Mother knows best...

My mom is such a sweetheart and really wanted to give J-Dawg and I a special and fun weekend. She was completely fine with me taking him to the Alan Jackson concert instead of her. Because the concert was very far away, she purchased us a hotel room so that we could use the hotel shuttle. Her best laid plans didn't quite turn out as we hoped, and trying to situate everything was becoming quite frustrating. This was the first time J-Dawg saw me mad, and although he was getting frustrated also, he tried keeping his cool for my sake. 

After hours of driving through 5 o'clock traffic with construction, we reached what we thought was the hotel, only to find it was in a complete other location. Once we arrived to the actual hotel, we realized how far away from the concert it was. We then learned there was no shuttle to and from the concert. The hotel room was incredibly elegant (and very expensive). Although I was grateful that my mom had done this for us, we felt horrible about the cost, and even worse that our "get-away" was making us want to go back home. 

We drove for miles out to the concert that was being held at the Santa Ana Star Center. After a long and frustrating night, we both took deep breaths and realized we needed to stop and enjoy the night. Some guy opened for Alan Jackson and neither of us were very impressed. Then we waited for the headliner... and waited... and waited... and waited some more. It was about an hour between the opening act and when Alan Jackson actually came on. People were getting up and leaving. 

But once he arrived, he put on a wonderful show. He wasn't promoting a new album, so he sang tons of his classics. Being in love with AJ since elementary school, I knew all of his songs and it brought back lots of memories. J-Dawg was really enjoying himself also. Country isn't big in Europe, but since he moved to the States, he had definitely come to love it. All our worries were forgotten that night, as his arm was wrapped around me and we sang along to "Tall, Tall Trees". 

We enjoyed the rest of the concert and then went back to the hotel. We stepped outside and realized how beautiful the view from the balcony was. J-Dawg had packed a bottle of wine (we both love wine and that has become our thing is to go shopping for a bottle of wine together, and then on our date nights, open it and share a glass) and we drank it sitting outside on the balcony, looking at the stars. "Okay mom," I thought, "you did good." 


We then wandered around the ginormous hotel, and checked out all the amenities. Three pools, what?! Unfortunately, it was too late and all were closed. The scenery was beautiful, and because the hotel was on tribal land, everything was very Native American (including this ginormous pottery waterfall). 

The next morning before leaving, we decided to soak up the landscape, and enjoy some time on the balcony before check out. The hotel truly was amazing, and J-Dawg and I felt as if we got the Honeymoon treatment as guests. 


What do you know, mom was right...

Family Pow Wow in the Panhandle

My elderly grandmother had one request of her family--- that we take a family photo for her to hang on her wall. Bro and Fiance, being the wonderful people they are, arranged a time and place for all the Tuttles to meet. Reeder (my other brother), his wife K, and their two beautiful children, already had plans to visit Bro and Fiance, so we all decided to go to Texas to meet them there. It'd be a great time to get the whole crew together... and a camera. 

We were slightly hurt though because my sister, Yo-Yo, and her husband, Marshdal (a name given to my sister's husband by a family friend's daughter), wouldn't be able to fly out there in such short notice from Georgia. Bro and Reeder gave Yo-Yo a hard time for missing out on "family time". All the while though, Yo-Yo had a trick up her sleeve--- she was planning on surprising everyone. My mom knew Yo-Yo and Marshdal would be coming, so they made the airport arrangements. After my mom picked them up, Yo-Yo and Marshdal surprised my dad, and they all loaded up and headed to Texas. 

In a Suburban full of Tuttles, they all arrived at Bro's house. Yo-Yo and Marshdal surprised Bro and Reeder, and the family reunion was nearly complete. J-Dawg and I weren't there yet because I had the interview with the company in Eastern New Mexico (who interviewed me with zero intentions of hiring me prior to even meeting me. Grrr). Grandad and Mo-Mo (as my parents have now become known as by the grandkids) were able to spend time with the little ones. This was also an exciting weekend, as this was the first time most of us met the newest addition to the Tuttle family, Reeder and K's son, Pate. He's so stinkin' cute! 


