Sonny's Sunday: The Story of the Proposal

***Sonny is an old friend of mine. We went to elementary, middle, and high school together. He's also my friend who's doing the super-adult thing. He and his new fiancee just bought a house. They're working on planning a life together. Even with all that stability, their love life is still interesting.***

Quick Recap: I mentioned that I went with Sonny to help pick out Cher's engagement ring. It was such a gorgeous ring. I took a photo of it on my phone that I can finally put up. The diamond isn't huge, but it's gorgeous. It's dam near flawless and definitely sparkles better than every other diamond we saw in the store that day.

Okay, on to the story of the engagement. Sonny had a really good plan for the engagement. He left with some friends to go to a graduation and left Cher behind. It was literally the first time they had been apart for more than 24 hours in the last year. I took her out dancing to the Wild Hare with Bad so she wouldn't be too bored without him. It was an enjoyable time for all, I think.

But when she got back home, she picked a fight with Sonny (via text). I think it was a combination of not knowing where they were headed as a couple. You know, they just bought a house and now she's like, now what?

He talked her down from the ledge and came back from the graduation trip and tried to reassure her without giving up that he was about to propose. They packed and headed to airport to leave for the cruise. The plan was for him to propose the night before the cruise at dinner since they were heading down a day early.

He got so excited though that he couldn't wait until dinner. He ended up proposing that afternoon, and of course she said yes! The had a lovely celebration dinner and then headed off to the cruise ship the next morning.

He wanted to take her on the cruise to convince her that they should have their wedding ceremony on a cruise. I don't think that worked very well, but you never know. So we'll see how things go as they set a date and begin to make plans. I'm pretty excited and so happy for them!

Focus on Me Friday: Memorial Day Memories

***If ever one wonders why I feel like my life could be a movie (or better yet a sitcom), it's because stuff keeps happening that seems like it could be written for storyline purposes.***

For Memorial Day, my mother asked me to invite PT to our house for our bbq. He has his daughter with him every weekend, so he brought her too. I was a bit nervous about my parents meeting PT for only the second time and his daughter for the first time. But I went with it.

They arrived and his daughter was in a bad mood. She kept trying to leave our house and was fussing about her toys. My mother gave me a look that expressed a great displeasure. But after a while, his daughter calmed down and was even enjoyable. By the time they left, she had my mother opening boxes of collector's edition Barbie dolls, she had me giving her my entire stash of grapes (we both love grapes, but she doesn't have sharing down just yet), and she was getting away with climbing the furniture.

PT also met three of my friends for the first time, including Bad. I figured and hoped they would get along great and they did. Bad is a pretty rough judge of the guys I've dated, but he really liked PT. In fact, everyone did. I can't even joke about finding a better guy than PT and cutting him loose without my girls who were at the bbq chastising me.

PT had to leave at one point to take his daughter back to her mother's house, but he returned to my parents' house to hang out some more. I finally got my wish of having a four person band playing Rock Band 2. We actually had a lot of fun. It relieved one of my worries about the age difference between PT and I. He can get along with my friends without feeling old or making them feel young.

I have a friend who nicknamed him granddad even though her husband is only one year younger than PT. And Bad and I have hung out with her and her husband and they make us feel like they're old. Don't get me wrong, I love her and her husband, but I really hope at one point in the future PT and I can hang out with them so it can be illustrated that my guy may be older than hers, but he's much younger at heart.

So far, things with PT are going pretty good. Everyone loves him. If only he wasn't so busy all the time, I might actually sit back and enjoy how wonderful he seems to be.

Tip Top Tuesday: Top Keeps Unsuccessfully Minding Her Own Business

***My girl Top is unique and one-of-a-kind. This makes the story of her love life especially interesting. Just when you think you've got her figured, she makes an unexpected move. She's my career-minded friend who is a closet nurturer. Read and learn how to be fabulous.***

Quick Recap: Top is single. She is single by choice, ever since getting rid of Jack. She has been talking on the phone to a guy named CG and liking him more and more. He's lives in a different state and is coming to NYC soon to visit her.

Top has never been one of those women who lament that she doesn't have a boyfriend. In fact, she doesn't go long without a boyfriend. But that's not because she's out there looking for one. They always seem to find her.

It would mystify some of the women I know if they knew what type of men Top attracts. She's one of the most independent women I know. For her, being with a man would be a choice and an addition to her life after much careful thought. She'd never have a man because she needed him or had to rely on him. She's better at making a man feel needed in other ways, lol.

