So...

How was your day?

You're the reason I want to sing
You make me feel like a king
I love the sunshine that you bring
I think I'll buy you a diamond ring
A diamond ring
Baby baby say I do
And I'll spend my life with you

Diamond Ring
The Black Crowes

These rocks don't lose their shape/Oh, diamonds are a girl's best friend

That is a Tiffany's Lucida engagement ring. It's platinum with a one carat diamond and costs more than my life is worth (possessions and all).

And about four hours ago, Dan's mom and I were oohing-and-ahhing over just how pretty it sat on my left hand.

Oh, that's not good. That's not good at all.

LOST

The last text message I received from The Boyfriend:

LOngeST day ever.

Cutest. Boyfriend. Ever. Seriously. I love this man.

Season finale tonight and I can't wait.

My predictions for the finale:

• Charlie, Tom (also known as 'Zeke' and 'Mr. Friendly'), Rose, Bernard and an Other to be named later are going to get off the Island...permanently.
• Rousseau and Alex will finally reunite after sixteen long years.
• Desmond's prediction will be inaccurate in the sense that no rescue helicopter will save Claire and Aaron.
  
• Naomi is a liar -- Flight 815 was never recovered in the 'real' world.
  
• Boone flashback! (That's just wishful thinking on my part and based on nothing more than a libidinous jones for Ian Somerhalder).
  

ONE MORE HOUR! Expect a post tomorrow.

Show me a woman who's not jealous of another woman, and I'll show you a man.

(Discussing the drinks-from-strangers-in-bars policy now that we're both no longer single)

Dan: If some frat guy bought you a drink, I'd be upset.
Jaime: Why? I get a free drink. I don't have to go home with him.
Dan: Well, how would you feel if some girl bought me a drink?
Jaime: I'd make a necklace out of the bitch's teeth.
Dan (laughing): That's sweet.

Happy anniversary, baby. I love you.

Happy Birthday!

24 Reasons I Adore My Boyfriend:

24. The fact that this will probably mortify him. As similar as we are, in some ways -- we are very different people.
23. His encyclopedic knowledge of minutae. Especially film and TV minutae. It's mind-bogglingly amazing. The guy's a pub quiz champ for a reason.
22. He always opens the car door for me. In the end, it's the little things that really matter.
21. He is gorgeous. When we finally met in person, my first impression of him was, "Wow....he is really good-looking." This was of course, followed by the inevitable, "Oh. This isn't good. This isn't good at all."
20. He makes the world's best grilled cheese sandwiches and french toast. I'd date him based on this alone.
19. He believes in me and thinks I'm a great writer. Coming from a writer I respect so much, that's high praise.
18. He serenades me with everything from Motown Philly by Boyz II Men to The Doors to completely retooled versions of Disney songs (I could be wrong, but I'm fairly sure that A Whole New World from Aladdin never featured lyrics about DJ's boyfriend, Steve).
17. Because even though we've been together for almost nine months, I still get butterflies whenever he calls and thinking about him will still make me smile and blush.
16. He has great taste in music and makes me the best-best-best mix CDs. I have mixes entitled, 'Dear God! Ten Volumes!', 'Eye On Springfield' and 'Now! That's What Dan Calls Christmas.' Tell me that doesn't rule all.
15. He shares his food and lets me eat off his plate (You'd be surprised at how annoying this is to some people).
14. He thinks I'm beautiful. How can you not love a guy who says things like this and actually means them? I've been called cute before. Ditto adorable and precious. Actually, think of any adjective you'd assign to a Labrador Retriever and odds are, I've heard it in reference to me, but beautiful? Never. I've never been told that. Not in a genuine sense, anyway. More in a slap-the-ass-get-me-another-beer-wouldya-thanks-beautiful way. Everyone should feel beautiful at least once in their life and because of Dan, I now know what that feels like.
13. He drives stick. No, that's not a God-awful euphemism. He's got a stick-shift car and according to numerous sources on manliness (primarily Maxim, Esquire and my dad) -- real men drive stick.
12. Despite the fact that driving stick and holding your girlfriend's hand is damn near impossible, he manages it anyway.
11. He always smells great.
10. He inspires me -- to write, to be a better person, to see the ever-evolving beauty this world possesses. Being with him, I'm reminded of how optimistic I was at sixteen. Somewhere along the way, that unabashed optimism got submerged, but now? It's starting to come back and that is a beautiful thing.
9. He indulges my spectacularly crap taste in music. Not many men would put up with their girlfriend belting out off-key versions of old-school Mariah Carey at ear-splitting volumes.
8. He's a great uncle and his niece adores him (His niece, by the way? Smartest child ever. But in a cute way. Not in that pretentious and scary Dakota Fanning way)
7. He's got a huge....wit. What? The kid's funny. He can make me laugh harder with one noise than most comedians can with an HBO special. (Come on now -- did you really think I was going to be so lewd? Ahh, I don't blame you. I would have expected it from myself too)
6. Dating Dan means almost unlimited access to his grey American Eagle hoodie which might just be the most comfortable article of clothing in this world. Ladies, back me up here. No matter how many sweaters and hoodies you own -- the most comfy one always belongs to your boyfriend, right?
5. He introduced Lost, Wawa Iced Tea, Bruce Springsteen's Atlantic City, Black-and-White cookies, Before Sunrise and Before Sunset into my life, thus making it ultimately better.
4. Best. Conversations. Ever. He's intelligent, eloquent, passionate and opinionated. That's why I love this picture of us so much. It perfectly captures exactly how we are together.
3. His 'Gatsby' smile. He's got this amazing smile that reminds me of a line from F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby -- "...and then, his face broke into that radiant and understanding smile, as if we'd been in ecstatic cahoots on that fact all the time."
2. When we kiss, I get weak at the knees and a little dizzy. I used to think that was a myth promulgated by Hollywood and romance novelists to sell tickets and books. I thought wrong.
1. He took the risk, flew 1000 miles and met the Internet Girl. And they'll live happily ever after.