J-Dawg and I arrived and the festivities began. Bro was barbequing, mom and Yo-Yo were makin' drinks, and we were all just wandering around enjoying one an others company. The best part of the afternoon was when K came in the kitchen and said, "Hey Traci, he's cute! And don't listen to what your brothers say, his accent is awesome!" Receiving K's approval for J-Dawg  meant a lot to me! We roamed around Bro's house, which is out in the middle of nowhere (no, serious). Everyone was outside near the pens where the horse and calf were, and instantly I saw Bailey dart under the fence to chase the calf! Next thing, I hear Bro screaming, "Traci, get your dog!" Just what I needed was for my Llasa Apso to kill Bro's calf. Luckily, J-Dawg sprung in and grabbed her. She knew she was in trouble.


We spent the rest of the afternoon, just socializing with one another and playing with the little ones and the pups.  It was so nice to have everyone together, and I was excited for J-Dawg to meet everyone. The boys were very kind to him, but did give him the "if you hurt my sister" lecture.

Then we went back to the hotel and realized there was a lot of goofing off to be had! There were these ginormous horse statues out front, just calling mine and J-Dawg's names. AND a huge heated swimming pool that we had to jump into!

The next day we went to Amarillo and hit up all the sporting goods stores. In two separate vehicles, we were split up, but met at Gander Mountain. Suburban 1 had Bro, Fiance, Reeder, K and the kids while Suburban 2 had Mom, Dad, Yo-Yo, Marshdal, J-Dawg and myself (who would have ever thought our family would be this big!?) J-Dawg and Dad were having a blast looking at all the ammunition, while Mom and Yo-Yo were looking at camping cookware. Bro, Fiance, Reeder and K were all wondering around checking out everything. I felt like a 5-year-old who had lost their parents in Wal-Mart, I wasn't sure where to go. 


Suburban 1 had already eaten, so they went shopping some more while Suburban 2 went to grab some grub. There's a place in Amarillo that my dad loves because of their calf fries (if you're unsure what these are, you may know them better as Rocky Mountain Oysters), so we opted to eat there. J-Dawg had never eaten them before, so he was pretty excited to try them. And I think Yo-Yo and Marshdal were just excited to eat at a delicious steakhouse. The waiter came by and took our orders- Dad got an entire plate of calf fries, haha. And J-Dawg and I ordered steaks and milk, the best meal ever.

Then we went to yet another sporting goods store, and J-Dawg and I goofed off some more. He is just so much fun and there is never a dull moment when he's around. We walked down the dog aisle to see if I could find anything fun for my pups. He stared at the shelves lined entirely with dog beds and wondered why dogs like them so much. Then, he found out. They're super comfy!  

The next day, the photographer came and took pictures. Photographing this many people must be difficult, so I give the young aspiring photographer who took our pictures props. And J-Dawg was even in the total family photo, hmmmmm.... (*cough* foreshadowing *cough*) 

The Tuttle Girls- (From left to right) K, me, my niece, Mom, Fiance, and YoYo

My Handsome J-Dawg and Me

The Tuttle Men- (left to right) Reeder, my nephew, Grandad, and Bro

We're goin' out with our boots on!

World's Longest Tramway (Well, 'usedta-could' be)

J-Dawg had mentioned he had heard that New Mexico had the world's longest tramway and wanted to check it out. (Sandia used to be the world's longest tram, until Armenia built a 3.4 mile last year). The Sandia Peak Aerial Tramway transports you above deep canyons and breathtaking terrain, a distance of 2.7 miles (when it's open). The winds that afternoon after the wine fest had kicked up something fierce, so we went the day after. 

So the next morning, we left to head to the tram. Its funny because I used to dread driving in Abq, because of the inconsiderate drivers. But J-Dawg offered to drive. In his hefty, tall truck, he does not put up with any aggressive nor passive driver's non-sense. I love how safe I feel when I'm beside him. I realized that each time I'm with him, I have an invisible safety bubble around me, and am untouchable. My lifetime of clutziness (broken bones, dented cars, public plunges, and other embarrassing moments) may be reduced with the simple introduction of one man into my life. If I never run into an open dishwasher door again, I would consider myself to be ridden of the terrible Anaya curse, all fixed by Sir Dutchman.

After a very long, steep drive up to the base of the Sandia mountains, we took a deep breath of the cool mountain air. We waited in line, then crawled onto the tram with many others, especially tourists. Sometimes, I forget J-Dawg is still semi a tourist. He hasn't seen many things in the state of New Mexico, or the US for that matter, that the rest of us are accustom to. Because of this, he reminds me of the true beauty in the small things, that otherwise would go unnoticed. We take time and smell a lot of roses. 

