway, after breakfast we hit the Swap Meet. For those who haven’t gone, it’s an enormous parking lot filled with people selling all kinds of crap – most of which are sun glasses – and you get to walk it. Think of shopping on the Internet but in reverse. I didn’t care, though, because I saw it as a day in which I would get to walk with Vicky and share the day at her side. I really enjoy hanging out with Vicky and count myself lucky for that. I’ve been in other relationships where the “like” factor is excruciatingly low; one or both of us just did not like the other, though we were very much in love – yeah, no fun. The great thing about Vicky is how we’ve always liked each other and our love just gets stronger every year.

But enough mush. Vicky had gone to the Swap Meet expressly to pick up her brother a speaker – cause her brother has far too much money, the bastard. Fortunately, he’s getting a kid and that will be the end of that. After we bought it and agreed to pick it up on our way out, we started walking. Most of it was very pleasant – and then there were the smokers. Listen, I have nothing against smoking. If you want to smoke, please go ahead. But consider where you’re at when you do it. Try not to smoke around crowds of children, for instance. That might be nice. Times like that make me very grateful I quit, so I don’t have to admit to being one of those…

Vicky bought me my first pair of Vans since, well, the 1980’s. I liked the checked ones but Vicky said I was trying too hard to be young. Actually, I was just trying to get the ones I liked but, as it turned out, we had bigger issues than that. The issues were my feet. Damn, they’re big! I had to buy a size 13 and they only had one size 13 shoe. Turned out, I liked it. In fact, I’m wearing them now as I write. Vicky stopped by this jewelry shack that basically specialized in ugly jewelry. I played Switzerland as she bought herself a ring. As long as she was happy, I was fine.

The Swap Meet ate up a bit of our day but there was still plenty of time to go home and work. Vicky would have none of that. So, I actually played a video game for a while! Shocking! You see, up until a couple of years ago – maybe less – before I really made writing the driving force in my life, I would sit and play a video game for several hours every day or so. It was lovely, honestly. I’d forgotten.

So, having a day off was nice. I actually find myself looking forward to next Sunday. Mind you, I’ve got a week until then.

Back to work…