I loved you then. I love you now. I'll love you always.

I've walked a thousand miles to slip into this skin...

I got back from Pennsylvania a little less than a week ago and I've been in two minds whether to blog my experiences or not. On one hand, I blog everything, so it only made sense, but on the other? I wanted to have something that was mine (ours, really). Something that no-one else was privy to.

In the end, my desire for self-publication overwhelmed all. It's the journalist in me. I dig free food and publication. So here's an abridged version of my trip to Pennsylvania. Enjoy!

My flight to Philadelphia was delayed by about two hours and while waiting at the airport, I met quite possibly the world's nicest people. A family from Bryn Mawr, PA and a very sweet lady who used to work for Disney. We started talking and of course, I told them the story of how Dan and I met. I told them about how I had pterodactyls swooping in my stomach at the thought of meeting Dan's mom and sister. I talked about how more than anything, I was just looking forward to linking his fingers in mine and knowing he was that close to me. I talked about how he can make me laugh harder with one raised eyebrow than most people can with a half-hour comedy special.

By the time we landed at Philadelphia International Airport, I was accompanied to the baggage claim by five people very anxious to meet Dan. I guess I talked him up pretty good.

People never cease to amaze me. I had known these people for less than six hours and yet, they were rooting for me to see Dan again and genuinely interested in seeing us reunite. Making connections like that is rare, but it shouldn't be. I'm sure, at point in their lives, they were all as excited as I was about seeing someone they loved. The details might be different, but the emotional experience is essentially the same. It's nice to make that connection with someone. It helps reiterate that at the end of the day, regardless of skin color or sexual orientation or age -- we're all the same.

Having had a couple of airport reunions under my belt, one would assume that I'm a pro. Not the case at all. I saw Dan, I think I gasped and I flung myself into his arms.

We hugged, we kissed, I breathed him in and then, we realized that a gaggle of people were staring at us and smiling. I didn't care, though. I was just thrilled to be talking to Dan without holding a phone up to my ear.

In the car on the way home, I kept glancing to the left, staring at my ridiculously cute boyfriend and repeating, "I'm here. I'm really here." It didn't seem real at all.

Before we got home, though -- we had to make a stop at the infamous Wawa. Now, for those of you who don't reside in the mid-Atlantic states, you probably have no idea what the hell a Wawa is. I certainly didn't and I had been hearing about their glory since I was sixteen. A Wawa is the world's greatest convenience store. They have made-to-order sandwiches, great coffee, amazing iced tea and something called a Sizzli which I think is a breakfast sandwich...but I could be mistaken. In fact, it was at the Wawa that I encountered West Chester's most infamous resident -- Bam Margera. No, I didn't talk to him. No, I didn't take a picture. No, I didn't kick him in the balls. I just looked up, saw he was there and continued paying for my iced tea.

We got home and I met Dan's mom for the first time. Within five minutes of being in her company, all those Mothra-sized butterflies in stomach disappeared. His family is incredible and I am so lucky to have met them.
In addition to being the first time I was seeing Dan in six months, it was also the first time I was seeing snow in 22 years.




