He stood behind me and held me around the waist as we looked at the beautiful mountains below us. Although neither of us are really scared of heights, there were times when the wind began rocking the tram, that it became pretty uncomfortable. But I wasn't too worried, because I was in J-Dawg's arms. The scenery was beautiful, the temperature was a wonderful change from the desert heat, and we were together. It was perfect.

We reached the top and looked over at all of Albuquerque, what a beautiful site.We visited the High Finance restaurant (appropriately named, pretty expensive), and opted to share a drink. And to be honest, I was curious about the myth of alcohol at high altitudes. J-Dawg told me to pick any drink I wanted, that it was on him. (He was driving and didn't want anything.) Yes, it is true, I felt a slight buzz after only a couple of sips of Sandia Ice Cream made with butterscotch, Bailey's, Kahlua, and Frangelico with cream on the rocks. What a delicious drink... $13 delicious. We hung out a little bit longer at the top and enjoyed the beautiful view, then decided to head back down.

We then headed south to my place so we could spend some time together, and it was important to me that J-Dawg and my friends had become acquainted. I invited a couple of my girl friends to go to dinner with J-Dawg and I at Texas Roadhouse. It made me laugh how he loved the peanuts on the floor. The girls really liked him, and were super happy for me. That meant a lot to me. I received a text afterwards from one of them that said "Be sure and send me an invite to the wedding!"

Once again we only had the one night left together, he had to leave in the morning. I hated saying goodbye, but felt a little better because I was planning on heading his way at the end of that week and then we would head to Bro's for a mini family reunion. The next morning, we bid our goodbyes and I explained to him that I felt sorry for people who don't know him because they're missing out! He replied, "I don't know, I'm just me." And that's what I love the most about him.

Rotten Weekend Turned Wonderful

J-Dawg and I were as happy as we could be (except for fighting the distance between us). At this point, we had only been together for one month, but when we spent time together it was like having five dates in one, so we were pretty far along in the relationship. After that frightful night, we became even closer and realized how important we were to one another. 

For a couple of weeks prior to the wrong-way accident, J-Dawg and I had been discussing how neat it'd be to attend a wine festival. We knew there were a couple going on during Memorial Day Weekend, and had planned on attending. There was also one in southern NM, but we opted to avoid the heat and dirt, and attend the one with grass --great decision-making skills, right? Logic. Besides, were already at my folks and didn't want to head back south. (Little did we know, the good tasting wine would be at the other wine fest! Dangit!)

Although I was hesitant about attending an activity involving alcohol, both J-Dawg and my parents reassured me that what happened that night wasn't my fault. We ate a large lunch and decided wine sipping would be enjoyable. We arrived at the entrance into Balloon Fiesta Park, paid a hefty admission cost, and was then given small wine glasses with the Abq Wine Fest logo on it. J-Dawg said, "Well, I'm glad that for that price, that we got something out of it!"  I agreed. I love J-Dawg's financial reasoning. His wallet doesn't squeak when he opens it, but he is a money savvy. 

When we walked in, the entire park was completely packed and lines were incredibly, unreasonably long. So much for avoiding the crowds. And there were tons of children! Surprised, we wondered why parents would take their children out into the blazing heat, and make them watch people drink wine. Poor kids. We took our glasses, stood in line (for-ev-er...), and began the taste testing. Too dry, too sour, too syrupy. Hmmm... maybe we just weren't wine connoisseurs.

 

We saw the Plum Loco booth, and I was ecstatic because I knew it'd be sure to please. Of course, it had the longest line. While waiting, there was a group behind us of girls about my age just a-yappin'. One was complaining about how full she was because she ate, not one, but TWO gluten-free pancakes for breakfast. That was the highlight of my day to see J-Dawg nearly shoot wine out of his nose, fighting back the laughter. Oh no, not TWO gluten-free pancakes!!!

We got to the front of the line and was excited to see all the flavors they had. Not just Plum Loco and Summer Peach, but Voluptuous (Strikingly sweet, this Moscato is bursting with the flavor of rich melon stacked with plump summer berries and hints of ripe peaches) and Triple Berry Bliss (an enticing red wine blended with the all natural juice of three of the world's foremost super fruits-- tart cranberries, sweet blackberries and tropical açai berries).We had about a sip of each, and that was all it took. We purchased bottles of the ones we knew we couldn't get elsewhere.

