Just Lauren

Last Monday, like I mentioned in a previous post, I got to see Lydia again before she headed back to Washington. I was very grateful for that chance because I wanted to share how I felt and I wanted to see her again. I was feeling in a better mood and knew I would enjoy our time together more. And I definitely did! Sharing with her how I felt was useful and valuable. We went on a walk at the park near my place and then came back to my apartment for dinner. I had really wanted her to see my space because I’m really proud of it. It’s completely me and I love my space and I love sharing it with my friends and family. Lydia brought me a cool cat puzzle and popsicle molds among other things. I can’t wait to make my own popsicles, I’m so into that. We ate dinner out on the balcony and had a really great conversation. Lydia is a fantastic listener. I felt very sad to say goodbye to her but we are determined to stay in better touch so that gave me a bit of hope. Ideally we can see each other in person more often than once every two years too.

On Tuesday, my friend, Robyn, came over for dinner (see, I love showing off my space!). She was kind enough to let me make vegan nachos and we hung out for a few hours, catching up. She is also a good listener and I really enjoyed my evening with her. She even brought me my very own tiny croton plant as a housewarming gift. I felt so honored. Crotons are awesome and I’ve never owned one. I also had just got two new planters I had ordered on Kickstarter almost two years ago so I knew instantly that this plant would live in one of them. What absolutely perfect timing. Isn’t that frog and croton combo adorable?

Wednesday night Shari made us vegan meatloaf for the first time ever and it was delicious. She used Impossible meat and it turned out so good I plan on saving the recipe. I don’t think I’ve had meatloaf since I was in college. Thursday I had the evening mostly to myself, which is exactly what I needed. I went on a walk at the park near my apartment and soaked in the warmth and the sun. I got to watch some high school girls play tennis for a bit which reminded me of my old job being an athletic secretary. I still find it hilarious that me, a person who has never played a sport in her life, ran a sports program. I also painted on Thursday, which was great since it had been a while since I got out the paints. This means I have another palette to hang up on my laundry doors which is a huge plus because I had an odd number. And while that didn’t look bad and it didn’t bother me, I’m happy to have two full rows now. I did stream a movie that night with my comic book meetup group later in the evening, however, in preparation for our discussion we had on Sunday. On Friday, Shari and I met up with our friend, Aeri, at a burger place to celebrate Aeri getting a new (and better paying) job.

The highlight of my week was by far on Saturday when my sister, Kaitlin, came to visit. She spent almost the whole day with me and I had an absolute blast. I asked her if we could make this a more regular thing, it’s always so much fun spending time with her. Shari and I took her out to Fire on the Mountain and then to Sweet Action because you know we had to get dessert. It’s not every day that my sister comes up to Denver! I just felt so great that day, so incredibly happy. I’m thrilled Kaitlin made the time to hang out.

Sunday was also mostly enjoyable as I finally went to Green Lady Gardens and used the gift card my parents got me for Christmas. I now have a few new plants including a Pilea peperomioides! That’s right folks, I get to cross off yet another item from my #30 before 40 list. I’m so excited to have it and I hope one day I’ll be able to successfully propagate it so I can share with all my friends. I will post a picture of it at some point. After grabbing some plants, it was comic discussion time, which was also a lot of fun even though Sunday was cloudy and cooler than I’d have preferred.

The real shitty part of Sunday is when Shari and I realized her car was gone. It was not where she had parked it at my apartment complex. After pulling up her car app and figuring out roughly where her car was, we hopped in my car and I drove us toward what I assumed was her stolen car. I was ready to chase down some thieves. But after calling 911 to report the car missing, Shari was informed that instead, Wyatt’s Towing had towed her car because she had parked on the complex’s property without permission. Sigh. I disagree with that statement but after doing some research about what our options were, we agreed the best thing for Shari would be to pay the towing company and get her car back. Is Wyatt’s a predatory and shady company? Most definitely. Did we get Shari’s car back this morning after paying a stupid amount of money? Yes. I spoke with the manager of my complex and will be working on getting some of that money back but it still sucked last night. Thinking her car was stolen and then learning it was towed, it was stressful for both of us. Thankfully Elisabeth invited us over for dinner so we were able to relax a tiny bit. I’m hopeful that the next time we have dinner at Elisabeth’s we’ll all be in much better moods. Sometimes these things happen, and even if they are unfair, we gotta figure them out and then keep moving. We all got this!