Boyfriend and I went home this weekend.   We survived 3 family dinners, 2 poker tournaments and 1 life changing revelation.  More on that later, but first – the weekend.

Friday: I took the day off, remember?  I didn’t get a ton done, but playing pretend stay at home mom for the day allowed me to pick up the boyfriend from work at 5:00pm sharp.  Well I didn’t get there until 5:20pm, and on top of my tardiness we hit a ton of traffic heading out of the city.  Not sure why we were surprised there, but my tardiness + rush hour traffic / 7:00pm dinner reservations with the BF’s family = BF & me 45 minutes late for said reservation.  Not to worry though, his family isn’t the type to get mad.  They’re pretty good at entertaining themselves.  And I mean that as a compliment.  Really.

2 hours of maki, sashimi, saki and tempura later, BF and I thank the fam for a fancy Japanese dinner and head to the boys house for the night.  Fortunately tonight, unlike most nights at the boys’ house, there were actually a few other females present.  You see, normally it’s me and oh I don’t know, 15 poker playing, beer drinking, cigarette smoking men.  And I stand here now, waving the white flag.  It was fun.  Despite my attempts to leave the college-like-life of drinking games and staying out until 3am, I did actually enjoy the endless games of beirut, the taste of Miller Lite and the feeling of just hanging out, letting go and having fun.   I also, thoroughly enjoyed being an enjoyable person.  I have a love-hate relationship with many of the BF’s friends back home.  Like I said – they are the poker playing, beer drinking, cigarette smoking kind of men.  And although I do love them, and admire the relationship they have with the BF, well… let’s just say that I haven’t always agreed with all of their decisions, choices, actions, behaviors… you get the point.  And when I have disagreed with said behaviors, I’ve made it pretty clear.  You know – by storming out of parties, fighting with the BF, screaming – my list of (in the past) crazy GF behaviors is pretty long.

So cheers to me!  For just being the fun, enjoyable, sweet GF for the night.

Saturday: BF and I wake up to a gorgeous, and I mean gorgeous spring day.  We drive to get coffees, drive to the beach, drive, drive drive.  Windows down, music up.  Glorious if I must say so myself.  We part ways for the day and I do some serious damage hitting up the outlets in Freeport with Mom.   A quick “I just want to get a new pair of dress pants” turned into a day long excursion and I made out quite well – new jeans, (2) new pairs of dress pants, new high waisted pencil skirt, gorgeous gold necklace from BR and … a new purse!   Mom picked up the tab for quite a few of the purchase because they were work related and well, she still loves to treat me to some things.  And she picked up the tab for the new bag! It’s technically for my birthday in May, but consider it an early present and we’re all set.

We rejoined my family for family dinner #2.  We went to a new hibachi grill in Portland and hours later, after saki and Sapporo and hibachi mmmmmmm, we went downtown.  Saturday night was spent at the bars with both his friends and mine, so it was just a blast.  Started to feel like a bender of a weekend.

Sunday: Pretty harmless.  Coffee date with BF then parted ways.  I spent the afternoon lounging in yard furniture, drinking mimosas and beer, enjoying some snacks with my good friends.  Another glorious, glorious day.  Family dinner #3 followed with BF’s mom and family, and then a long, dark drive back to Boston.

I don’t know if it was the warm weather and sun, or the days filled with family and friends, but BF and I returned to the big city on Sunday wanting to move back to Portland.  No joke.  I’ve been here for 6 years now, so this is a huge, huge idea.  And it’s already giving me anxiety.  I mean, finding a job in my field in Portland isn’t going to be super easy.  But… this is a to be continued conversation.