We were grateful for the Plum Loco booth, because we didn't have such wonderful tastings at the next booth. I will not mention any names, but I do recall asking to taste one of their cherry wines that looked and sounded delectable. He poured it into my glass, and I marveled at its beautiful color, somewhat opaque but nearly looked metallic. I took a swig, swished it around in my mouth for a moment, then, as quick as possible,went to the side of their tent (where no one could see), and spewed it out everywhere. I then wiped my tongue with my shirt. 

J-Dawg's look on his face expressed 'it can't be that bad!' I handed him my glass, and after tasting it, he reacted exactly the same. "It tastes like burned electronics!" (explains why it was metallic in color) he sputtered out with his tongue hanging out. Although this description may be hard to fathom, if you had tasted this wine, you would completely agree! After we regrouped (and drank lots of water and ate some food to get that awful taste out), we decided to call it a day, thinking there was no way we could handle another similar experience.

 

That night we played Rummikub with my mom, and nearly busted a rib laughing so hard. My mom really got to see the warm and funny side of J-Dawg that night, and really took him. My mom and I are cheaters very considerate with one another when we play board games. Its more like Go-Fish for us, "Oh you need this? Here you go." I worried J-Dawg may get upset with our board game behavior. Just as I began to wonder if he was crazy competitive like my exes, and would stop at nothing to win, I felt him touch my knee... holding the tile I needed. It isn't that any of us believe that cheating is okay, but I realized just then that J-Dawg has a heart just like the one I got from my mom. If you love 'em, be there for 'em.

Near Brush with Death

During Memorial Day Weekend, one of my best friends that I had known since mid-school, was having her college graduation party that Friday night, and I really wanted to celebrate with her. J-Dawg wouldn't be able to come till Saturday morning, so it all kind of worked out. I made my parents dinner that night, so I was running late getting out of the house to head to Kat's party. We finished eating, I kissed my parents goodbye, and they asked me to be safe (as they always do) but there was a deeper concern in their voice than normal. I disregarded their uneasy feeling and left.

I pulled onto the highway from my parent's road, and was listening to a new song from the Country Strong soundtrack I had recently downloaded. Singing along to the lyrics "When the stars line up, and you catch a good break, and people think you're lucky, but you know it’s grace. It can happen so fast, or a little bit late, timing is everything. You know I’ve had close calls, when it could have been me. I was young when I learned just how fragile life could be, I lost friends of mine, I guess it wasn’t my time, time is everything. I could have been a child that got took home, and I would have been one more unfinished song. And when it seems a rhyme is hard to find, that’s when one comes along just in time. Timing is everything."

At that instant, I saw headlights pointed toward me and immediately realized there was a truck driving the wrong way. I then saw them pass me in the inside lane driving incredibly fast. Immediately, I began to panic, pulled over and call 911. I explained my location, the description of the vehicle (which I barely caught because of how quick it was going) and gave them my contact information. I hung up the phone and then called my parents to explain what happened and told them I was on my way home. I also called J-Dawg, because I knew he'd be able to help calm my nerves.

I took some deep breaths, collected myself and got back on the road, only to see red flashing lights, ambulances and police just a mile or two down the road. "Please no" I thought. For some reason, could be human nature, but I had to drive down to see what had happened. All the while I was hoping the driver did not hit someone else, but a pole, wall or something to that effect. When I arrived at the scene, the police officer asked me to turn around and said "someone has just passed away here". My worst fear was just realized.

I went home completely startled and in tears. My mom and dad stayed up with me throughout the night to comfort me. My phone rang at 2am, it was the 911 dispatcher asking for more information. I asked what happened and was informed that the driver had hit another car and killed the person. And that instant, my stomach dropped and I felt as if I needed to vomit. J-Dawg called and talked me through my sadness and comforted me. Then my parents and I just sat. After hours of sitting there in silence, I was able to fall asleep. The next morning, we had turned on the news, only to hear there were three other similar accidents Memorial Weekend involving three wrong-way drunk drivers. 

J-Dawg got in that morning, rushed to me, and swept me into his arms. He whispered into my ear "I don't know what I would do if that was you last night. I'm so glad you're okay," and kissed my forehead. At that point, I was more than okay. I knew it wasn't my time, I knew there was still much more to learn, much more to see, and that God had some more tasks for me on his to-do list. I couldn't leave them unfinished. My parents smiled as J-Dawg held me, and they, like me, were so grateful that my guardian angel was flying faster than I was driving.

