a quick note

Today is Jenn & Matt & lots of dogs six year anniversary.

Well, I guess without the lots of dogs part. We didn't start that for a few months.

Our Story ... Part VI

I was depressed. I had just been rejected. So much for all that pouring-my-heart out crap. What was I thinking?

Well, damn it, if I couldn't have Miss too-good-for-me Molholt, I would just march straight out and find somebody else. And that I did. All week long.

On Monday I had Shiner. Cute, blond, Texan ... but kind of stupid and annoying like, well, most blonds and/or Texans. Tuesday, it was Heineken. She was this REALLY hot foreign chick ... can't quite remember from where, though. Bervaria or Sweedishland or one of those weird foreignmajiggers. Wednesday.......no, I don't really remember that Wednesday. But, ah, yes Thursday... Thursday was a beautiful evening with the impeccable Mary J. That was a good night. And who would have thought I could be SO successful with the ladies wearing the same green "Rice for Peace" shirt and pair of torn jeans ALL WEEK LONG? Talk about a confidence boost.

Until, CRASH, I awoke from my stupor.

My feelings hadn't changed. That following weekend when I finally took some time away from the ladies I realized how much I LOVED Jenn (and I didn't even really know her... how is that possible?). But I couldn't stop thinking about her and wanting to spend time with her. I couldn't focus on anything else.

I hadn't seen her or interacted with her since the response letter. But the upcoming week would finally present a situation in which I would have to face her. It was the Annual Alumni Donations Gala (or whatever Rice officially called wining and dining the wealthy alums at the Intercontinental every year). Jenn and I had always enjoyed that night. I was, for obvious reasons, not looking forward to it this year.

But what happened that night was an absolute, complete surprise.

Our Story... Part V

Jenn: By the way, does anyone want to name our story?

Moving on.

As anyone who has ever been in college knows, a car is an incredibly valuable commodity. So when Matt offered to drive me to Target, I jumped at the chance and immediately began making a mental list of all the things I might possibly need from locations off campus. However, having just come from spring break, I was feeling pretty poor, so I decided to just stick to towels and a few other necessities. Matt was absolutely 120% on top of his game, though, and proceeded to walk me through the store, making me laugh with his jokes and impressions and "selling" me on various items. We still have the towels he "sold" me on that trip.

On the way home, we stopped by the Sonic in the Target parking lot as neither of us had eaten dinner. I guess you could say that was our first date. I thought this guy was really funny and sweet, but seemed totally unpredictable and I had no idea what was in his head.

If only I had known.

Not a week had gone by when I checked my email one morning and received The Letter. Ten pages of painstakingly wordsmithed pour your heart out eat it up love letter. Totally out of the blue. I read it several times, called several of my friends, missed my morning classes, and pondered my next move. To me there seemed several options:

1) Matt the salesman had made this up. In fact, this was a form letter. He's used it TONS of times, to great success, with lots of girls. Wasn't he just dating some girl? What happened to her?
2) This is a genuine love letter, but he's sort of flighty, doesn't really mean it, and will soon move on. He is a guy, after all.
3) This is a genuine love letter, and he's a little unstable, and needs to be handled carefully.
4) This is a genuine love letter, and who is this guy?

In the end, I decided the best option was to at least respond to the letter. I had been sort-of maybe kind-of seeing some guys at the time, and didn't know how those not-really relationships would play out. It didn't seem right to leave Matt hanging, though, if it were a real love letter. So, I wrote him the best response I could at the time:

Matt,

Thank you so much for your sweet letter. Unfortunately I am sort of maybe kind of in a bunch of maybe sort of possible relationships right now because I'm a muddled up college kid. But I'll let you know later how they turn out, mmmkay?

To my chagrin, this resulted in a less-than ideal response from Matt...

Our Story .... Part IV

Matt: Ah, the walk on the beach. Nothing like a good, refreshing walk to open up an honest discourse and let the lusts of one's heart burst forth. And a beach? Well where else can the romantic sounds of crashing waves, singing sand, and drunken fraternity boys be heard so clearly? The stars were aligned, the moon was full, and I just knew that this was the chance I had been waiting for.

So what happened, you ask? Funny, because I'm not recalling all the details myself. It could have had something to do with the consumption of beverages illicit for minors on a hot beach earlier that day. While that will remain a riddle for the ages, I do remember a few key occurrences.