Living in Florida, you get used to three types of meteorological conditions -- hot, not so hot and plywood (as in, hit the Depot and stock up on it because y'all about to get peckerslapped by a hurricane). Snow is a big deal and I was obviously excited by its presence.




















It wasn't snowing on my first full day there, so I improvised and made it snow.



























In addition to snowball fights, snow angels and sledding, the biggest benefit of snow is looking like one of the ice climbers. Seriously. Looking like a video game character is never a bad thing.



























As well as playing in the snow at Oakbourne Manor, we also hit up Baldwin's Book Barn - a five-story barn built into a bookstore.




















































I've got a thing for bookstores and can spend hours poring over texts and tomes. Living in Orlando, you don't really get to see many bookstores that don't have a Starbucks built into them, so this was a pretty cool experience.




















We also hit up the DK Diner -- allegedly a West Chester institution. I loved it -- the service was great, the people were friendly and best of all, the food was delicious.




















I love diner food. Eggs, hash browns, cherry pie, coffee, short stacks of pancakes covered in syrup? Love 'em all...but then again, I'm the girl who would eat a couch if they deep-fried it. Seriously -- I'm a fat girl in a little girl's body just screaming to escape. Look at the mess on my plate. I actually ate that and if I wasn't completely stuffed, I would have gone back for seconds.



























Reason #16549846531316354 I love Dan: He shares his food. Actually he shares everything and since I follow the 'Sharing is Caring' mentality to a severe degree -- this makes me blissfully happy.



























When we weren't eating, we actually did stuff. We drove into Philly one afternoon and checked out Temple University (where my ridiculously cute boyfriend happens to be an esteemed alumnus) and a classic rock art show. Being us, we picked the coldest/stormiest day of my trip to drive into Philly. See how red my nose is? Luckily, we found a killer parking spot right outside of Temple Towers and didn't have to trek too far to see the school.




















While at Temple, we grabbed a slice of Fame's Pizza. See, Dan has this theory that pizza and bagels and stuff suck in Los Angeles because the water's no good. Now, I don't know how much credence this theory holds, but I do know pizza and Fame's was pretty effing delicious....and now, I'm jonesing for pizza. Great.



























After touring Temple, we headed to the classic rock art show put on by 102.9 WMGK. We saw some pretty cool stuff including artwork by Ronnie Wood of the The Rolling Stones and Tico Torres of Bon Jovi, signed photographs, handwritten lyric sheets and best of all -- a gorgeous picture of Stevie Ray Vaughan and First Wife. Beautiful. I loved it.





















The weather was starting to turn ugly, so we decided to head back home. Normally, this would be a 40 minute drive. Instead, it turned into a 2 1/2 hour expedition in which we did not exceed a speed of 30 mph on I-95. Plus side to that? I got to snap this picture of Lincoln Financial Field -- home of the Philadelphia Eagles. I like the Eagles for two reasons:

A) Donovan McNabb. He's a good guy.
B) They hate the Cowboys with an unparalleled passion and take a real pleasure in pummeling them every season. I've got nothing but respect for that.





















When we got back home, Dan had to deal with the highly unpleasant task of shoveling the driveway. The poor guy was chilled to the bone when he got back in, but silver lining? I got a great picture out of it for my photography class. Yes, my boyfriend resembled Frostillicus, but I got a gold star from my professor. You can't tell me that's not a worthy sacrifice.





















As well as spending quality time in Philadelphia, we also decided to take a road trip to the wilds of New Jersey to visit Dan's college roomie, Adam and his girlfriend, Kristen. We stocked up on roadtrip essentials...even though it's only a 2 1/2 hour drive. For a successful roadtrip, one must procure some sort of snacky food (Tasty Kakes are delicious and beat the everloving crap out of Lil' Debby any day), cold beverages, directions and a fully loaded iPod filled with all sorts of eclectic music -- Marvin Gaye, Aerosmith, The Faces, Madonna and so much more.





















Dan's a great guy to road trip with. Not only because he shares his Swedish Fish and Tasty Kakes, but also because he indulges my spectacularly crap taste in music. Not many men would put up with their girlfriend belting out off-key versions of old-school Mariah Carey at ear-splitting volumes. In addition to this, he serenades me. I'm not talking about wobbly renditions of pablum like I Swear. I'm talking an anthemic, fist-pumping, passionate version of Motown Philly by Boyz II Men. Never has a song with a lyric about cheese steak sounded so good.





















Ah, New Jersey. Despite what I've heard, I didn't smell anything funny and no-one called me a 'douchebag' on arrival. I think this place gets an unfairly bad rap. Besides, how can a place that gave birth to both Frank Sinatra and Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle possibly be bad?





