Lovin' and Livin'

While staying with J-Dawg that week, he had asked that I spend some time with his mom because he wanted us to get to know one another more. I was more than willing to do this. She and I went to the paint store and ran some errands around town. While driving, we discussed a lot, especially about J-Dawg and how he was as a child and teen. (He's considered the more quiet, reserved and relaxed one of the family, but was also able to do his share of damage as a kid. AKA, stories for another day...)

We got back to the house and I offered to help her with her current project, painting old milk pails that they actually used in Friesland.  How cool is that?! (She is very crafty, and always working on some fun project). I had collected milk 'paraphernalia' since I was young, and while living in the dorms, I purchased green milk crates, stacked them and tah-dah, had a bookshelf! I also had replica milk buckets, and loved to buy old milk jars when I came across them (part of the reason I love Starbucks' Frappacino bottles). But J-Dawg's place was decorated with the real deals.

For the next couple of days while J-Dawg was working, I was helping his mom paint the milk pails. She chose a gunmetal silver base coat with a metallic green tint to be brushed over them, making them look even more antique. They came out very awesome, except I may have gone a little heavy on the green (imagine that!). I had a fun time painting in the cool garage, and my pups were runnin' in circles around me, ecstatic to be at the dairy (as was I). 

The Two Dogs and J-Dawg (= 3 Dogs)

Over the time that Jeroen and I had spent together, he really took to my pups and they were just as crazy about him as I was. Bailey, the ornery hard-headed Llasa Apso, and Snickers, the old, quiet, yet easily excited Bichon Frise, were both rescue dogs. They were just happy to be with people who loved them. Bailey, being the misbehaving dog, learned quickly she wouldn't get away with much around J-Dawg. He quickly put her in her place when she bit his sister's Great Dane (I'm not kidding when I say she's a handful).  Not only does she like J-Dawg, but respects him, she's very well behaved around him and I love it! (If only I wasn't such a pushover and could have the upper hand with her, like he does...)

The weekend before, J-Dawg's mom had invited me to attend a baby shower for a family friend of theirs. Although I didn't know his family very well at this point, I thought this would be a great opportunity to spend some time with them. The baby registry was at Target and they didn't have one near them, so I offered to pick up the gifts since I was going to the "city". When I returned with them, his mom and sister were very grateful. We wrapped them up in baby blue and tan tissue paper, put them in a very cute gift bag, and headed to the shower. 

The decor at the shower was beautiful, and there were lots of women there (with lots of children). Most of the baby gifts were cow print, which made my heart melt. The mom-to-be was a wife of a dairyman,  and that was that day that I discovered how close the dairy community was. All the women chatted with one another, as they either grew up on a dairy or were also dairy wives. The shower was fun and I loved being introduced to everyone as "J-Dawg's [insert his real name here] girlfriend".  Also, being able to spend time with J-Dawg's mom and sister was a treat. They were both down-to-earth and fun to be around. 

After the shower, I returned to the dairy to find J-Dawg in the shop, covered in grease and smelling of oil, dirt and sweat. I smiled and thought, 'he's still so handsome'. Every girl loves a man that can work with his hands. We loaded the pups and headed back to his house so he could shower.  We discussed how our days went, and he mentioned he was glad I went to the baby shower with his sis and mom and got to meet the dairy women (kind of an initiation to being the girlfriend of a dairyman). 

With only one night left together, we discussed what we do the following weekend. I hoped it would come quickly, as I was not looking forward to going back home to my empty, broken home, my jam-packed work space, and hours of resume writing. Although it was never planned this way, we take turns driving back and forth to see one another (works out quite nicely). Because I was at his place that week, he offered to come to mine the following weekend. Instead, we decided we'd go to our half-way point and check out the wine festival during Memorial Day weekend... stay tuned.

 

The Economy is Shot!

(Forewarning: this blog may be a tad random and tends to jump from topic to topic. During this time there was A LOT occuring and can't really be listed chronologically, nor organized by title. Please bear with...)

 After graduating, and telling my friends and family goodbye, I was at a loss of what to do. I had been in school for the past 18 years of my life! Textbooks and highlighters were all I had known, they brought me comfort. Because I spent so much time of the last semester focusing on Europe and graduating, I hadn’t put as much time and effort into finding a job (like I should have been).