For some reason, she attracts guys who are the stereotype of the Marrying Guy. It's amusing. She's the poster child for finding it when you're not looking for it. CG is the perfect example of this. She wasn't looking for him. When he called her up to catch up, she was just interested in getting to know an old friend again. But then he realized he liked her and kept calling. Then she realized she liked him too.

It always happens that way for her. A guy pursues her friendship and later a relationship develops. She should give a seminar to some of my more man-hungry friends. They could use a dose of Top's patience and self-focus. She's not at all self-centered. But she truly spends time improving herself and so she is free and ready when the right man comes along. Is CG the right man you ask? I sure as hell don't know. But I find it interesting to watch as she gets closer to finding the answer to that question.

I did ask Top how she would feel if he moved to NYC after his visit. Her response was, "I wouldn't mind." That's a great response. That means she feels he has enough of his own life going that he wouldn't be doing it to follow her in a stalkerish way.

Melody's Monday: Summer Lovin', They're Having A Bla-ast

***Melody is my little sister for all intents and purposes. She just finished her freshman year of college and her love life is filled with all the wonderful things that brings. She has new found freedom mixed with ideals of romance informed by parents and romantic comedies. She is currently involved in what will probably go down in her history as her first adult relationship.***

Today's post is about enjoying the wonderful freedom that being a college kid with the summer off provides. There is no other time in life like it. You have ultimate freedom with minimal responsibility. And Melody is living it up. Tweety, who her boyfriend for a month now, is consuming a lot of her time. Every time I talk to her, they're at the beach, or they're headed to the movies or the park or a restaurant. When they're not working, that is.

It reminds me of being her age and wanting to spend all your time with this person just because you could. He seems to make her happy so far. She tells cute stories about how they just sit in the park and talk for hours about any and everything. Melody will be working this summer, but I imagine she won't let that stop her from seeing Tweety every chance she gets.

I still haven't heard the final verdict on whether Tweety will still be a student at their college next school year. He is talking about transferring to an HBCU down south. I want his college education to go well, but I also don't want Melody to get another broken heart. He is now trying to convince her to go down there with him. Every independent-woman bone in my is screaming for her not to do it. Luckily, there's not much chance of that happening because she really has no desire to do that. He says he expects to go down there for one semester, not like it, and come back. I definitely don't understand teenagers. If he won't like it, why go at all with such a terrible expectation??

But, that's not for me to say. I didn't offer any advice, I just asked that she keep me informed on the goings on because it's certainly making an interesting story, lol.

Tip Top Tuesday: Focusing on Being Single Was Thankfully Just A Phase

***My girl Top is unique and one-of-a-kind. This makes the story of her love life especially interesting. Just when you think you've got her figured, she makes an unexpected move. She's my career-minded friend who is a closet nurturer. Read and learn how to be fabulous.***

Quick Recap: When I last wrote about Top on this blog, it was to say that she was starting to like the guy from college, who I'm going to call CG (college guy) from now on. She was still enjoying being single very much. Mostly, they were just old friends from school who were chatting on the phone to catch up. He expresses that he likes her and has for a while, but they stay in the friend box. Over time as Top begins to get to know CG better, she realized she could like him too.

I say that I'm thankful that Top wanting to be single no matter what was just a phase because I write about her in my blog. Imagine if she was single for the forseeable future. All I'd have to write about is her rejecting suitors left and right. While that's certainly amusing, it's not as fun for me as writing about someone's path to falling in love. So for purely selfish reasons, I'm glad she's liking CG.

I've mentioned on my main blog that I went to the Maxwell & Jill Scott concert last Tuesday night. It was a blast of course. This was something I would've done with Top before she moved to NYC. So  I went in Chicago and she's going in New York next month. And... she's taking CG with her. He's going to visit her there and they're going to the concert together. That should definitely make for an interesting story.

Also, Top recently told me that she is really officially liking CG and if only he lived in New York, she would date him. One of my favorite things about Top is she knows when to make a change. When she decided not to date for a while after the Jack debacle, it was the perfect decision. It allowed her room to focus on herself. And a side bonus was that she got to know CG really well just as a friend. Since Top is very comfortable being honest with herself, when she decided she liked him, she didn't have a mini personal crisis; I'm definitely planning on being like her when I grow up.

I don't know where these two are headed, but it will almost definitely make a great blog post, lol. CG is still looking for a new place to settle down now that grad school is done. I wonder if he'll fall in love with NYC and what it has to offer on his visit. Perhaps he can find a non-stalkerish way to move there so he and Top can date. Or maybe they'll just be great friends for whom the timing was never quite right. We shall see.