While in Jersey, we hit up Jay and Silent Bob's Secret Stash. All they need is a couple of couches, a few flat-screen TVs, some XBoxes and pizza and this place would be a 14-year-old's wet dream....and by 14-year-old, I mean me. Dear God, I am such a nerd. In addition to seeing a replica of the Bluntmobile, we also saw Banky's famous sketch of Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, the male-affectionate, easy to get along with, non-political agenda lesbian and the man-hating, angry as fuck, agenda of rage, bitter dyke. We stood in front of it for about ten seconds before reciting the line, "Because the other three are figments of your fucking imagination!" at the same exact time. Yeah -- Dan and I are definitely made for each other.





















My boyfriend looks kinda like Brodie Bruce. So much so that he dressed up as him for Halloween one year. I'm not going to post those pictures, but here's a shot of Brodie at the Secret Stash.





















Since it was St. Patrick's Day, we decided to hit up an Irish pub for dinner and then we realized something -- it was St.Patrick's Day and it would probably be easier to get Paris Hilton to stop flashing her chocha than it would be to get a table at any Irish pub. So instead, we settled on a classic -- Applebee's. Burgers and beer -- what's not to love? Thanks again to Adam and Kristen for the hospitality. I had a great time hanging out with you guys and hope I get to see you again soon!





















All in all -- it was a great trip and one filled with firsts. First time traveling on a plane by myself, first time meeting my boyfriend's parents, first time spending a birthday with Dan (best. birthday. ever.) and first time visiting three states in a thirteen day period (Pennsylvania, Delaware and New Jersey). It was perfect and I can't wait until we see each other again (38 days!).

You gave me the best mixtape I have...

I spent the better part of tonight working on this:



Silly really, but doing stuff like this makes the long-distance thing easier.

Ditto making mix CDs. Since we've been together, he's made me about twelve mixes (eleven of which I got for Christmas and still haven't gotten all the way through) and I've made him thirteen.

I put a lot of effort into my mix CDs and fully adhere to Hornby's axiom:

To me, making a tape is like writing a letter — there's a lot of erasing and rethinking and starting again. A good compilation tape, like breaking up, is hard to do. You've got to kick off with a corker, to hold the attention (I started with "Got to Get You Off My Mind," but then realized that she might not get any further than track one, side one if I delivered what she wanted straightaway, so I buried it in the middle of side two), and then you've got to up it a notch, or cool it a notch, and you can't have white music and black music together, unless the white music sounds like black music, and you can't have two tracks by the same artist side by side, unless you've done the whole thing in pairs and...oh, there are loads of rules.

There's got to be balance, there's got to be some semblance of eclecticism (even if you're making a mix dedicated to a single artist, you can mix it up a little by including a couple of live tracks and some really tasty covers) and every good mix should inspire at least one, "Oh my God! I love this song!" moment -- either from a forgotten gem or from a breath of fresh air.

I'm really proud of the mix I'm working on right now. It's a Valentine's mix -- lots of honeyed acoustic guitars (Stevie Ray Vaughan, Jack Johnson), twinkle-toed pianos (Something Corporate, Butch Walker) and the requisite sonic surprises (Queen, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy).

One of my favorite quotes about writing comes from German novelist Thomas Mann. He said, "A writer is a person for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people."

As a writer, I could pen a thousand pages, telling Dan how I feel. How he makes me feel. I could wrack my brain and come up with anapestic analogies and indelible imagery.

But you know what? None of it would ever sound as good or make as much sense as, "Wild horses couldn't drag me away."

Six little words would completely K.O. anything I could ever write.

And God, do I love that.

That's the beauty of the mixtape. Mixtapes, like love, make poets of us all.

Valentine's Day Gift

I was planning on getting Dan the screenplays for Before Sunrise and Before Sunset for Valentine's Day. It was supposed to be a sweet, personal and most importantly, a romantic gift.

Unfortunately, the boy went and picked the book up for himself.

So now -- I have no idea what to get him for Valentine's Day.

I'm thinking book (He owns pretty much every DVD in existence, his music collection is more digital than tangible and he's been talking about reading more. Besides, books make excellent gifts). I'm thinking romantic. I'm thinking personal. (I have a bit of an idea, but it's one of those things I think I want more than he'd want).

So, I reach out to you -- anonymous flotsam and jetsam of the blogosphere to help me out.

What does a long-distance-music-junkie girlfriend get her long-distance-movie-junkie boyfriend for Valentine's Day?

Any ideas? Past presents you've gotten for people? Books you'd like to recommend? Other suggestions? (If it helps any, we're celebrating Valentine's Day on March 14 as opposed to February 14 because I'd really like to see him open his gift).