I pulled out the laptop, opened my resume and started cranking out as many “buzz words” as possible. Efficient, responsible, accountable, blah blah blah. Thanks to our shoddy great leadership in the U.S. government, myself and thousands of other graduates across the nation, will have hell trying to not only find a job related to our degrees, but a job [period]. So will many other Americans who have been working nearly their entire lives, and were let go.

Maybe it’s because of my generation’s so-called ‘entitlement’ issues, but I honestly had high confidence that I’d be able to find a job.  I did everything as I was supposed to: went to college, got a high GPA, was an honor student, participated in academic and social activities, and had good work experience. I thought I was ahead of the game, probably just like many others did. But guess what?! All of this isn’t enough. There aren’t enough job openings, and tons of people are applying for them. A phenomenal resume will not help in this situation.

Prior to realizing this, I sent everyone my resume and was optimistic.  I decreased my odds over time by only applying to positions in NM, OK, TX, and CO. I realized that although I’m ready to leave the safety net, I wasn’t quite ready to move somewhere totally foreign to me (East/West coast, New England, Arkansas…) where I knew no one and would be starting out with nothing. Besides (it may have been too soon to decide this) I didn’t want to get too far away from J-Dawg.

While searching for jobs, I went ahead and stayed working at the car dealership I had been working for for the past year and a half (as the marketing director, I don’t sell cars). I had never really been totally stoked about the position but was grateful to have a job. And although J-Dawg was five hours away from me, I had a pretty flexible schedule that allowed us to spend a good amount of time together.

About this time, my mom had run across an opening for a marketing position with an agricultural company in Eastern NM. I thought the position had been created for me, it was everything I wanted to do for a career. I told J-Dawg about it and he was optimistic about my chances. I put together a perfected cover letter and resume and emailed it to their HR person. Now it was just time to wait (little did I know J-Dawg and I would be doing that A LOT for the next couple of months). 

* To explain what happened with the position, I received a call back and did a phone interview! Great, right?! Nay. I was told I'd be hearing from an individual with the company to set up an interview time. Waiting, waiting, waiting... I finally received the call and was told the interview would be in over a month! Cows!, I thought, but I waited (all the while thinking "I may get to move!"). Then the interview came and I met with a couple of individuals--- I thought it went well. They said they'd be in touch. Two weeks went by, and I still hadn't heard anything. Then I received an email from a job posting website, that the position had been re-opened. 

I called, emailed and left them voicemails trying to figure out what was happening. Another two weeks passed and I received an email that said, "Thanks for your interest with our company. We are currently re-opening the position so that all have a fair chance to apply." FAIR?! Life's not fair!!! When did morals and ethics come into play in the work force? That rarely happens! Then I realized, that was just their polite way of saying "We interviewed you for sh*ts and giggles. We're actually waiting on a certain person to fulfill the requirements so we can hire him/her. But thanks for playing along."

I worked part-time for the next week, and found things to keep me entertained throughout the week till I could head to see J-Dawg again (this wasn’t easy in the blazing hot heat of southern NM). One day, I came home from work to find the ceiling in my house had collapsed and I already had a huge hole in the floor, all from an AC leak. I called the insurance and submitted a claim. My happiness was going downhill fast, as my house was falling apart around me, I was still working at the car dealership, a job was going to be nearly impossible to find, my friends had mostly all graduated and moved away and J-Dawg was five hours away from me.

I tried keeping my head high, believing that someone was bound to call me back with the amount of resumes I had submitted.  To ease my woe's I decided to take some time off work (working part-time, there wasn't much work to be done). I loaded up on Friday and left to see J-Dawg. At that instant, I felt all those 'warm and fuzzies' people talk about when referring to love. He was (and is) the most helpful person when it comes to making me feel better. 

While driving up to his house, he was sitting outside on his tailgate. He hopped off and met me at my car with open arms. It felt great, I was where I was supposed to be--- with J-Dawg. This time was crucial to our relationship because I stayed there for almost ten days. This was when we really got to know one another and see the "weekday" side of one another (how we roll our toothpaste tubes, when/ how laundry is washed, sleep schedules, TV choices and so forth).  

It was a blast to spend that much time with one another, and the best part was, we never once got bored, irritated or angry with each other. Our personalities  perfectly coincided, and I loved spending time with him---  someone crazy like me, someone who shares my particular point of view, 'we're in tune and out of touch with all the same things'.