1) I walked REALLY FAST. We were walking with a few friends - Rachel, Darius? - but I wanted Jenn ALONE. So I kept walking faster and faster, and at one point I ran a little bit, playfully, to try to get her separated from the pack. My Discovery Channel viewings paid off, and I eventually succeeded. We got quite a ways ahead.

2) I saw some abandoned beach chairs that I bee-lined for and suggested we both sit down in. Just my luck! Immediately after we sat down, my blood pressure jumped and my heart began racing. This was IT. The chance. The two of us alone. I had so much to say. So many feelings and emotions I wanted to share. Wow, I was totally going to creep her out. Was I? Am I creepy? No, this is love! I must let her know. She'll be flattered. She'll fall into my arms. Maybe we'll have sex? No, probably pushing it just a bit. Take it slow, Skip. Nice and easy.

3) That's when I heard the door slam, and realized that there's nowhere left to run. I felt the cold hand, and wondered if I'd ever see the sun. I closed my eyes, and hoped that this was just imagination. But all the while, I heard the creature creeping up behind (Darius? Rachel?). I was out of time. Wait......no, no. That's not really what happened.

4) Ah, yes, what did happen: I said "What a nice night!" over and over. I commented on the nice water, the nice sand, the nice air.... just about everything was nice. And I said nothing I had intended to say. Not a single peep, utterance, sneeze, or cough of what was on my mind.

5) We headed back, and I resigned myself to the fact that I had utterly failed my mission.

So the rest of the trip was mediocre. I had fun, don't get me wrong - going to clubs, drinking, going to the beach, riding scooters, golfing - but I was so captivated by this one Jenn, and I only wanted to spend time with Her, that when I wasn't I was miserable.

Jenn and Leesie left Panama City before the rest of the group did. We were supposed to stay over at Rachel's in New Orleans on the way back, and get back to Houston a day later, but all I wanted to do was get back to Rice. I think everybody was tired, so it didn't take too much persuasion, but I certainly pushed hard and head straight back to Houston we did.

Jenn was only back 6 hours when I IM'd her.

"Hey! We decided to head straight back."

I think she was a little surprised and possibly 6% suspicious, because instead of her usual instant reply I had to wait about 30 seconds.

"Hi. Umm.. I though you guys were staying at Rachel's overnight. What happened?"

Hmmm. "We are all really tired and exhausted." 10 seconds later. "What are you up to tonight?"

And that's when she said she needed to buy towels. If there's one thing Skip Conrad loves, it's shopping for bed and bath products. With Jenn. So I offered my valet services knowing she didn't have a car, and said that I would be more than happy to take her to Target. Thus began our first "date."

On Kitchen Gadgets

Jenn: It's Matt's turn to update the Jenn & Matt story, so for those of you waiting on an update... I'm truly sorry. Pester him. I am, and I all I get is that he'll write it when he's feeling "inspired." To his credit, right now he's not feeling much but very cough-y and sore throat-y. I'd write it, but I feel the next part is best told from his point of view...

If you haven't picked up on this yet by reading my other blogs (shameless plug - they're on the left hand side of the page), I really like food and cooking. Which might come as a bit of surprise if you take a look around my kitchen, as I have a complete lack of kitchen gadgets (I don't have a full size food processor or stand mixer, or even a rolling pin). I thought it might be fun to do a run down on what I consider the top 10 necessary kitchen gadgets, in no particular order:

1) Microplane grater: This incredibly sharp, easy to use, easy to store grater has only one flaw: it's a little bit hard to clean. It grates sponges, and fingers. However, a quick rinse after grating and brushing with a stiff bristled dish brush seems to do the trick. I use it with garlic a lot, but it's good with anything that needs to be minced, grated, shredded, etc.

2) Kitchen tongs: I used chopsticks until I finally caved and decided to get a pair of tongs at crate & barrel. I haven't looked back and now that Felicia got me a second pair (and so nifty!) I can double-tong things! Tongs are so much better than any other tool for gripping hot food items, and now even come with silicone covers on the ends so they can be used on pans that might be damaged by metal tools - though I plan on phasing all of those out of my kitchen soon.