Thanks guys!

P.S.: And lastly, for no reason at all -- how cute is this? Damn you, Fox. Why must you take away everything I love?

The Story of Us

Nine years ago, a Yahoo! search changed my life.

This was before IMDB and WikiPedia, so if you wanted information -- you had to be a little more creative to find it. I typed in 'Kevin Williamson' into the search engine and one of the hits lead to a website. Nothing spectacular -- a biography, a filmography and a couple of photographs. Though simple, I was impressed by the passion poured into the project, so I did something rather uncharacteristic -- I emailed the webmaster.
He responded and we started communicating via email. In addition to a respect for Williamson, we also discovered we had a lot in common:

We were both 15 (born a day and a month apart).
We both adored the Back To The Future trilogy to near-fanatical proportions.
We were both going through the American high school experience and trying to figure out why nice girls and guys finish last.

Thanks to AOL Instant Messenger, we had some amazing conversations and our friendship grew. Despite our similarities, the idea of pursuing a romantic relationship never occured to either one of us. He had his life, I had mine and the notion of these two very separate lives ever intersecting was pretty unfathomable.

Life interjected as it tends to do and we lost touch for a little while, but whenever we did catch a spare moment and the chance to catch up again -- the conversation would pick up where we left off and was always effortless.

Then, earlier this year, I switched cell phone providers and found myself with a new phone number. I sent out an email informing friends and family of the change and accidently, sent the form email to Dan as well. He responded in kind and not soon afterwards, we began talking on the phone.

As expected, the conversation flowed completely naturally, often ending due to dying cell phone batteries. A few months later, he started batting around the idea of visiting Florida and asked if he could crash at my place. I agreed and we arranged an actual, physical meeting.

I was a nervous wreck at the airport. Hummingbirds were loop-de-looping in my stomach and my hands were carved from fault lines. What if we didn't get along in person? What if he thought I was a complete idiot? What if our quirky chemistry worked on the phone and online but not face-to-face? However, all these fears effaced the moment I saw him walking up. I ran towards him (spilling a scalding latte all over my hand in the process) and gave him a hug.

Less than six hours after he landed, we were sitting at the Hard Rock Bar at CityWalk. I can't remember what he said, but I remember thinking, "I could fall in love with this guy." Startled by this revelation, I shoved it aside, but stuff like that doesn't stay buried for too long.


The next night, we found ourselves laying eye-to-eye in my room. The tips of our noses were practically touching and I was feverishly hoping that he'd throw caution to the wind and just do it. I waited. I waited some more and then, being blessed with a reckless, impetuous nature, I took the plunge and kissed him softly, sweetly and squarely on his mouth. A few seconds later, the reality of my actions hit me and I broke away. I started to apologize for being so rash, but I only got as far as, "I'm..." before he kissed me. A real kiss -- one that makes you feel like you're dissolving into molecules. One that makes you feel like every fiber of your being is comprised of the bubbles in a champagne flute. It was the most incredible kiss I've ever experienced in my life....and it scared the hell out of me.

That kiss amplified the voice in my head that had been growing exponentially louder and louder since being in the Hard Rock Bar. With each subsequent kiss [and there a few], the voice grew louder and louder until it was shouting inside of me like a barful of noisy drunks at happy hour.

The entire next day, I tried to keep it under lock and key. I didn't just want to blurt out what I felt...and of course, that's exactly what I ended up doing.

Before my eyelids fluttered shut for the night, I wished Dan sweet dreams, a good night's sleep and I told him, between yawns, that I loved him. Then, I promptly fell asleep. Five minutes later, the severity of my actions finally caught up to my sleep-addled brain and jolted out of my somnolent slumber. I denied saying it at least a hundred times -- how could I have done this? I spent all day walking on eggshells and biting back my tongue. I had probably terrified this poor guy. He was taking the first flight back to Philly. Oh God, he probably thinks I'm a lunatic. Then, he asked me if I meant what I had said and I couldn't lie -- I did. I was falling completely in love with him.

I guess in my panic and my frantic rush to do damage control, I didn't hear him say he loved me too.

We call it 'density' -- George McFly's nervous mispronunciation of 'destiny' and it knocks me out every time I think about it.

What if Dan had never made that website? What if I had never emailed him? What if he had never emailed me back? What if we hadn't continued talking after our initial contact? What if I hadn't accidently emailed him my phone number? What if he had never come to visit?

A guy that I randomly emailed when I was fifteen ended up being the best thing that's ever happened to me.

It sounds like something out of a movie...and when you take into account who we are and how it all started -- well, that's just perfect.