3) Big stock pot! I've always had a big pot for making sauces, but nothing beats a huge stock pot that can hold entire bird carcasses after roasting a chicken or turkey so you can make a rich stock out of the leftovers. Any soup, gravy, etc. made from that base is 1000x better than whatever you might make from the canned or boullion stuff.

4) Ovenproof skillet: This was a specific requirement of the Zuni cafe roasted chicken recipe and ever since I got one I've used it for roasting all kinds of meat. You can't beat something that can sear and go straight into the oven. I'm all for using as few dishes/pans as possible when cooking. P.S. I bought one at target for probably around $20 and it's awesome.

5) Good knife set: Again, a target purchase - probably $50. What? you're saying - this isn't a gadget, all chefs need knives to cook. I consider it a gadget. My mom, an exceptional cook, probably has never had a knife set - only one chef knife, a meat cleaver, and a paring knife. I consider huge knife sets overkill, but it's nice to have a block to keep them from nicking each other.

6) Rice paddle: It's an asian thing.

7) One handed pepper grinder: It's essential when preparing anything that requires a "dirty" hand and a "clean" hand - breading meat, etc. Unfortunately, every one handed pepper grinder I've ever bought has broken, and they aren't cheap. My last one broke last week. I'm considering putting 10 on my registry since they're really the only thing I need.

8) Rice cooker: It's an asian thing - but if you ever have trouble making rice, get one!

9) Immersion blender: How does anyone live without this? You don't need a mixer, food processor, or any of that silliness. My immersion blender makes velvety soups, mixes cupcake batter, whips cream, makes dressing, and all without having to remove what's being blended from the container. Genius.

10) ??? What's your favorite kitchen gadget? What should be added to this list?

We interrupt this story to bring you

Jenn: A wedding planning update! Since we've been engaged about a year and a half at this point, I suppose we really ought to get started with the whole wedding planning. It's a hugely daunting task though - and I'll tell ya why. I've never been enamored with the whole idea of a "dream wedding" with the big dress, flowers, perfect ceremony, rituals, yada yada. But there's enormous pressure to buy into the whole thing - to the point where you can't really rent a facility without wanting to coordinate centerpieces. It makes me understand why people elope.

Part of the problem is that, having lived together for nearly six years, Matt and I are common-law married, and the whole thing feels like a big scam. Food & beverage minimums plus $1,000 just to rent the facility? 22% service fee whether I like the service or not? Why can't I just throw a big party in my favorite restaurant and call it a day? Too untraditional. Argh.

We thought we might be able to worm our way into cheaper facilities by not telling people it's a wedding. You know, just an "event" - since the word "wedding" seems to mean automatic 40% markup on everything. One place we fell in love with went from $10k for the event to $16k for the wedding between emails. Good god. Somehow they seem to be able to sniff it out and no amount of sweet talking brings them down.

Anyway, I've begun looking at places in earnest because I really would like to get it done in 2009.

We should have just done it in Vegas.

Our story... Part III

Jenn: Leesie and I returned from Spinnaker just as JBuck and Matt were busy getting ALL the alcohol in the room confiscated. We weren't particularly perturbed, as our plans for the trip consisted of a) walking along the beach in little bikinis, b) renting scooters and riding them in little bikinis, c) swimming in the pool in little bikinis, d) dancing in... little outfits. Maybe if the boys had been getting bikinis confiscated we would have been pissed, but as it was, we crashed in bed after a night of intense dancing and getting whistled at. Exhausting.

I awoke waaaay too early the next morning to the sounds of incredibly cheerful birds outside. Foggily, I looked over and wondered if Matt was planning on getting out of the bed, but he drowsily rolled another inch closer to me. Hmmm... this was kind of nice, but I had beach-walking to do. We left the rest of the (kind of angry) group to figure out the alcohol situation, and headed out to see what the Michigander boys next door were up to.

Leesie and I spent the afternoon riding scooters, beach walking, and swimming in the pool. It was lovely. Later in the evening, we headed back to the room. Matt and the rest of the group was there, having replenished (and then deplenished) the alcohol supply. They were drunkenly playing Smash Brothers and hanging out on the beds, having spent the day on the beach. Leesie and I intended to drop in to change before going out again, but then (somewhat tipsy) Matt approached me.

"Hey," he asked, "What are you up to? We should go for a walk on the beach."

A walk on the beach? This could get interesting...